"Oi, Cricket!"
Sophia's voice was heard in the back behind a sleeping Cricket. The redhead sat on the second bed, where Abel was supposed to be sleeping.
Cricket slowly blinked awake. This hadn't been the first time the blonde had been woken up by the redhead. Abel was so committed to his training and woke up so early to get a head start, Cricket would have been more surprised if he'd been the one to wake her up.
But Cricket would quickly find that Abel was gone.
"Separate beds? You two are such kids." Sophia laughed, pushing herself off Abel's bed to stand beside it. A large, hot, fully wrapped sandwich was tossed. Cooked honeyed ham with a layer of tomatoes and greens.
She sat up, and her bland expression was interrupted by the surprise sandwich on her lap. With her usual shiny-eyed happy expression that came with food, she began to eat as she replied to Sophia with mild defense.
"I like sharing a room with Abel." She offered up Sophia as an explanation, as though that was satisfactory to the complex relationship she shared with Abel, which seemed to so often confuse and amuse the others.
A boot went up to rest on Cricket's bedframe, bringing her forearm up to rest on her high knee. Sophia's wide smile dulled at Cricket's short explanation, closing her eyes in a faint pout.
"I liked sharing a room with him too."
Sophia couldn't help but expand her grin, gauging Cricket's reaction.
Cricket did not like this bonding time with her.
Sophia dismissed everything with a simple wave, laugh, and plant of her feet, her mischievous grin overtaking her face.
"We'll pick up some things from my uncle's shop. Been working on a project that I wanted you to see! It's a secret, but I gotta tell someone, ya know?!"
"Will we have time to do that and make it back for training?" she asked, meeting Sophia's characteristic enthusiasm and providing her own usual nothing in return. She'd still maintained her philosophy of warmth to no one but Abel, not that it stopped the likes of Sophia and Bolvin from shoving friendship into her face.
The mention of training had Sophia's eyes light up, raising her brows and folding her arms while she watched Cricket with an impressed look.
"Plenty of time. Though, you might regret wanting to jump into it so quickly." Sophia warned, a palm going down to rest on the handle of her shortsword.
She could see the fire in Cricket's eyes this time—a stark contrast to how she looked when Sophia first gauged her. Whatever happened between then and now, Sophia was glad to see the change.
Getting out of bed and doing what she needed to do to get ready for the day, Cricket finished off the sandwich as they made their way out of the inn and deeper into the city.
"So you have family in Morya?" She asked as they walked, imagining a huge redheaded family equally as energetic, lively, and exuberant as Sophia.
Sophia's head turned to Cricket at the mention of her family. "My grandfather and uncle. They own the armory here in Morya. They migrated from Seta well before the whole civil war happened. They were smart." She nodded, looking forward with a hesitant pause. "My parents, though, were not as wise. I suppose they were just too scared to leave."
"I hadn't realized you were a refugee," Cricket admitted, looking at the redhead with a new light. Maybe the light-hearted woman had more to her than Cricket had originally thought. But then she reminded herself that digging deeper could lend itself to caring, which could lend itself to a bond, and she looked away quickly.
"...Do you really need me to come?" Cricket murmured.
"Hah!" Sophia's eyes darted to her with a raised brow. "If this is about Abel, you'll be waiting a good while. Velstadt practically kidnapped him."
She informed, picturing the whole scene as crude drawings. "He'll be fine. Velstadt mentioned something about knocking a few heads at some brothel. Or was it knocking on his head? I wasn't really paying attention..."
Sophia scratched the back of her head as Cricket stewed in an obviously frustrated silence.
She really did not like this bonding time with her.
Soon enough, they entered the market district again, stepping into an old but well-kept small shop.
"Uncle!!! Is it cool yet?!" Sophia yelled out.
With no answer, she gestured for Cricket to follow her into the workshop in the back, where much of the space for the property was taken. Sophia passed a large anvil, a heaping pile of ore, and a furnace that had burned bright until she stopped at a large forge cooler.
"Alright. Feast your eyes on my masterpiece." An arm was plunged into the water, gripping something but struggling greatly to pull it out. A second arm was dipped in, her foot pressing on the cooler for leverage until a large blade was yanked out. It crashed behind her, flat onto the stone. A sword that was impractical for any mere soldier.
"Sorry! Sorry!" She waved both hands, realizing that Cricket was probably four steps away from being cleaved. The blade was too massive, heavy, and thick. A heaping, raw mass of some black material that had the texture of a jagged diamond.
