On the wooden floor of the inn in her sleeping bag, Xellie lay awake staring at the ceiling as the pondered the day’s events. Originally when speaking about Xellie’s potential power, Raye had always phrased it as if it was uncertain to come to be. However, Demons seemed to see it as an already decided thing. Also, Ary knew her secret now - so surely there was none of the doubt that Raye had been expressing.
If the demons and Ary could see this, then Raye should also know for certain? Why was she making out otherwise?
Could Ary keep her secret reliably? Xellie had noticed that Ary liked to talk a lot. That kind of childish babbling could easily lead to Ary letting slip what she had heard from the demon.
Unable to quiet her thoughts, Xellie looked around the room. Everyone was sound asleep - Ary on the bed, Mattos in a sleeping bag on the floor.
Xellie slipped out of her own sleeping bag and silently crept out of the room, down into the mostly empty bar of the inn, occupied by the bartender and Raye, who sat at the bar in a navy blue cloak.
“Need a nightcap, love?” Asked the bartender, looking up from his tattered book.
“No thanks,” Xellie replied, taking a seat next to Raye. “Alcohol dependency ruins lives and tears families apart.”
“Very funny,” Raye said dryly, tipping her wine glass in respect of the insult. “I don’t think it’s quite the right time to be a clown though. We must talk.”
“On second thoughts, I’ll have a strongest whatever you have,” Xellie called to the bartender.
The bartender passed Xellie her drink, who took it down in one gulp.
“Bill my drink to her,” she said, getting off the stool to follow Raye outside to the patio.
Raye made her way through the tables to the far end of the patio and sat on the low brick wall, conjuring a wine glass in her hand and taking a sip before she spoke.
“You wanted to ask me about the girl, correct?” Raye asked, not waiting for a response. “Well, she can help you immensely - and I dare say you can help her too. I strongly advise you to do so.”
“What are her powers, anyway?” Xellie took up a seat next to the wall.
“You really need my help with that?” Raye sipped her wine again. “The girl is a spiritualist from the Muni tribe of the eastern continent. She can see spirits, living and dead and act as a bridge between them. This will be unsettling to you, but oftentimes the desires and feelings of a person's spirit does not match what they consciously seek out. The girl can put a living human in touch with their true self.”
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“I’m not sure I get it.” Xellie scratched her head in puzzlement. “So maybe part of me wants something that I don’t even know about?”
Raye nodded.
“Basically. There is something else we must discuss, though.”
Raye sounded serious, Xellie thought to herself, quietly sitting by waiting for Raye to continue talking.
“It would be for the best if you sooner rather than later explained to Mattos what you are.”
“He’ll hate me,” Xellie replied. “He really, really, REALLY hates valkyries.”
“He’ll hate you even more for lying about it,” Raye said, her voice stern. “You must find a way to build a bridge with him. Our kind are not to be hated or feared by humans - we are here to guide them.”
“It’s not really my job though, is it?” Xellie responded, put out by the idea of cleaning up someone else’s problems. “I mean, I didn’t kill those people in Alpinheim.”
“I thought you were better than that,” Raye answered sharply. “I see you have a long way to go.”
“I don’t see why I should have to answer for the deaths of hundreds of people that YOUR people did without me even being there.” Xellie was getting hotheaded. “I don’t want Mattos to hate me... I need his help to fight Ashmeviti!”
“He’s not going to help you if he finds out what you are the wrong way.” Raye sighed and swirled her glass of wine. “But it’s your choice. Good luck.” She added before vanishing.
Xellie rolled her eyes contemptuously and headed back into the inn, sneaking as best she could, wincing slightly at the squeak from the door as she pushed it closed carefully. Mattos groaned and turned in his sleeping bag, causing Xellie to freeze in place, waiting to see if he was awake. As luck would have it, he went straight back to snoring. Allowing herself a quiet sigh of relief, Xellie slid into her sleeping bag on the floor and closed her eyes to get some rest.
As she slept, Xellie found her sleep plagued with bad dreams. They were incredibly real feeling, she could feel and smell blood soaked into her clothes. The screams of people, women, children, men, young and old as they fled the bloodshed. Xellie looked down at her bloodied hands, holding in the right hand, a sword. In the left a dagger. Feeling a smile creep onto her face, she awoke with a start.
Everyone else was still sleeping.
Unable to go back to sleep, Xellie simply lay in her sleeping bag staring at the ceiling waiting for morning to arrive.
Having managed to snatch a couple of hours of sleep, Xellie did her best to appear perky and cheerful when Mattos awoke.
Two breakfasts later, Xellie felt like she had enough energy to tackle the day despite her lack of sleep.
“I really hope there are no demon attacks today,” Xellie said, adjusting her backpack as they set off into the desert.
“I dunno how people from Anshara do it.” Mattos mused. “The heat makes the idea of fighting unbearable.”
“You get used to it.”