Ingrid counted out the rations Chimsley had gotten for them. They wanted to play it safe, and got around two weeks worth for each of them. Satisfied that it was enough, she packed them into their bundles and placed them in her bag.
“I-Is that what I th-think it is?” Malori stuttered excitedly, looking at the satchel that Ingrid had just put on over her shoulder. “Ch-Chimsley said it was supplies, b-but it’s just one bag! I-Is it-” she cut herself off, putting a hand over her mouth, “S-Sorry, I get really excited at m-magical or enchanted items…”
Ingrid chuckled, shaking her head. “It’s nothing to worry about. I think it’s nice seeing you excited about something! Yes, it is. Chimsley was kind enough to lend me his dimensional bag for the trip,” she sighed fondly, exiting the manor. “Just another reason we need to make sure we make it back in a timely manner, he uses it for all kinds of things.”
The esper continued looking at it like it was some sort of holy relic, mouth wide open. She barely even seemed to notice as Ingrid stopped to make a quick prayer at the fountain. They continued along the short tiled path to the gates, Ingrid cheerfully answering the numerous questions that Malori had about her armor, staff, and sickle. It was the most excited Ingrid had ever seen her. The least she could do was indulge.
Ingrid opened the gates, looking at them longingly as they swung shut. This was going to be the first time she had fully left the city. The first time she wouldn’t be living in that manor. It wasn’t something she was going to hesitate to do, not for Mattias, but it would be a lie to say it wasn’t nerve wracking. She took a deep breath, then turned to walk away. She tried her best not to think about the idea that this could be the last time she looked at her home.
As they started to walk away, Ingrid’s ears twitched, hearing a voice. “Psst, oy.”
Ingrid looked around, her brow furrowing in confusion. There were numerous people walking the streets, but none of them seemed to pay her, or that voice any mind. She continued looking around, trying to find a source when she felt Malori tug on her robes. “I-Ingrid!” she whispered fretfully. She was pointing towards the side of the road, where there was a small alleyway. “D-Did you hear that t-too?” she whimpered.
“Yes, I'm not sure what it was,” she muttered, squinting at the alley. They weren’t in the middle of the street, fairly close to the alley actually. She took a step closer, then heard the whisper again.
“You know how long I’ve been waiting? Would you come over here already?” it hissed. It was hard to recognize any tone of voice, but there was a strange familiarity to it.
She stepped forward, but remained on her guard. She had no idea what or who this was, and the last thing she wanted to do was get jumped. “Malori, stay behind me,” she said in a low voice. Malori gave a quick nod, nervously following behind.
They slowly entered the alley, waiting a moment at the entrance for Ingrid’s eyes to adjust to the darkness. When they walked in further, she began to make out a hooded figure towards the back wall. They wore a pair of black, knee high boots with black leggings traveling up from them, and a long, black coat that hung to about their calves. The right sleeve appeared to be long, going all the way to their wrist, while the left was short, revealing a tight, black and purple striped garment that covered their arm, topped off with a long, dark purple scarf around their neck. Everything about this person was screaming that they were going to attack her, and that was even without them tossing up and catching a knife by the blade repeatedly in their right hand.
Ingrid put an arm out in front of Malori, her heart pounding. The figure stopped catching the knife, flicking their arm up to let it slip into the long sleeve. They pushed themselves off the wall and started to walk towards the pair.
“D-Don’t come any closer!” she commanded, holding out her staff, “Try and pull something, and you’ll be sor-”
She was cut off as the figure began to laugh, clutching their stomach. Ingrid was confused at first, but as she listened, the laugh became familiar, one she had heard before. It was rich, and filled with a teasing air that could only belong to one person. “Alice?” she called out in surprise.
The figure reached up, tossing back the hood to reveal a grinning, yellow eyed dark elf with black hair tied into a ponytail. “About time! You said you were leaving in the morning, but it’s almost noon!” she mused, “Do you have any idea how many guard patrols I had to dodge? No way they would have believed me if I said I was just waiting for a friend,” she laughed as she approached the two.
“I don’t understand, why are you here?” Ingrid asked, the surprise still definitely clear on her face. She looked down at Malori, who appeared to be just as confused as she was. “We’re leaving the city! Why are you dressed like that to see us off, and why did you bring a knife of all things?”
