It seemed that Vanya had found the almost empty plate of food in front of her quite fascinating for the next couple of minutes after Rhohaz apologized for his behavior back when they first met. She was taken aback by the apology that she most fervently wanted back then but when received she was lost for words. She slowed her plate-to-mouth pace buying more time to stall the conversation waiting to unfold.
She felt Rhohaz glance at her a few times before looking back at the papers he seemed to bury his head in while Vanya ate like a true princess, taking her sweet time tasting every crumb.
She finally found her plate empty and her time lost. A cup of water was right beside her. Rhohaz had brought one while she fed herself trying to ignore his signals to strike up a conversation.
She gulped the water down in one go. Her heart started beating faster than ever. His shadow, formed by the candle-lit hallway light creeping in through the door left ajar, made her nervous to turn to him, who was waiting patiently in silence.
“All done?” he asked almost in a whisper.
She cleared her throat and turned to look at him, her arm grabbing the top corner of her chair and her chin resting on her wrist. Something about his pale eyes made her relax.
She tilted her head to nod and replied, “All done.”
She was all done and it was time for one of them to initiate the goodbyes. She stayed in her chair and he stayed cross-legged on his bed.
“Thank you for…apologizing. I appreciate it,” Vanya was finally able to string up some words.
Rhohaz looked towards her almost in awe. A gentle smile crossed his face.
“I suppose you can say we are even now, in a way,” Vanya continued.
Rhohaz perked up in question unable to follow Vanya.
She clarified, “Carmin. The night at Cecil and Ronal’s. You stood up to Carmin when she called me a useless rumor. I’m pretty sure she would have called me a much worse name if I wasn’t standing there.”
Rhohaz remembered, “Aunt Carmin’s quite harsh. But she’s like that with everyone.”
“And yet you stood up to her.”
“I…” he thought for a moment but said it anyway, “...I didn’t want her walking all over you again.”
Silence took over for a moment. Vanya felt her heart skip a beat. She continued nevertheless.
“Timmie was very surprised when I told him what happened in the kitchen that day.”
“You told Timmie?”
“Of course, I told Timmie. He was begging for gossip.”
“So I am gossip for Timmie?” Rhohaz poked.
Vanya rolled her eyes and ignored his comment to continue, “He was very shocked at your behavior, to say the least. He was practically in love with you after I said how you stood up to Carmin.”
Vanya thought she saw Rhohaz blush a little before he cleared his voice, “Let’s just say it was a long time coming.”
Despite him saying that he knew very well that it was never in the makings for him to actually stand up to Carmin. He never in a million years would have ever thought of standing up to the council or questioning their actions. He knew in his heart that it was sudden, almost as if the decision had sprung up within him without any prior notice. He knew it was perhaps the fact that his initial feelings for Vanya that had made him act that way, make him want to be more reliable than he had been before.
He stood up to pick up Vanya’s empty plate of food on the table and set it aside with Roza’s plate that was ready to be thrown out for it was too cold and beginning to go bad now.
“I’m curious,” Vanya started, her full belly making her slightly sleepy and dreamy, “You haven’t asked me any questions after that day at the infirmary.”
Rhohaz tapped the open window closed and leaned against the wall looking to Vanya who spun on the chair directing her gaze at him.
“Why? Do you want me to start questioning you again?”
Vanya shook her head frantically, making Rhohaz chuckle.
“No, thank you. I prefer you not look like a manic out for blood. I am enjoying the peace.”
“Me too. I haven’t been so light on my feet in some time,” Rhohaz said.
“What do you mean? I’m sure you’ll gain more tranquility once Joan and I are out of your hair.”
“About that. How is Joan doing? I thought she would get better and have you two leaving for Esmeth in a few days. Her injury seems to be getting much worse,” he asked.
Vanya perked up at Rhohaz’s question. She did not expect him to know much about Joan’s injury or her current status. She always thought Rhohaz simply was waiting till his grandmother gave the news whenever Joan and Vanya were ready to leave.
“Umm…she is getting better alright. Just needs a bit more time,” Vanya tried keeping it short.
“We should have her examined by Clara at the infirmary once we get back.” Rhohaz looked determined making Vanya bite her lip wondering if she should tell him that Joan was bitten by one of the Ombrah.
