{-Llewel-}
They’d just arrived back in the inn after a surprisingly pleasant afternoon of running around the city. Llewel, honestly, had never thought it would go that well; Myr eventually got them all talking about how they met and everything else leading up to this, though, and that kept the silence away. It also kept anyone from asking any uncomfortable questions, or generally thinking too much about what lay ahead in their future. It might not really have been the best conversation, especially when it would be seen in hindsight, but at least it was better than what he’d expected would happen.
“Well, it took a little longer than we thought, but all of those quests are done,” Zetai announced. “We should probably go now, though.”
“That’s alright,” Casrane said with a nod. “I don’t want to keep you too much later than you should. There’s just… Do you have a couple more minutes?”
“Is there something you need?” Tinath prompted gently.
Casrane nervously glanced at the ground; apparently when it came to these sorts of things, it took her a while to muster the courage. “N-no, not really. I just wanted to talk for a little bit, if that’s alright. Only the two of us…”
Though Tinath seemed surprised at first, it only took her a moment to nod. “Yeah, sure. I can stay however long you want me to.”
Then the two of them went over to another, quiet corner of the inn—one Vamir had promised earlier to set aside for them.
“Let me guess, the two of you want to do something similar with us..?” Zetai asked cautiously. “You know, this went from relatively okay to kind of concerning pretty quickly. Is there something else going on?”
“Nothing that you have to worry about,” Llewel assured them.
“But it’s something that the two of you are going to have to deal with?” Reynneak prompted. “When we said that we were going to do things together, that includes whatever this is. We want to know if there’s something else going on.”
“You’re not really going to be able to understand it. But it’s going to be alright in the end, and that should be the part that matters.”
Myr picked up for him to continue, “We shouldn’t think about that part at all. We just… wanted to thank the two of you—for everything you’ve done for us over the past few months. You never needed to stay with us or do half the things you did, yet you did it all anyway. So, thank you for that. Really.”
“I suddenly feel like I shouldn’t leave at all tonight,” Zetai remarked. “What’s going on that you can’t talk to us about it? What are you going to end up doing?”
Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
Llewel shook his head. “I know it’s a dumb thing you ask after everything, but…. You’ve just got to trust us. Don’t worry about us and what we’re doing.”
“But I’m not about to let you do something dangerous just because you think it might help.”
Myr responded, “But this isn’t something you can help with. We’d actually feel better if you promised not to try—we don’t want to get you involved. All you have to do is believe that we mean that everything’s going to be alright, and it will. I promise.”
Finally, Zetai and Reynneak looked between each other and, after a moment, slowly nodded. It didn’t seem like they wanted to. But they must’ve known, too, that it didn’t matter—that the twins weren’t going to change their mind, and that maybe there was a reason they didn’t want help.
“Promise you’ll stay safe?” Reynneak prompted.
“And don’t do anything stupid,” Zetai added.
“Of course,” the twins said together.
That, thankfully, seemed to be enough to at least partially reassure Zetai and Reynneak. The four of them talked for a little bit longer about nothing in particular until, finally, they decided it was time to go. Tinath left soon after, with both her and Casrane looking pretty peaceful.
It was because of that that Llewel was able to confidently ask her, once she started to come over to the twins, “Do you think you’re ready, Casrane?”
Casrane nodded. “But we should check with Vamir first. Even if the three of us are ready, we should make sure he thinks it’s alright. He said that Duuzlo would be able to tell for sure—better than we could, anyway.”
“I’ll go and ask,” Myr offered. She’d already darted towards the counter and started talking to Vamir; he hadn’t been busy before, since most players were heading off by now.
Llewel had completely planned on joining her but, after he took a step forward, Casrane caught hold of his hand. He looked back.
“Just… no matter how this plays out,” she said, slowly, “I want you to know I really appreciate what you’ve done. Both what you’ve been able to achieve on your own and what you did for us while we were together. And, well… maybe it’s finally time to stop beating around the bush.” She gave him a quick kiss on the cheek and quickly walked over to the counter.
He didn’t… quite know how to take the sudden action, actually. But to save himself from looking like anything obvious had happened, he simply pocketed the feelings away for later and went to join the girls.
He came just as Vamir nodded, saying thoughtfully, “I don’t see why you can’t do it now, if you think that you’re ready for it. This is something that’s only going to get worse the longer we ignore it, after all.”
“So, I’m assuming that means we’re in the clear?” Llewel prompted as soon as he was closer. “We can do it now..?”
“I don’t see why not,” Vamir agreed. “This… doesn’t have to be done right this second though, you know. I don’t think anyone’s going to blame you if you want to wait a little bit longer.”
Myr shook her head. “I think the only thing that’s going to do at this point is make things worse. They’re probably already worried… we don’t want to make them more concerned.”
“Best to just do it now,” Casrane said.
Llewel slowly nodded to himself, mustering the motivation to finally say it all out loud. “So… is it time we head to the Heart of Anseshara?”