"Jewels…. check, coins… check, kush… check.
I tied up my bag and began walking out the room.
"What a waste," I thought, thinking of the extra money I gave to the Inn for free. Still, money was hardly a concern when one's physical well being was challenged. Hurriedly, I made my way back to the Princess.
"Oh, that was quick."
"Yeah, I mean would you prefer if it wasn't?"
She laughed as we began to run out onto the streets outside the Inn.
"I mean, it would have been more fun if we waiting for bad guys to chase after us."
"... yeah that's true it would have been."
"Still,"
She paused for a moment as we slowed down our pace a bit, being further removed from the Inn.
"I'm just glad you're safe."
"Oh uhh…" I blushed, "Th… thanks,"
"But what do we do now, Hu?"
"Make it up as we go?"
She stopped running for a moment to catch her breath.
"Ye… yeah I get that. But it's more like…"
She gathered herself.
"Shouldn't we take turns?"
"Huh?"
"Making it up as we go… it's exhausting. We should take turns."
I pondered this for a moment as we began to jog again.
"Hmmm… that is true, it is pretty tiring to continuously make things up."
"Yeah, my brain's exhausted Hu. I picked the last one though! It's your turn deciding what the next plan is!"
"Fair fair, okay uhhh…"
It must have been around midnight at this point as the moon shined above us in the sky glowing brightly.
"Honestly Princess, I feel like we only have one option, no?"
"Which is?"
"We just walk until we find 'any' inn available."
"Hmm… that makes sense."
We kept walking for a bit in silence, but the darkness of the sky made it so we couldn't really see any of the daytime sights. It was quite the peaceful night though as I focused my sight on the moon instead.
"Just the two of us," the Princess finally said, breaking the silence.
"Yep."
"Under the moonlight,"
"Uh-huh,"
"Where it's too dark to see anything."
"Correct."
"KInd of boring though, isn't it?"
"Kind of peaceful I'd say.
"Hu…"
I looked at her smirking, seeing her fiendish eyes. Without even asking, I pulled out some candies from my bag. The Princess quickly grabbed one and was about to pop one into her mouth before pausing for a moment.
"I don't know Hu, can we really just rely on these to cure our boredom?"
"That depends, do you think it's wrong that we judge people who cure their boredom weekly or daily from alcohol?"
"Yeah that's true, it's a pretty big problem in our kingdom to be honest, I've been trying to talk to my father about it as the number of drunkard fights has increased dramatically lately."
I nodded.
"And plus, wrong or right, it's more fun to think of it as like, a creative power up. Yeah, you've read stories about that sort of stuff right?"
"Oh, like mana and stuff?"
"Yeah exactly, just think of it as mana."
"Mmm… makes sense, master."
In most situations I would probably have blushed and turned away when a pretty girl called me master. But this was no laughing matter, so instead I changed to a serious expression.
"The thing is, these things are also not a joke." I said, handing her a candy, "Yes, I treat it in a light hearted manner, but I really mean it when I say to think for yourself when it comes to when and how much you should take."
"I mean, I get that because of economics or whatever. But…"
"No, not just that…"
I paused looking at her with a serious expression.
"I'm not thinking about when you shouldn't use Kush and other psychedelics in the future, but when actually, you should use them."
"Wha… what do you mean?"
I sighed looking at her seriously.
"As I said earlier, when you think of Kush and other psychedelics from the perspective of a capitalist, you see a commodity right? No different than salt and alcohol."
I looked at her sternly.
"But you've spent most of your life analyzing books.
I popped a candy into my mouth.
"So instead of a commodity, for a reader or author… you would say…"
"They're more like plot devices."
I nodded.
"Exactly, of the book of your own life. Which…"
I looked at her sternly.
"Only you can write."
"..."
"..."
We just stayed there in silence for a moment.
"But…"
"Yes?"
I could see tears begin to form in her eyes.
"But…"
She was whimpering now.
"But… that's difficult! Wahhhh."
She began to sob. Instead of comforting her however, I just stared at her blankly, for I knew in the long run what was more beneficial.
"That's so difficult Hu! What the heck, I'm…"
"Scared, right?" I said blankly.
She nodded, "Yeah."
I smiled, but didn't reply as I sped up my pace walking in front of her.
"Hey wait… Hu…Hu! Did you not hear me?"
"Of course," I replied as she caught up next to me, "there's always a reason to be scared, but you know what's scarier than going on the road to the unknown?"
"Vampires?"
"That too, but also…," I paused for dramatic effect as the Princess leaned in closer to me in anticipation of my next words.
"The alternative."
"The alternative?"
"Yes indeed, the alternative. The alternative of living your life as just one person forever, only based on the circumstances of your birth."
Silence fell on us at that moment when I said that. We both were just walking, not really thinking about much but really thinking about everything in the continuous existential dread that was our being. And how here, on the road now, none of that mattered because we were no one.
"I see some lights," the Princess finally said blankly and indeed, there appeared to be a large sign pointing to an Inn by the side of the road.
"Good as any I suppose," I replied as we walked in not knowing, as oftentimes the case, of what would happen next.
—-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-10 Minutes later-
"How did…"
"Why hello again."
Sitting in front of us at the desk of the new Inn, was a familiar man, with a familiar theater mask on. This time however, he was wearing what looked like a pirate's hat as well.
"Arggg matey, welcome to me Inn, how may I be of service to you on this fine night?"
"Riki, what do you want?"
The masked man remained silent for a moment as we stared at him.
"Riki? Who's…"
Angrily, I went over to lift the mask off his face.