"My grandfather discovered something that crashed down from the sky when he was a young man living in Seta. The duke, at the time, demanded that he forge a sword out of it that could slay a dragon. Unfortunately....no one was able to use the damned thing properly. It was tough to work with, but I happened to restore it. The damned meteor is made from stored heat so well that it took that long to cool!"
The heat in the room caused Sophia to pull at her collar.
"I wasn't planning on giving it to him at first but with his Innate I'm sure that Abel can actually put it to use."
Sophia went into the cooler again.
"Also, there so happened to have been a bit more ore that Gramp had lying around." She ripped out a dagger, inspecting it with a smile. It held the same design. "It was mine but...I'd like you to have it. Consider it as thanks for tagging along."
Cricket looked down at the dagger now in her hand, the weight of it far heavier than the blade.
"...Why are you so kind?" She asked, staring at the rough blade. "I don't understand you."
"Kind?" Sophia looked up at the ceiling in thought. "I mean, Abel trusts you, right?" Her eyes went back down to Cricket with a smile. "Isn't that reason enough already?" Sophia placed her hands on her hips, her grin profound as Cricket examined the dagger.
That answer hadn't set well with Cricket at all. Was Sophia less kind to people whom Abel didn't trust? Did she base her manner on Abel's? What did that say about her relationship with Abel?
"Oi, Sophia. So it was you making all that racket."
A tall older man walked in from the back door of the workshop, walking his way over to them to peer down at the large sword at their feet. His hair was completely void of any red color, a full head of wavy, white, and grey hair with a matching full beard that stopped at the top of his chest. "I tell you always not to leave yer weapons on the floor, child. I swear one of me toes will lop right off."
Effortlessly the old man bent down and grabbed the large weapon's handle, slowly lifting it to drop it with a thud on the workshop bench next to him.
"Sorry, Grampa." Sophia apologized with a smirk and gestured over to Cricket. "Grampa, this is Cricket. I paid for some gear she's going to take. Royal coins right from her highness's vault."
"Ah, very well- " The old man's green eyes gazed at the gem on Cricket's neck. He walked his way to her, somewhat squinting at it.
"It has been a long time since I've encountered one. But never have I seen such a vibrant glow. May I?"
A hand was offered to Cricket, wanting to see the crystal himself. When it was placed in his hand, he squinted and rubbed his thumb across it, uncertainty in his gaze. "Any normal person would look at this and tell ya it is Dragonstone."
He turned around and set it on his bench alongside the massive sword. "Dragonstone is a fragile but rare stone in many shapes and colors. It's valuable." The man lifted a nearby hammer and, with great strength, brought it down to plummet Cricket's glowing gem.
"H-Hey!" Cricket nearly felt a stab at her heart as she shouted.
"Oi, Cricket." The grandfather pinched the gem and brought it up to his eyes again. Its glow steadily dimmed with his touch. No damage done at all.
"This is no Dragonstone."
Carefully, he turned around and returned the undamaged glowing crystal to Cricket's hands. "I couldn't tell ya anything about what it is though."
"Why's it matter what it is? Abel got it for me." She was afraid of the prospect of finding and taking it to some collector for information, that they might claim it as missing or stolen goods and take it from her.
"I am an experienced jeweler alongside my craft." The old man watched as the glow began to resonate and grow more intense within her hands. "I can't tell ya how many times within me travels that someone on behalf of royalty approached me to see Dragonstones."
Cricket thought to herself for a moment. Was that idiot trying to bring this back to check it?
He continued, "Me thinks you should keep a very close eye on it, is all."
"Well, I've had enough looks at some girly jewelry. Come on, Cricket, let's nab some stuff!" Sophia snaked her arm through Cricket's and began to pull her over the back towards the leading shop.
"Tell Uncle I said hi!" Sophia shouted as she hurried away with Cricket in tow.
The assortment of weapons around the shop was all handmade right there in their workshop. Each was high quality, with exceptional care for craftsmanship and high-grade functionality.
"Just like when we were training near the camp, I'll let you choose whatever weapon you feel is right. They will be yours to keep this time."
There were several painted pictures along the wall, several having Sophia in them, while others that didn't have her had others with similar features.
One shot had two twin toddler girls and a toddler Sophia on the laps of two red-headed men. Sophia was on her father's lap while the other two girls were on the lap of what had to have been her uncle. The woman beside Sophia's father was nearly identical to Sophia except for her long brunette hair.
