A Journey Always Begins With The First Step

[Nayt]

"That's true . . ." Kei replied to Hrothgar's comment about the outside; it would've been fairly miserable to sleep out there. She also made a mental note to surprise Hrothgar with little candies as part one of the process of repaying him for the paying her way out of sleeping out in the cold.

Anyways . . .

"'night," she said nonchalantly, before relaxing where she sat.

Kei was content in the far right corner of the room for the time being. She didn't feel too tired, and she liked this vantage point. She could wait quietly for Hrothgar and Aiden to fall asleep, and then she, herself, could sneak into the cot and fall asleep as well. It was a brilliant plan. That way, neither of them, even if they weren't as potentially virtuous as Kei hoped they were, were going to have the edge over her. Truth be told, the cot was right between both beds, so either of them could have gotten the jump on her if they really wanted to.

This, of course, was the problem with traveling alone, especially as a woman. When you'd been alone for so long and understood the feral nature of male sexuality, it simply became a survivalist method to keep an eye on them until you felt deep in your bones that they were harmless-- at least to you. She'd been doing good so far in regards to the category of evading such a disaster, it would've been a waste of innumerable years to have a disaster, however unlikely it may be, occur tonight. Distrust, nonetheless, was simply a matter of precaution. Nonetheless, as soon as she was sure Hrothgar and Aiden were sufficiently asleep, Kei would quietly crawl into the cot herself, cover herself in the loose sheet it was provided, and silently fall asleep-- once her heart stopped beating so damn hard, of course.

There was a brief ruckus in the room connected to theirs during the course of the night, but it was relatively quiet and only lasted several seconds before dying down. The rest of the night would otherwise be a peaceful one . . .

[Zach Kaiser]

Kei would have been hard pressed to find two guys she was more safe with; Hrothgar seemed far too polite and kind to try anything funny, and Aiden was engrossed in his own little world, hardly even noticing she was there. If Kei waited for him to go to bed she'd be up rather late; Aiden read for a few hours before taking out his journal and writing.

Today was interesting, to say the least. I was almost to Ceildh when a trio consisting of two dim seeming thugs and a man named Braxa started chasing me. I got away with a guy named Hrothgar (who doesn't look anything like you'd think a Hrothgar would look like), but one of them destroyed a lot of my paper with fire somehow. It was too fast to be normal. I'm worried...I can handle normal people well enough, but if they're...

Ceidh apparently has only one inn, in any case, and the room was really expensive. Hrothgar seemed to think the innkeeper overcharges us because I'm hiding from the thugs; I'll have to see if I can make arrangements tomorrow, or I'm going to run out of money before the fair starts.

Oh, and there's this girl named Kei staying with us. She couldn't afford a room so Hrothgar offered to let her stay with us. I think he paid for her cot, too. It's a little strange having a girl in the room, but she's quiet so I guess it doesn't matter. I wonder if Hrothgar likes her, though. She's searching for the Prophecies of the Lost; I didn't think they really existed, but she seems convinced they do. I hope she finds them; I'd love to read them if they're real.

I wonder if Hrothgar and Kei will go searching together. She has a quest, and Hrothgar tried to save me so I guess in a way he's a hero. Or he at least could be one. If it were a book I think they'd go searching together. But could I go with? I suppose I could be the sidekick, but I'd probably just get left behind.

When he was done writing Aiden finally seemed to notice Kei's presence, but all he did was glance uneasily at her for a few moments before taking off his blazer and curling up in bed. A girl in the room didn't matter much, he supposed, if the girl was as quiet as Kei. If it were a book something crazy would probably happen and Hrothgar would end up on top of her or something and he'd get the wrong impression, except that he knew how these things happened from books so he wouldn't.

Eventually he drifted off to sleep, trying decide if Hrothgar and Kei fit better in an adventure novel or a romantic comedy.

[Nayt]

The room, to be discovered upon the inevitable waking of either Hrothgar or Aiden (likely the former, as Aiden fell asleep hours after Hroth was already in the calm comforts of dream), was in fairly decent condition. Nothing was moved, nothing was damaged. Nothing was touched or missing at all.

Except for Kei. Kei wasn't available in the slightest. The cot was still between Hrothgar and Aiden's beds, but there was no female body inhabiting it. It would be impossible to discern if she'd left in the morning or not. As it was, she didn't seem to have any personal effects except for that which she kept in her pockets, and as she went to sleep with those still in her pockets, there were no personal effects with which to determine her status. Besides, even if she did have a bag or anything of the like, she'd have probably taken it with her if she went out for any real length of time . . .

