Osawa [https://shadowsprey.com/wp-content/uploads/story-images/01_23_osheader.png]

ESKEGAL, ATARRABI

Osawa hasn’t seen many other cities in peacetime besides the one that housed his ancillary academy and Tages, the capital where the Tower resided. There were the floating Icaunian villages of his childhood, but those weren’t even cities, really, just flat bottomed rafts moored haphazardly together.

Where the cities of Lugos were clean and brisk, Atarrabi was hot and loud. The wooden buildings they travelled beneath stood impossibly tall, leaning against each other at jutting angles. Displayed at all heights, battered signs advertised local and import goods. Osawa watched as one of them opened in the middle of a child’s tooth to reveal a woman banging out a colorful rug before it shut again.

Their Palamidia uniforms were a beacon in the mess of primary colors the Atarrabians favored. Atarrabi was the last region to fall under Solarian rule, and the people still distinctly remembered a time before. The Empire’s hold on the area was tenuous, especially after Kanna recalled the soldiers from the area.

“We should find a place to stay,” Vahn said, pulling Mud up next to Osawa.

Between them, Haru slumped, corpse like, over Amon’s neck.

The morning after they’d escaped the Tower, Haru wouldn’t wake. Something inside of him has slipped away in the night.

It had happened before. Not long after Kanna left for Ilazki, Haru had collapsed in the sparring amphitheatre. He didn’t wake for days.

“Do you have any suggestions?” Osawa asked.

Vahn had taken Haru’s slumber in stride, as he did with most things, and Osawa had agreed that it was better to try and move forward than to have to tell Haru when he woke that they had lost days of travel. They had decided it would be best to get Haru onto the horse and tie him down, but the idea was better in theory than in practice.

“No,” Vahn said. “Why would I?”

On the first attempt, the pair had lifted Haru’s boneless body onto Amon, only to have him slide off the other side of the horse and hit the ground with a weighted thud.

The second attempt spooked Amon, and the horse took off into the trees. It took Vahn several hours to coax Kanna’s cranky beast back.

Eventually, they figured out a system. Both of them would lift Haru’s body up, and Osawa would run around Amon, avoiding the horse’s gnashing teeth, to make sure Haru didn’t tip from the other side while Vahn shoved him into place.

“You are from here,” Osawa said.

“I was, once,” Vahn said, decidedly not looking at Osawa. “But I don’t think you’d like the beds I could direct you to.”

As usual, Vahn had found a way to subtly lash out. Osawa was well acquainted with his double-edged quips.

“I’m sorry,” Osawa said, instead of rising to it.

Vahn’s flat expression returned to a smirk that he directed to Osawa.

“For what?”

Osawa looked away, focusing instead on a somewhat rusted sign with two birds, their necks entwined. It swung from chains that whined with each slight breeze that passed.

“That place looks decent,” he said.

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Vahn’s brow wrinkled. “Two Swan Inn,” he said. “The pun could use some work.”

Vahn nudged the horses toward the entrance of the building and dismounted, taking hold of both Mud and Amon’s leads.

“There’s a stable attached,” Vahn said. “I’ll put the horses up and bring the baggage around back.”

“Do you mean Haru?”

“We can’t drag an unconscious officer through the front door,” Vahn replied. “I mean, we could,” he said with a shrug, “but we probably shouldn’t.”

Osawa decided it was better to not argue with Vahn this time. He was tired, and the promise of an actual bed was calling him. He dismounted, handing over Julius's reins.

Vahn took the horses’ leads and turned around the narrow alley next to the inn, Mud’s tail the last to swish out of view.

Walking was harder than Osawa remembered. His body wanted to move in time with something else, and his legs were wobbly from the ride. Still, he managed to make it through the door of the boarding house with most of his dignity intact.

The room he entered was gloomy at best. Spots flashed at the corners of his eyes as things came into focus. The architecture here was simple and worn, nothing like the clean elegance he was used to in Lugos. The interior was a rough unfinished wood and there were few windows to let in the natural light. The scattered furniture was mismatched, and a fine layer of dust settled on every surface.

Osawa shoved his hands deep in the pockets of his coat, pulling it closer to his body in the same motion. He stepped lightly across the room to the check-in desk, which appeared as abandoned as the front room.

He tapped the bell on the counter with one finger before yanking his hand back.

There was a cough from around a corner, and it was soon accompanied by an older gentleman. His skin was dark and wrinkled, and Osawa was relieved that the man didn’t tower over him like Vahn did.

The man’s amber eyes narrowed, taking in the cut of Osawa’s jacket. “Help you?” the man asked.

Osawa cleared his throat. “We would like lodgings for the night, sir,” he said, keeping his voice even. He didn’t want to speak down to the man, but he wasn’t going to cow, either.

The man looked over Osawa’s shoulder at the empty lounge. “We? Just see you, son.”

“My partner will be joining me.”

“Ah,” the man said. He reached below the counter, pulling out a cardboard box and dropping it. Its contents jangled, and he began sorting through the tangle of keys. “Thirty a night,” the man said, mostly to the box.

“That seems a bit high.”

“It’s the price,” the man grunted, pulling out one of the keys and sliding it across the counter.

Osawa reached out to take it, but the man slammed his hand over the key, holding the other out. Osawa handed the man his payment in crisp bills from Vahn’s stash and pocketed the key.

The hall to the rooms was dark, the lamps lining the wall dormant in the daytime. Osawa followed it to the back of the building to a rickety door at the back. He unlatched it, checking over his shoulder when the disused catch grated against itself.

When Osawa opened the door, he had to blink once more as the bright day seared his vision. Vahn had Haru’s body half-leaning against the building, one of the unconscious man’s arms around his shoulder. There was dirt on one side of Haru’s uniform, evidence that Vahn had likely shoved him off of Amon and let his body fall wherever it landed.

Together they managed to drag Haru up the flight of stairs to the room that Osawa had acquired, dumping him onto the bed of the first one they managed to open.

Vahn stepped back, stretching his back and frowning down at Haru’s still form.

“Now what?” Osawa asked.

Vahn stretched his back then let his arms fall at his sides. “Watch him,” he said, “There’s someone I need to meet.”

“Right,” Osawa said. “Who?”

Vahn nodded. “Hopefully someone that can cut our travel time, I just have to convince her it is a smart move on her part.”

“And if she isn’t convinced?” Osawa asked.

Vahn smirked, though the expression didn’t quite reach his eyes. “She will be.”

After Vahn left, Osawa collapsed into the chair in the corner of the room, a cloud of dust rising from the fabric. He waved his hand in the air, coughing when he inhaled the dust.

All he had left to do was wait.