"Is your whole family blacksmiths?" Cricket asked as she examined a curious-looking twisted blade. She saw the paintings, family portraits no doubt, and felt for Sophia once again.
Sophia banged a fist on a closet door and started to struggle with the door that was full of her things.
"My whole family? Mm...Just on my father's side. The Terrace family had brought their talents to more than just Seta." Sophia dusted off a large cloud from the top of the knob, nearly coughing her own lungs out. "Ugh. I feel so old." She pulled out her sword and started jabbing at the side of the door in an attempt to pry it open.
"I've been practicing more with the bow and arrow. I'd like to keep trying with it." Cricket said, turning her gaze to refocus on a well-crafted bow. "That's what you use too, isn't it?"
The mention of Cricket practicing on her own had made Sophia smile, despite her struggle with a heavy box. Eventually levering it open, she landed onto her bottom, head turning to Cricket with her usual grin as, weapons, armor, and trinkets, toppled on top of her with a large crash. A simple wave of her hand poking out the heap of gear showed that she was fine.
"Yes. The Bow was my first love. One of the only weapons I used for a good while. Of course, the master of arms, had to branch out and learn the basics of everything....but the Bow? It has a special place."
Spending time with Sophia was exhausting, and Cricket furrowed her brow as she tried to help the other girl get out of the mess of items that had collapsed on top of her. A treasure trope of items, to be sure. More than Cricket had ever had. And Sophia's casual manner with it told her familiarity with the objects involved.
Sophia eventually pulled up from the floor and rummaged through her collection of things, pushing through a few reminiscent items.
"Hoah! Found ya!" Sophia ripped out a large black bow from beneath the mountain of objects, a crude, but decorated weapon that she clearly cherished greatly. Though, why it was buried and away in a closet was something she kept to herself.
Tucked inside through the bow string was a large paper, taking it out and opening it to see a painting of herself, without the scar on the bridge of her nose. She was with three others in a tavern, A large burley redhead like her, a short-haired blonde woman, and a young, thin dark-haired girl who wore it in a bushy tail.
"Heh. A glimpse of the old days." She stepped over to Cricket and showed her the colored drawing. "It doesn't even look as if we were at war." She said softly, her smile dulling but enjoying the recollection.
"Old days?" Cricket echoed as she examined the old painting. "Who are they?" She asked without thinking--not recognizing the other women from the members of the Wolves she'd been becoming more familiar with. She turned away, embarrassed by her own interest, and grabbed a sleek-looking pale brown long bow, she tested its weight with another one or two--before settling on the item, determining it acceptable for her needs.
Slinking her bow over her shoulder, she sighed and folded the drawing, sticking it into her top. "Alright Cricket, we'll be headed right outside of Morya's walls. Not far, just don't want the guards to get antsy."
"They are my war buddies," Sophia answered, motioning for Cricket to follow her after handing her a quiver of arrows. "All of us were members of the Seta rebellion: Ironheart."
Sophia led the way forward, routing their way towards the eastern gate of Morya. "We worked together fairly well. Especially with me as their eyes." She explained, moving with Cricket through the light crowd. "Had a natural talent for the role. And if you want to prevent Abel from getting stabbed in the back, you'll have to be good at it too."
Her green eyes watched the bow Cricket had chosen.
"Abel is incredibly skilled when it comes to close quarters. He often excels while outnumbered when it should be the opposite; it's quite the spectacle to see."
Sophia voiced her admiration and respect for him. "As an Innate, he's even more capable of chopping through everyone. But he isn't invincible. You'll have to keep up with and support him when he needs it."
It didn't take long until they were outside the walls and on the grassy fields outside the city. "Ironheart had taught me everything I knew related to reconnaissance. You'd be surprised at how information can turn the tides of a bad situation." She pointed at Cricket's feet, spotting a few tracks leading further in the distance.
"Where are they now?" Cricket asked as she listened to Sophia's story. Was there a happy end to a story of rebellion? Had they all gone their separate ways....or did she and Sophia have more in common than even Sophia realized?
Her finger traveled until it pointed forward, spotting several Coyotes attempting to feast on several animals in a makeshift pen.
"Try to take out one of those predators." Sophia ignored, her hand going to her hip.
"Alright," Cricket realized she was likely pushing too much.
