All according to plan? (Arlana)

[Adrien Strade]

36 Fall 514AV: All According to Plan? Adrien tapped his fingers to his thigh as he kept shifting his position restlessly. He was trying not to attract attention to himself. No, he wouldn’t mess around carelessly on the job tonight. He didn’t want to endanger his companion for the night. He didn’t want that. The Castle Commons were quiet today…as it has been for some days now. People were still coming to talk with friends or to check whether there were, by some miracle, a store or two that has opened up. Despite the people flocking or going through the Castle Commons, there was still no sign of the person he was meeting tonight. Adrien was starting to wonder whether he got the message right and was in the right place. His stomach growled and he was reminded of the reason he was here in the first place. He was starving. Really…he already was trying to use the small ration he had sparsely but it was starting to run out. Besides, that measly stock of food was starting to make him sick. Well, he really shouldn’t complain. He was considering leaving because he had been waiting too long in that one place. He really was starting to attract attention and he didn’t want that…not tonight, at least. It didn’t matter how good the job tonight was. He knew that his hunger would be a great impediment if anyone chose to fight him because he had been suspiciously lurking around. He was just about to leave when he heard footsteps approaching him. Whoever it was kept to the shadow of the alley they were in. He couldn’t identify who it was. He was immediately on his guard, prepared to take the knife hidden in his sleeve out at any moment. “Who is it? I’m telling you now, I can fight well enough and I barely have anything that would make it worth it to attack me.” Adrien was unusually serious and calm as he assessed the situation. The hunger he was feeling was really making him quite cranky and out of his normal playful moods.

[Arlana]

The young woman blinked as her consciousness came slowly, stretching on her ratty bed. What time is it?, she thought. It seemed like she had overslept. Her hair was falling on her face and she brushed it away in annoyance. Was she late for her meeting already? For a moment, Arlana considered surrendering to the fatigue and drown herself back into the embrace of sleep.

At least her stomach cramps had subsided. Last night, it had hit her in terrible waves, enough to make her curl in pain and dig her fingers into the bed. She hated that she was prone to such attacks when she was starved. As a citizen in a poor and chaotic city, such a weakness was troublesome. It rendered her entirely useless, trapped in too much pain to do much of anything. Sometimes she wondered if she should get that checked out, but she couldn’t waste a single miza on a doctor.

For the past week, the thief had been starved. It had been a few days since she had finished her rations and all she had eaten since then were measley scraps and whatever she had managed to steal. Every night she slept on an empty stomach. It was pathetic. She hadn’t had enough energy to do much of anything, and Arlana knew she had to stock up somehow. Soon.

Hunger was taking its toll. She could notice that she got exhausted more easily, her focus wavering constantly, her movements sluggish. It had gotten to the point when she didn’t even dare to use her magic. She feared that her body wouldn’t be strong enough. What if she lost her focus in the middle of her morphing? She would instantly turn back to her original form and people would know that she was a mage. And that would not be very healthy. Like being-killed-on-sight kind of unhealthy.

Breaking her train of thought, Aurum whined loudly as he settled on the bed, laying his head on her lap. She had been getting her guard dog less and less food – she could barely even feed herself. If it went on any longer, Arlana feared that her faithful pet will end up dead soon. Truthfully, she had thought of letting him roam and find his own meal in the city, but she suspected someone would capture him and turn him into fresh meat. Arlana couldn’t risk that.

“I’ll get us some food,” she promised, patting the canine’s head as she climbed off the bed. She looked at the edibles on her rackety table hungrily. She got a stale bread and one day’s ration. These were her very last supplies. Arlana had kept herself from eating these foods specifically for today. She needed to stuff herself and get enough energy to pull what she had in mind off.

It was a stroke of luck that had been the seed of the plan blooming inside her mind. Arlana had been wandering on the edges of the city, desperate to spot some sort of caravan or traveler – just like most of the Sunberthians. She didn’t dare to travel to far from the city, but at least she tried to slip into the wilderness for a brief moment. Arlana had been hoping to fine some kind berry bush of some kind. Instead, she had found something much better.

A lone hunter, camped not too far from the city. She could spot the rabbits and squirrels he had captured, tied together. Meat. Fresh meat. It had taken all of Arlana’s self-control not to simply grab the food and slink away. That would certainly be a stupid thing to do. So, the thief left reluctantly, planning on returning.

Rather hurriedly, Arlana gobbled down her food. When she faced her cracked mirror, she couldn’t help noticing how pale she looked. Hastily, she got dressed in clean clothes and tidied herself up the best she could. She needed to look acceptable, at least, but not too dressed up to attract attention. In a last effort to make herself look decent, she pinched her cheeks for some color on her face.

She took a deep breath as she left the sad squat building she called home. Arlana straightened, making sure that she looked confident, hiding the weakness inside of her. Here in Sunberth, the weak got picked off. Her mother’s gladius hung threatening from her belt, a warning to anyone who decided to pick her as a target – even though she couldn’t really use the blade.

