by Pirateaba
Pawn glanced around the room as Bird brushed snow off of his shoulders. He opened his mandibles and addressed Lyonette.
“Is Erin here?”
Bird raised his catch.
“I have birds. They are not rotten.”
Everyone stared at them. Ceria paused mid-chew and swallowed what was in her mouth. She looked at Yvlon, who smiled crookedly.
“Ryoka does have a point.”
—-
“Aw, come on Ryoka. I want to know what Olesm has to say!”
“And you can. Later. For now—come on Mrsha. Don’t wander off!”
Ryoka strode down the street, shepherding Mrsha and Erin both. They were like cats. Mrsha hadn’t been part of Ryoka’s plan, but she’d snuck through the door into Celum behind the girls and Ryoka didn’t want to spend time trying to make her go back.
She had to talk with Erin. She had to. She’d put it off for too long. And she needed privacy to do that. So Ryoka took Erin to the one place where she was sure no one would bother them.
The Runner’s Guild in Celum.
Heads turned as Ryoka pushed open the door. She grinned as she walked into the room.
“Hey there. I’m back. Anyone miss me?”
For a second, Ryoka thought the [Receptionist] at the counter might have had a heart attack on seeing Ryoka’s face. Every eye immediately scanned Ryoka, searching no doubt for a small blue faerie. But Ryoka hadn’t spotted Ivolethe today. Instead, the Runners and [Receptionists] only saw Erin and Mrsha, sniffing the air curiously.
“Miss Ryoka, ah, how can we help you today?”
One of the female [Receptionists] hurried across the room towards Ryoka. She looked apprehensive, but Ryoka only smiled.
“I’d like to use one of the private meetings rooms if they’re available. Can you give me a key?”
“A private—oh.”
The [Receptionist] blinked at Erin. The other girl smiled at her.
“Hi, I’m Erin. How are you?”
Ryoka coughed.
“She’s my client.”
“Oh. Oh. In that case, let me just—”
The [Receptionist] hurried back to the counter and had a conversation with her co-worker. Erin edged over to Ryoka as Mrsha stared at the Runners and they stared back.
“Ryoka, what are we doing?”
“Finding somewhere quiet to talk.”
The Runner’s Guild was hardly a quiet place. However, it did have one feature that made it ideal for people who needed privacy, and that was the rule about Runner’s confidentiality.
Whether it was a letter, a parcel, a giant flaming sword with the owner’s name on it or anything in between, a Runner was supposed to keep the name of their clients and the nature of their delivery secret, even from people like [Guardsmen]. Unless they were testifying in relation to a crime, that was.
It was an unspoken code of conduct that wasn’t as highly enforced among Street Runners, but City Runners and especially Couriers traded on their trustworthiness. Your reputation for keeping secrets was part of your identity as a Runner. A Runner who blabbed might find themselves out of work or with a knife in their backs.
And to facilitate that need for secrecy, each Guild had one or two or many rooms that could be used by clients wanting to talk to Runners about personal deliveries. Such deals were often quite lucrative, and usually only occurred between Runners who’d worked with the same person for a number of years. They met in these rooms, which were shielded against eavesdropping and of course, completely private for the two to meet in safety.
This was what Ryoka wanted now. She waited until the woman at the desk came back with something in her hand. A key.
“Miss Ryoka, your room is the first up the stairs. I hope you and your client have a pleasant negotiation.”
She stared at Erin, and the girl smiled at her. Ryoka smiled.
“Thanks. I notice you got all that snow cleared up. I guess I’m forgiven since you haven’t kicked me out yet, right? Or is Persua banned for life?”
A muscle twitched in the [Receptionist]’s face.
“I believe the [Guildmaster] will want to speak with you later. But please, take this key.”
She handed the key to Ryoka and turned away. Ryoka felt a bit guilty, but she still hadn’t quite forgiven the Guild for letting Persua act like…Persua. Erin nudged Ryoka.
“What snow?”
“Oh—I’ll explain in a bit. We’re just going up the stairs to somewhere we can talk.”
They made it halfway across the room when someone called out.
“Is that you, Ryoka?”
