“Oh! You finally woke back up,” came a gentle and feminine voice through the darkness, “You gave my brother and I quite the scare when you just suddenly dropped like that.”

“Buh?” I asked groggily before clarifying what I meant, “Who? What?”

I could feel that my eyes were open but the absolute darkness of night made it impossible to see anything but the outline of a shape in the shadows looming over me.

“Uh oh that’s not good if you can’t remember anything,” said the gentle voice now with a tinge of worry, “I didn’t see you hit your head but the others said you got beaten up pretty bad in the slums earlier so maybe there’s been a bit of damage to your head? Do you still remember your name and where you are?”

“My name? It’s Sorrel Fellingwood. Are we still at our camp? I think my memory is fine. I just don’t remember how I got to wherever it is we are. Or, um, well who you are for that matter. Sorry about that.”

“Oh is that all? Well then that’s a relief. When I was asking the others they said only the old puppet guy was able to do any healing. And they told me he probably wouldn’t be up and about again until at least sometime early next light.”

Suddenly a thought occurred to me.

  I didn’t really recognize this voice at all. She sounded too young to be Mr. Icarus’ wife and too old to be either of their daughters. Her sound was more subdued than Shay’s. And there was no way that the soft warmth underneath my head was courtesy of Marguerite’s bony old lap. And as her words came dripping down over me I had my suspicions that she was neither the crow or the owl either.

“W-wait, are you-”

“Please allow me to introduce myself again,” said the charming pickpocket, “My name is Persephone and my little brother is called Morte.”

I reflexively tried to sit myself up only to feel her hands delicately tugging my shoulders back down. She settled my head back atop her lap and gently combed her fingers through my hair.

  My hair? My cap! It wasn’t on my head. I nervously reached my right hand up and touched one of my ears. And then I felt her soft hand caress the top of my glove.

“It’s okay,” she said, “Nobody saw. I didn’t take your hat off until after two of those nice big guys carried you into your tent and I waited until after they left before giving you my lap as a pillow. I just wanted to stay with you and make sure you woke back up is all.”

She paused a moment and I waited for her to continue.

“I know it’s probably hard to trust a stranger but I promise I wont tell anyone else. Just so you know, you’re not the first of your kind that I’ve met. And besides, keeping your secret safe really is the very least that I can do. I mean it was really very sweet of you to go buy those things for Morte and me. We didn’t have much before being offered this job and lately the guild has been handing out unofficial quests from the council to try and purge the eastern district of squatters. We lost everything to a group of adventurers. They took everything from our home except for the clothes we were wearing and then forced me to torch it on the threat of slitting my brother’s throat if I didn’t listen.”

She paused a moment and I heard a light sniffle. Her aura was somber but hopeful.

“So anyway,” she continued, “For us to not only be offered work and meals and the chance to escape that awful place, but to also be given a tent for shelter and our own bags and beds it’s...Well it just really makes me feel like maybe things can finally get better for my brother and I going forward now.”

I knew right then that I’d made the right choice in forcing Boss Strise to treat them like proper troupe mates instead of the bottom feeders he saw most everyone else as being. In particular he had a certain fondness for breaking in our new thieves by refusing them soup and making them sleep cold and exposed on the ground. At least until they could afford to buy a tent off of him with their pathetic bit piece wages.

“Well anyway,” said Persephone, “I guess I should probably let you rest. You’ve had a very hard day.”

“Wait! Please stay!” I blurted out before thinking.

“Oh? I guess I can for a little while longer. Morte is probably already fast asleep so I’m not really in any hurry. Did you need anything?”

“I um, n-no not really. This is just...Nice I guess?”

“Hahah! Is that so? Well the others told me you were kind of a loner so should I be flattered that you don’t want me to leave your tent? Or maybe I should be worried about your intentions?”

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She giggled after saying that, making it clear she was teasing me.

“What? No I wouldn’t say that,” I started, “Besides I’m not the kind of person to take advantage of this sort of situation.”

“Well that is a relief then,” she said with a sigh, “After all my heart is already spoken for.”

