This had been a bad idea. Ven frowned, pursing his lips over his fangs, careful to not cut his lip. He had no idea where he was. Or what direction he was supposed to be going. He had been thinking about visiting the desert, or at least checking out that area. But then everything had become all...flat. And very open.
Glancing up, Ven shivered a little, adjusting the dark, almost pitch black glasses he wore. They protected his eyes from the worst of the suns rays, though it was much easier at night. But the sky was doing that weird....changing thing again. Ven really couldn't get used to this. All the weather nonsense. How did people get used to this? It was always changing!
His frown deepened and he started looking around. He was pretty sure that the sky getting darker meant either it was night, which he didn't think it was time for that yet, or it was going to do that awful raining thing. It had rained a few times since Ven had come to the surface, but he still hated it. It wasn't normal! Water did not fall from the sky. It was a ground liquid! For in the ground!
The panic started to get a little worse as Ven was starting to realize there was no where to hide. Everything was flat and open. A primal, frightened noise left his throat, pale eyes going wide. Shit! Shitshitshit! He back peddled, clawed feet digging into the road, breath coming in short gasps as the panic took over. So absorbed in the attempt to get out of the rain, he didn't notice the presence behind him, smacking back hard enough into them to lose his balance and end up on his ass.
For some time now, Setsurri had been staring at the back of some...odd youth that walked ahead of him some distance up the road. He thought the other odd because he had never seen his like before, though he knew that in this part of the world he was likely the oddity. His pointed ears and copper-red skin may not have been enough to draw curious glances on their own, but the trio of coal black horns poking through his wild hair certainly earned stares. For all Setsurri knew, the thing walking before him was of a common race in this region.
Other travelers approached and passed, heading in the opposite direction, though most of Setsurri's interest remained captivated by the landscape. This dreamlike, impossible landscape. From La'maari, he had set out south, and found the long stretch of forested land through which he trekked to be familiar, not unlike the wooded darkness he had called home for most of his life. South and east of La'maari the land gave to hills and the trees thinned. There he had turned north before reaching Zantaric, for he had heard of grand kingdoms to the north, with whole cities encircled by stone walls higher than a human man was tall, cities that could hold a dozen or more La'maaris with mighty castles looming at their centers. He could scarcely imagine a settlement of such size—how could so many live together and maintain harmony?—and he hungered to witness these marvels himself.
As he ventured further north, however, the land changed in a curious way. The hills flattened and the trees grew smaller, sparser. Then there were no trees, and Setsurri stared with wide eyes at something he had never see in his life—the horizon, unbroken from one edge of his vision to the other, one clear, steady line that made his breath catch every time he looked up at the vast miracle of blue sky and unending plain.
Soon, that blue sky disappeared behind a tower of thunderheads and this, too, sent a tremor of wonder through him. Would the world ever cease to shock him? Never had he been able to watch the gathering of a rainstorm without a tree canopy to block part of the sky from view. But there it was in all its grandeur, reaching out from the horizon to blot out the sun and cloak the land in gloom.
When Setsurri could tear his eyes away from the scudding, rolling clouds, he saw that the traveler who had been walking in front of him all day was backing up, and noises coming out of him that betrayed distress, fear. It raised the hair on the back of his neck and he glanced at the long grass around him with new suspicion.
He didn't even move when the stranger backed right into him, just kept his own feet and glared, wishing the youth would do something useful instead of cringing like a frightened pup.
"What is it?" he said at last, seeing no danger that he could recognize. It must have been something he didn't know of, some insidious thing unique to this place.
Wide open spaces scared Ven. He had gotten used to them enough to not panic anymore, but it was an uneasy calm. And the weather was something he had never gotten used too. Always changing and that huge open sky. It was creepy. Things came down from it! Water wasn't meant to be in the sky! They could /drown!/
When his back hit Setsurri's legs, Ven gave a manly and powerful high pitched squeal of terror, jerking away from the other man. Turning, he found some surface dweller behind him. In his panic, Ven didn't really care that he didn't know how the man was. He had horns, like a normal person! That was good enough for him! Twisting around, Ven latched onto the other man, hugging his legs, his tail lashing behind him in terror.
