Someone had a very specific taste in bedrooms, and that someone was Nerinai the Raveness. There were probably a dozen beautiful and lush rooms in this place considering the size, and of course she picked the tower. The tower, with three stories of spiral stairs and the undeniable musk of being ignored for years on end.

The butler did his best to clean the place up, and there were still filaments of dust on every surface. He stocked a bundle of wood by the small iron stove for warmth, but Ike was half convinced he’d end up baking himself or setting the place on fire with anything more than a candlelight. It didn’t help that whoever designed the building was a fan of closed spaces and stuffy rooms. The one window was a grimy circle with black grates covering most of the light. Everywhere else was blocky stone walls and the spare furniture.

Nerinai wasted no time in getting to her made up bed and turning the fluffy green blanket and sheets into a nest. Ike looked around for him, and on finding nothing, settled for the carpet.

The carpet suited him. Plain brown, a few scorch marks and ragged edges. God knew he wasn’t going to ask Nerinai for a pillow let alone go within ten feet of her bed, so he’d have to make it work. He could make it work. The wood on the floor wasn’t so hard, probably a little rotted, perfect for sleeping on.

Ike drifted out of his exhaustion about the same time Nerinai stopped making noise. Flickering light from pale sconces on the wall landed dead on her cloak, which she pulled close to her body. Head down, staring at the floor.

Her posture had the look of unsolved issues that Ike had neither the ability or desire to solve. He wasn’t really ready for this journey. Day one and he’d screwed up walking into a room of knife-happy shamans. Who knew what plans of hers he had just royally screwed up? He had promised to help and now he was screwing things up. Of course, that was just like him. Even more like him to sit there and let the problems float around him like the shovel by his side was the only real thing in the room. All these worries crept up in the back of his mind and grew like a snowball.

The absolute worst, horrifying, and gut-wrenching part of the torrent was knowing he could probably solve it with a word. Or at least, he knew he was avoiding the problem. He was the problem. Nerinai was the genius with a million issues on her plate and Ike was meant to support, but a small and vocal part of himself still rooted in being the ignorable muckraker told him opening his mouth would be a mistake. Every person he’d ever met, ever called a friend, was fleeting. Death by demon. Disappearing into the night to escape crushing life debts, probably paying the same toll in a blight field. Simply turning their backs on him when he started to talk faster than his brain could keep up, so he just sounded like the idiot he really was under his thinly crafted veil of attractive aloofness.

Just one word.

“Hey,” he ventured, folding his arms.

She barely moved to look over at him, didn’t say anything, then turned back to the floor. Probably one word wasn’t enough. Why not say more?

“Sorry about… you know. My fault.”

“Was there any doubt on that, Guardian?”

“No. So I… what’s next? Here. Can I do something to make this better? Plans? Are we, you, do we need to do anything to get ready for this place? I think I saw there were a bunch of other people downstairs-”

“In case approaching one group of strangers wasn’t enough, you intend to meet another?” She scoffed, blew away a tuft of black hair and stared at him. “Please, Guardian, it's been a long day and I intend to rest.”

“Of course. I get it, I just don’t want to make any more mistakes.”

She watched him for a few seconds of painstaking hesitation. Nerinai was very fond of her delayed responses. Ike probably should have learned how to think about what he said before he said it. he’d be a lot better off in life if he had.

“Don’t worry,” she finally said. “These plans were doomed from the very beginning; a slight incursion into the social circles of strangers isn’t going to change that.”

“If you don’t mind, could you explain why?” Ike struggled to keep his voice steady and clear. It was apparently worth the trouble, as she lifted up her arm to rest her head against a fist and looked at him with a sort of crooked curiosity.

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

“If I explain it, will you leave me alone? For the rest of the night at least,” she said.

“Probably.”

She shrugged, then drearily slid off the bed and walked over to Ike. On her way from the bed to the rug, she kicked off her shoes and crouched down across from him on the carpet. The feathers pooled around her like a spill of ink, with just her face sticking out of the void of color.

Ike, for his part, straightened up and patiently tensed up his nervous muscles to keep them from fidgeting while she spoke.

