Activity

Aydin

I had to stop. Crying wasn’t going to get me anywhere, it never had. I took a shuddering breath and tried to pull the sounds into focus.

I felt marginally better, it was a little easier to breathe at least.

Someone was arguing. I recognized the heated tones and hard back-and-forth. Who were those idiots who thought now was a good time to argue?

I slowly forced myself to get up. Everything was so heavy and I was so tired of putting myself back together again every day.

I wiped my eyes, hoping nobody would see I had cried. I had always been afraid of looking as weak as I felt.

I inched to the opening of the cave, not ready to see Quin weeping over Qatar’s dead body.

I still smelled blood and smoke. It was always there after the world seemed to have dissolved. I had to keep myself together, just for now. I couldn’t afford to collapse again.

People were walking back and forth. There were new people, but I barely registered anyone.

I almost walked into someone who had been standing against the entrance of the cave.

They spun around, somehow drawing their sword within half a second and aiming it at my neck.

I acted out of pure instinct and grabbed the sword, ignoring that it cut into my hand. Was this the castle? Was this a newcomer? Had someone decided to finally killl me?

I took a step backward without letting go of the sword. Just in time.

A thud of pain shot through my shin, as my attacker had tried to kick my legs out from under me, barely thrown off by step backward.

They mumbled a curse and tried to wrench the sword out of my hand and drive it at my throat again.

I recognized that profanity, just as I recognized the furious glare fixed at me, as I looked my attacker in the face the first time.

“Liorah, for goodness sake, stop trying to kill me,” I said, exhasperated.

“Oh, hi, Aydin,” Liorah said, as she recognized me. She stopped trying to cut my throat.

“Why do we always end up like this?” I asked, tiredly, pushing the sword I was still holding further away from me.

“Not always,” Liorah protested, “This is only like the second time.”

“Only? Only the second time you try to kill me for no reason? It’s at least the third time, possibly the fourth,” I said, exhasperated. It depended on whether I counted that time she’d almost broken my nose.

Now I understood who those idiots fighting had been. One of them had been Liorah and the other one was some poor fool who had annoyed her.

Liorah was good at exactly two things, making enemies and making problems.

(Truer words have never been spoken)

“What was the third time? I don’t remember that,” Liorah said, enthousiastically diving into the argument.

“That time you almost stabbed me. Does that ring any kind of bell because I certainly haven’t forgotten?” I said, getting more and more annoyed with every passing word.

Liorah’s brittle eyes softened in thought. I was still holding her sword away from stabbing me, of course she could take all the time she wanted.

“Oh, that time. That was your fault,” Liorah said, as though that settled it. “You startled me.”

“You startled me when you tried to kill me ten seconds ago,” I retaliated. This was the stupidest argument.

“Well, let go of the sword and I’ll put it away. I didn’t know it was you. Why are you still holding on to it anyway?”

“Because I thought you were going to stab me in the throat,” I said, articulating carefully. Was she pretending to be dense? No, I knew Liorah, she didn’t have to pretend.

“Well, I’m not going to,” Liorah said, as though she was convinced I was the stupid one.

I let go of the sword and she put it back. She looked back at me and frowned, suddenly worried.

“Are you alright?” she asked, more gently than before.

I wasn’t going to lie so I had to be creative.

“You’ve seen me look worse.”

“Not by much,” she said, her sharp eyes boring into me.

“That bad?” I asked, breezily.

“I can’t leave you alone for five minutes, can I?”

Her tone was half joking, half worried.

“You’re bleeding. Stop it,” she said.

“Your wish is my command,” I said, ironically.

She was looking down at my hand and I supressed the urge to hide it.

“Is it alright if I look? What happened?” Liorah asked, glancing at me and waiting for permission before looking at the cut.

I nodded and shrugged and she pulled back my sleeve and wiped away the already drying blood. Her shoulders sagged in relief as she saw that it was shallow and minor and had already stopped bleeding.

“Aydin, what happened? Was it the castle or someone else?” She looked fully ready to go stab whoever had attacked me.

“Kind of the castle,” I mumbled. “Don’t make enemies on my behalf. Actually, don’t make enemies, period.”

Liorah grinned, the smile suddenly lighting up her face with that wicked expression of delight. Little fiend.

“Too late for that.”

I rolled my eyes.

“Where did you come from anyway?” I asked.

“Crawled out of the gutters while you weren’t watching,” Liorah said, without a single hesitation. Why did I even bother?

“I know,” I said, just to annoy her.

“Then why did you ask?”

She shifted from her joking attitude back to a serious one. How did she do that so suddenly?

“You look tired.”

“Maybe because I am tired.”

“Then why don’t you sleep?” Liorah said, as though I was incredibly stupid for not thinking of it myself.

“I’ll sleep when I’m dead, this place isn’t safe,” I said, the sudden tension returning in my voice.

“Nonsense,” Liorah scoffed. “If you fall asleep on your feet I’m going to laugh at you.”

Was she really trying to bully me into taking care of myself? I had never met anyone like her and that was a good thing too.

I sighed and picked out a darker spot somewhere in the shadows where I could see most of the cavern without being noticed. I hated giving in to Liorah but I really was on the point of falling asleep on my feet.

I sat down with a sigh that made it obvious I was annoyed at her and only doing it out of spite.

Liorah raised her eyebrows.

“I’ll stab anyone who seems like a threat.”

My head shot up, suddenly anxious.

“No, Liorah, do not–”

“Fine, I won’t stab anyone. Except maybe Lorcan but he deserves it.”

I wasn’t even going to ask.

Liorah was annoying and exhasting and exhasperating but I couldn’t help being relieved that I wasn’t alone among strangers anymore.

________________

This is the equivalent of turning my character off and on again XD