{-Noa-}
He felt sick. Turns out, there was a lot of anxiety and fear involved in watching what must’ve been one of the most competent fighters you knew basically just freeze up and let himself get tossed around like a ragdoll.
Soon after Viragi had taken down the barrier, knights from the capital must’ve noticed what was happening and went to check. Viragi, Kharis, Ether, and Allyna were gone nearly as soon as the knights announced themselves. The knights checked in with the four of them, then they and Kaylin went to Rennyn—beaten, bloody, unconscious, but, most importantly, alive—before they were escorted back to the city and into an inn. One night’s stay, a meal, and the call for a doctor was all paid for by the knights as an apology. There was some silent agreement between the three of them—Seldir, Lyrei, and Noa, since Kaylin was with Rennyn—that they weren’t going to push for anything else.
Bringing up Dain or Aymer… that would just be a diplomatic nightmare waiting to happen.
Seldir sighed as soon as the knights left. “You know, for once, I kind of wish we could go somewhere without having to be dragged into anything.” Then he glanced at the other two. “You should both be eating something. It’s been a long, stressful day. You’ve got to be ready for whatever we’re going to have to do tomorrow.”
“Right…” Lyrei slowly nodded and started eating.
Noa still could barely even stand the thought of eating something right now.
Seldir reached over to put a hand on his shoulder. “We’re all worried, and that’s okay, but we all still need to eat. At least try.”
“None of us could do anything,” Noa mumbled. It was the one thing he kept thinking about, what played in his head over and over. “And we can’t do anything now, either. It feels so wrong just to stand around and do nothing, but there isn’t anything else we can do…”
“We’ll figure it out. I’m pretty sure we’re all aware of how much of a tough kid Rennyn is. And as long as we can help it, we’re not just going to sit around, either. Once Kaylin gets back, we’ll talk about it, alright?”
“A-alright. There’s… something else I’d like to ask you, but…”
“It can wait until after we’ve all eaten and had a good night’s rest. We’re not going anywhere.”
Noa forced a small nod before trying to at least nibble on what he’d been given. He didn’t have to pretend for too long, though, because soon they would be distracted by something else—Kaylin coming back downstairs and towards their table.
Seldir pulled out a chair for her, and let her sit down before prompting, “How is he?”
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“The doctor said that, as long as he wakes up soon and can manage to eat and drink something, he’ll probably be fine.” It was hard to hear her over the rest of the noises of the inn. “But he’s looking at a lot of recovery time, assuming we could even convince him to rest that long…”
“We’ll cross that bridge when we get to it, too. He’s bound to be exhausted when he wakes up, though—I can’t imagine him putting up too much of a fight for a little while.”
“Let’s hope so…”
Lyrei nervously prompted, “So, uh, have you talked with the innkeeper yet about the extended stay? I don’t suppose we’ll be getting a hero discount..?”
“I haven’t talked with him yet, but I don’t think it’s likely,” Kaylin responded. “I’ll just make sure he can afford to let us rent at least one room that long, and I’ll ask about the rest tomorrow morning. Today’s been a busy day…”
“We don’t have enough money for a stay that long though, do we?” Noa asked. “I’m pretty sure nearly everything Lord Aymer gave us is gone by now. If we’re not able to pay for the rooms, then…”
Seldir shrugged. “Depending on how you look at it, it could actually be a good thing. It gives us all a good reason to get out there and do something substantial. I’m sure by the end of the evening, I’ll be able to put my job-finding skills to use, and get us a commission or two to take on for right now.”
Kaylin nodded. “That’s what we’re going to have to do. I suppose, in some ways, it also keeps us from traveling in the worst of winter—at the rate we were going, we probably would’ve been in the middle of it while we were heading to Taururii. That might’ve been a just as unfortunate situation to find ourselves in…”
“At least that’s something,” Lyrei mumbled. She was quiet for a little bit longer—clearly trying to decide something—before finally, and far from certainly, asked, “Why do you think Rennyn just… froze like that? He’s fought before, and he never seemed to want to hold back just because Dhymos’s minions are people. Given all the other ways he’d been fighting, I would’ve thought he’d have trouble stopping, if anything, since he might not have realized when the danger was over…”
Her words just lingered in the air for a little bit—all of them having a guess, but none of them willing to say anything.
Kaylin let out a shaky sigh. “He couldn’t get out of his own head. That’s the only thing I can think of that would explain it—he let whatever his mind said to control him. The same way it had worked before, except instead of rushing into danger… he barely seemed to acknowledge that it was there.”
“Because of us, right?” Noa would have looked up from his long-gone-cold food, but he had a feeling that everyone else was doing the same, so he didn’t bother. “And because of Allyna. He wasn’t expecting that—who would? But… he wasn’t able to put it aside to do what he could. It was practically like he just gave up.”
“You know, I… wondered if something like this was going to happen,” Lyrei remarked quietly. “Whatever’s been going on with him, he doesn’t want to tell us—no matter how clear we’d make it that we’re willing to help. I don’t think he even sees us as willing to listen. But as a team, we’re supposed to be able to do that for one another…”
Kaylin shook her head. “Rennyn’s been like this for longer than just this life. It doesn’t have anything to do with you—all the three of you have done is be unfortunate enough to trigger something in him. I’ve noticed those kinds of things in him before, but… I didn’t think it would lead to this. I thought he’d be able to put his fears aside for long enough to do what he needed to, not let them control him completely.”
“He had a lot to think about, between whatever else was going through his head and what happened with Allyna,” Seldir pointed out. “All we can do is be there for when he’s ready to talk. We can’t really control the rest.”