This difference aside, the morning was a pleasant one. The cold of Ulsterian night was replaced by a middling temperature; warm, but not too warm. This, incidentally, was about as warm as it ever got in Ulster. The country was far north enough that winters were excessively fierce and summers were nothing shy of mild.

[adi]

Hrothgar woke up slowly and groggily. So used to his set routine of having a small table near the bedside, he rolled over and reached his hand for his dream journal. His arm waved around in the air for a few moments before he sleepily realized that he had placed the tattered tome under his pillow. The redhead retrieved the book and flipped it open to the first blank page he could find, his movements well practiced and automatic.

The pen cap was removed and held between his teeth, and his hand moved quickly in short bullet points to write down what fleeting memories he could remember of the night's dreams. His writing was sloppy and chaotic, and he didn't seem to follow any sense of organization on the page. This was mostly due to the haste in which he wrote, and the strange way in which he held his pen. Rather then grip it between his thumb and forefinger, he held it between his ring and smallest finger. He used his thumb to press his smallest finger in and vice the pen tight.



The redhead gnawed at the pen cap for a few moments, waiting for any more wisps of memory of his dreams to stick in his head. None came, and he capped the pen and closed the journal. He rubbed at his eyes sleepily, and stretched his arms above his head, as if he just now woke up rather then being fully conscious while he jotted down what he could remember. He finally seemed to take notice of his surroundings, and the missing woman.

"Mornin'," he groggily stated to the room at large. His voice was quiet, still tinged with sleeping time mucous. He frowned, concentrating on sounding somewhat on top of things. After a short clearing of his throat, "Where'd uh... whatshername go? Kei. Where's she?"

[Zach Kaiser]

At Hrothgar addressing him, Aiden sat up in bed, slowly blinking the sleep from his eyes. He was fortunately used to not getting enough sleep; it was normal for him to read late into the night despite having class the next morning. Though admittedly he'd figured he could have slept in today, at least.

Blearily, Aiden looked down at the cot before simply shrugging. It wasn't as though she had any pressing to stay with them, so he figured she simply took off to continue her search or whatever it was that she was doing.

Though only half awake, habit guided him to complete a morning routine, so after grabbing some basic hygienic supplies from his suitcase he wandered into the bathroom to prepare for the day.

[adi]

Hrothgar hadn't meant to wake up Aiden. He had thought he had slept in substantially, judging by the light given by the window. He strained to listen and did not hear much commotion outside, suggesting that it was either the mid-morning or mid-afternoon. Either way it was later then he would have liked to have slept, trying to get on a normal circadian schedule then what disruption he had experienced with school.

The redhead withdrew the dwindling supply of hygiene products that remained in his satchel. He removed his shirt, briefly sniffing the shirt to see if it was still suitable to wear. Rubbing his jawline with the backs of his fingers, he made some lazy estimations as to how far he could stretch the supplies he had. He could stand to wait a day or two before his facial hair required a full shaving, and if he was leaving soon, then he could let it go for a bit longer. Though it was prone to looking scraggly, and that certainly wasn't all that impressive. He wondered if he would be nearly as self-conscious if Kei hadn't been a woman.

Shoving those thoughts to the side, Hrothgar stood and stretched. He felt achey from all the running and walking he had done the day earlier. He wanted very much to back to bed, and he probably could. There wasn't much else he really had to do in Ceildh, he was wondering if he would have bothered to even stay for the book fair had he not run into Aiden and earned Braxa's ire by proxy. He supposed he could look about for another inn that had rooms for cheaper, ten gold seemed ridiculously steep. He sat upon the edge of the bed, waiting for use of the bathroom before he made any definite plans for the day.

[Zach Kaiser]

There was much to be considered for the day; Braxa and his thugs could have been still been wandering around, necessitating a low profile. Finding another place to stay was important, too, as neither Aiden nor Hrothgar could afford to keep paying the outrageous rates here.

But as he exited the bathroom the first thing Aiden asked was, "What time does the library open?" He didn't recall having seen it, and he was hoping Hrothgar knew. Of course, he wasn't sure what time it was now, but that he could reasonably figure out by looking out the window or going outside.

As Hrothgar was probably beginning to guess, he had a bit of a one track mind...

