Completed The Name of Desire

[Narifa]

83rd Summer 518 AV

Narifa awoke with the headache of all headaches. That canopy must have hit her harder than she first thought. When she didn't immediately recognize the comforts of her own quarters, the Inartan panicked, kicking off the stiff coverings and swinging her legs over the bed. She'd moved too fast, however, and nausea slammed into her with the force of an excited Wind Eagle. Breathing through her nose only made her body ache even more as her bruised ribs expanded. She took another breath anyway, to calm her jumbled thoughts, before trying to stand on the cold floor.

It looked like she had ended up at a quaint inn. The furniture wasn't too fancy, a little bit rustic actually. There were two paintings on the walls, one hanging slightly off-kilter and the other entirely on an angle. A vanity in the corner with a sparkling mirror beckoned her over. She wobbled to a stop in front of it and winced when she took a peek. Her face was a mess, red on her chin where she'd hit it under the canopy. She pulled her top up to scan her ribs. A large blue and purple bruise had blossomed beautifully, staining her otherwise pale skin. Her scrapped knees had fortunately been wrapped.

Sighing, Narifa turned away to walk back to the bed. Her body was complaining at her, the sharp claws of hunger making their way into her stomach. She should probably head downstairs and find something to eat. Her decision made, the woman marched towards where she'd noticed a door. Her journey was stopped, however, when a bare foot landed on something colder than the floor. Blue-grey eyes glanced downwards. Underneath her toes was a masterfully crafted amulet, shining gold in the dim candle light. The chain it was on had broken at the clasp, bits and pieces of the links scattered about it. Narifa noted that the opalescent stone it carried seemed too dull. After all, weren't gemstones supposed to glow with some mysterious inner radiance?

She bent down and gently picked the broken necklace up, slipping it into her pocket for safe-keeping. It was only then did she notice that the room had a second occupant. On another mattress lay the man she'd traveled with through the storm. The candles around the room cast his figure in a mesmerizing contrast of black and orange. Curious, the woman stepped over to him to take in his features with more detail. The darkness of the night before had not allowed for a full picture of his face to form in her mind.

He really was gorgeous, as the candlelight was showing her. The thought had crossed her mind only briefly the night before, but absolute darkness and disorientation did not a good judge of appearance make. She could finally see the strands of white in his sleep-mussed hair. The stark contrast of white eyebrows and white lashes on for the most part golden skin captivated her. She'd never seen anyone with such an obvious colouring disparity. Deep in the process of silently studying the sleeping man's features, Narifa leaned in for a closer look.

[Raeyn]

Behind closed eyelids, the room was as dark as the morning sky for outside the window, the red storm had only strengthened in it’s fury. The rain beat against the glass of the window, threatening to shatter it with every angry droplet. The gods have descended their displeasure upon the city of Lhavit. And no thick curtain, nor pleasant crackling on the fireplace or mother’s lullaby in her children’s ears, would keep them at bay.

Raeyn slept like a rock. Splayed across an extra mattress, with his fingertips on the floor and red hair in disarray. Mouth open. A pillow gently soaked with drool. His lashes twitched. A sign on unrestful sleep. For a man who was quite so handsome he really was a very ugly sleeper.

Perhaps it was a nightmare that awoke him from slumber. The kind which vanished upon the first sign on dawn, leaving little else but tension in the sleeper’s chest and confusion as to where they were. The most vivid of dreams were sometimes the hardest to recall. Or perhaps it was the pounding in his head. How many beers had he even had last night. He was neither an especially tall man nor exceedingly muscular so loosing count wasn’t a hard endeavour. Now the sweet agony of an early morning hungover once more descended upon the Inarta.

There was a familiar dryness at the back of his throat. A need for a glass of water that pulled barely awake Raeyn out of bed only to feel a smack on his head so hard that the moment of pain tore though him, rendering him numb. With a truly undignified curse slipping from his lips, Raeyn landed back in bed even faster than he attempted to get up. His eyes opened.

