The girl on my bed stared at me with a mix of sadness, confusion, and longing, but I didn’t know her enough to make sense of any of those feelings. All I could do was keep on my current path. “Right. So with you that makes two members.” I said, trying to push the conversation out of the gloomy slump.
“What about him?” She asked, looking to Gild.
“Oh, he’s in a different guild. One that we will have an alliance with. Oh, he’s also the one that patched up your wounds, so you should thank him… Then again he’s the one that hurt you… So…”
“No thanks necessary.” He said with an awkward smile. I could see in his eyes he was still ready to stab her again if she tried anything. “You two should worry about getting things sorted first.”
“Thank you…” She muttered anyway, slowly letting go of her injured shoulder, making a puzzled face. After a moment she lifted out the collar of her shirt to see the bandage underneath and suddenly turned bright red. “You said… He did this?”
‘Oh boy…’
“Did He see—” She stopped herself, probably coming to the conclusion that he would have had to.
‘Why do I feel like we should be the ones apologizing now…’
She wiped her eyes, pulling her sleeves past her wrists and wiping the medicine from her nose too as the three of us just kind of awkwardly stared at each other for a while before Gild finally stood up, coming to the conclusion she wasn’t a threat. “I should probably go… You don’t have any more questions do you?”
I scratched my head, admittedly feeling a bit embarrassed as well. “No I should be fine now thanks…”
Without another word he jumped out the window, something I didn’t think much of at first, but after thinking about it for a moment my eyes snapped back to the open frame. ‘This is the second floor…’ I went to go look out but he was completely gone, nowhere to be seen. ‘Well… Now I have more questions…’ I closed the window again and walked back over, sitting down in front of the bed. “Are you doing alright?”
She rubbed her eyes again as the red slowly disappeared from her cheeks. “Can I have some water?”
I brought her a glass and she thanked me as I sat down again, crossing my legs and leaning forward. ‘This doesn’t feel right at all… She broke into my room and I’m bringing her water?’ I sighed. “So, what's your decision?”
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“I owe you… And My dad always said we have to repay our debts so… I’ll join you… But the guild I was with has the key to my room… And I don’t think they’ll take me backing out very kindly…”
‘Yeah, that tracks…’ “Is there anything precious to you in that room?”
“There— No… But it’s probably not safe for me there anymore…”
“One step at a time. None of us are sleeping in our rooms tonight anyway. For now… Let’s grab your things and move them to this room. Oh, and since you a part of the family now, I should probably learn your name. I’m Siyasavide Alyiah Nayanathulu…” ‘Every time I say it out loud I feel like I’m gaging… “Just… call me Siya though… And no laddy or miss…”
She relaxed, the collar of her shirt slipping off one shoulder as the tension in her arms finally left. A faint melancholic smile crossed her face as she raised a hand with a loose wrist, pointing all her fingers against her chest. “I’m– Im… My name is Annanaiya Isabella Adelaide… Uhm… I’d… Rather you didn’t shorten my name… If it’s ok to ask that…”
‘Wait… So she is a noble?’
She paused for a moment. “Oh no, sorry. If I’m calling you Siya it would be improper of me to make you call me by my full name. I’m sorry if you want… I guess… You can call me Anna…”
‘I guess whatever works for her…’ “Anna huh…” As soon as I said her name, it looked like a bit of the light in her eyes faded. It went beyond her just being a little uncomfortable with it… ‘Does she hate it that much? In that case… How should I do this…’ “Sorry… That’s actually my grama’s name too, so I’ll just call you Annanaiya.”
The light came back into her eyes… But she staunchly insisted that it wouldn’t be right, especially because I was the leader.
“Ok then… How about a different way to shorten it then? Niyah… Or Isy… Maybe Laid? No… Definitely not the last one…”
“Nayana… Your grandmother… No way… You mean Nayanathulu… As in Nayamere? As in… Your grandmother is the She-wolf Annanaiyah Nayamere? The ferocious warrior I was named after?”
‘Is anyone in my family not famous…’ I sighed “Yeah… That’s me I guess…”
She smiled again, a bit wider than before. “Wow… Oh… Sorry if I weirded you out… I’m sure you don’t want to talk about her when we have more important things to be doing right now.”
I sighed again, grabbing a handful of my hair as I scratched my head. “Maybe, but it will still be kind of awkward if I don’t have something to call you… If you really want me to I guess I can call you Anna but–”
She shook her hands back and forth, “No! No way, I can’t let you call me the same as you do the legendary berserker!”
‘Great… Hard to believe she was breaking into my room a few minutes ago…’
She calmed down after a moment and relaxed again. “Isy… If it’s ok with you… At least… For now…”
I placed my hands on my knees and stood up, lifting my arm out to her. “Alright then Isy, Glad to have you with me.”
She tilted her head, looking down at my armor, and then back up at my face, making me start to feel really uncomfortable. ‘This… Is how Air greeted Gild… Is this not how you’re supposed to do it?’
“U-uhm… Do you always do the boys greeting? Sorry, I’ve just never done it before so I…”
‘I lifted my other hand to my head and closed my eyes, starting to get a headache. ‘Are you serious…’
Before I opened them again I felt her hand grip around my forearm so firmly I almost thought it was my brothers. As I looked down I saw just how large her hands were. They were rough, and her knuckles punched out of them like she had been boxing with stone her whole life. They even had muscles bulging from between the fingers on the back. I probably didn’t need to, but I instinctively used magic to toughen my body as I griped back. “A-am I doing it right?” Her timid voice more than betrayed her grip.
I let out a small snort, trying to hide my smile. “Yeah, that will do just fine.” ‘She might be named after my grama… But they couldn’t be more different…’ “Oh…” We each let go. “Uhm… For future reference… Can you show me what the girl's greeting is supposed to be…”