[adi]

Hrothgar was almost surprised at the boy's question. Almost. He was gradually beginning to learn that Aiden did not have usual mind-set he would expect of a boy his age. It was as if in the creation of the boy's brain, several normal functions and reactions were completely left out and those involving books and literature were amplified. If there could be dials set to each normal function, ranging from one to ten, those in particular would be cranked up to eleven.

"Ah, I dunno," Hrothgar replied with shrug of his freckled shoulders as he gathered his things for his turn in the bathroom. "Though I would guess that it would open at least by mid-morning or noon at the latest. Most libraries do."

"I was going to check out the other inn prices," he said as he stood at the door to the bathroom, toeing it open slowly. He did not want to dismiss Aiden completely because of his one-track mind. It actually seemed to work better this way. If Aiden was in the library, then he would be surrounded by books, which Hrothgar suspected he found some sort of magic resonance with. And Hrothgar could more easily walk about the town, though he would have to formulate some lies to weave if he should happen upon Braxa or one of his companions.

"You could go to the library, and then we could meet in there later and I can tell you what prices I found, maybe?"

[Zach Kaiser]

Aiden stared out the window, trying to estimate the time of day. It looked like late afternoon, so the library was probably open. Besides, the building itself had been unlocked even without anyone around, so even if the desk was empty again he could probably get in.

"Sure." Aiden was glad for Hrothgar's presence; he didn't want to have split his time between hunting for lodging and the library, and it was better that he remain as out of sight as possible for the time being--and amongst the shelves of books would be particularly safe for him.

Without further commentary, he packed his things back in his suitcase and would leave, heading back to the library.

[Nayt]

And time passed . . .

By an hour into the search, Hrothgar would find that there were no other inns in town. The old lady had Ceildh in a stranglehold. If you wanted a trustworthy place to stay, it had to be her place. Despite this, everyone from tavern owner to regular average citizen talked nicely of Mrs. Fields. She was the sweetest old lady, they all said; in fact, no one ever once mentioned anything about inflated prices for undeservingly small rooms. Instead, talk generally consisted of how great of a baker she was, how kind it was for her to help Ceildh's struggling school with raising money, and how sweet it was of her to come warmly to anyone who needed a good hug, or maybe a good collection of home baked cookies to get their minds off of things.

Aiden, on the other hand, discovered an hour ago that the library was open and empty, just like it was yesterday, except completely empty--there was no Kei or Hrothgar to potentially bother him there, nor anyone at the desk. It was unlikely that Hrothgar was going to see much of Aiden 'til he physically moved to the library.

Before that, though, Hrothgar would come to one suitable discovery, however violent: Kei. He'd find Kei. Or rather, she'd find him. Or rather, they'd find each other in an equally as embarrassing way. It was when Hroth was nearing a corner, following his inconclusive search for alternative sleeping arrangements, that he'd hear a voice from around the corner he was steadily nearing:

"That's fine! I didn't want to help your stupid son move, anyways!"

Following which, upon his arrival at that corner, where one road met another at the corner of a needlessly pink house, a body in storming stomp would crash into him with a misplace vengeance, likely to throw both of them down--or at least one, namely the body that crashed into Hrothgar. This, he would soon discover were he to look upon the woman painfully on her rear, was a fairly upset Kei . . .

[adi]

Hrothgar was never one to seriously consider conspiracy theories as true, and always wondered what sort of crazy a person had to be before they started jumping to ridiculous conclusions. The quiet redhead was raised to value common sense before his daydreams, but he was beginning to understand how such outlandish theories could come to be verbalized. If a person continually felt they were being dealt the chump hand, any claim to push away the thought of bad luck or that they may actually deserve it would seem attractive.

And so it made sense to Hrothgar at the time that maybe Mrs. Fields was secretly some sort of memory-rewriting witch who controlled the entire town of Ceildh with baked goods. It was a ridiculous claim, and the scholar knew this. But it was more comforting to think that the cheery looking woman was devious and he was the only one who could see the truth, then to just speak the wrong thing, at the wrong place and at the wrong time. He was irritated to know that he would most likely continue to be overcharged. He chose to walk on the thought of perhaps offering his scholarly services, since whatever sleep-deprived business sense he displayed the night before seemed to vanish with rest. Maybe he could offer to take inventory at the inn or something-- anything to lessen the overinflated price of the inn.