Alice rolled her eyes. “Isn't it obvious? Neither of you have been out in the world much. Literally anyone can see that. Besides, I’m not letting my best client just dip out on me,” she said with a wink. “As far as I can tell, you need someone with real world experience. And,” she flicked her wrist again, the knife practically appearing out of thin air in her grasp, “Real combat experience. Cordelia is a dangerous country, even with all of its druids.”
Ingrid was beside herself. She quickly realized that her mouth was hanging open and closed it, shaking her head quickly. “Are you sure you want to do this? We’ve told you what we’re going to be doing-”
“You’re letting your new little esper friend join you, but not your friend of seven years?” she joked, putting a hand on her hip, “Awfully hypocritical now aren’t we?”
“I mean, I suppose that’s fa--Wait, you know she’s an esper?” she asked, realizing what she had said, “How do you even know what espers are? I thought only high ranking mages and druids were taught about them!”
Alice winked. “Anyone can learn about anything, provided they know the right place to look,” she said coyly.
“I-I’ve met a p-person or two who knew I was an esper. O-Other than you, of course,” Malori added, still hiding behind Ingrid. Even after learning that it was Alice, she seemed to still be in anxiety mode. Then again, the more Ingrid thought about it, that was probably her default state.
The dark elf gestured to Malori, her grin widening. “See? I know my stuff. Besides, I’ve been in this city too damn long. It’ll feel good to spread my wings again.”
“Y-You have w-wings?”
“Figure of speech, hon,” she sighed. She jerked her thumb behind her. “Now, if you two follow me, I can take us through a few spots that won’t get me called out by the guards. Don’t worry about pickpockets or muggers, people know not to mess with me.”
Ingrid tilted her head. “If you didn’t want to get caught by guards, why did you dress like that? You look like the one who would be doing the mugging.”
“Good one, Princess,” she laughed, “Let’s get going though, much as I prefer the dark, you two work better in the daylight we’re burning,” she chimed, before walking off deeper into the alleyway.
Ingrid and Malori exchanged a look. Malori was clearlyworried, but Ingrid gave a reassuring smile. Alice was right. They had been friends for years, and had more than earned her trust. She had talked on end about Mattias too. His grades in school, advancements in his magic, worrying about whether or not he had friends and promptly being laughed at for the fact that she didn’t have any either. She'd even met him a couple of times in the street. It made sense that Alice would want to help with something this important to her.
As Ingrid started down the alley, Malori was quick to follow, not wanting to be left behind. Ingrid couldn’t help but smile. It was a solid group, the three of them. She hoped Mattias hadn’t gotten too far out of the city, but after being gone for this long, they were just as likely to find him in the next city over as in the mountains of Reach themselves.
Alice led the group through a series of winding back alleys that all looked practically identical. Ingrid was in awe. She had lived her whole life in this city, yet it was like Alice was leading her through a whole new world that she had never been to. She weaved through them with a certainty and confidence that had always shown through in everything she did, but never became any less impressive. There weren’t many people in the alleys, and what few there were Ingrid tried not to look at. Some of them were frail and huddled against the walls, wearing or covering themselves with scraps of cloth, flies buzzing around a few of them. Any time anyone saw them, they gave them a wide berth.
There were a couple of shadier figures around them as well. Some of them started moving towards them, but a quick, stern look from Alice would always send them skulking away in annoyance.
After walking for about half an hour, Ingrid spoke up, “Um, Alice, how close are we to the gates? I don’t mean to be rude, but I have no clue where we are,” she admitted awkwardly.
“We’re almost there, Princess, don’t worry. Up there we were making sure people didn’t see me. Now we’re making sure people don’t see you,” she explained, turning down another seemingly random pathway.
“D-Don’t see u-us?” Malori repeated, clearly confused.
“Come on, even with me, you think a tiny priestess and a noble that clearly doesn’t know her way around wouldn’t get pickpocketed on a main road down in the slums?” she joked.
“Well, couldn’t we have just taken the main gate?” Ingrid asked.