She raised the arrow, confirming her aim carefully---she was slow at it, as someone who had only ever practiced on the training grounds with the luxury of endless time would. And then she released the arrow. Her aim fell short of where she had intended--and instead of a clear blow to one of the coyote's sides, it slashed the side of the back leg of one of the beasts.
"You really have been practicing. I honestly didn't expect you to even come close." Sophia grinned, watching the hungry creatures scatter away from the animal pens and fences.
"I don't know what happened to them." Sophia finally answered, her eventual grin absent from her face. "Ironheart crumbled the moment we lost the war against Seta. The last time I saw them was during the attack on our headquarters. We split off, and after a few days and some luck, I managed to escape the kingdom."
Sophia removed the bow that was resting on her shoulder from its string.
"I hope they are dead." She said genuinely. "Because whatever plans that tyrant had for them would be horrifically worse." Green eyes caught sight of a pair of black horses pulling a wagon near the pens. Immediately Sophia's face turned into a scowl that didn't seem possible for her bubbly personality.
"Speak of the devils themselves." Sophia watched; the coyotes that Cricket scattered around the field now had a wagon obstructing their route. A single knight dropped heavily from the front, adorned with dark armor and wicked sharp thorns throughout its entire set. A skull mask had hidden the man's face, a part of the horned helmet that protected him.
"One of Seta's Reapers."
The skull knight unsheathed their sword and quickly struck down two animals, clearing the path for their wagon as the rest of the coyotes scattered into the wilds. The mask turned to them, seeing that they were the cause of their brief obstruction, but the knight turned around and hopped back onto the wagon, resuming their route.
"A Slaver must have sold some people to them," Sophia informed.
"I hadn't realized that Morya and Seta had an alliance that allowed Seta's people to travel through freely." Cricket mused thoughtfully. She didn't have anything to say about the wagon full of slaves, other than wanting to avoid such a fate for her and Sophia.
"Since Morya is at war with Nadia, there's an increase in Morya's taxes," Sophia explained. "Slaves are expensive and very profitable, even better with Morya taking such a large cut from the Slavers who sell them."
Sophia watched them with dreadful wide-eyed intensity. "It's more out of desperation than anything else. No one would dare ally with Seta. It's just business. With a kingdom like Nadia trying to expand and take everything, Morya needs every coin they could get their hands on to operate."
Sophia stepped back a little, a small scoffed chuckle escaping her lips.
"Heh."
Sophia's smile returned, looking over to Cricket. "Your aim is good. It just needs to be steadied."
She reached behind her back, feeling a few arrows until she pulled out a heavy, black-tipped one. "When you aim, hold your breath. Then draw out some power and release it." Sophia demonstrated her instructions, pulling back on the bowstring and firing the strong arrow with a slight wind blowing her hair to the side. The shot soared and obliterated a quarter of one of the wagon's wooden wheels, causing the wagon to dip and tilt until it fell on its damaged corner slowly.
The dark knight stepped off as it crashed, looking toward the two women with hidden emotions.
"Oi, Sorry! We were practicing on the coyotes!" Sophia waved with a feint apology at the knight, who had done nothing to stop the wrist-bound enslaved people from jumping out the back of the wagon. He only stood there in an awkward stare behind the dark pitted eye sockets, not saying a word and allowing everyone to leave the area.
Cricket could only release a nervous burst of laughs.
"We'll, uh, we’ll go practice somewhere else, yeah?" Sophia looked over to Cricket and whispered, "Dumbass." before walking away from the scene and reaching a flat meadow north of the wall.
Cricket was dangerously starting to like Sophia.
It didn't take long for Sophia to set up a small training ground for them, using abandoned kegs and their tops and fences to make some targets.
"I should apologize." Sophia shot an arrow to peg a target a few kilometers away.
"Apologize for freeing slaves? You shouldn't." Cricket took her turn firing.
Sophia shook her head. "I've been teasing Abel from the moment I found out he's never really been with a woman."
She pulled another arrow, firing it swiftly into one of the propped-up Keg lids. "It was just fun at first...But after watching you two last night...I don't know. Perhaps it's a bit much." She looked over to Cricket, watching her bow and her form. "For someone pretty good at killing, he's quite the innocent lad."
Cricket was left bushing and fiddling with her bow and arrow. If she wasn't comfortable she'd end up cutting herself. She released an arrow and it went high above the keg lid. Distracted and self-aware.
"You don't need to apologize to me about what you do with Abel, if you think you owe him an apology you should say as much to him." Cricket was being childish. She shot another arrow and it fell short.