Blinking in confusion, Raeyn found himself staring at the face of that girl from last night who’se name he neither knew nor really truly cared about. The pounding in his head now localised to his forehead from that accidental fheadbutt which his foggy mind was very slowly coming to terms with. And once the reality of what just happened metaphorically hit him in the face, the embarrassment soon followed. Redder in the cheeks than a freshly ripened show apple Raeyn though only one thing in that exact moment: ‘It’s far to early for this shake.’

Suffice to say maintaining his dignity was no longer an option. Salvaging what threads were left had to suffice for Raeyn found himself very much disoriented, in the room of an instantly unfamiliar inn, with a strange girl, very much shirtless and stinking of booze. A number of unfortunate things which all mixed together could only spell one thing; disaster. Suddenly the havoc outside of the window wasn’t the worst tragedy that had befallen Lhavit. No. Certainly this encounter has won the top spot on that podium.

A million things reached though his mind. Some of which far less savoury than others. Though a quick glance around the room revealed another bed in a state of disarray which put that fear to bed pretty quickly. At least that line wasn’t crossed before he had the chance of even learning the name of whom he had the misfortune of having embarrassed himself so desperately in front of.

“May.. may I help you?” Raeyn muttered, What else was he suppose to say?! Perhaps an apology would have been more apt in this situation but it seemed words of humility didn’t roll of the tongue quite so easily first thing in the morning. Then again he was very much used to Mara’s presence at such times. Mara, who early on in their childhood learned that waking a sleeping Raeyn never brought on good results.

Every movement of his body hurt, partly due to the hungover and partly due to the ordeal of last night. Still he managed to shuffle to the edge of his mattress and create some distance between himself and the girl before attempting to lift his groggy head for a second time. A hand raised to his brow as if checking if his brain was still in it’s rightful place inside his skull. “What am I… where… who… eh…”

He stumbled over his words unceremoniously for a moment before collecting himself. One worry at a time. “What the hell did I do last night?” Red eyes looked at Narifa with hope that perhaps she would dispel his greatest fears. Perhaps she would tell him that he didn’t get completely wasted, babble over nonsense and do unspeakably embarrassing things. In the candle light of the room his eyes glistened with vulnerability. A very rare state for him. The man looked like he was about to cry.

[Narifa]

83rd Summer 518 AV

It was as if someone had singled Narifa out in the crowd and decided to paint a massive target all over her head and neck. Or attached a giant glowing sign that read 'hit me' to her person. Of course, most of the attacks could be attributed to her own carelessness, so she was in no spot to blame her pain on events that never happened. She'd leaned in just a tad too close to the creature that was her current subject of study. When his eyes made to flutter open and his head lifted with the struggle to wake up, the collision of forehead on forehead may or may not have caused her to blackout for the most minuscule of moments.

Narfia reared back, curses in both her native Nari and the common tongue flying from her lips as her hand came up to rub the newest bruise sure to form. She wanted to smack the man upside the head, just to give him even the smallest glimpse of the hurt she was putting up with at that moment. Alas, he hadn't actually done anything that warranted her frustration. The thought was stopped in its early stages anyway as she fought back another wave of nausea. Maybe she shouldn't have had that second drink that the hostess had offered her. But it was on the house! She couldn't have refused. And it had done wonders for her injuries when they'd come stumbling in from the disaster forming around Lhavit. Narifa shifted back towards the man.

Immediately, she was face to face with a groggy stare and flaming cheeks. His lips were twisted with embarrassment, but for the life of her, Narifa couldn't figure out why. Maybe he wasn't used to waking up to the sight of a woman near his bed. The Inarta didn't think she made for that horrible of a view. But now he was panicking, and Narifa couldn't help but remember kneeling on damp cobblestone, ferocious winds and unforgiving thunderclaps doing nothing to drown out the fear in his voice. She couldn't forget the look in his eyes, and the way his hands had trembled uncontrollably when he'd asked her if she could see what he was seeing.