“Do you remember the last time you made me explain things to you?” Ike nodded. “Well, every Raveness has time. To get ready, prepare, study to the best of her ability and reach her potential. Eighteen isn’t old enough to be dealing with this responsibility…”

“No, but… Seems like you are.”

“That’s exactly my point. I decided I wouldn't simply feed into the cycle that preceded me and refused the guardian I was offered. His life shouldn't have been at risk when I knew I could find a better way. That took time, though, and despite it all I took an extra year to prepare. That, and the priests’ constant insistence that I simply take the easy route. I was so close. Two weeks and I would've been here by myself. Nobody else would have to put themselves at risk.”

Even without an explanation, Ike could tell she meant him. Obviously.

"I did choose to be here, you know. Risk or no risk, this is better than being a muckraker." He gestured at the room, failing to explain with a simple wave of the arm how a solid room was a wealth compared to his history.

Nerinai rubbed her temples as if this only made things worse. "Of course, Guardian. I couldn't ask you to stay, just as I couldn't force you to go."

"Exactly! Why are you so worried about this place? It's clean, mostly, and nice. No blight."

"The blight would have been a preferable backdrop to this place. Nobody ever comes back from this place."

This conversation wasn't going anywhere. Nerinai shrouded every word in innuendo to some great hidden problem as if revealing the ghosts under the floorboards would somehow make them come to life. Ike, for his part, couldn't do anything to help her if he didn't understand. In a gesture he couldn't have quite explained, he held out his hand to her.

"Could I see yours? Your, er, hand."

She eyed him cautiously but did as he asked, holding her hand over his to hold up and study. Closer, he could trace the lines with his eyes. The palm was smooth, unblemished by the grime and friction of manual labor. That circle took up almost the entire palm with black ink, drawing from her wrist to under her fingers, a solid piece of black skin. Inside the circle was empty save for one lonely symbol, a box with a line crossing out a corner.

"I've never seen one up close. A shaman's palm: some people talk about them weirdly. Always stories about seeing their deaths in the circle.”

"That's just a myth, Guardian."

"Yeah, I know I just–--" He gently pulled his arm back to himself and sighed. "I was trying to say you're different. You can make it work."

"You seriously have no way of knowing that."

"Of course not. Doesn't mean I can't believe it."

"Pathetic fantasies and faith will not save you from the bite of a demon or knife in the hands of a traitor. You should know better than that."

Ike jabbed a thumb out to his side, a half-way grin on his face. "That's what the shovel’s for. Seriously. Look, Nerinai, just give me something to do and I'll do it. That's the best way for me to operate. You need your space, your weird bedding habits, all of that, to work. I get it. I just need a purpose. Please. Tell me to jump and I'll go as high as I can. That's it! I can be a really good guardian because it means something, helping you–--"

"Ok. I get it."

Ike let himself start rambling and suddenly it felt like every minute of conversation was at risk of being soiled. He cursed himself for opening his mouth. To his surprise, though, Nerinai didn't leave. She stayed sitting across from him, running a finger over her palm.

"You really want to help? Fine. Tomorrow, before dawn, I'll be gone. You can't find me, and trying would just be a waste of your time. Stay here and keep the room safe, make sure nobody else–, not even the butler–enters." Then she stopped and stared up into his eyes, those black irises frighteningly intense. "Having a place secured from the others is critical, if it helps. I can't have anybody coming in and rooting through my notes, especially not while I'm working."

"Yeah, got it." He smiled, but it was forced. He'd asked for purpose, and she'd given him guard duty. Complaint now was off the table; all he could do was be thankful.

Nerinai got up not long after that and crawled into her cloth nest, whisking out the candlelight with a wave of her hand. Somehow the sun had disappeared during their conversation, and very quickly the room was dunked into night. Ike didn't do much to get ready for sleep, just pulled off his robe to fold up as a pillow.

Nerinai whistled. Ike looked up, said, "Hm?"

Then a pillow came out of nowhere and smacked him square in the face. He had to blink a couple times to get back to his senses.

"Figured you deserved a little something. Good night, Guardian."

"Goodnight, Raveness." The words felt strangely hollow coming out of his throat, like he was scared to say them. Nothing but silence followed, and Ike rubbed his face into the cool pillow with a hungry fervor. His comfort wouldn't go to waste tonight, no matter what the morning had– or did not have– in store.