“Princess, look at me. I’m not dignifying that with an answer,” she said wryly, “This is a way that gets us out of the city without getting caught, and we can pick up a carriage in the town nearby. It’ll be a whole lot easier than making that entire journey on foot. You did plan on grabbing a carriage, right?”
Ingrid’s mouth hung open as she raised her hand to refute the clear jab at her, but let the complaint die. Maybe she didn’t think this through as much as she should have. Alice deciding to help them was probably a gift from the gods.
As they continued to journey through the maze of buildings, there were periods where small gaps would give them a view to the open air. In those gaps, she started seeing the looming form of the city walls close by. Alice sped up slightly, prompting Malori to almost trip over herself when she didn’t notice at first. She led them to a building that was only a few hundred feet from the wall, the bustling of a street audible just beyond it. Judging by the garbage behind it, they were at the back entrance of a bar. Alice walked up to the door, then gave four taps, left a pause, then three more in quick succession. After a few seconds, the door was opened by a very tall dark elf man with scrappy hair and elegant features. The kind of guy that someone into men would probably go crazy over.
He looked over the three of them, then opened his mouth to speak before being quickly cut off by Alice. “These are the two I told you about. We can use your tunnels, yeah?” she asked confidently, “If I remember correctly, Keaton, I’m still two up on you.”
His neutral expression turned to a glare pointed at Alice. “Would it kill you to even say hi before demanding something from me?” he grumbled.
She rolled her eyes. “I told you last night I’d be here for this. Frankly, I’m a little offended that you didn’t throw me a surprise going away party,” she said with a smug smile, leaning in close to him against the wall. “After all, I’m sure your sister is going to be devastated that I’m on vacation. Oh, you think she’ll tip extra when I’m back? I’m sure I can-”
He shoved a hand in her face, not even looking at her as she flailed and tried not to fall over. “I don’t want to hear about what you and my sister do. As for you two, the name’s Keaton, nice to meet you,” he said in a monotone, polite voice. He even offered a small bow. He gestured inside, his other hand still firmly in Alice’s face. “I owed Alice some extra for going above and beyond on a few jobs out of here, and she’s cashing some of that in to use my tunnels out of the city. Saves a hell of a lot more time than having to get a travel visa.”
“Gah! Plus, you’re a Druidkeeper in training, Princess. They’d ask to see your signet ring, see you’re not a full one, then you’d have to go through all sorts of bureaucracy,” Alice explained, shoving Keaton’s hand away. “Mainly because you’re a terrible liar, and there’s no way in hell you’d be allowed a random trip to another country. Make sense?”
Ingrid wanted very badly to just nod and say yes, but as Alice said, she was terrible at lying. She felt so small. She was the one who decided on this journey, and didn’t even consider any of this. These two random people from the slums were infinitely more knowledgeable on how these types of things went in the country, and they were dark elves! There was a part of her that wanted to ask about how they knew so much, but given the setting, and their garb, it might have been a little risky to look a gift horse in the mouth.
“I think I follow so far,” she said nervously, “Um, thank you for letting us use the tunnels, Keaton, I really appreciate it. I need to find my brother, and any help towards that is going to be incredible.”
He gave a small nod in approval. “I can understand going to those lengths for a younger sibling. I’d do the same for my little sister. Come on in then, I’ll show you the way,” he said flatly, heading inside.
Alice gave the two a thumbs up and followed suit, earning a nervous whimper from Malori. Looking down at the smaller girl, Ingrid noticed that she looked even more off put than normal. She leaned over, giving her a small tap on the shoulder. “Hey, everything alright?” she prodded.
Malori bit her lip. “I-Is it really alright to trust them like this?” she asked nervously, “I-I know you said Alice is a friend, but she’s clearly involved with some shady folk. A-And this random man, he’s a dark elf! Is this really okay?”
Ingrid clicked her tongue. They were fair complaints, especially for someone as anxious as Malori. Still, she gave her a reassuring pat on the shoulder. “Come on, I’ve known Alice for a lot longer than I’ve known you, and I trust you don’t I?” she said in a comforting tone, “If he’s close with Alice, then I trust him. I promise, there’s nothing to worry about.”