"H-hey...Good morning," She started, although it was still so dark outside that she was unable to tell if it was actually morning, "It's alright, you don't need to be so alarmed." With a tinge of worry, Narifa placed her hands palm out in a calming gesture. She spoke softy, so as not to scare him. But when he took no heed to her words, and instead opened his mouth to ask his own question, the woman was taken aback. The terrible smell of stale booze and sleep clung to his breath like the sheets still clung to his lower body, and her worry dissolved into the storm raging outside.

Instead, she watched with thinly veiled amusement as he sloshed about to get away from her. She still had one knee on the bed, so it wasn't an unwarranted move. Narifa raised an eyebrow when he seemed to settle.

"What did you do?" An unrestrained feeling of mischief shot through to the very ends of her fingertips as the red head contemplated the question. Should she do it? He looked so cornered. This large man was cowering into his pillow before the female equivalent of a beansprout, and Narifa really needed to work more on her self-control. "Why, let me see..."

She put one thin finger to her lips.

"For starters, there was those poor bellows you thought would make a lovely way to dry our clothes...if you run down now, you might be able to salvage that shirt..."

A second finger joined the first, "And then there was that elk head. I'm sure when it was alive, it would have appreciated your compliments. But its eyes are so black now, what made you think they were akin to a sunrise over Zintia peak?"

She looked contemplative for another moment, rummaging around her brain for a grand finale, and when she found it, a smile like the sun lit up the room. A third finger popped up.

"Oh, and you also wanted to take that mirror over there," Narifa pointed to the one she just used, "To bed with you. Something about how no one was as lovely as the person you saw in it? You tried to pry it out of the casing, and told it not to worry. That your love would be forever and no wall was high enough for you to climb..."

Narifa shrugged when she was met with silence, "Perhaps you should take it down a notch next time. Who knows what you'll do..."

[Raeyn]

For a moment she had given him hope. A teeny tiny sliver of it, like the light though a keyhole. Hope that perhaps, in spite of it all, his pride could remain intact. But as soon as that little spark of hope was lit, the Inarta girl snuffed it out leaving nothing but darkness in it’s place.

For as she began too peek and describe such unimaginable atrocities, one by one, Raeyn’s heart dropped. Had he really gotten that plastered? He wasn’t much of a drinker, nor had he ever remembered being a menace whilst under the influence. And truly those action didn’t sound much like something he’d do… apart from the last one. That one may or may not have been a little familiar. Was it? No, certainly not. He was a sensible man… wasn’t he?

If there was a possibility for his expression to look even more shocked, broken and embarrassed all in one - this was the time. Eyes wide open, meeting her’s with horror painted in their deep blue pools. Lips slightly ajar as if he had not even the strength left to keep his mouth closed. He felt the very remnants of his pride slip though his fingers and shatter on the floor like a glass. Shards flying everywhere, wounding his very heart.

In that moment Raeyn made a vow to himself that never again would his lips touch alcohol. Never again would the thought of it cross his mind.

His hands flew up to cover his lips and his back rested against the wooden wall panels. “I’m going to kill my self.” mumbled Raeyn. Words slipped though fingers clenched so tight they turned pale. White patches speckled the skin around his nails. Patches which had not been there at the beginning of the season.

After a moment of sheer horror that washed over him like a total wave Raeyn finally forced himself to get his shake together. Controlling his breathing helped him to control his heartbeat and therefore his mind. A meditation technique he seemed to fall back on so often now. This behaviour was so very unbecoming of a gentleman. He could sit there, lick his wounds and let her petty him but what good would that do? Frazzled and stressed, yes he was, but he had a choice not to burden a stranger with his pathetic state.

Summoning the most polite smile he could, Raeyn finally looked at her. “I… am so Very sorry you had to see me in that state. I assure you it’s not a frequent occurrence and well… frankly, one I have no explanation for. I do hope you accept my deepest apologies miss…” his voice trailed off abruptly. He didn’t even know her name. Fancy that! The girl saw him wasted and half naked before he even found out her name. In Raeyn’s mind this was certainly a whole new low for him.