Head down and hugging closely to the walls, the young woman made her way through the streets. Less and less people had been wandering lately, probably cooped up somewhere, too weak to move. It wouldn’t take long for her to end up like them.

Finally, she could spot the back of familiar figure, standing alone in an alley. It didn’t take a scholar to be able to tell that the young man was restless and suspicious. Arlana decided to approach quietly.

“Who is it? I’m telling you now, I can fight well enough and I barely have anything that would make it worth it to attack me.”

Arlana rolled her eyes as she heard Adrien’s threat. “Don’t be so dramatic, Adrien. It’s just me.” With ease, she walked past him and eyed the throng of starving people milling around the other side of the alley before whirling to face her old friend. It had been a while since she had seen him and the sight of the raven-haired young man was enough to remind her of their days in the Orphanage. “I see the diet hasn’t been treating you well.”

About two days ago, she had decided to leave a message for Adrien, telling him to meet her. Arlana knew she needed help for what she was about to do and the first person that had come into her mind was Adrien. He was her very first partner-in-crime and she didn’t see why they couldn’t be working together again. Besides, Arlana trusted his skills – she was the one who taught him after all. It had seemed like a long time ago, those days when he was still the quiet kid who was somewhat shorter than her.

“Did you miss me?” she asked with a smirk.

“Speech.” “Hypnotism.”

[Adrien Strade]

Adrien relaxed as he saw the familiar figure of his childhood friend. He dropped his guard and leaned on the wall of the building near him. She was safe, thank the gods for that. He was beginning to believe that something malicious had befallen her. It was really nice to be able to see her again. “I’m not being dramatic,” he said, as an answer to her bit of teasing. “You have no idea how many people have attacked me just this week. People will do anything for a bit of food right now, you know.” “I see the diet hasn’t been treating you well,” she commented, as she looked him over. He shifted his weight and sighed at her examination. He raised an eyebrow and gave a cheeky smile. “You think? I haven’t had anything sweet for weeks and it’s getting on my nerves. You know, I love sweet things. My rations are running out, as well. I’d give it a day or two before my reserves would be officially empty. I’ve been trying to save it as best as I could.” He laughed when she asked him the question about missing her. Did she even have to ask that? “Of course, I missed you.” Adrien ran a gloved hand through his hair. “How long has it been since we last saw each other? It’s got to be at least a season long since we last met, right? How have you been since then?” Adrien then mirrored the same smirk she wore just a few chimes ago. “So, what are we meeting about? You said you had a job that would be able to get us some food. What’s our plan of action?”

[Arlana]

Arlana was briefly touched by the young man’s honest reply. He was one of the few people who she considered as friend and one she actually cared about. Sunberth was no place to make friends, truth be told, when you were adults at least. Most of the people she trusted these days she had known since her time in the Orphanage. Knowing someone when they were younger gave her a certain perspective of what they were like.

“Don’t worry. If everything goes well, we shall have a nice dinner,” she replied assuringly. Of course, Arlana was not that convinced for she didn’t think it would be an easy task. She had no way of knowing how skilled the hunter was - he might have been an astonishingly good shot with his bow and able to kill them from a long distance away for all she knew. It was slightly unlikely though, cause the thief had noticed that he missed a lot of shots as he hunted a few days earlier. She hoped she didn’t misjudge that. “If you’re up for it, I got a plan.”

The female burglar took a step closer to her fellow thief, eager to share what she had thought. It wasn’t as if she thought anyone would overhear them, but it just seemed more secure not to speak about it too openly. Who knows, someone might steal her idea and exploit her possible food source?

When she was finished, she took a step back, her eyes watching Adrien closely. She wondered if he might decline and decided to track down the hunter himself. If he was anyone else, Arlana had no doubt it would happen, but she trusted a bit more than she did the normal person. There was, of course, the fact that they had not seen each other for quite some time. He might be changed. He might not. “So, what do you think?”

“Speech.” “Hypnotism.”

[Adrien Strade]

Adrien smiled at the assurance from his longtime friend. She was, in a way, already a sister to him. They grew up together and he trusted her to deliver on what she had said. If not, well it really wasn’t her fault if there were some unforeseen circumstances. Though, he did hope that wasn’t going to happen. “Hopefully, you’re right. I miss having something in my stomach,” He said with a smile. “You know I’m up for any scheme you’ve come up with it especially if it’s going to bring us food.” He took the hint as she stepped closer and leaned in to listen to her words. He listened intently, nodding at appropriate parts and even grinning at some. It felt nostalgic somehow to be plotting something like this. It felt like they were back to being children scheming how to get things that they wanted. “So, what do you think?” she asked, stepping back and looking at him. He grinned at her, putting his hands in his pockets. Already, excitement was buzzing over him at the prospect of food and adventure. “Do you even have to ask?” he said with a laugh. “I’m in. Let’s go. Shall we start?” Adrien was pretty sure he looked pretty childish bouncing with excitement at the chance that he’ll be able to eat something later on. It wasn’t just that, though. Even if they failed, the whole thing would be a good distraction from the fact that he was hungry. Plus, he’d always take the chance to mess with anyone. It has always been like that. He briefly wondered if Arlana thought the whole thing was nostalgic as well, if it reminded her of the past as it did to Adrien. They were like this as children, too, if he remembered correctly.