Ryoka groaned. But she turned and smiled as Garia Strongheart came over, smiling cautiously.
“Hey Garia.”
“Hey Ryoka! I didn’t think I’d see you here today. We only got to talk a bit last night…hi Erin. Who’s this?”
She looked down at Mrsha. The Gnoll stared up at the bigger girl, circling her warily. Ryoka hesitated. That part of her that had recently appeared, the part that said she should be nice to Garia, was struggling with her blunt, rude self, which was to say, the rest of her.
“Sorry Garia, I’d love to chat, but I’ve really got to talk with Erin about something important. But uh…this is Mrsha.”
“Oh. Hello!”
Garia smiled at the Gnoll and reached down to scratch her ears like a dog. Mrsha recoiled and Garia paused. She looked a bit hurt on both counts, so Ryoka put a hand on her shoulder and smiled apologetically.
“If you’re still in the city after this, I’ll find you, okay?”
“Oh, it’s no problem. I wasn’t going to do a run today—I sort of sprained my ankle and I’m taking it easy. I had a healing potion, but it was low-quality…but I don’t want to get in the way of your conversation.”
Garia was so apologetic that it made Ryoka feel guilty. She ushered Erin up the stairs and into the first room she came to.
The room used for private meetings was filled with a nice table, padded chairs, and not much else. It had a window looking out into the city, but since they weren’t glass windows, the shutters were closed. Ryoka wondered what the rooms in the Runner’s Guild in Invrisil would have looked like.
“Okay, now we’re here.”
Erin blinked around the room as Mrsha leapt onto a chair and then onto a table. She took a seat while Ryoka hesitated and then took the one opposite her. It didn’t feel as comfortable as Ryoka had hoped—the room was meant for business deals, not chats.
“Sorry about all that. But I think we can talk here without anyone bothering us. No one’s allowed to disturb a private meeting unless there’s a real emergency.”
“Oh. So that’s why we’re here. We could have just talked at my inn. Come here, Mrsha.”
Erin let the Gnoll jump into her lap and cuddled her as she looked at Ryoka. The Runner coughed.
They were here. Ryoka had planned this out last night before she’d slept with Lyonette. It was a chance to talk to Erin, finally, with no one to interrupt.
Only now she was here, Ryoka realized she had no idea how to start. They were going to talk.
…How?
She couldn’t think of how to start the conversation. Ryoka froze up. She felt as tongue-tied as she used to be. Erin was her friend. But she hadn’t talked to her in…forever. How could she begin?
Erin wasn’t helping. The girl was glancing around the room and whispering to Mrsha as the Gnoll wriggled happily in her arms. Ryoka felt the awkwardness quotient in the room rise until Erin broke the silence.
“Why did you say I needed a break, anyways?”
Ryoka stared at Mrsha as the Gnoll tried to carve into the wooden table with her claws. What was she supposed to say? No. She had to be honest.
“Lyonette told me about your Christmas party.”
Erin paused. She looked down at her hands.
“Oh.”
“Yeah.”
Silence. It was the thing Ryoka dreaded the most. She looked at Erin, but
she had no idea what the other girl was thinking. How could anyone read minds? Was she angry at Lyonette? Or Ryoka? Did she not want to talk about it?
Conversation was a quagmire, a bog of uncertainty. And Ryoka sank like a stone.
“I uh, well, it must have been rough.”
Mrsha looked up as she sat in Erin’s lap. Erin wasn’t smiling. She stared at the shuttered window.
“Yeah. It was really embarrassing, to tell the truth.”
Ryoka cleared her throat.
“Well, you must have been really stressed out.”
“I was.”
“It wasn’t your fault.”
“That’s nice of you to say. But y’know, it kinda was, right?”
“Well…”
Ryoka coughed and fidgeted. She cast about, tried another line.
“You have so much to do every day. I saw breakfast. That’s an undertaking.”
Erin nodded.
“Yeah. I don’t know how I could keep up without Lyonette’s help. She works really hard. I bet that was a surprise when you met her again, right?”
“I barely recognized her, to be honest.”