Mulling over the possibilities of labor, and thoughts of why he couldn't just skip town and leave Aiden to his own devices, it would be safe to say that Hrothgar was lost in though. He was only distantly aware of Kei's exclamation, and was too surprised to even swear properly when they collided, instead immediately apologizing for not paying attention to where he was walking. Thankfully, Hrothgar didn't topple over completely, though it took a comical arm-wheeling maneuver to grab the corner of the pink house and remain on his feet. Satisfied that he wasn't going to fall over, he looked down at Kei.

"Oh," was all he said, extending a hand to assist her up. "Hello again. Sorry for knocking you over."

[Nayt]

For a second there actually, Kei was tempted to smack Hrothgar's hand away yell at him for not watching where he was walking. The urge was scrapped in an instant, as she recognize Hrothgar, but for the moment that she was considering it, she did glare up at him with a slight pout of her lower lip.

Kei did accept his help nonetheless. She reached up, took his hand, and pulled when he pulled, standing up just a second later and letting go. She checked herself, made sure there were any rips in the back of her pants or anything caused by the fall, and content that her clothes were just, a bit dirtier now, she brushed the back of her pants off just for safe measure, a purely unconscious response to this sort of thing.

"Hey, yeah, it's fine," Kei stated, each in succession, as she lifted her hand to her head, to run her fingers through her bangs and place her palm upon her forehead--at which moment, she let out a dismal sigh.

Her head hurt already. It had nothing to do with Hrothgar--just . . . this town. This whole goddamn town. The whole place gave her a migraine.

"Uh, er," she muttered as she removed her hand from her forehead and focused on Hroth again; what to say, what to say-- "Did you, um, did you sleep well?"

[adi]

"Mhm. Slept longer then I would have hoped to," Hrothgar confessed, nervously wiping his palm on his thigh after helping Kei up. "But that's what happens when you tire yourself out the day before, I guess."

The scholar was curious as to what made the woman come stomping around the corner. He attempted to glance around the corner of the garishly painted house to see what had gotten Kei in such a foul mood. Realizing that he was being very obvious, shook his head as if he was scolding himself from being so nosy.

"I was looking around for another inn. It looks like the old woman has got a happy monopoly on the whole place," he reported, as way for keeping the conversation going. Not that he wanted to remind Kei of her debt, but it was the only thing he could think that wasn't ridiculously non-sequitor.

[Nayt]

Around the corner and down the street, Hroth would find another series of closely packed homes. There was a man outside of one of them, with a horse pulled buggy out front. It was partially filled with packed crates, but still had a long ways to go. The man did not look happy.

"There isn't one, no."

Kei frowned at the thought. Mrs. Fields really did have a monopoly on this place. If you wanted a place to stay, you had to trust a random household or pay into her demands, it seemed. Oh well. The room seemed safe enough last night. No one barged in to rob them, kill them, or worse.

Hopefully, though, there was some way to reduce the amount of money for another night, or there was some other, less mainstream alternative available. Kei didn't want to owe out another ten gold coins to Hroth. Or was it fourteen? Or . . . four? Kei stopped to think about it. All this running around so soon was making her head spin. Of course, the reason for it all was simple--something Hroth might have been looking into, as well, and something Kei was having distinct problems with this morning and afternoon.

"And this place's crap for jobs, too . . ." Kei concluded with her arms folded over her chest; she averted her eyes to the ground and released a sigh of disgust.

With a faint hint of ire upon her expression, she looked behind her, at the corner of the horribly painted house. A job was lost back there, and she was still a bit upset about that.

[adi]

Hrothgar was at a loss as to how to move the conversation forward. So he just shrugged his shoulders, the universal sign of attempted casual acceptance of the situation. "There isn't much else we can do for the room. If I didn't feel sort of obliga--" The scholar paused mid-word, not liking the word choice. He really did have a small sense of obligation to Aiden after he had helped them escape that man and his goons, but surely any debt he had was minuscule.

"Well, if certain things didn't happen the way they did, I probably wouldn't mind sleeping in a barn or camping outside of town," he corrected himself vaguely. He wasn't sure if he wanted to explain the situation to Kei. Not because it would get her involved, even the slightest bit, or even really about her safety at all. It was because it would probably make him seem just as crazy and out of touch with reality as Aiden, and that generally was an impression he tried very hard to avoid.

Changing the topic abruptly, he jabbed a thumb in the direction of the man who was loading crates. The scholar was oblivious, already forgotten that the person Kei had been most likely been shouting at just moment's prior was probably him. "What about that man? He looks like he could use some help."