Sophia knew Cricket was distracted, but for once, she didn't entertain and tease Cricket about her embarrassment.
Sophia did end up giggling, a hand resting on an elevated hip. "I apologized to him this morning. Didn't get a chance to say much before he got snatched."
She shrugged, folding her arms. "Not that he acknowledges much anyway. He would have said, 'It's fine,' Or ' It doesn't matter’. " Sophia shook her head and sighed with a smile. "He's so much more different now compared to the first half of the year. Granted, he saw us more as enemies than friends."
She leaned on one of the kegs nearby, watching Cricket use her bow again. "When he escaped, and I was assigned to bring him back, he nearly lopped my head clean off!" She laughed, leaning forward a little. "But he was far more hot-headed back then. He walked into every single trap I laid out for him."
Sophia grinned. "Had to drag him back to camp completely restrained in ropes. It was great." She sighed as she reminisced about her victory, looking at Cricket's targets.
"I liked him later on. Guess over time, if you find someone attractive and fight alongside them long enough, you'll eventually get a bit of a crush. But he was always sealed off, even after that bitterness went away." Sophia's eyes flickered over to Cricket, her smile widening a little.
Cricket tried to imagine the Abel that Sophie spoke about--hot-headed and keeping everyone at a distance. It seemed at odds with the Abel she'd met from the start, who'd been constantly obliging and welcoming at every turn. Who had been open and even vulnerable with her at the time--Had that been the Wolves' influence? Had he been trying to give her what Sophia had given him?
Her shot was improving--Cricket managed to hit the edge of the board this time.
Sophia’s lips pursed with a smile, tilting her head and nodding at the considerable pace at which Cricket had been adjusting her shots.
"You haven't really been with a guy before, right? I know you're young, but...I don't know; tensions gotta be relieved sometimes, you know?" She laughed, knowing that Cricket would be uncomfortable with her line of questioning.
"I don't see why that matters!" The red-headed woman had a way of making Cricket feel like a sheltered child, and not the full-grown girl who'd spent her life living on the streets that she was.
“Oh, come on, Cricket! We're both grown women here. Velstadt was drunk, but there was some truth he had told Abel last night. Any of us can die at any time. Aren't there things you want to say or do before something like that happens?"
Sophia watched Cricket knowing that her words wouldn't magically get Cricket to do anything. "What's the point of fighting to survive if you aren't going to live your life to the fullest?" Sophia smiled and lifted her bow, firing at Cricket's target several times. Each cleanly plunged into the wood in succession, a satisfied smile reaching her lips.
"If it matters to you, I see Abel as a brother now more than anything else. It's amusing to poke at him and make him flustered, but it feels wrong to be anything more than that. But the first few months? I can't lie; I offered myself up a few times..." She actually felt embarrassed, laughing a little more heartily.
She glanced at Sophia as the girl made her newest and most exhausting confession. "You offered yourself and he refused?" That was shocking. Sophia was beautiful.
"I know, it's so embarrassing! He was so disconnected from everyone but Gael. But he's a lot like you when talking about this stuff. I can imagine Abel is going through something similar right now."
Sophia laughed though she completely forgot that Abel was at a brothel and was thinking more about the conversations between Velstadt and Abel.
"...What exactly are Velstadt and Abel doing at a brothel?"
"Hm?" Sophia brought a finger to her lips in thought.
"I don't know, I mean..." It didn't cross her mind that they were there doing something else, but she did think it was really out of place for Abel to celebrate there.
Her eyes flicked to the side as four men approached.
"You two! You're the ones who wrecked the wagon?! I was forced to give my coins back because of you!" One spat as he yelled at them.
"Tch! And we didn't even get to do any physical training.” Sophia sighed and hung her head a little.
"Let's uh... Go see what Abel's doing, yeah?" She quickly nudged Cricket for her to run and began to sprint, taking off toward Morya's nearest gate.
"Help! They're trying to take us!" Sophia's most innocent voice screamed out towards the two guards that were stationed at the gates ahead of them. A large grin grew on her as she zipped past, leaving two of the four men arguing as the remaining two continued to chase them through the city.
"Consider this a part of your field training! Though I'm sure you're used to this by now!" She shouted. Sophia hooked a foot onto the leg of a nearby wooden chair as she ran and kicked it backward to crash into one of the
advancing men. Slowed him but didn't stop him.
Heh, damned resilient for a nobody.