"Alright, Shaula, I’ll bring the money. My current haul for today is actually downstairs right now. But, can you pay me back tonight, Shaula? I need the coins for… well, personal stuff, you know?" He winces while thinking about what he needs his money for. Shaula decides not to pry about his life right now.
“You don’t have it on you right now? Hm. Alright, no worries.”
“Yeah, the coins had to be stashed in a closet because they got too heavy to move around with. So, where do you want to meet to pay me back?” Dzan asks.
"I’ll just meet you at the bar, Ajax and I will both be there tonight. Though, I think Jelli is going to skip it for today…” Shaula laughs lightly as she considers all that had happened while Dzan and Sigvor were away from the square. “You know, you guys really missed out on a lot while you were here killing these terrorists and saving innocent people."
"Huh? What happened in the square–" Sigvor asks, before being interrupted by a frantic beastkin mother holding her child.
"W-W-Wait! Just wait!" She breathes heavily while her child looks up at her, his eyes wide open. The pointed ears on top of her head are even drooping in a sign of guilt.
Shaula, Dzan and Sigvor all turn towards Mrs Litun who is darting her eyes between the three of them with an anxious expression on her face. She looks as if she's trying to process what she had just heard.
"Wh-What did you just say right now? You're going to do what? Y-You're going to give me twenty silver? Twenty silver coins? Are… Are you serious? N-No, even if you are, I-I can't take your money! I couldn't possibly do that! How can you so casually just say that–"
However, before she can continue, Shaula asks her to stop for a moment by raising her palm.
"Listen, Mrs Litun, I would really love to convince you right now, but I think it's about time that I talk to these two about what I've been wanting to know about the most. Dzan, Sigvor, I'm going to ask you two to convince her to take the money because I need to leave here pretty soon. You think you’ll be able to manage?”
Shaula would prefer to be nowhere near here after what she had done to the guard captain and his sergeants.
Sigvor smiles while looking at Mrs Litun for a moment.
“No worries, Shaula… She’ll take the money even if we have to throw it into her apartment and run.” Dzan smirks. Mrs Litun can only groan in frustration upon hearing that she’ll be forced to take their money and be in their debt for perhaps the rest of her life. Though even she knows that she’ll never have to pay this money back.
It’s just the principle… You can’t just do something like this to someone… it’s a lot of responsibility…
Shaula can hear Mrs Litun’s heart beating fast as she contemplates the sympathy and charity of her saviors. Sweat starts to pour down her forehead as she wonders if she is worthy enough to receive such a gift. If it was for Bels, she would have taken the money much more easily. Some people just aren’t built to handle acts of pure altruism.
The author's content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.
Though, Shaula simply smiles, before her expression grows serious once more. She continues speaking.
“I need to leave the area soon, so can I talk to you two about something private?"
***
Mrs Litun is standing to the side, fidgeting while thinking over the generosity that Shaula had given to her. Shaula wants to ask about the person that Dzan and Sigvor almost avoided mentioning: Ajax. She doesn’t want what she says to them about him being heard by the beastkin mother and child duo. It might only cause them needless worry and it isn’t any of their business.
Currently, Shaula is honestly worried about Ajax. She is wondering to herself where he is, contemplating all the possibilities. What she wants to know is why he isn't here with Dzan and Sigvor.
He had been the one who told Sigvor and Dzan about the terrorists in this building and their supposed plans. However, if that is the case, shouldn't he have been helping deal with them? Why would he put Sigvor and Dzan in harm's way without doing anything at all?
From what Dzan had mentioned, Sigvor was the one who did all the dirty work. Did Ajax ask that of her? Shaula's stomach is in knots as she considers that possibility. Even if that's what Ajax had done, where is he now? Did he return to the hotel room?
More importantly, would he really neglect his responsibility to the people in this building while handing off the difficult work to others? To people without his power and ability to heal?
She had thought better of him.
No, that’s not fair. Ajax did a lot of due diligence. He was the one who told Dzan and Sigvor about all this to begin with. It’s just… whatever.
Shaula cannot really bring herself to be worried about all that to begin with. In all honesty, she still wants Ajax not to put himself in harm's way. Nobody can ask him to take responsibility that is not his to take, she would never do that either.
She knows that Ajax is not like her. He's not used to death. He doesn't seek violence or retribution. He's also more likely to shut down in a life and death situation such as this one. There must have been a reason he didn’t come along and Shaula can guess what that reason is.
Those bodies… from what I can guess, Ajax was there when the fire bomb went off…
If that’s the case, then Shaula can understand exactly why he didn't intervene personally. He's not someone trained to be a first responder, a paramedic, a nurse, a doctor, a firefighter or anyone who carries a similar burden on their shoulders.
He might not have the will to do the difficult thing after what he had seen; there were dozens killed before his eyes while he could do nothing. Shaula can only accept that about him, even if he did volunteer himself to see what happened in this area. Everyone bites off more than they can chew once in a while.
Did he just shut down? Is he traumatized badly? No matter how I look at it, both of us are still only human. If I didn't see death before, even I might have lost it when I saw those charred corpses… It's disgusting seeing people like that, vomit-inducing even…
Nevertheless, Shaula needs to meet him as soon as possible for a pragmatic reason. She had just made an important promise to get to the bottom of this group of monsters, the Twin Moons. If she speaks to Ajax immediately, she might gain more information about these terrorists and why they were here in the first place.
She had already gotten as much information about them as she could from Sigvor and Dzan while they were explaining the situation to her earlier. But, what does Ajax know?