“O-oh,” I said weakly, “Is that why you’re traveling with us? To start a new life with your lover in another town?”

“Bahahahah!” she burst out laughing, “Oh Goddess, no! I was only kidding. I just wanted to test my suspicion of you a little is all.”

“Your suspicion?”

“Well, yes,” the teasing air still heavy in her voice, “See when you first approached my brother and I, and with how awkward you were acting, it seemed like you were desperately trying to flirt. Quite badly at that I might add. So I wanted to see if one of your pals had maybe put you up to it or if you really did genuinely choose to do that yourself.”

In that instant I implored the Goddess to strike Garris and his boys down without mercy. I pledged a vow in my heart to never follow any of their advice ever again.

“But I guess the thing that left me most uncertain,” she added, “Was how just before passing out you said something like, ‘oh right the cider,’ and you were looking toward where the Sleeping Moon was rising. And then you just toppled over and I honestly thought you were dead. It was all quite shocking and so I thought maybe you’d actually just been drunk the whole time once I heard you start snoring.”

The air felt intense or maybe that was just me. Being called out like this, with my head on her lap, the two of us alone in my tent. It was all just too much for me. I bolted upright and ignored the pain as I sat myself on the tent floor across from her.

  She struck her finger against her thumb and produced a flickering light between us. Her eyes shined in an unknowable hue just beyond the flame as they peered back into my own. They almost looked to shimmer and change every time that she blinked her long lashes at me. I could practically hear both of our hearts pounding. For the life of me I couldn’t tell what was going on. Usually the girls who took my fancy weren’t so forward as this. And in the end they almost always rebuked me when I did attempt to make my move.

  Persephone moved forward on her knees, bringing her small flame and her face closer to my own. Her features were soft and beautiful even when they were cast in flickering shadows and fluttering light. Her expression was growing impatient so it looked like I had no choice but to start explaining myself.

  I told her everything from when our eyes first met to explaining how her new pack had gotten covered in dirt and a few small flecks of my blood. She listened patiently while I walked her all through it. Her expression looked amused when I told I’d almost gotten annoyed at how fixated I’d become with her over something so trivial as our first interaction had been. She grimaced when I explained how my ribs had been crushed into rubble and her eyes went wide with wonder as I explained what blue cider was. By the time I got to explaining how the only thing Garris and his boys had put me up to was trying those awful pickup lines she had a huge smile across her face.

  And then she pulled her finger and thumb apart and the small light went out. In blind darkness I could feel her moving closer toward me. Something soft and slightly wet pressed against the scar on my right cheek. She planted her kiss on me and then whispered into my ear,

“I’ll let you know now that I’ve got a bit of a soft spot for men that get so easily hung up on me. And there’s something oddly charming about you clumsy types too. If you’re not careful I just might start taking a little interest in you as well, Sorrel Fellingwood.”

I gulped sharply and another of her cute giggles let me know that she’d heard me.

  With a playful tussle of my hair she crawled outside of my tent and left me there with my heart racing. Sweet merciful Goddess, what a day.

  I flopped myself down into my bedroll and smooshed my lumpy pack under my head, trying to make it feel at least a little comfortable. I’d used it as a pillow for decades on end and been fine. But after feeling the softness of Persephone’s thighs I found that my crummy pack felt like I was trying to sleep against a rock.

“Her thighs...” I breathed out to no one, feeling a sudden warmth start welling up inside of me.

Before sleep would come for me a second time I felt a lust slick need that required my attention first.

  Unclasping my overalls and slowly scooting them down passed my butt, I wriggled my legs until the denim sunk passed my knees and then bunched up at my feet. I paused a moment, thinking of the gloves that I couldn’t remove and then remembered the way her lips felt against my skin and ceased to care. I slid my left hand down into the front of my underwear and let my mind take me wherever it wanted to be.

  Persephone. She said her name was Persephone. And I called it out again and again in a muffled voice while biting the first knuckle on my right hand. Drool spilling out from between my lips. And then, as I settled, a sweet sleepiness took me off and into an unwelcome dream.