It was like meeting a completely different person. Ryoka could barely remember the previous Lyonette, when she’d met her again. The old one had been haughty, arrogant, and rude. This new Lyonette had callused hands, was always busy, and cared for Mrsha like a sister. Or a mother.
“What happened?”
“I left her alone. She was the only one in the inn and…”
Erin stared at the table. Then she looked at Ryoka, guiltily.
“I think she was starving. I mean, literally starving to death while I was gone. No one went to visit her except Olesm, and he only did it when he was checking if I’d come back. She must have…run out of food for a while. She didn’t say, but I think that’s what happened.”
“Jeez.”
Ryoka stared at the table blankly for a second. She didn’t know what she was supposed to say.
“That’s rough.”
Wholly inadequate words, delivered too late. Erin nodded. She stared at Ryoka, and Ryoka stared back until things got too awkward and they both looked away. Someone’s stomach rumbled. To Ryoka’s surprise, it wasn’t Mrsha’s.
“Sorry, that was me.”
Erin patted Mrsha as the Gnoll turned to inspect her belly. She looked at Ryoka with a guilty grin.
“I know we’re talking and stuff, but do you mind if we got something to eat? I actually uh, didn’t have breakfast yet. I had some sausage and a bit of bread, but I was going to eat after everyone else…”
“Oh. Damn. Sorry—I’ll check.”
Flustered, Ryoka got up. She exited the door as Erin tried to stop Mrsha from ducking her head under her shirt. The [Receptionist] at the desk blinked as Ryoka strode over to her.
“Can I help you, Miss Ryoka?”
“Yes you can. Get us, uh—something to eat. We need snacks.”
“Snacks?”
Ryoka nodded distractedly.
“A cheese platter or something.”
“Ryoka?”
Someone called her name and came over. She turned and saw Fals grinning at her.
“Fancy meeting you here! Garia said you were in a meeting with Erin. Everything okay?”
“Fals. Good to see you.”
Ryoka clasped his hand and then looked at the receptionist.
“Can we get something to eat?”
The woman hesitated, looking torn. It was customary for Runners to make these kinds of demands. Well, not customary, but if a Runner—or more likely, Courier—were meeting with an important client, refreshments were a natural part of the negotiations. Only Ryoka thought that the [Receptionist] had clued into the fact that Erin and Mrsha weren’t exactly VIP guests.
“Eat?”
Fals blinked at Ryoka, and then caught on. He winked at her while the [Receptionist] was looking away from him. Then he looked very concerned and raised his voice slightly.
“Oh, you mean for Miss Solstice? A very important guest. You’re entertaining her here? I’m sure the Guild could get some of those jam buns down the street as well. After all, Erin does talk with Gold-rank adventurers on a daily basis.”
“Not to mention a Drake [General].”
Ryoka saw the [Receptionist]’s eyes go round as she and Fals nodded at each other seriously. He had an excellent deadpan face.
—-
Erin was teaching Mrsha how to do trust falls off of a chair and the Gnoll was doing absolutely no trusting or falling when Ryoka opened the door. Both looked up as Ryoka smiled hesitantly at them.
“Okay, there will be snacks sent up shortly. We’ll also get drinks—I said you’d like fruit juice so they’ll see what they have. Uh, I think we might get some buns, a cheese platter—what?”
Her friend was giving her an amused look.
“That’s a lot of food! I could have just eaten an apple, you know.”
“Uh, sorry.”
Ryoka flushed a bit.
“I just wanted to get everything we might want right away. There will be uh, pillows delivered as well.”
Erin burst out laughing and Ryoka felt herself go crimson. But before embarrassment could poke her with hot needles, Erin was nodding appreciatively.
“I totally support your decision, Ryoka. One hundred and twelve percent. I did the exact same thing too.”
Ryoka blinked.
“You did?”
The innkeeper girl smiled as she recalled.
“Back home—I’d get a bag of chips, one of those big ones from the store, a full water bottle, and a couple of blankets and then get my laptop to watch TV all night…or play chess.”
She waggled her eyebrows at Erin, which made Mrsha immediately place a paw over them. Ryoka grinned as she sat down again. There was no hesitation now as she spoke, confiding a secret to Erin and the distracted Mrsha.