And he’d have me locked in a cage if he knew I saw Roza perform magic right in front of my eyes…
Vanya quickly looked away hoping her furrowed brows would not give away any of her thoughts.
Just then, they heard shuffling outside of Rhohaz’s door.
Rhohaz looked intently making his way there to peek through the crack to see nothing outside in the hallway.
Vanya kept quiet and tip-toed next to him to mouth ‘What is it?’
Suddenly, the door jerked with a thud. Thankfully Rhohaz held it tight so that it wouldn’t bounce off of Vanya’s head which was only inches away.
“Rho! Why–why are you up so late? Also, why is a shoe stuck to your door?”
Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
It was Timmie. He sounded drunk. He fell on Rhohaz’s door again with a moan.
“What are you doing here?” Rhohaz hissed seeing Timmie wobble in front of him.
“Open the door, idiot. I want to come and spend tonight with my best friend’s brother. The only person who pities me enough to keep me company.”
Vanya thought she heard Timmie sob a little.
Rhohaz gave a glance to Vanya and immediately whispered back, “No, not tonight. Go back to your room, Timmie.”
Timmie sulked and quietened, making Rhohaz wonder if Timmie was going to listen to him this time. Timmie turned as if to make his way to his room but only whirled back with a mischievous smile crossing his face and spoke in a deep tone, “I know where Roza was yesterday. But I will only tell you if you let me in.”
It was an irrefutable offer. Rhohaz immediately glanced at the tiny closet right next to them and wondered if Vanya would take the hint and hide in it. He did not want Timmie to see Vanya in his room. That was a gossip bomb waiting to explode that neither Rhohaz nor Vanya wanted.
But seeing how he did not want her hiding in a closet again while holding her breath, he immediately turned to Timmie and replied, “Next time, Timmie. Maybe tomorrow night.”
Vanya was surprised. She thought Rhohaz would shove her away to let Timmie in. Possibly throw her out of the window and have her balance herself on the ledge while Rhohaz had Timmie spill his findings. But seeing him have Timmie disappear so quickly, surprised her.
“Oh come on. You’d want to hear this,” Timmie unexpectedly forced the door open when it suddenly bumped hard on Vanya’s forehead.
Rhohaz immediately caught the door and held it back to its original position seeing Timmie’s brows furrow as he tried to push it open again, “Is there someone with you? Inside?”
Rhohaz held the door in place wondering why drunken Timmie had so much strength in him suddenly. He shook his head intensely to almost shout, “No! Just…just me.”
Timmie immediately stopped, formed a smirk across his lips, and gave a sly smile at Rhohaz, “Oh! You dirty man. Dirty dirty Rhohaz…”
“It’s not like that,” Rhohaz whined but that did not stop Timmie, who gave an odd bow and twirled around.
“I should tell Jadie that Rhohaz is no longer interested in her.”
“What?--” Rhohaz held back seeing Timmie walking away from his door.
“Enjoy your evening. At least one of us is having a good time here,” Timmie danced his way and managed to find his room door before disappearing behind it.
Rhohaz was still struck by the conclusions Timmie jumped so fast into, “It's.. it's not what you think it is!”
He spoke to an empty hallway with no one listening to him except Vanya who was rubbing her forehead both in slight pain and heavy confusion seeing Rhohaz turning visibly red in front of her very eyes.
***
Vanya panted as she sped down with all her might. She had not expected Roza to run this fast. It was dark and the sun had set far earlier than they had anticipated. The unlit alleyways started pouring in with men in the shadows, smoking something, exchanging something, whispering something seeing two girls run down with no one chasing them.
Roza had barged in just like she promised that evening. Vanya had spent her entire day helping out at the market. She had barely seen Rhohaz that day. Kev was explaining how Rhohaz was busy attending one of the annual meetings organized by Elioth’s chief to discuss important matters with rural villages and their leaders. Vanya was partly relieved for she had only one Cassian sibling to deal with that day. And Roza was not the easy one out of the two, Vanya had come to realize.
“Are you sure he’s back at the Temptest Inn?” Vanya barely sounded out while huffing.
Roza shouted back, “I overheard Tallon confirming his seller will be there at his room tonight!”
“How are you so sure?” Vanya asked back, partly irritated that Roza did not explain to her anything at all before taking off in a hurry.