The esper looked partially unconvinced, but she followed Ingrid inside nonetheless. It was the middle of the day, so the tavern wasn’t heavily occupied, only containing three patrons. Two of them were in a booth in one of the far corners from the front door, and seemed to be having a very animated argument, filled with pointing and hand motions between the dwarf and the catfolk. The third was a middle aged human discussing something in hushed tones with the barkeep. Ingrid was enthralled by it briefly, but when the catfolk slipped out a knife and jabbed it into the table, she quickly followed Alice and Keaton into one of the back rooms with Malori close behind.
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It appeared to be some sort of storage room, with all kinds of bottles of alcohol lining the walls. There was another door off to the side that led to what was clearly a kitchen, and there was a young dark elf woman counting the different bottles and kegs and marking things down on a parchment, probably taking inventory. As they entered, Alice gave her a wink, which was received with a deep blush, an awkward smile, and looking away. Keaton rolled his eyes.
His pace sped up a bit, seemingly trying to get Alice out of the room as quickly as possible. The next room they entered was filled with cleaning supplies, but also a door heading into the ground. “This goes to the wine cellar,” he started as he opened the door, revealing a set of wooden stairs, “Come down here and I’ll show you where the hidden door is. Gotta make sure the guards don’t find it.”
Malori gave Ingrid another concerned look. Ingrid did everything in her power to ignore both that look and the comment about the guards as she followed down into the expansive cellar. There were several barrels that indicated Keaton brewed his own alcohol, which impressed her a fair bit. Labhras had liked to complain about how much work and time it took to make good alcohol.
She looked around, trying to find any signs of a tunnel, but found nothing. Though if he didn't want guards finding it, that was likely the idea. He calmly approached a brewing barrel and walked around the side. Grabbing the spigot, he twisted it four times. There was a sound of stone scraping against stone as a small passageway opened up behind the barrel. He looked like he was about to say something when Malori immediately rushed over to it, running her hands along the wall.
“H-How did you make this? The stonemasonry is f-flawless, there are barely any indications of there even being a passage! And the mechanism linked to the spigot, w-where does it connect to the door? I-Is it magical in nature? Mechanical? How expensive was-”
“Okay let’s settle down for a minute,” Keaton said, clearly bewildered by the rapid fire questions. Ingrid and Alice were too, both staring dumbfounded at the normally reserved esper. He put a hand to his forehead, sighing. “Geez, you know if I answered any of that I could get caught, right? Speaking of which, I know Alice is trustworthy. Coworkers and all that. If you two rat me out to the guards, I’ll kill you.”
It was Malori’s turn to stare dumbly with Ingrid as the entire room went quiet. Ingrid glanced at Alice, who gave a simple shrug. “Ha, um, g-good one, Keaton!” Ingrid laughed awkwardly.
“Oh I was being serious,” he flicked his wrist, and just like with Alice, a knife appeared practically out of nowhere in his hand, slick with some sort of liquid. With another flick, it was gone. “So yeah, I’m sure you can make the smart decision and keep this quiet.”
It was hard to take seriously, given how weirdly deadpan everything he said was, but the showing of the knife caused Malori to practically jump and Ingrid to wince. Clearly, he was being serious. Ingrid gave a quick nod and, not knowing quite what to do, gave an awkward salute. “Um, of course! My lips are sealed,” she said shakily.
Keaton gave a satisfied nod of his own, then gestured to the tunnel. “Well, Alice knows the way out of the city through this, so she’ll lead the way. Best of luck out there,” he said, just as monotone as everything else. “Don’t die.”
It took another moment for Ingrid to realize he was being serious, but she gave him a grateful smile. “Thank you. I’m still learning this whole druid thing, but when I’m a full one, I’ll see what I can do to make sure this place is alright.”
He raised an eyebrow, but remained silent. At that moment, Alice stepped forward. “Alright girls, let’s get goin! We’ve got a child to save!” she cheered, leading the way into the tunnels.
“He’s a teenager, I told you a few months ago that he turned seventeen, Alice.”
“Teenager, child, same thing!”
“I mean, t-technically I’m a teenager…”
“Nineteen doesn’t count, you’re old enough to join the military and have a kid.”
“Doesn’t it still end in teen though?”