[Narifa]

83rd Summer 518 AV

Narifa should have been awarded a medal for the sheer amount of effort it took to keep her mouth screwed shut. Laughter was bubbling up in her throat as she watched the expressions play out on the man's face. He even threatened to off himself! Poor, poor stranger, reaching new shades of red every passing moment, fingers digging into his skin in shame. Her own hand was strangling the bed sheets in her struggle to control herself. Nonetheless, the corners of her lips turned up when he still tried to be polite about it.

When he finished, she couldn't help herself any longer. A happy giggle erupted from the tiny girl, pinpricks of tears forming in her closed eyes. Narifa tried to speak, to tell him that none of it was true, but every time she thought about what he would have looked like actually caressing a stuffed elk head, she lost it all over again. Finally, her hand lost its death grip on the bed and came up to wipe the tears away.

"Apology accepted, but highly unnecessary!" Another chuckle fell from her lips, "I was just teasing you, I swear. We came into the room last night after a few drinks, and you pretty much tripped onto the bed and passed out the second your head sensed a pillow. At least, I'm pretty sure that's what happened..."

The Inarta's memory was admittedly a little fuzzy. But she pressed on.

"Speaking of, have you any notion as to where we are exactly? I am not terribly familiar with this inn," Flashes of torrential downpour and a flickering flame in the distance crossed her mind as a sense of deja vu descended upon her, "Although, you didn't seem too overflowing with knowledge about the area last night either."

Determining that neither of them knew where they'd ended up, Narifa settled fully onto the mattress in defeat. She wondered what was actually going through this man's head at that moment. Was he wallowing in despair at the thought of spending another second with her? She didn't even know his name, how could she ever hope to ease his worries? The Inarta wilted at the thought. Her stomach chose that moment to moan and groan into the silence, demanding she fill it immediately.

Narifa blushed at the growl and ducked her head, mumbling under her breath, "Maybe we can talk more about this when we break our fast..."

[Raeyn]

What on earth could she be laughing so hard about? Was it something on his face, his hair? Was she lighting in his emotional anguish so much that it brought tears to her eyes. All Raeyn’s questions were soon answered as he learned that she was indeed just pulling his leg. And truthfully he did not like it. The polite half smile remained on his lips, albeit forced, but it Narifa looked close enough she could probably notice the little pulsing vain of roaring and unfathomable rage on his forehead. Such indignant! Such a cruel joke!

In many ways Raeyn was a little bit like a hamster. Always grumpy, never biting. His anger at the joke, however unpleasant, was likely nothing Narifa would need to worry about in the long term.

The next questions on her lips eased the tension of the moment a little as Raeyn’s attention switched to navigating the place they ended up in. In the corner the white couch caught his attention. The mattress he still sat on was barely inches off the floor, with a wooden slab beneath rather than anything reminiscent of a bed frame. Though cosy the interiors were very much in the distinct stile of Lhavit fashion though and though. “Looks like the Shooting Star…” he thought out loud. Although it was rare for him to visit the upstairs rooms, he was really quite familiar with the interiors of the bar.

Raeyn visited this establishment really quite frequently. After all it was his beloved sister’s place of employment. The staff knew him well and being able to get the odd drink on the house or a pair of eyes on his hound for the day was reason enough to tolerate their company. But he hadn’t remembered seeing her last night when the two, unlikely strangers, finally crashed though the front door and left puddles on the floor. And with this realisation Raeyn found himself both relieved and worried. If Mara hadn’t been stranded at work, it means she must be home safe with his parents in the Okomo estates. Of course this also meant that she must still be mad at him and that was never good.

Suffice to say Raeyn was quite uncomfortable with how close Narifa was to him. Even clothed on the best of days he liked to keep an aura’s length distance between himself an the world. Especially considering his current predicament, he’d far likely be separated by a wall that shielded his from her eyes. A one man island - he had fancied himself being.

But the audible grumble of her stomach reminded him how hungry he too have felt. The workaholic that he was, Raeyn often missed meals and it seemed the alcohol consumed the night before was his only meal of the day.

