Naoe tosses in the straw bed of the jail cell for what must have been the hundredth time that night. It appears that sleep would be an impossibility with so many things floating around in her mind. Turning her body one final time she faces the other person inside the cell.

Kaito, if that is even his real name, is just laying there on the hard stone floor. He had given her the bed, saying that he did not need it.

A strand of the orange light from the moons is beaming through the small fist sized window in the wall and illuminating the dust floating in the air. It is beautiful, but it also explains why her nose is so runny. In this darkness, she can barely make out the boy's silhouette.

She doesn't quite remember which one of the twelve moons was orange in color, its name eluding her. She knows its position in the sky but that is about it.

Resisting the restless urge to turn for the N-th time, she focuses her gazy fully on the pretty boy. The pain coursing through the chafed skin of her wrists gets a little bit better when she thinks of him.

"Here, this should do the trick" he had said as he used pure pinching power to bend a copper coin, one he'd also somehow managed to smuggle in, into the crude shape of a key and used it to unlock the manacles binding her wrists. He hadn't even bothered to use his teeth to do the bending.

Then he'd told her, while sharing what must have been the best food she'd ever tasted, how he ended up in Ornthar.

And what a story it had been. She's honestly still debating whether or not his story is complete bollocks. There's way too many ups and downs, too many fantastical things happening to him all at once to be true.

"...me and Isran had just finished dealing with the wolf pack. He'd thrown smoke bombs filled with wolfsbane, I think, inside their den. I don't really know the details as to how they work. They're supposed to burn for hours, releasing the toxic fumes of the wolfsbane into the surroundings and making their den completely unlivable…"

From his story she understood that he is a hunter, one of the people that venture outside the safety of the walls and into the dangers of the wild. It would explain why he had meat in that bag, and the casualness with which he shared it.

"When camping out in the wild, what we do to pass the night is quite simple. We climb a tree of our choice and tie ourselves to it, that's how you usually spend a night in the wild. Wolves can't climb trees and the bears, which actually can climb, sleep during the winter."

"Bears can climb trees?" She'd blurted out during his retelling.

"Oh yeah, don't let their size fool you. They very much can."

Naoe had seen one of the beasts once, a dead one. It had been killed by an army detachment because it had been attacking the caravaneers bringing in food to the city.

The Lord Administrator of Ornthar at that time had paraded the dead creature through the streets and she had gotten a nice long look at the thing while perched on the roof of an abandoned building.

So many arrows had been sticking out of it that it looked like it had an extra layer of spiky armor covering it. The bear must have been twice her height when standing on all fours. Granted, that happened two years ago and she had grown a bit during that time, but it was a hulking beast of a creature nevertheless.

The thought that something that big can climb had filled her with no small amount of dread. But the next part of his story is what had really made her question if he was lying to her.

If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

"...And then Isran got snatched up from the tree. The ropes that held him snapped then and there. At the time the clouds had cleared just enough for me to be able to see that thing. A giant snow white wolf as tall as a two storied building, I could only thank the Emperor that it went after Isran and not me. It devoured him in one gulp."

"And what happened after that?"

"Nothing. I just cut the ropes that held me tied to the tree and climbed higher up before it had the chance to leap at me. I stood there until the pack got tired and left me alone." He shrugged as if what he'd done back then was the most natural thing in the world. If she were in his place she would have been frozen in fear, probably dying as a result.

Then after that he'd decided to come to Ornthar to seek work. An acquaintance of his had set him up with a job at an Inn, their encounter earlier in the day had been just him bringing water back for cooking and cleaning.

He'd held some information back from her. She can tell, especially how he went from a hunter in some random village to ending up in the city, the transition was too hastily done. She's not stupid.

There's a reason why she acts like she's crazy, even if he'd like to think of her as a moron. The simple fact of the matter is that if everyone thinks you're insane and willing to do anything without a care about the consequences… well, they tend to leave you alone. Behind her facade of craziness she's actually quite the intelligent girl.

At least, she hopes that she is.

And then it was her turn to explain how she ended up in her situation. There wasn't much to tell him and she definitely did not have much to hide.

So she just told him everything. If he desires to listen, then she will speak. She can at least give him that much for the meal.

She began with the fact that she'd been the daughter of a prostitute. How she was abandoned and raised by the ladies of the brothel. How she'd ended up working for one of the city's criminal rings, being forced to make the drug known as 'Echo'.

"What's that?" He'd asked, his eyes sparkling with curiosity.

Naturally, she'd explained to him the nature of the drug. Produced by a mushroom that can be found growing in the mines. Admittedly, she probably shouldn't have given him a step by step guide on how to process the fungus into its drug form, but what's done is done.

Cutting it into thin slices and taking it out in direct sunlight to dry. Grinding it into dust with the mortar and pestle. Heating it up in a pan until it turns into a paste… and then all the following processes after that.

Her hand twitches hungrily

She was forced to do it against her will, but she'd be lying if she said that she didn't enjoy the process tremendously. There's just something about it all that makes her heart flutter.

It was fun while it lasted. The Lord Administrator cracked down on crime and every single leader of the gang that had captured her was put to the breaking wheel. Thankfully she didn't follow their fate and was let go.

After that she'd just been roaming the streets of Ornthar, trying to survive on whatever little scraps life provided her with.

"You call that a boring life?" He'd laughed before beginning to speak in an odd tone, half to himself, half to her "This place really is turning into Stereotype City. And with this dark hair and freckles on your face, your body type fits perfectly too" She doesn't really know what exactly the meaning behind his words is but she feels like he insulted her again.

"Well, in any case I would be glad to consider you my friend" He had extended his arm out "Let's get along, yeah?

It would be safe to say that it had been the first time someone had offered to be her friend. She had suspected, still suspects, that he has ulterior motives. And she'd told him as such.

"Do I?" He'd infuriatingly replied. His question is directed at himself more than at her.

"I guess I do. If I'm being completely honest, the main reason why I want to befriend you now is because there's a very real chance we're going to spend the next few months locked up together. And I'd rather spend that time talking to a friend than with a bitter enemy."

The next few months? How does he know this?

"I can't… tell you that exactly. I have an inkling of an idea as to where we're going and I'm certain that there are caravans being prepared as we speak to cart us out of the city."

And that was the last that they really spoke to each other. He'd left her hanging, refusing to answer any of her questions. Where are they going, how does he know that they're even going to even be carted out of the city, who'd even be willing to splurge so much coin for a several month long trip. No answer. It's like he became deaf, only replying with, 'You'll understand when we arrive'

So here she is. All the thoughts in the world are on her mind, keeping her from falling asleep.

'He did still give me all that delicious food' she thinks to herself 'And he did unchain me. This night would have been painful to get through, maybe I would have gotten sick, the stone floor is quite cold.' She sighs.

'Fine, he can keep his secrets!'

She stands up, taking the torn blanket that had been placed over the straw. She can sleep on the straw as is anyways.

Carefully, she covers him with the blanket, only leaving his head sticking out.

'There' she nods to herself, satisfied.

'I'm shaking that hand when he wakes up'