"Arria?" Amos guessed. "I'm Amos, Yakob's brother. The Trenmir are watching. Pretend like we live here."
The girl's eyes narrowed and she hesitated just long enough for Amos to begin to worry. Then, she pasted on a smile and swung the door open wide.
"Welcome home!" Arria called loudly, stepping aside and gesturing for Amos, Ink, and Mondir to enter. "How was work?"
Amos rubbed the back of his head and mumbled something noncommittal. Once everyone was through the door, Arria closed and locked it. She turned to them and the fake smile was gone.
She wore an apron covered in flour, with utilitarian clothes underneath. Her arms were thick and corded, almost as wide as Ink's when she crossed them in an assertive stance. Her hair was pulled back in a quick ponytail, but a few strands had escaped, framing her face in the candlelight.
"Why are you covered in mud?" she asked.
"That's your first question?" Amos said.
"Hey," Mondir shrugged his armless shoulders. "There's nothing wrong with a bit of mud."
"In a bakery, there is," Arria responded. "We make food here."
The bakery itself was a mess. A thin layer of flour coated every surface, cabinet doors hung off their hinges, loose paper littered the floor, and there were dents in just about every surface that could take one without breaking. A puddle of dirty water filled the centre of the room. Amos took this all in briefly. "Been busy today?" he asked, trying not to smirk.
Arria's eyes narrowed for the second time in five minutes. She didn't grace Amos with a response, just turned around and walked to the bench with all her baking supplies.
"Sorry," Amos began, "clearly something went wrong, I didn't mean to-"
He was interrupted by Arria grabbing a gigantic rolling pin and turning around in one smooth motion to lob it directly at his head. The last thing Amos felt before the world went dark was a wooden thud.
...
He woke in a different room. It was dark, darker than before. Night must have fallen in earnest. He was sitting in a very uncomfortable wooden chair, and when he tried to rise, found himself fastened in place with a rough rope. His arms were tied behind the back of the chair, and his feet were tied together. Even if he could get up, he'd be hopping around uselessly.
When Amos' eyes adjusted, he looked to the left to find the outline of Mondir's form. His legs were tied together, in the same fashion as Amos', but they had also tied a rope around his torso.
A bit insulting...
Amos waited for a snide remark from Aquila. It never came. It wouldn't come until he dealt with the Tomb Eidolon: Enoch. Another grudge against the Trenmir to add to the pile.
Ink's unmoving form sat in a chair to his right. His bald head lolled forward and his eyes were closed. His broad chest rose and fell peacefully. His mouth was slightly ajar, saliva mixing with mud and dripping onto his shirt. Ink was snoring.
A door behind the three opened and closed. Someone entered the room, shuffling slowly into view. The brief introduction and removal of light from the door blinded Amos' dark-adjusted eyes.
A woman dragged a chair around to sit in front of Amos. She relieved her legs of the weight on her body, releasing a great sigh as she sat.
"We are no friends of the Trenmir," she said. Her voice was certain, yet wavering in the way one might quest with their feet on stepping stones over a lake. She was old. "Arria and myself have found ourselves at odds with them more often than not lately. Me daughter's a touch tetchy after their visit today, so you'll have to excuse her for the way she's treatin' a guest."
Amos' head was pounding where the rolling pin had struck him. "Sorry, I thought Arria was Yakob's friend? I'm his brother."
"I know who you are, boy, the whole town knows your face. Dangerous Drai crawling the fields and forests, bigger bounty on his head than most will make in a year. These two," she gestured at Mondir and Ink, "are a mystery to ol' Ma."
"Oh," Amos said, "this is Ink. He's my best friend, we met on the farm. He's a hard worker. You could get him to clean up the house, he loves to help and he's very strong."
Ma nodded appreciatively, looking Ink's sleeping muscles up and down.
"And this is Mondir Fastheart, leader of the Fastheart Wildmen. He's taking me to Port Ryndem."
Arria's Ma cackled. "A Wildman going to the city? Whatever for?"
"Listen, we need to get to Port Ryndem so I can seek refuge at Avidia Institute. Mondir knows the way and I owe him-"
"Damn right you do," Mondir interrupted.
"-so he's with me. I don't mean to impose at all, but we've been in the wild for months and just wanted a safe place to sleep. We'll only be one night here, and then we'll be gone. You won't have to worry about Trenmir bashing down your door for us or anything."
Arria's Ma was silent for a moment. Then she heaved herself up. "Yer a good kid. I'll get me daughter to untie you. Just don't cause no trouble. We've had enough of that today. Arria!"
"What!" Arria shouted back.
Arria's Ma left the room with the door ajar. Amos heard muted conversation from the other room. "Sorry about this," he said to Mondir.
"Nah," Mondir muttered, "I've been through worse. Could sleep like this if they left us."
Amos snorted, "Someone already is."
"The big bastard's been through a lot. He deserves some proper rest."
Amos just nodded. He didn't mention how much Mondir had been through, how much he was sacrificing leaving his life as a Wildman behind to enter civilisation, to guide Amos to Port Ryndem. To safety.
He didn't mention Bin. They were both thinking of her, though.
The voices in the other room stopped. There was a light rapping on wood, someone else knocking on the door. Amos looked around in a panic. Everyone was still tied up.
Who is coming to the bakery at this hour?
Is it the Trenmir already!?
The conversation between Arria and her Ma ceased. Silence permeated, Amos' breathing quickened. He tried to match his rate to Ink's snoring, but his heart was pounding to get out of its cage.
It's over.
We're done.
I'm going to die again.
The door opened. Arria's voice, and a man. She wasn't letting him in. Amos couldn't make out what they were saying until Arria began to raise her voice.
"You let this happen! They came here because of you, Ma could've been hurt! I could've been hurt! Do you see what they did to our house? You just stood there! Do you even care?" she was screaming.
The man raised his voice to meet hers. "Do I care? Do you even realise how much trouble you were in? They found your rune practice in the cabinets. I risked my life to ruin it. I risked my life to save you, of course I care!"
"It's just runes," Arria said, "could've been anything. You have issues, Yak. You think you're the only one in the world that matters, you're the only one that feels pain, that has to put himself at risk, but guess what! So do I! I put myself at risk everytime I see you because of this stupid plan! I put myself at risk by loving you!"
"Stupid plan? One of my friends died today, Arria. If the plan was in place earlier, Vanii could have lived. My indecision killed him. Don't say my plan is stupid when you don't understand what it's like to be one of us."
"You put Vanii above me?"
Silence for a moment. "I just came to help clean up."
Another moment of silence that stretched for an uncomfortable length of time. "Come in." The door slammed shut. "Don't bother cleaning anything. Leave your mess to me and Ma."
"Yakob, dear, this never would have happened if you just got married already," Ma's voice drifted into the dark room from beyond.
"Yak," Arria said, "there's someone here you should speak to."
"Who?" Yakob said with consternation.
"In the room."
A shadow crossed the light streaming into the dark room as Yakob stood in the doorway, straining his eyes to look in. Amos looked over his shoulder, still tied up. "Hey bro," he said.