But it seems I wasn’t the only one, he said and Evie held her breath, expecting to see a gaggle of boys popping out of the shrubs behind him. The brush didn’t stir, however, save for the pelts of rain that caused their branches to nod now and again. Evie glanced dubiously at the bushes and then back towards town, not too far off. It struck her as odd that he had sheltered in the bushes when only a little travel might have brought him to a fire. Evie, however, did not immediately question this logic - perhaps not all doors in this town were so open as she had once believed. Celia had described to her the bad condition of living - perhaps this young man was afraid of being turned away.
Her brow contorted as Evie listened to him describing the spider. Of course, she herself was not overfond of spiders, but she liked to think she should not hide in their domain and then be surprised to see one. She would have thought differently, ironically enough, had she known that it was not only a mouse but one that was running up his person. In absence of this knowledge, however, she felt confused. This, she decided, was a strange young man, indeed.
“I can’t help but think there might be a great many spiders in that brush,” Evie pointed out, softly. She felt a mild concern for this poor fellow and asked herself if perhaps he was a tad touched. “Perhaps you’d better come into town with me. Come, I’ll buy you a cup of hot mulled wine…or whatever they might serve that is warm,” she added, frowning, thinking perhaps spiced wine might be a specialty more pertaining to the wealth of the land. “You must be soaked to the bone!”
Evie’s horse pawed at the ground, quickly transmuting from earth to mud, and waved the boy towards her. “We best get on and quickly. The storm seems to grow only more ferocious.”
Beginning to walk, Evie favored him with a kind smile, hoping not to alarm him. “What’s your name?” she inquired. “I’m-” she broke off, suddenly, realizing that - in the long list of things she’d foolishly failed to consider - a suitable alias was one. “Nataly,” she supplied, quickly, recalling her favorite tragedy. “I work at Ravenwood Hall,” she added, gesturing towards her livery, as she constructed her false identity. Realizing, however, that perhaps she was suspiciously oversharing, she forced a smile and stopped herself from adding that she lived in the Imperial City, which was why he had probably never seen her face before.
“Do you live in town?” she inquired, instead. She hoped he did. Perhaps he could furnish her with a perspective on what it was like to live here - spiders and all. “I’m passing through on a mission for my mistress,” she said. “I wonder which of these is the best tavern,” she supplied, casting her glance towards town and merry lights flickering from the windows. “It looks a pleasant place to be. Cheerful.”
“At least one more than I would like,” He said, hurriedly, moving away from the bush.
“I’m not from here, either.” He confessed, “I don’t know my way around. But I think closest is best.” He said, pointing a finger towards a small building that had a roaring fire through the window and a faded sign reading The Two Crowns.
He crossed the road with her and once her horse had been tied up in the stables, they found an empty table near the fire. He’d apologized for not having any money, but she insisted she had more than enough for both of them and ordered them both a warm drink. He was more thankful than he could say to be out of the rain and by the fire.
But he knew, then, he’d have to talk to her and answer questions. He had to lie and he wasn’t any good at lying.
His uncle had known from the moment he’d starting hiding Arya in the barn that something was amiss, but he couldn’t allow for this girl to have any shadow of a doubt as to who he was and why he was there. He knew he’d been messy when it came to Cora, but then … she was different and he trusted her.
When it came to Nataly, he would not be so careless. Charles was already going to have his head for this. In fact, he would have both his head and Cedric’s (if they managed to make it out of this scrape).
But for now, he knew that he and Nataly both needed to get out of this storm. Heading into a tavern with lots of people did not seem like the best move, but he supposed that no one could know who he was. The only troubling thing was that he did not know who Nataly was, not really. He hoped going somewhere with her would not draw attention to either of them.
“I’m from Dorwaine,” He explained, finally, “I’m passing through the capital with my cousin. We had a farm back home but … there was a fire and we lost everything. We don’t have much of a plan really. We may travel on south or perhaps we’ll stay. I don’t know.” He paused, “I’m Roran, by the way.” He wasn’t sure if he should use his real name … but then he had used it with Cora and what if they knew each other?
“My cousin and I split up before the storm. Once things calm down, I’ll go out and look for him. And when I find him, I’ll happily pay you back for the wine.”
gummygunk
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snowghoul
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