“When I was a kid, I’d buy food and then try to hide somewhere in the house so my dad couldn’t make me go to formal events. One time I hid in a closet and no one could see me when they opened the door. I spent two days in there, sneaking out to use the bathroom at night.”
Erin laughed in delight. Ryoka grinned, although internally she winced at the memory. Her little game had ended when the police had shown up to take her parents’ statement. They’d thought she’d either run away (again) or been kidnapped.
The idiot she’d been in the past helped the Ryoka of today, though. Erin was laughing at the memory, and right on cue, the door opened and Mrsha sat up, wagging her tail as a [Receptionist] carefully edged into the room with food.
It was a cheese platter after all. Ryoka blinked down at it, surprised that people in this world had cheese platters. And more food came—and pillows! Erin and Ryoka put the food on the table and Mrsha began scarfing some of it down. But all too soon the Gnoll cub was pacing around the room, too full for snacks.
“Uh oh. I think Mrsha wants to go somewhere where there’s more stuff.”
Erin looked concerned as Mrsha stood up and clumsily tried the door handle. The Gnoll looked pleadingly at Ryoka, who frowned at this second unexpected conundrum.
“Maybe she can go downstairs? There’s more space down there and I think she could hang out with Garia and Fals. They’d love to spoil her, I’m sure.”
Erin nodded hesitantly.
“Are you sure it’ll be safe?”
Ryoka had to think about this, and because it involved Mrsha, she double-checked her own thoughts.
“Persua’s gone, and her little gang revolved around her. More importantly, both Fals and Garia are there. They’re responsible and I think Garia would put someone’s head through a wall before she let anyone hurt Mrsha. I’ll go with her and ask if it’s okay.”
A few minutes later Mrsha happily bounced downstairs with Garia and Fals laughing and promising to buy her some dried jerky. Ryoka took a seat in the room and found a pillow on her chair. Erin was already sitting on h
ers.
“Double padding. See?”
Ryoka smiled. The tension was gone now, and she felt like she could talk. She sighed as she closed the door.
What should she say? This time Ryoka knew the answer. Whatever came to mind. Whatever she needed to say. Because she was beginning to remember it now. This was how it went. She had a friend. And what could you tell a friend, a true friend, a good friend?
Anything.
“I worry about her you know.”
“Who? Mrsha?”
Ryoka nodded. Erin had a piece of cheese on a jam bun and she was nibbling at it. Ryoka picked up a bit of goat’s cheese and stared at it. She popped it into her mouth and swallowed before speaking.
“She’s my responsibility. Her tribe sacrificed themselves so she and I could get away. I…just don’t know how to look after her. I’m not a mother, and I can’t stay with her all the time.”
“I don’t think you have to. Lyonette’s here and I am happy to have Mrsha in my inn.”
“I know. And I’m grateful. But it’s not fair to Mrsha. She deserves someone to look after her.”
“And it has to be you?”
“Well yeah—”
Ryoka paused, thrown by the question. Erin was staring at her.
“She’s my responsibility.”
“But that doesn’t mean you can’t get help, right? I talked to Krshia, and she’s teaching Mrsha some days. And Selys helps babysit her on her days off…I think Mrsha’s really happy here. If you spend a lot of time with her when you’re here, what’s the problem? She knows you’re a Runner. Just be nice to her and hug her a lot whenever she’s around.”
For a while Ryoka stared at Erin. She opened her mouth, closed it. And then she laughed.
“Damn. No wonder people come to you for advice.”
The other girl blushed a bit.
“I dunno about all that. I’m just saying things how I see it. Mrsha’s part of the inn, now. I can’t imagine not waking up and having her try to eat everything in sight.”
They laughed at that. They laughed, and a bit more of the invisible wall they’d built up broke away soundlessly. It was only a wall if you thought it was a wall. And this was the feeling Ryoka had craved.
This was the feeling Erin had craved. The innkeeper sat across from Ryoka, staring at her friend. She’d almost forgotten what it was like to speak with Ryoka. The other girl was tall, Asian—the most unique Human in this world, aside from maybe Revi or Octavia. No one looked like her.