Eryn nodded at Liora. She turned, walked ahead of him. He stayed still.
"My feet," he said. "I'm still weak. Let me rest. I'll join you tomorrow."
Liora turned to him, her face soft and patient.
"Tomorrow, I'll show you where the food is," she replied.
Eryn turned his back. His room was quiet. No noise except the crackle of fire.
The night passed. When he woke, the medicine smell was thick. His fingers felt stiff, but he reached for the cup.
Liora stood near the door, watching. Waiting.
He stared at the fire. It flickered. The warmth didn't reach inside him.
"Why?" he asked.
"Why what?" she asked.
"Why help me?"
She didn't answer right away. She only watched him.
Liora stepped closer, still at a distance.
"You're not the first to ask, there are others."
Eryn let out a breath. His chest was tight.
"You're here. Alive."
"Barely," he muttered.
"You'll heal," she said, her voice a little softer now.
"I will," Eryn agreed. He looked at the cup in his hand. "But it doesn't change anything."
"You don't have to change," she said, stepping closer. holding his shaking hands.
"Not right now. You have to be here."
"Lets go for a walk," she said. Her voice wasn't harsh, but it carried something that made him pause.
He stared at her hands, watching her as she stood there, waiting for him.
She stepped aside. "Let's go."
He followed her through the hallways, silent. The stone walls echoed their footsteps, but there was nothing else. No voices. No sounds.
"Where are we going?" he asked after a long time, his voice cheering through the empty halls.
"To see the madam."
Eryn raised an eyebrow.
"The madam?"
"You don't need to know much," Liora said, her voice flat. "She'll decide what happens next."
"Do I get a say?" Eryn asked, his voice sharp.
Liora didn't look at him.
"In time. If you earn it."
They reached a door at the end of the hall. Liora knocked twice before entering. Eryn followed her inside, the room dark, save for a few candles. The air was thick with the scent of incense and something else he couldn't place.
"I brought him," Liora said.
A soft voice responded from the shadows, "You're late."
Eryn stood still, watching the shadows flicker in the dim light.
"We do what we can," Liora said.
She stepped aside.
Eryn waited.
The silence felt heavy.
"Eryn," the voice called.
"You're here for a reason."
"I am?" he said, his voice cutting through the room.
"Yes," the voice replied. "You're not like the others. Not yet."
"I'm not anyone," Eryn muttered.
"You'll be more than that," the voice said.
"Why help me?" Eryn asked again. His patience was running out, the walls around him too close.
"Why me?" he balled his fist in response.
"Because you'll do what you're told," the voice said. "And when the time comes, you'll be ready."
"One day," the voice continued,
"you'll find your place here.
Even if you don't want to."
Liora was standing by the door, silent. She didn't move, didn't speak. A smile loosely hung off the corner of her mouth.
After a long moment, the voice came again.
"He is not ready. Take him to eat, care for him. He is home now."
Eryn turned and walked out.
Liora lead the way to the kitchen, her footsteps soft. The smile never leaving her face.
"This is the kitchen. The people here are just like you, lost."
Eryn went through the line of people getting their food. He sat at a table, pushing a piece a bread around with his fingers. It was dry, bitter. He wasn't hungry, but it gave him something to do.
The men around the table said nothing, their eyes were down, faces of stone, people without soul.
Liora stood in the doorway, watching.
"You don't eat like you've got a future.
Eryn looked up, his face empty.
"I don't."
"You should."
"I'm fine," he muttered.
"I'll live."
She stepped inside, her boots quiet against the stone floor.
"What's that mean? Living?"
He shrugged.
"You eat, you sleep. You don't die."
Liora glanced down at the bread.
"You're wasting it."
Eryn picked up the piece and tossed it back on the plate.
"Then I'll waste it."
There was a silence between them. It wasn't uncomfortable. It was quiet. She watched him, not moving, not saying anything more.
After a while, he let out a sigh, the weight of it pushing against his chest.
"What do you want from me?"
"Nothing," she said.
"You're here. You're alive. That's enough."
He didn't answer. He looked at her. She didn't look like Alyssa, but sometimes she did. She was something else. Something soft that made him want to turn away. He didn't know why.
"You're not like them," he muttered.
"The ones who keep eating, keep pretending."
Liora leaned against the wall, arms crossed.
"You don't have to pretend here."
He let out a dry laugh. "It's all pretend."
She stepped forward, a little, like she was testing how close Eryn would let her to him.
"You think it's all pretend?"
He stared at her, face frozen.
"Why are you still here?"
Her gaze softened, though she didn't move closer.
"Because you're still here."
Eryn turned back to the bread, his eyes focused.
She didn't push. She stood still.
"What do I do after I survive?" He asked.
Liora laughed as she smiled, "We live, don't we?"
"The madam told me to be someone," he replied.
"Yes."
"Then who do I become?"
Liora looked Eryn in the eyes, "when the time comes you will know."
"I've already shared much about the guild." Liora reminded him.
"That covers little to nothing."
"No, that covers everything there is," she stepped closer to Eryn.
"We do what we are told."
"That is life, Eryn."
"We survive somewhere in the middle."