“Stop trying to derail my baseless arguments! I’m trying to make a meaningless point!”
Ingrid squinted at the bright sunlight, putting a hand in front of her face so she wasn’t blinded as her eyes adjusted. There had been glowlamps lighting the tunnels, but it was nothing compared to the afternoon sun.
“Oh don’t be a baby,” Alice joked, tapping Ingrid’s arm with the back of her hand, “Sunlight actively hurts my eyes all day, but I manage to not be nocturnal.”
Ingrid scoffed playfully, tapping her back. “Oh? Since when were you one to try and compare suffering.”
“Since you had me leave the city on a fool’s errand with an esper who seems like she goes outside about once a week?” she grinned.
“H-Hey! It’s more than once…” Malori defended.
“Also, you came to us, so I don’t want to hear it,” Ingrid shot back. She was happy with the banter as she inspected their surroundings. Sure enough, they were out of the city, and a fair distance from it as well. They were in the woods just outside the city walls. Looking back, she could still see the palace looming over them. It wasn’t the first time she had entered these woods, but it felt like an entirely different world now. Before, she was always under Labhras’ supervision, with the distinct purpose of furthering her training. Now she was simply… here. For a brief moment, she felt small, like the world had just grown exponentially in a single moment. She quickly shook off the vertigo and looked back at Alice, who appeared to be teasing Malori and leaving the shorter girl with an adorable pout on her face.
“How far is the village you mentioned?”
Alice looked up. “It’s about two days northeast. Once we’re there we should be able to pick up a carriage and a couple horses though, and that should shave quite a bit of time off the rest of the trip,” she explained, not budging from Malori pulling indignantly on her sleeve. “You don’t mind a couple days on foot, do you Princess?”
She looked at Alice, then at Malori, who was struggling to budge the taller girl. “Um, do you think she’s going to be alright?” she asked.
“She’s right there, ask her.”
Malori seemed to give up on trying to have any effect on Alice, and looked over at Ingrid, panting slightly. “I-I should be fine! You don’t need to w-worry about me!” she stammered, trying to sound reassuring.
Ingrid clicked her tongue, then gave Malori a small pat on the head. “If you say so. Don’t hesitate to speak up if you need a break though, alright?”
The esper nodded, smiling up at her. “R-right! Of course.”
Satisfied with her response, Ingrid turned back to Alice. “Well then, you’re the one who knows the route. Lead the way!”
Alice gave an overly extravagant bow. “Of course, my lady. Hope you two don’t mind taking the woods route either. There're generally patrols along the roads that’ll double check visas. Something something keeping the people of the city safe,” she said mockingly, rolling her eyes. She started heading off, then clapped her hands, not turning back. “Oy, Princess, can you ask your plant friends to make a path for us? Usually I would hop through the trees but I don’t exactly think you two are up for that, and I’d rather not pull out a machete.”
“Yeah yeah I got it,” Ingrid grumbled jokingly. She approached the nearest set of bushes and knelt down in front of them. Closing her eyes and taking a deep breath, she placed the bottom of her staff against the ground. As she exhaled, she let her mind drift and spread, feeling the life energy of all of the plants and animals in the woods. She felt the wild berry bushes surrounding them, the footsteps of the mice and squirrels, every flap of the robin and magpie wings. She took another deep breath in, and out, sending her request to the plants and animals around them. Plants never communicated through words, rather emotions. She expressed her desire to pass through unhindered, and her desire not to see any of them harmed.
Channeling the magic through the staff, she tapped it against the ground again, and her senses were greeted with the rustling of leaves and skittering of woodland creatures. Alice gave an impressed whistle. As Ingrid opened her eyes, there was a thin, clear path before them.
“I-I-Incredible…” Malori whispered, her eyes practically sparkling. She looked at Ingrid, clearly about to explode from the millions of questions she wanted to ask. Surprisingly, she managed to hold it in.
Ingrid rose from the ground, gesturing at the newly formed path. “Well, that felt good. I haven’t been able to use this much natural magic in a couple of weeks,” she grunted, stretching, “It feels like I just got out of bed after a great night’s rest!”