Roza glanced back with an evil smile crossing her face, “Because I hid in his closet all day and eavesdropped on him.”
Vanya gulped, “All day?”
Roza threw her hands up in the air seeing a large crowd gathered outside the Temptest Inn from a distance, “All day, Jadie. Now what is going on over there?”
It seemed a fight had erupted with everyone in the South end of Elioth gathering to carve out the perfect view of the spectacle that had already begun.
Roza and Vanya clawed through the crowd, sweaty and reeking of alcohol, to barely make it halfway through. Vanya had her eyes locked in on Roza, watching her every move as the crowd tried splitting them apart. Suddenly, she felt a blow to her stomach making her fold in half in pain.
“Ouch!” her anger had burst through and she pushed whoever was in that direction out of annoyance. Seconds later, she bolted her head up to see no sign of Roza. She remained stunned and frantically looking around amidst the wave of people jolting her forward reacting to the head kick one of the fighters threw at their opponent.
“Roza!” she shouted but no one replied. Even if Roza did reply she would have never heard it for the loud cheers were drowning out her own voice.
She pushed her way through to the entrance of the Temptest Inn and somehow managed to slip through to find that everyone inside the inn was too busy hanging over windows and doors to get a glimpse of the action outside.
She stumbled her way to the staircase. That was where she found Roza last night. She was about to stride up it when a hand pulled in front of her and stopped her on her heels.
“Name, please,” a man dressed in navy with a crumpled hat and a flat board in his hand asked nonchalantly.
“Why do you need my name?” Vanya asked, confused.
“I can’t let you get through if your name isn’t on the list. So, name, please?”
“What do you mean? I got through yesterday fine. There was no one asking for my name yesterday,” Vanya pressed on.
The man, who seemed to have heard this a thousand times over, sighed deeply before replying, “Well, I was stationed at the top of the stairs yesterday. Seems like you didn’t make it all the way to the top. I would have asked the same thing yesterday. So, name, please?”
Vanya threw her hands in the air realizing more people gathered beside her to get a better view of the fight outside.
She thought for a moment. “Roza. The name is Roza.”
He checked his list lazily, “Rosa who? I don’t see a Rose in here.”
Vanya felt her anger rise, “Roza Cassian. Come on, she…I visited last night too.”
“I don’t see a Rosa Cassion.”
Vanya grunted noticing some of the men gathered looking at her and seeing her throw her hands up in the air for the second time, “What about Yelhi? Roza Yelhi?”
“Yellie?” the man repeated.
“No, Yel-hi,” Vanya pointed to her mouth as she shouted over the loud cheers erupting all over.
Suddenly she found a hand grab the railing of the shaky stairs quite forcefully. Vanya looked to her left to see a man with a messy shirt and dark eyes narrowed at her smiling with the most malevolent curve plastered across his face.
“You are Roza Yelhi?” he asked, his words piercing through the chilly air.
Vanya did not say anything or do anything. She simply waited in silence unable to figure out who he was, if he was a friend of Roza’s catching her impersonating Roza. Or if he had other intentions which she could not put a finger on.
“Nevermind. Ignore my poor manners. Here, let me give you this. We are holding a gathering tonight. Maybe you should come by. For old times sake,” he handed her a leaflet printed ‘The Ravagers’ in bold and a date and time with the Temptest Inn as the location under it. It carried more sentences randomly placed saying ‘Ending all that was begun’, ‘Leveling the playing field’, and ‘Taking matters into our own hands.’
Vanya frowned at the paper. She could not figure out what it meant nor had she had time to give it attention. She put the paper away expecting to turn back at the doorkeeper to convince him to let her in when she found the man who gave her the leaflet still staring down into her eyes.
“I swear, I thought y'all had much lighter eyes,” he said enamored.
Vanya took a step back. Her instincts made her want to turn around and walk far away from the man. But before she acted on it he let go of the railing he was grasping to, to catch a stray lock of her hair to twirl it saying, “It was a delight meeting a member of the Yelhi tribe. Hope to see you tonight, love. Promise me you won’t leave without showing your face.”
Vanya thought she saw him almost smell her hair before letting go and fading into the crowd that was still too taken by the brawl outside. She felt chills run down her spine. It was absurd to show up to some event she had no idea of. But for some reason, she felt as if it was not the last time she would be seeing him again.