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So, IDK if we’re in a garden or a room in the castle… I’m just going to go with a garden…

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Riure stood just as a voice ordered, “Sit down!” Raising her eyebrows, she complied, and Sadiq rested her nose on her lap, and she twined her fingers around grass.

Voices. A lot of voices. Listening carefully, Riure was able to pick out at least four: a high pitched male, a female with an alluring accent, another male, and another male. The last one was most definitely the one who had commanded her to sit. At least, she thought he had commanded her. Sometimes it was hard to say.

Flowers. Birds. Reaching out in both directions, Riure’s right fingertips brushed a prickly hedge. A garden? Odd…

A new voice broke in, hard but definitely female, along with the unmistakable sound of a thin wooden shaft being drawn across the stout staff of a bow. Great, weapons too. “Where am I?” the lass growled. Judging from her voice, she couldn’t be much older than 16 years of age. The hard no-nonsense I’ll-kill-you-if-you-make-a-wrong-move tone definitely added a level of maturity. Perhaps 15 instead? Not much older than Riure herself.

Okay, so surely this wasn’t a very friendly place. All the better. The “sit down” person was probably in charge and one one side, and the younger girl with the bow was most likely on the other. Perhaps they were both in enemy territory. And perhaps it was time to step up.

“To sit down,” Riure murmured to Sadiq, enunciating the “sit” and “down” clearly. The dog perked her ears, thought for a moment, then nudged Riure’s hand up closer to her neck. Riure gently held onto Sadiq’s scruff as they stood and maneuvered around whatever obstacles blocked their way.

Abruptly, too abruptly for Riure to halt, Sadiq froze. Riure stumbled over the dog and barely caught herself – or, rather, somebody else grabbed her upper arm and yanked upward, effectively keeping her from falling. She smiled up in the direction she guessed the arm came from and regained her balance. Probably a tall person.

“Thank you,” she said, offering another smile. “I’m so sorry. Sadiq doesn’t normally stop so suddenly.”

The grip was released, but something was off. Really off.

Oh. The hands had been tiny.

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@rusted-knight (I did a little reading on Allen, but IDK if I got him right; if he wouldn’t keep Riure from falling or if I portrayed him wrong, let me know and I’ll fix it!)