The offer of breakfast came to serious consideration as the Inarta man looked around the room for a moment. An expression of thoughtfulness on his face before he finally noticed some of his clothes in the corner of the room. Their considerable distance of placement away from him, who was their owner, really made Raeyn wonder how they might have ended up there. A question to which he perhaps didn’t quite want the answer to. A few chimes passed before his eyes finally met Narifa’s once more and he let out a deep sigh. A moment to prepare himself for the next unyielding wave of embarrassment. “My dear… Brekfast is truly a splendid idea but... ehmmm, a moment of privacy, please? I’m sure your boyfriend or husband or whatever would not be best pleased with the state of me right now…” His fingers brought the sheets a little higher to cover more of his form. For a man of liberal values, he really was quite prudish when it came to himself.

"Anyhow, do you have a name?" The moment those words left his lips he'd instantly regretted them. Of course she had a name! Everyone did. What sort of a stupid question was that? "What I mean is... well... we made it out of the storm together. It's a little strange to not know what to call you after all that."

[Narifa]

83rd Summer 518 AV

Narifa could very well indeed see the sign of unfathomable fury pulsating on the man's forehead. Internally, she chastised herself; she'd taken the joke too far. Especially considering the fact that she had no idea who this man was, and neither was she aware of what his sense of humour was like (or if he even had one). As a girl, Narifa had only ever been an underfoot nuisance. She'd never condoned such immature teasing! Sinking still deeper into the mattress, the Inarta busied herself by squashing whatever evil it was that had possessed her in the moment previous. This only served to show her why she should stick to watching and wandering.

Her ears twitched, however, when they caught the tail end of the stranger's mumbled thoughts. Narifa perked up immediately.

"The Shooting Star! Oh, that's not far from home at all! My home is...it's close enough to around the corner," Close enough to around three or four corners, more like. But the man fretting in front of her didn't need to know that, "We may have over-exaggerated about being lost. Just a bit."

When the red-haired man looked pained at her query for breakfast, Narifa almost opened her mouth once more. It wasn't that hard of a decision, really sir! The young woman could only huff in silence. Maybe she needed to bathe. Did she smell bad enough to warrant his reluctance? Pretty as he was, this guy probably went for a soak every other day, and that was a number that Narifa could never hope to match. Even so, she discreetly turned her nose towards her own fiery locks to take a sniff. It seemed fine to her.

The girl turned a confused brow back to him as he finally came to a decision, "Privacy? What do you need that for? We all look the same anyway."

Privacy was not something she'd been well-acquainted with, living alongside who knows how many other individuals at every waking moment. Her sense of when to give others time to themselves was slightly dulled as a result. Nonetheless, the woman slapped a hand over mouth before she could tell him to deal with her continued presence in the room. This was not Wind Reach. She absolutely could not expect people outside of the Mountain to adhere to her own cultural habits! She let an apologetic hum escape through the cracks between her fingers.

"Forgive me. Shall I go downstairs and ask the staff for something to eat? I assure you, however, that I have neither a romantic partner nor a spouse. I'm here, all on my own." That last part was said with unintentional pride. But it was true. Narifa had left all on her own, with her own funds and her own dreams. She'd found a place that accepted most of who she was and what she loved without a recommendation from anyone. The young traveler was extremely proud of the place she'd carved for herself. She couldn't wait to find other journeys to write herself into.

She giggled again, "That should have been the first thing we knew of each other! I'm called Narifa. And you? Tell me, and then I'll leave you to your...privacy."

[Raeyn]

It was a little surprising to him quite how close they lived. And in spite of it all had they ever met before? They were hardly the only people of Wind Reach blood in the city so he couldn’t be blamed for not remembering her face.

Truly Raeyn couldn’t understand why she insisted on seeing him quite so vulnerable. In fact he took offence to it. Prudish as ever, he was already far out of his rather modest comfort zone with little else than sheets wrapped around him. There was no way in Mizahar he’d ever agree with her. They certainly did not look the same. Not by far.