[Arlana]

Even though he’s basically a young man now, Arlana still found that Adrien was an endearing boy. It was like being in Sunberth did not quite affect him the way it did everyone else – or if even it did, he hid it extremely well. The mere of idea of stirring up trouble made him excited like she had just given him a gift. Now that the thief thought about it, her trust for Adrien developed fairly quickly compared to others was because of his innocence. She could not quite imagine that he might betray her some day. It was a dangerous line of thought – making her more vulnerable – but she simply could not help it.

She still remembered the days where they would create a game to steal little trinkets from the other children and then selling it for some sweet treats. It got them into some trouble with Calyn, but the small burst of happiness was worth it. Besides, she didn’t feel any guilt for stealing from those awful Sunberthian kids.

Though this time, they got a lot more on the line. It was no game. If Lhex was feeling particularly murderous, they might end up hurt or worse. “Let’s go then.”

--------------------------

After going through the city with no trouble – most were probably too weak to bother two skinny looking people – they arrived at the edge of the city. Arlana’s eyes scanned the wilderness of trees and shrubs that spanned before them. Going out into the woods was not something she was fond of doing. The dangers of a city and the dangers of the wild were two wholly different things.

It’s just for a short while, it’s not even that far, she thought to herself. It was hard to imagine the time when she was younger, when she actually spent more time with nature than she did the city. Faintly, alone could recall the clean smell of leaves and wet earth, the swaying motions of riding a horse, a pair of arms making sure she wouldn’t fall off. She was laughing, truly laughing as she turned to look at Arlain. But then again, she used to be with her family.

Pushing away her reluctance, Arlana approached the row of trees, eyes scanning for the mark she had left a few days ago. Her fingers ran through the trunks, feeling the ridges just in case her eyes missed it. There was always a chance that the hunter had moved his camp or even left entirely, but only yesterday, she had made sure that he was in place. It didn’t seem like he was packing his supplies soon, so she guessed he should still be there for another day or two, at least.

When she found the mark, Arlana gestured at Adrien to follow her, holding a finger in front of her lips. Even though, Adrien was a decent thief, she could be entirely sure that he knew kept light on his feet – most men seemed to have trouble with that and it would not bode well for them if their approach was heard before the plan can start.

To be honest, now that she was here with pounding heart and sweaty hands, Arlana was not entirely sure that this would work. There were many factors she did not take into account and there’s a huge chance that this might get ugly. But what else could she do, really? The young woman could not get even a morsel of food from inside the city and she did not have the skills to provide herself with meals. What she can do was steal and that was exactly what she was planning on doing.

Her steps were silent as she slipped between the trees, making sure that she did not accidentally step on a piece of branch. “It’s just up ahead,” she whispered.

“Speech.” “Hypnotism.”

[Adrien Strade]

Adrien followed Arlana as she led them to wherever. If it was anyone else in Sunberth, maybe he would have hesitated or thought twice before following them. But, Arlana was a different story. They had a past together and he actually trusted her to know that she wasn’t leading him to a trap. They passed the city without any incident and it was enough for him to give a small sigh of relief. Tensions have been high ever since the people have realized that the stores weren’t going to open anytime soon and that there was no food for anybody. He himself has been attacked by some of the desperate and starved masses. The moment they came to the woods, Adrien tensed. He was all for adventure but nature was unfamiliar territory and he had learned long ago that unfamiliar territory should be regarded warily and with his guard up. He watched patiently as Arlana tried to search for something, probably a mark she had left to know where their target was. Once she had found it, she gestures at him to keep silent and he does his best to do as she ordered. He was careful as he followed her. He tried his best not to rustle anything or to step on any unsuspecting branches lest he accidentally announce their arrival. The whole setting of the forest made him feel like they were both hunters stalking their unsuspecting prey. He hoped he was right and that their so-called “prey” was still unknowledgeable about their plans. The whole plan had half a chance of failing and half a chance of succeeding when he thinks about it. It wasn’t that Arlana made a mistake or anything. It was just that there were too many unknown factors that could play a big part in the whole picture. There were things the two of them simply could not control. She paused as she whispered that their target was just up ahead and suddenly his heart sped up in anticipation, excitement and nervousness. He tried not to show any of that as he grins at her and nod. “Well, then, let’s do this,” Adrien whispered a reply. “There’s no backing out now. I’ll wait for your signal?”