"Who's… who's Riki?"
A woman's face appeared behind the mask, one that I did not recognize but who looked a bit familiar.
"Oh I'm uhh… I'm sorry I thought…"
"It's quite alright," she said with a smile. Her voice now changed to a more appearance matching feminine one. "I lied actually, my apologies, it's natural to do so to be honest as a member of Riki's theater. I know exactly who it is you are referring to"
She had long black hair that flowed, contrasting nicely with the color of her pale skin which to be honest, really reminded me of…
"I liked Riki better," the Princess said suddenly glaring at me angrily. I quickly looked away from the innkeeper.
"Urgh… how much for 3 nights?" the Princess asked.
"25 Jiples my dear…"
I began reaching into my backpack.
"Nope! I got it!" the Princess said, snatching my bag without hesitation. "Keep looking at the wall! I didn't ask you to stop, slave!"
"Ummm…"
I kept looking at the wall. This is new. For some reason it felt enjoyable when she was mean.
"Here you go, key please."
"Patience my dear, I still…"
"Key please!"
I don't have a visual description of the scene between the two women as I was still forced to stare at the wall at the time, but that was remedied when the Princess took my hand again.
"Come on, let's go…"
"But…"
"And don't you dare even sneak a peek at her! Just look at the ground only, understand, slave? I'm watching you."
"...okay," I said obediently as we made our way to our inn room for the night.
"Whelp," I said laying down on my bed, "why don't we just get some rest Princess, it's been a long d…"
"Did you think she was prettier than me?!?"
"..."
"Did you?!?!"
I sighed.
"Princess…"
"You did, didn't you!?"
She looked like she was going to burst out crying and while I did feel like it was alright to cry about the existential dread of facing the unknowns of the world in exchange for freedom, this seemed like an entirely different issue.
"I bet you did! I saw the way you looked at her and…"
"All the flowers in the world aren't as beautiful as you."
"..."
"..."
We stared at each other in silence for a moment. Her face turned red a bit but still mostly she seemed unconvinced when she finally spoke again.
"But…"
"Your inner beauty," I replied, "And sure, maybe you'll think this is just some cliche that many stories talk about."
I looked at her softly.
"But I mean it…"
She paused for a moment considering this.
"Maybe that's true, but it's more like…"
She smiled now looking up at the moon light still shining.
"Could you be more descriptive about things?"
"Oh ummm…"
"What do you mean by inner beauty?" she asked, "please be more descriptive Hu, I enjoy it more when you are."
"Oh uhhh…"
I thought about what to say next, trying to choose my words as carefully as possible.
"I just mean… the journey of your life has been beautiful."
"How could you possibly know that though?" She interjected, angrily looking back at me, "when you've only seen a small part of it?"
"Because I saw the part," I replied, "that is independent of your circumstances of birth."
That brought the twinkle back in her eyes.
"The part of you where you are not the beautiful Princess Riko born of natural beauty and grace who due to being bored most of her life, found salvation in only the books she read. No, I do not know those parts and can therefore only take what you say yourself about those parts of your story."
I paused for a moment.
"Even so, the parts of you, not as Princess Riko, not as a princess at all, not even as my companion, but the parts of you here, on this journey when you are no one. The way you act, the way you smile, and the way you still shine bright even without the circumstances of the beautiful hair on your head. Even so…"
Her bright smile that shined brighter than even the moonlight returned to her face.
"Even so, your inner soul glows so bright it's impossible for you to be no one forever. So when I say that it's your inner soul that's beautiful I do mea…"
She kissed me on the cheek.
"That's enough," she said, smiling and laying down on her bed separate from mine. "You've convinced me, I no longer think you think the Innkeeper lady is prettier than me."
I blushed but breathed a sigh of relief laying down on my own bed.
"Is it that important to you?"
"Shut up now Hu." she said. Even though she was turned around, I could still feel her smiling towards the window.
"What you said was perfect. Don't ruin it now."
"But…"
"Good night!"
"..."
I sighed, smiling as well, before turning away from her. Another day, another roof. Though this time earlier than expected. I suppose the lesson for myself here then is to never expect everything to go exactly as planned. It's more important to be flexible about things.
I looked over at the princess who was sleeping peacefully now.
"Flexible about things, huh…" I thought, sighing. Strangely the words seemed hollower than before as somehow it felt like life was less flexible than it had ever been. But also this was the first time, it didn't matter all that much.
I looked back at the sky now trying to remember the larger picture of where we were. All the existential thinking still didn't really solve the problem currently that we were basically fugitives on the run at this point.
Though I couldn't see them, my eyes must have been so red at this point, I could feel them. I did an awareness check to make sure I wasn't accidentally talking out loud when I was only trying to think quietly before turning back around to glance at the Princess who appeared to now be fast asleep before continuing my next thought.
Personal emotions aside, there had to be something larger going on. Who is this Riki person exactly? Clearly he has some sort of traveling theater where they wear cool masks, but it couldn't have been a coincidence that his exact coworker just happened to be the Inn keeper of the closest Inn from the one he worked at.
I also tried to remember what I knew about Ahmed, the original source of the connection to Riki in the first place. Thinking back now, it did seem like Ahmed would routinely have costume jewelry, wooden dolls, and various masks that probably came from a theater in his cart. From an economic perspective, that made sense of how the connection formed. Everyone needs to make a coin at the end of the day to survive and costumes and jewelry were certainly good trade commodities. But that said, I couldn't imagine Riki was after us, for just economic reasons.