The way she spoke about her single life left a bit of a wrong impression on Raeyn. Instead of taking the statement as one of pride, as it was intended, he instead was almost entirely convinced she’d take the first chance to hit on him. Something he hoped to avoid by all costs. Regardless, he gave her his name so that alas she’d let him get dressed.

Thankfully it didn’t take much to persuade her and soon enough Raeyn found himself well and truly able to get dressed in peace. A little miffed to find patches of his rather lovely garments still soaked though as the roaring fires of the hearth had not managed to dry out all the horrors of last night, he dressed himself none the less. It took a little bit of finger coming to her all the knots out of his hair. He was indeed thankful for all the toiletries provided in the room and the ability to wash his face and tidy himself up a little. A way to feel a little more himself.

Raeyn needed that: to feel entirely himself in his own skin again. He hasn’t for so long.

The sigs of his hands wasn’t exactly the most pleasant of things to look at. Not that he had ever given his condition two moments of thought when it was still very much contained and almost charming. Now that patches of pigment were missing around his nails, replaced by white patches that only seemed to be getting bigger by the day, Raeyn had never felt quite this harsh a lack of self esteem. The mirror didn’t paint a less cruel picture either. Perhaps there was a tiny bit of paranoia in there, but the Inarta could have sworn that there was more white hair sprouting from his crown than usual.

In was only half way down the stairs that the name finally rang a bell in his mind. The man hurried down to meet her once more, eager to let her know of his realisation. A little pin print in his mind. He didn’t fancy himself a man easily forgettable.

“Narifa.” He announced, finally regaining some of that self assuredness and dominance in his voice which he possessed what now seemed like a life time ago. “I… we’ve met before. The night of the banquet… How could I forget. Please forgive me. This is so embarrassing.”

He walked over resembling a wet rag a little more than the finely dressed man than he usually was but at least he was alive and that’s all that really mattered. “I’m Mara’s brother. I sincerely doubt that you remember me but well, it’s splendid to see you again none the less. What a chance we’d bump into each other under such circumstances, eh?”

[Narifa]

83rd Summer 518 AV

Narifa held on to the man's name as if afraid it would disappear with the wind. Raeyn. How lovely in it's simplicity. She parroted the word back to him, to cement name and face in her memory. The Inarta payed no mind to his offended demeanor when he spit it out. She didn't have it in her to be defensive about much of anything, especially when it came to strangers-but-not-really.

Entirely unaware of the fact that Raeyn assumed she was making an advance towards him, Narifa gently poked one of the knees beneath the sheets in delight, claiming, "It's a pleasure to meet you, Raeyn. I'll be downstairs, then."

The woman was for the most part fully dressed. She'd sat close enough to the fire last night to make a large number of the staff quite nervous, and her clothes were of a hardy material, so frigid rain was a thing of the past. So out of the room she went, into the corridor and down the stairwell. The layout of the inn was easy to follow. She would have been ashamed if she'd gotten lost.

When she was finally settled at one of the guest tables, waiting for Raeyn to join her before she went searching for something to eat, Narifa placed her head in her hands to mull him over. He was kind, she was sure of that. But also terribly prickly. And sensitive. He was quickly becoming a mystery the likes of which Narifa had never encountered. His name bounced from one side of her thoughts to the other, vaguely familiar and entirely foreign all at once. Had she met him somewhere before? It was something to bring up later.

Narifa uncrossed and crossed her legs on the other side while she waited. But as she put more of her weight on the chair, something hard began digging into her thigh. Annoyed, Narifa shoved her hand into her pocket and pulled out the amulet she'd picked up. For lack of anything else to occupy her time, the girl began fiddling with the pendant, turning it to and fro in her solitude.

She was startled out of the daze she'd fallen into, however, when her name boomed across the hall. She jumped and almost dropped the necklace as her eyes followed Raeyn's now confident stride. What he said surprised her even more so.

"We have?" Incredulous, Narifa began mumbling her thoughts to herself, "Banquet, banquet...what banquet? Did I go to a banquet?"

Images of joyous dancing and unmatched splendor crowded her vision before it clicked.

