After a long… long walk… Well, Finn did all of the walking, but the fact I was trapped in his arms is probably what made it feel so long… He was constantly saying things like "I thought you read the book, and you didn't know terror birds have teeth?" If I was being honest though… I enjoyed it. I couldn't remember a time I'd talked to anyone that much. Before I knew it we were outside the camp again.
"Just set me down here and I'll walk to the medical tint on my own. Or back to the inn if they are gone already."
He paused. "Are you sure? It's not going to be any better after only a few hours."
I let out an uncomfortable groan. "If it's all the same to you, I'd really rather not be seen by people being carried like this…"
"Ok, but, can you walk on your own?"
"Just set me down already! If you're that worried about it then give my your shoulder or something, that way it looks like we're coming back from a war… Instead of getting married…"
He cleared his throat, gently setting me down and wrapping my arm over his shoulders to help me walk, finally seeing reason.
"Actually, this is perfect, Posey can use healing magic on me and then we can go snoop around the castle, the sun should be setting soon."
"That was our original plan, but let's wait till after she freaks out about you getting hurt to talk about that."
I thought he was exaggerating, but when I saw her, and she saw me, the first thing she did was slap me. Knocking me speechless.
"I told you to be careful!"
'How did she hit me so hard and manage to make it not hurt at all?' "You also told me to do all the fighting…" I raised a hand to my cheek. 'I know I felt my head jerk from the impact… Did she use magic? What kind of magic would have this effect? Could I learn it? Wait… Would it even be useful?'
She growled at Finn who couldn't wipe the ever so characteristic grin off his face. "Are you hurt?"
He forced a smile so big he almost closed his eyes. "Let's take care of her first. She needs healing magic on her ankle."
Letting out a long groan, she sent him out of the tint and proceeded to inspect ALL of my injuries, old and new, once again thoroughly ensuring everything was perfect down to the number of times each bandage was wrapped. When she was done, she didn't even bother to wait for me to get dressed again before calling Finn back into the room.
All I could do was quickly pull a sweatshirt from storage and cover myself. Of course, within seconds of entering, he casually turned around and left, playing it off like he was never there. 'Would it kill him to at least be a little embarrassed… It's just not fare…'
After I got dressed again I made my way out of the room and awkwardly let him know I was wearing clothes… So, after that he came back in and, taking off his jerkin, revealed a large gash in his side that gave me chills. Not because it was that bad, but just… Well… It certainly left an impression of him in my mind that I doubt would easily change.
"You don't get healing magic till you start to suck less at fighting, just spit on it and wrap it up."
He chuckled turning over to me while pointing at her. "She also sounds way too serious when she's being sarcastic."
She splashed medicine on the wound out of a bowl, making his whole body suddenly go stiff and his eyes widened so much his ears moved. "Who's being sarcastic? That was a medicine called fire spit, it hurts a lot. You didn't need it, but it hurts a lot." She quickly wrapped the wound and only after tying it did he finally move again, wiping a tear from one of his eyes. "I thought healers were supposed to get rid of pain…" He groaned in a way that sounded like he was trying to make a joke.
"No, healers get rid of problems… Maybe if you experience more pain you'll stop being stupid and have less of them."
'That's… One way to look at it…' I scratched my head just glad I wasn't the one being scolded anymore.
She turned back to me, and admittedly I became a little nervous. "He did something stupid, right? How did he get hurt?"
His eyes followed hers, opening wide again, but this time, an almost threatening, pleading expression overtook his face.
I grinned. 'You deserve this for all that teasing you put me through.' "We used him as bait, and he intentionally baited for longer than he was supposed to."
She growled again but I stopped her before she did anything else. "But… If he hadn't things could have gone a lot worse. So… I don't think it was stupid at all." 'Wait, no I'm defending him? I thought I was getting him back?'
I looked back and he gave a soft smile before I felt a soft chop to the head from behind. "But why were you fighting it anyway huh!"
"Can't you just let it go?" I groaned. 'I probably shouldn't tell her it was because I was afraid of it.'
Her voice cracked, suddenly softening. "How am I supposed to do that… How am I supposed to do that when one of these times he might not come back alive enough for me to heal him…"
All three of us fell dead silent for what felt like an eternity until Finn finally stepped up and rested a hand on her shoulder. "Hey, come on… I joined the circle of smoke, not the coffin's reach. Don't… Hm… Worry all you want, I love proving people wrong."
She let out a snort, finally smiling and relaxing again. "The sun's already down, so hurry up and go do all the sneaky sneak before it comes back up."
She was surprisingly forceful, pushing us out of the tint, and in a way it felt like a storm had passed when we found ourselves standing outside again.
"Castle?" I asked.
"Yeah..." He said back, leaning into his first step as we headed out. On our way there we began discreetly sorting out the plan. "Do you how to sign?" He asked, speaking through the gestures from his hands.
"Well enough," I responded in the same manner.
From then on we used hand signals to communicate. The plan was simple… We would walk right in through the front gate, and casually walk through as though we were supposed to be there.
"And if we get caught?" I asked.
He pulled a badge out of his pocket and placed it over his heart. "We will say I'm an elite member of my guild, conducting an inspection."
I looked closer at the badge. "Are you?"
He grinned but didn't laugh, staying silent. "Everyone in my guild is an elite member when it's convenient, and no one is when it's not. That's how we do things."
'I see… That's… Convenient…'
Sure enough, with that badge, no one dared try and stop us as we headed through the castle's hallways like we owned the place before finally coming to the place where the hall split. "I'll go check Alden's quarters, and then his office, you go check out the chains in the warehouse. In case something happens, here." he spun his finger in a circle, tracing light through the air before a magic thread began to weave itself into existence. The thread attached itself to our ears and suddenly pulled tight, slightly tugging on my ear before vanishing.
"Now you can hear what I hear, and vice versa. We will know if the other is in trouble."
I nodded and he set off. 'I don't like splitting up… I don't have a cover story… But I guess that's why he took the areas where he would be more likely to get caught.'
I quietly moved down the other hall, finding my way to the store room. The whole place seemed nearly abandoned. 'Let's see if I can't find some clues.'