'Gosh whoever made this food must be a cooking god!'
Quies had just stuffed a fat portion of mushroom omelette into his mouth like the fat gluttonous fiend he is. He could barely close his lips as the flavors melted on his mouth, his cheeks puffed like a chipmunk stocking up for winter. To be fair to Quies, the food was quite exquisite. He had never tasted anything of this caliber in his life.
A quick glance across the room told him that Valerie had just finished the so-called important conversation with the imposing swordsman. Even someone like Quies, who wasn't well versed in swordsmanship or the song quite yet, could tell that this swordsman wasn't as unassuming as he thought. He felt a cold breeze blow past his whole body… or was he imagining it? It was indoors after all.
'Valerie must be crazy to refer to him as just any typical swordsman. I don't think regular swordsmen impose their presence on others around them.'
His hand moved to a metal accent piece on the wall. It didn't feel cold nor hot. As he gulped down the gluttonously sized portion of mushroom omelette, he noticed Valerie was already in talking distance with him.
"Valerie… Who exactly is that swordsman across the room?"
He stared at her legs as she kept walking towards him. He couldn't make eye contact due to her suffocating gaze, and anywhere between that and the knees would put Quies in hot water that he wished he hadn't boiled. She kept moving as if she hadn't heard the question, but eventually her supple lips moved.
"Oh, him? He's just the strongest galebreather throughout the five luminants of Lumen, obviously."
His eyes widened in shock. He was expecting an answer similar to that, but the strongest galebreather throughout all the regions of Lumen? He glanced back at the swordsman, whose attire and manners contradict his overwhelming presence.
'That makes sense. But also not… sort of.'
"Anyways, are you going to finish that?"
Valerie's index finger pointed in the general direction of Quies' tray. Now that he thought about it, he was feeling a little… very full. Another bite of anything on his tray would be pushing his limit, and he had only finished a little less than a quarter of what was on it originally!
"Uhh, no? Why? Do you want some of it?"
Quies moved his gaze up towards her face, withstanding the pressure of linking gazes. She looked towards him with heavy eyelids, but her eyes depicted a not so successfully hidden greed and hunger.
"Hmm… I've had quite a long day. I just finished a… uhh… 'chore' that the swordsman gave me, I missed lunch because someone took nearly four hours of my day away, and just now, said swordsman took a portion of my food and gave me another chore to do. Now, that second thing on the list might've been my fault… and the swordsman kinda only took a quarter of one of the dishes on the tray… But I don't really care and I feel kinda pissed off. So yes, I do want your food, all of it. Now."
Quies lifted his tray with hesitation, trying not to make Valerie any angrier. It was like balancing on a tight rope hundreds of meters in the air, except the tight rope was scalding hot, the air was sweltering, and 100 knot winds were blowing against your side. Quies knew a thing or two about when he could reason, and when he could keep his mouth shut. Well, calling her a harlot earlier was probably the third thing he had to learn about…
"You're already carrying a tray, I wouldn't want you to hold two trays full of food while I'm sitting here like a useless meat bag."
'Please work, please work, please work, please work.'
Valerie paused, thinking about his statement.
"Fine."
Valerie moved and took a seat a distance away from Quies, setting her tray on her lap and picking up a soup spoon. She dipped it into the cold mushroom bisque and took a sip and she watched students of the vigil train their swordsmanship. Quies let out a sigh of relief, but not so audible as to where Valerie could hear him.
'Looks like I'm going to be here for a while…'
***
"That should be good for at least a week."
Quies watched from a distance as Valerie conversed with the Innkeeper. He needed a place to stay, after all, right? Well, Valerie most likely could've just dropped him off back at Erisia so he could continue the life he had been living the past decade or so… had it been a decade?
He never really had a knack for celebrating special dates and occasions. If he wanted to, he could've done so by marking how many days pass through the day and night cycle. However, he had no need to. Occasions had no meaning to him anymore, and would only further tie him to the world he hates all too much.
'I guess it would be nice to eat something special once in a while. Surrounded by people you trust…'
"Follow me."
Valerie gestured for him to follow her lead. She had felt mostly better after finally getting the chance to eat her, and part of Quies', food. He stayed silent as he followed up a flight of wooden stairs and down a long hallway, eventually stopping in front of one of the doors labeled '208'. She retrieved a simple key from the pockets of her garments, which she had been wearing since he first met her, and opened the door.
The room was in no way luxurious, but for Quies, it felt prestigious. He had realized long ago that having four walls and a roof to protect him wasn't a right, but a privilege. And now, he had the privilege to have not only that, but also a dedicated sleeping and bathing space.
For once, he felt as if he had just released a breath he had been holding for an eternity. A calm washed over him. He could rest. He could rest for however long he needed to.
"Make sure to rest well. It's late already."
Valerie stood at the doorway, leaning on one side of its frame. The starving hunger in her eyes had been nourished, the energy from the food holding off the sleepiness from her eyelids for just a bit longer.
"What about you, Valerie?"
Quies sat down on the comfortable fabric of the mattress.
"Hmm?"
"I mean, don't you have a place to stay? Or are you just gonna sleep on the grass outside?"
The corner of her mouth curled up slightly, acknowledging his attempt to lighten the mood.
"I have a bit more work to do. You know, powerful people work. You wouldn't understand, obviously. Ah crap, that reminds me I forgot to tell Maestro about you and your magic little blood ability. I guess he'll have to find out another day."
Quies raised one of his eyebrows, a look of conviction on his face.
"Wait, did you just bring me here to rat me out to that swordsman?!"
"Sleep tight!"
Valerie grabbed on the outer doorknob and slammed the door closed. Quies sat on the bed, appalled.
'Surely she isn't gonna tell them about my blood ability. Actually, why do I think that the vigil people are even gonna care? Even if she does rat me out, wouldn't she be at fault for bringing me here in the first place? Ah, but at least I'm alone now.'
Quies stood up from the bed, which was placed on the corner of the room. A lantern hung on the side of the wall, illuminating the main living space while also giving Quies some unpleasant memories. He walked into the lavatory, where another lamp lit the area. Inside, a polished mirror was propped up on the wall above the sink. He made his way towards the front of the mirror, he hadn't gotten a good look at himself in a while.
His scruffy sable hair was of differing lengths, but never went past nose length, complemented by a similarly messy beard which was quite short for nearly a decade of isolation. However, it wasn't like Quies was completely absent from tools while he lived in Erisia. He was able to make a fishing rod after all! He wore a light tunic which was tattered at its edges, which was now stiff and stained red from his cursed blood. Speaking of which…
Quies lifted a finger and hovered it in front of his mouth. Hesitantly, he opened his mouth and placed his finger on his sharp canine teeth.
'Experimental purposes. I'm doing this for experime- FFFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUU-"
His jaw closed on his finger like a guillotine, opening a sizable wound which blood almost instantaneously flowed from. It hurt. It hurt a lot. However, it was a drop in the ocean when compared to what he endured a while ago. Just the thought of dozens of needles piercing him distracted him from the pain that radiated from his finger, even if it was just for a moment. His cursed blood dripped from the wound, forming a small puddle.
He focused all of his attention onto the growing puddle of blood in the sink. He sympathized with it. He felt how it yearned to return back to its master. He felt its desire to return to its brethren. He felt its despair and hopelessness and its inability to return to where it belonged. He felt the flicker of hope it had, that somehow, it would be able to be one with its master once again.
And then, the blood trembled.