"Ah! You! Yes, Raeyn and Mara, of course, how could I have forgotten? I couldn't recognize this place without all of its festival finery and massive trays of booze," Narifa's smile turned up a notch as she gestured towards the other chair across from her, "What an absolutely splendid coincidence. Sit, sit, please. I think my stomach might begin eating me soon enough."

She didn't remember ever being so ravenous.

[Raeyn]

The moment his eyes laid on the familiar head of fiery read locks, Raeyn wasted little time to join her at her table. He settled himself on one of the white velvet chairs, making sure to pull the dryer parts of the cloak under his butt to ensure he wouldn’t damage the precious fabric. As he did so the Inarta man waved his fingers though his hair and pulled it loosely hanging, for once, draping it across one of his shoulders. A polite half smile on his face. Remnants of blush still lingered in his cheeks beneath his freckles. He tilted his head to the side, watching Narifa rummage her memories for that one specific evening he spoke of.

Soon enough she remembered it with an almost infectious smile on her face. Almost, for Raeyn didn’t easily succumb to such infection. Still his demeanour loosened a little and his expression was far less severe so at least there was that.

Pleased at this Raeyn nodded in a reply. “Yes. She’d my twin sister. The resemblance is uncanny is it not.” He laughed in jest. In spite of being siblings the two were hardly identical. “Mara mentioned how beautiful you looked later that evening. How you reminded her of stories we both heard as children from our grandfather who had once lived in Wind Reach. ’Tis a pity she doesn’t seem to be at work but I’ll mention I’ve ran into you when…. well…” Raeyn swallowed. Though he did his best to keep the atmosphere a little less gloomy, a shadow of sadness twinkled behind his eyes. “… when she stops avoiding me.”

Why was he confiding that in her? It was hardly an appropriate topic of conversation between two virtual strangers. He was a little embarrassed of himself for yammering on so much when the woman clearly needed food first rather than a conversation but the day was young and he still had time to atone for his sins. And soon enough he politely beaconed over one of the bar maids who had been trapped at the inn overnight due to the storm. Much like both him and Narifa - albeit far more him - she looked like she could do with some more sleep.

Raeyn didn’t really ask for anything to eat other than water. His head felt fuzzy. Not quite hungover but not completely sober either but at least it kept the voices at bay. Not quite silent but at least their whispering was low. Murderous but at least hard to make out. He seemed a little distracted, watching the waitress tend to Narifa’s requests a little blankly. He was desperate to keep those voices a secret.

“Well, it seems that neither of us will be getting home any time soon, unless of course you feel brave enough to go back out in that storm. Seems hardly advisable.” he mused as his eyes trailed towards the outside. There was nobody on the streets. The wind and mist peaked havoc though the city. “So tell me a little about yourself. Where do you work? What do you do. It seems so strange to meet you for a second time and still know so little about you.”

Idleness was such a strange feeling for him. Being able to do little more than converse whilst waiting out this strange crimson storm was truly almost a foreign concept to a man who spoke more to animals than he did to people. “My self I’m a hunter. Not a fantastic one but hey, it puts food on the table at least. I suppose that’s all one can ever really ask for.”

It was only then that a familiar gleam of gold caught his eyes. A pendant in her palms that looked strangely familiar. His pendant.

Raeyn’s eyes narrowed. The smirk of before disappeared on his face and was quickly replaced by apparent curiosity. “Where did you find that?” He asked, low enough so that only she could hear. At this point he hadn’t committed to the suspicion that she stole it. After all neither of them seemed truly certain of last night’s events and he never wore the thing in a way that was properly visible. Often he’d tuck it beneath his shirt or in his pocket, fancying himself a man of far prettier jewellery. But the magical necklace was useful, no two doubts about it.

“Do you know what you’re holding right now?” He asked, a little curious. Perhaps she was well versed in the ways of auristics and had already figured out the quirky nature of the jewel. Such things he wondered. If that was the case Narifa would indeed make quite the useful ally.

“Put it on.” he said, testing her. She wouldn’t be wrong to grow suspicious judging by the tone of his voice. “I’d love to see what happens.”