Alice nodded, a satisfied smile on her face. “You weren’t kidding, you really do have a knack for this stuff,” she mused, “Seems like they even know where we want to go, that’s pretty impressive for a buncha sticks and leaves!”
“Don’t be rude to the plants, Alice,” she said matter-of-factly, “They’ll know, and you’ll find yourself tripping over roots left and right.”
The dark elf jokingly rolled her eyes, before leading the way down the path. They managed to fall into a pattern of happy silence as they walked. It was single file, Alice in the front, Ingrid in the back, and Malori between them. Every once in a while, the silence was broken by some playful banter, a joke that Alice thought of, or Malori and Ingrid excitedly spouting off fun facts about random plants and animals that they passed. It was mainly Malori, excited to finally be seeing new things outside of the city.
A few times, an animal skittered up alongside Ingrid, and if it was a squirrel, it would sometimes crawl up her leg and sit on her shoulder. This wasn’t out of the ordinary for her, as animals tended to react amicably to the natural magic that radiated off of her, but Malori was awestruck by it. Ingrid even managed to convince a particularly brave squirrel to let Malori pet them, much to her excitement.
Alice informed them that they should walk until sundown to make up for time they lost in the tunnels, causing Malori to visibly wince. She lasted longer than Ingrid or Alice expected, but she did seem to get tired very quickly. Ingrid kept her going for a little while longer by using some healing magic to sustain her, but eventually, Alice just resorted to, comically enough, carrying her over her shoulder like a sack of potatoes.
It was kind of impressive how little the extra load seemed to phase Alice, which prompted numerous jokes about how tiny Malori was. The dynamic between the group was nice, and filled Ingrid with hope for this entire endeavor. Getting along this well was never guaranteed, but Alice acclimated quickly to being around Malori, falling into her routine of teasing and joking. Malori looked to be receptive to it as well, always happy to attempt to fire back, but always ending up just looking slightly childish.
As the sun began going down, Alice made the call to make camp. Ingrid channeled the druidic magic again, requesting the plants and animals give them some space to set up shelter for the night. The woods obliged, giving them a small clearing to set up their tents in. As soon as Malori had her tent set up and laid out her bed roll, she collapsed straight into it, prompting some laughter from Alice.
“Long day?” she joked, setting up a small fire pit to begin making dinner.
Malori couldn’t even bring herself to respond, just nodding into her travel pillow and groaning.
“Hope you get used to it, tomorrow's gonna be even longer,” she laughed, then laughed even harder at the groan of despair that came from Malori’s tent. Alice looked over to Ingrid as she finished setting the fire pit up. “I know fire is more a sorcerer or mage thing, but you can do like, minor stuff, right? Wanna light this so I don’t have to go digging for a flint and steel?”
“Yes, just a little spark shouldn’t be a problem,” she said, coming over and holding her hands out to the sticks. Sure enough, after a brief period of focusing and channeling the magic, a small fire was burning in the pit.
“Thanks Princess,” Alice chimed as she set up a cooking pot, “Ever had dark elf food before?”
Ingrid shook her head. “The cookbooks Chimsley and I used tended to focus on traditional Cordelian meals. Mostly seafood.”
Alice nodded. “Well, I hope I can feed you something good then,” she said happily, “Lots of vegetarian stuff, and tons of mushrooms. In Avalon, I’ve heard there are so many types of mushrooms you could practically replace any flavor you want with them if you look in the right sections,” she explained, “Never been there myself though. I wonder what it’s really like.”
“Is there anything stopping you from going? I know you probably wouldn’t be able to get to the Cordelian settlements there, but you seem to have all sorts of connections,” Ingrid asked, noting the faint wistfulness in Alice’s voice. She walked back into the clearing, taking a rest against a tree. “I’m sure if you really put your mind to it you could get there.”
She winced slightly at the mention of the Cordelian settlements. “It’s uh, it’s not for me, I don’t think,” she stated plainly, “Too much extra baggage with a realm like that.”
“I suppose. I haven’t read too much about the other realms, but Avalon was an exception because of how in tune it is with Cordelia,” she said, “An entire world filled with fae and powerful emotions sounds kind of crazy when you think about it.”
