Darkness reigned over the village, from behind the hill the moon was slowly peaking shining her gentle rays over the Lathian village and the inn that the four people were in.
" Pleased to make your acquaintance Rhya!" Maya greeted the woman with a small smile, that just came to her senses.
Rhya gave Maya a small bow " Pleasure is all mine Lean!" she greeted Maya back her face scrunching up in pain.
" You're travelling back to the forest, yes?!" Rom asked again not wanting to waste time on pleasantries.
" Hmm!" she hummed while trying to stand up from the bed, hissing in pain.
Rom's face lit up hearing her answer she looked over his shoulder at Maya and Sylus, who just stared at him with blank expression not knowing what to make of the look on his face.
Maya looked at Sylus, who just shrugged to let her know that he was still clueless about any of this.
Maya rolled her eyes at Sylus and let out a quiet sigh, deciding to keep quiet for now until she had more details.
" We can all go!" Rom quickly offered to Rhya with a wide grin on his face not believing his luck.
"All of us together?" Rhya uttered in disbelief at his offer with her eyebrows raised.
" Um, yes! We have two horses"! Rom replied giving her the benefits of joining them, it was the other way around but she didn't need to know that.
Rhya looked at Rom, think that the timing and everything that was happening was a bit suspicious, not knowing that she could trust them.
" I do not know you, therefore I do not trust you!" she deadpanned while scowling at Rom.
Hearing Rhya retort, Sylus broke in a fit of laughter " You have met your match Ron!" he blurted out while holding his stomach, garnering him a deadly glare from Rom.
Maya giggled covering her mouth with the back of her hand, she chose to be quiet seeing the look on her brothers face.
" What can we do to gain your trust?" Rom questioned Rhya while frowning
" You can tell me your names to begin with!" she deadpanned again causing all of them to freeze in their spots while Rhya raised one eyebrow in question while her eyes darted between the three people in the room.
" We did!" Rom retorted continuing to frown, wondering how did she know that they lied about their names.
" The real ones!" she deadpanned again annoyed that they were trying weasel their way out of it.
Seeing that Rhya was onto them, Maya decided that it would be for the best to end the sharade and tell her the truth.
Taking a step forward " My name is Maya!" she introduced herself with a small smile.
Rhya just nodded, she had already introduced herself she saw no point in doing it again.
Looking at Rom, she raised an eyebrow in question seeing that the man in front of her went silent all of the sudden " You? You had a lot to say a moment ago, what happened? Cat got your tongue?! she mocked with a smirk.
Sylus bursting in a contained laughter, garnering him another deadly stare from Rom.
" I'm Sylus " he plainly introduced himself while still holding back from laughing.
Rhya again turned to Rom for the second time " So you're not going to tell me your name?" she asked curiously this time, not understanding the reason why he was holding back in sharing his name.
" Why?" she shot the next question not waiting for him to answer the first and the second question.
" How do I know that I can trust you? We know about you just as much you know about us!" he retorted while his eyes where keenly studying her expressions.
" You know more about me than I do about you! I still don't know your name!" she reasoned while staring back at him.
Rom held his head high, turning around he shoved his hands in his pocket making his way to where his sister and Sylus were.
" What did she want from you?" he bluntly asked while turning around to look at her.
Rhya eyebrows knitted together at the memory that Rom's question evoked, her gaze lowered to look at the ground " I'm not saying anything else, until you reveal your name!" she retorted while raising her head to look Rom in the eyes.
Maya and Sylus rolled their eyes at Rom's balky behaviour " His name is Rom!" Maya blurted out getting fed up with her brother aloof atitude.
Rom sighed and looked at his sister annoyed " She already knows our names!" he said scowling at his sister.
Maya's eyes widened " You could have said that earlier!" she replied in high pitched voice while glaring at Rom, for going around in circles.
Rom sighed, rubbing the back of his neck " I just wanted to see how far she would take the game that she is playing!" he announced to them while lifting his head to look at Rhya who had in impassive look on her face.
" How ? " Maya plainly asked while frowning at Rhya.
" I can't tell you that, not yet!" she retorted while letting out heavy sigh.
Sylus getting fed up with bickering " I'm hungry, we should discuss this over some food! " he suggested in calm voice hoping that maybe taking a break from all the back and forth will ease their fired up spirits.
Maya nodded " I'm famished!" she agreed while looking at Rom seeing that he went quiet again staring at Rhya.
Stylus sighed " I'll speak to the innkeeper to see how much he will charge for food! Does anyone have anymore jewellery or anything of value! I'm sure the food won't be cheap!" he murmured in a hushed voice, trying no to draw anymore attention than they already have.
At Sylus mention of jewellery, Rom attention turn to Sylus this time instead " The necklace, where did you get that?" he asked irritated that he had got distracted and forgot about it.
Sylus let out a nervous chuckle, at Rom's question " The Queen mother gave it to me when she offered me the Commander position !" he plainly answered with a straight face.
Rom froze in his spot for a few moments then he looked at Rhya " We need to leave this place now!" he deadpanned while moving to grab their things heading towards the door.
Seeing his reaction Maya followed Rom's suit, knowing her brother well, he didn't do things like this for no reason.
The other two opened their mouth to speak but quickly closed them, sensing the urgency and distress in Rom's actions.