Ranger who got into this business to get away from other people.
<< previous chapter || << table of contents >> || next chapter >>
The following morning, Arylla wakes up to music. The gentle sounds of a lyre being strummed waft up from outside her window, stirring her from her slumber and into curiosity.
After she dresses and steps outside, she sees the nearly familiar sight of Luna playing a spruce-wooden lyre. Their playing is not technically impressive—no incredibly quick arpeggios or complex chords—but its soft and gentle melody stirs up a fondness in her heart; perhaps it is not the jaunty and bounding tunes of bards in the capital, but it is beautiful nonetheless.
Similarly, she notices Luna looks much different. Being well-rested and properly dry will do that, the thinks to herself, but some differences are not just a product of sleep and shower. Their attire is not that of a traveler on the road, all leathers and bootstraps, but rather a comfortable-looking cotton shirt in a deep green shade, and brown wool trousers, baggy and mobile. The color scheme reminds her of a pine tree.
Further, their hair is no longer matted from rain and hood, and instead flows more freely, brown waves hemmed just above their shoulders, a tad unkempt and ostensibly very fluffy.
What strikes Arylla is when Luna turns around, and Arylla sees their face for a second time in the daylight. Luna's face is framed by round glasses, and behind them are eyes not matching the ones from last night; white sclera instead of black, and a slightly different hue of green in their iris (the latter likely due to the presence of sunlight).
"Sorry, I didn't mean to surprise you," Arylla says.
"No worries, I think I was just finishing up," Luna returns, tucking the lyre under their arm as they stand from their chair and make to head back inside.
Something stirs then, in Arylla's gut, and she says, "What were you playing? It was quite beautiful."
Luna turns back and smiles, glee clear in their eyes where it is tempered on their lips. "Thank you. It's a piece I came up with while staving off boredom. I have yet to name it."
"Does it need a name?"
"I suppose not," Luna answers. "Maybe one day. For now, it is just a random melody. A beautiful one, according to you," they add with a chuckle.
The pair re-enter the tavern, and after inquiring whether Luna has had breakfast, they take a seat at a corner table and make an order. The wait for the food is not long, but the slow passage of time and the barebones conversation between them wears down Arylla's hesitation like waves on rock.
So, letting her curiosity get the better of her, she asks, "Your eyes. They're different from last night."
At the comment, Luna does not seem to flinch or tense as they did last night. They do, however, frown, eyes falling away from Arylla's and off into the aether. "Yes, the glasses are enchanted to hide them."
"Why is that, if you don't mind me asking?" As the words leave her mouth, Arylla internally chastised herself for not biting her tongue, and so adds, "I won't judge you. Just curious."
Scanning the room for any other watchful eyes, Luna removes their glasses, revealing that no, Arylla did not hallucinate the previous night.
"An aspect of a curse," Luna says. "Only one part, though, and a part I would like not to be recognized by."
"Are you in danger?" Arylla asks, and then kicks herself for saying.
A beat, and Luna shrugs. "I'm unsure. I assume there are people looking for me, but I have not encountered them yet." And before any overly nosey patrons can take notice, Luna slides the glasses back onto their face.
Arylla wants to ask what Luna is running from, but she manages to bite her tongue on that question. "Do you need protection?" she asks instead, not as lucky with her restraint on that one.
"I can fight," Luna replies.
"You're one person," Arylla retorts, "and you make it sound like those looking for you wouldn't just send one person after you."
"I wouldn't want to cause you any trouble."
"Not like I was doing anything anyway."
Glossing over the fact that Luna just assumed Arylla was offering her services, for some reason, Arylla feels strangely insistent that she stick by Luna's side.
There's just something about Luna. It's like the call of a siren, though more subtle. The glint of steel in a pile of dust, though less striking. Something in Luna ignites the spark of curiosity in Arylla's chest, a desperation to dig deep and know more, not for any purpose other than simply to know, to understand, to comprehend.
Luna is a mystery, and Arylla has always been obsessed with mysteries.
"Why me?" Luna asks.
Because you drive me mad with a yearning for knowledge, Arylla does not say. "Why not? You're intriguing. Moreso than anything else in this village."
"You're not from here though."
"And yet I've been here two weeks, yet to find a reason to leave."
"I can't pay you."
"I wouldn't want you to." Now that was a sign that Arylla was in deep, but she blatantly ignored it, cruising past into the depths of her endless thirst for understanding. Deciding to acknowledge the strange urge, she adds, "I admit, I'm quite interested in you, and if you would have me, I would like to ensure your safe travels. Plus, it gets me out of this ghost town."
Luna laughs at that, a gentle sound that Arylla will deny makes her heart skip a beat. "This town is rather quiet, but I like to think it's charming."
"You're not wrong, but it gets stale for someone like me. I like to be on the road, chasing down adventure and mystery," Arylla admits, "and you strike me as a bit of both."
"With all due respect, I think I'd like to keep the mystery a bit longer, if that's okay with you," Luna says, her smile shifting into slight melancholy. "I try to be quite secretive, and as honest and good-intentioned as you seem..."
"It's completely okay," Arylla interjects. "You can tell me whatever you wish. It is your decision to trust. All I ask is that you allow me to join you on your travels, since I have no better place to be at the moment."
Luna pauses, pondering for a moment as their breakfasts are set down in front of them. Arylla hands the waitress a few gold coins—enough to cover both of their meals, plus a good tip—which causes Luna to frown, an expression of, you didn't have to pay, to which Arylla smiles, as if to say, I wanted to.
Finally, Luna lets out a sigh and smiles. "I accept your offer."
To this, Arylla bows her head. "You have my sword, kind stranger."
"And you, my bow," Luna says in turn.
The pair eat, and finally, Arylla works up the nerve to ask a final question: "If you wouldn't mind me asking, are you a man or a woman?"
Luna opens her mouth to answer, but Arylla tacks on, "Or neither, if that's how you feel. I wouldn't wish to refer to you incorrectly."
At that, Luna smiles. "I am something akin to a woman," she replies. "The concept of gender is complex, but that is the best way I can describe myself."
"Hear hear," Arylla replies, raising her mug of coffee. "Gender do be a fuck, though I'm pretty sure I'm something woman-adjacent myself."
Luna raises her mug. "To two lady-somethings and their adventurers."
Arylla clinks her mug to Luna's, and takes a hefty sip.