Alice didn’t say anything, just nodding along and preparing a pot for making some sort of stew. Ingrid wanted to ask how exactly Alice even had these connections, and what they were for. In all of their time together, most of the discussion revolved around her. Not for lack of trying, but most questions about Alice’s life seemed to glance off of her as she changed the subject again. It hadn’t been much more than a passing thought previously, but now it was at the forefront of her mind. Everything about the way she interacted with the lower district, with Keaton, raised so many questions that she could already assume Alice didn’t want or intend to answer.
It was probably best to leave it for the moment. She didn’t want to throw a wrench into things this early in the journey, and she had no idea what Alice’s response would be to being asked about them.
The rest of the night was uneventful. Alice continued to cook in silence, peacefully humming a tune to herself as she made the stew. Malori remained passed out in her tent until Alice physically dragged her out to have dinner, after which she flopped back down all over again and fell asleep. Ingrid watched it all happen, eating her meal in peace with Alice.
It was honestly surprising how quickly Malori ate, but Alice attributed it to her little body’s one last ‘hurrah’ before finally giving out. Ingrid commented on the poor choice of words by pointing out the fact that Malori wasn’t moving, but she really had just fallen asleep.
Alice put her in the bed roll and pulled up the covers before closing her tent. “So, you like it?” she asked quietly.
Ingrid nodded. “Yes, it’s good! I didn’t know you could cook like this,” she kept her voice low as well. She was fairly certain that nothing would be waking Malori up, but she didn’t want to run the risk. The girl would need her sleep after all, considering what Alice had said about tomorrow. “We’re probably going to want to go slow and steady tomorrow. Otherwise, she’ll get worn out quickly.”
“Yeah, I tried to take her into account when planning the distances,” she mused, sitting down next to Ingrid, “Gotta say, she’s got spirit. She hasn’t complained once about it, and it’s pretty damn easy to tell how bad she wants to.”
“She’s a good girl. I’m happy to have her here,” Ingrid said fondly. She looked over at Alice, who had an eyebrow raised. “Oh come on, not you too! You know I lean towards taller women,” she groaned, prompting a quiet chuckle from the dark elf.
“Oh trust me, I’m well aware,” she joked, poking Ingrid’s cheek, “I get it though. I’m glad you have friends other than me. It was getting awfully tiring keeping you all to myself. Not that I had any complaints.”
Ingrid shoved her back. “Oh stop it! There weren’t exactly other trainees for me to spend time with.”
“So your solution was a brothel? Kinda ‘out there’ logic if you ask me.”
“I became friends with you before I started my training!”
“You know that only proves my point even more,” Alice shot back, a smug grin on her face.
Ingrid rolled her eyes. “Gods, you’re insufferable sometimes.”
“And yet you keep coming back! Not to mention, you’re smiling.”
“You aren’t even looking at me!” she said indignantly, turning to the dark elf, who had her eyes closed.
“Don’t need to be. I can always tell from your tone of voice,” she said matter-of-factly. Alice threw her arms forward, shifting back to an upright position. “You learn to read people in my line of work. Don’t think too hard about it.”
She again found herself wanting to ask what kind of other work she was involved in, but she quickly killed the urge. Finishing the last remains of the stew, she used some natural magic to make quick work of cleaning the wooden bowls and the pot.
“That’s a handy trick. It purely a druid thing or could a mage do something like that?” Alice asked, gathering up the leftover materials and stamping out the fire.
“Well, it’s a simple enough spell that I doubt it’s tied to an element, so probably. I’ve just only seen it used by Labhras and I,” she responded.
“Good to know. I’d offer to share my tent with you, but considering how you usually are I think you’d wake up Malori,” she teased, prompting Ingrid’s face to go bright red.
She opened her mouth to respond, but quickly shut it and stomped over to her tent. “Goodnight Alice!” she huffed.
“Night', Princess,” Alice laughed, before entering her own tent.
Ingrid sighed and tucked herself into the bed roll, turning onto her side. She closed her eyes and tried to soak in all of the sounds of the woods. The quiet rustling of leaves in the wind, the chirping of crickets, even the occasional hooting of an owl. She let it all be her lullaby as she fell into a deep sleep for the first time outside of the city.