A string of words in Ven's native language spilled out, rapid and frightened. A moment later, Ven realized he was using the wrong language and switched too common, "You have to help me! We are all going to die!" Glancing over his shoulder, his pale eyes glanced up at the sky again, seeing the dark clouds gathering together. He whimpered and clung tighter to the other man, threatening to knock him over.
The sky decided to take that moment to start raining. It was light for a moment, then it began to pick up. Ven screamed and scrambled along the ground, half crawling up Setsurri in his fear, not caring that he was quite a bit larger then the elf, "WATER! We are gonna die! It's coming down from the sky!" His head jerked left and right, straining to find a place that was protection from the horrifying sensation of the rain hitting him, "WHY IS IT FALLING!?"
"Ey!" The tall man grabbing onto his legs knocked Setsurri clear off balance and he rocked forward only to catch himself with both hands on the gravel road. He reared back up and tried to restrain himself, restrain his natural reflex to respond with violence to anything that attempted to attack him, to grab and hold him. This man was no danger. This man was simply mad.
"Let go of me," he said, but his words drowned in the man's frantic cries. Finally, Set caught a language he could understand amidst all the gibberish.
"But why?! Why are we going to die? What is the danger? Don't do that, get off me!" The man was practically crawling up him. Set could hardly defend them like this, but he didn't even see what the threat was. The grasses waved in the wind, deserted no matter which way he looked.
Ah, but the man kept going on about the sky, the rain. "Yes, there is water. We have plenty of water." Confusing gave way to an inkling of understanding. "Wait, are you afraid of the rain?"
Full blown panic was setting in. Ven hadn't ever been away from shelter when there had been rain before. His heart was pounding in his throat. The land was flat and barren and there was no where to hide.
Still clinging to the shorter man, Ven was too wrapped up in his fear to notice that he was pissing the other man off. "What? Rah-ain?" The word was strange to Ven. He had read it before, but hadn't really ever under stood what it was, "What? Water! How are you not afraid! We are going to drown!"
It was like the world was the wrong way. And the sky could eat you up at any moment. His breaths were coming rapidly, hyperventilating in his panic, "We have to get away!"
Setsurri forced out a sigh to calm himself. It was not right to blame an insane man for his insanity.
Though it surely was tempting.
"You need to let go of me now," he said. He pushed against the other man and tried to wiggled out of his arms without using too much force. Though smaller, he was fairly confident he could extricate himself if he truly wanted to, but he hesitated to resort to violence.
"We're not going to drown, but you need to let go of me!"
All the rain until now was experienced under protection. The water was actually hitting his skin and clothes and it was awful. Burying himself against the man as if he could someone use the elf to hide from the water.
"Please don't leave me!" Fear made his voice crack and he clung tighter to the other man, "Please!" He was starting to calm down a little, the rain hitting him and seeming to do no real damage, but the man's attempts to extract himself were making the panic flare up.
"D...does it look like I'm going anywhere?!" He could scarcely move but to keep attempting to wiggle his way out of the death grip the man had on him, and his horns kept poking at the man despite Setsurri's best efforts to keep them from skewering him. Enough of this already. Setsurri twisted one arm free and pulled his glaive from the sling on his back.
"Just let go. I'm not going anywhere." He jabbed at the man's shoulder with the butt of the glaive. If he had to, he'd beat him off with it. "Now. It's only rain. It's not hurting you at all, is it?"
Setsurri craned his head back to look behind him, then looked passed the man down the road, but there was no one in either direction who could come and help him calm the lunatic.
Ven knew he was panicking over nothing. He had seen rain before, but this was the first time he had been out in it. And was finding it very hard to wrap him mind around it.
"Oooowww!" He finally let go when the butt of the spear jammed into his shoulder and he clutched at it, giving the other man a hurt look, forgetting about the rain for a moment, "That was uncalled for!"
Glancing around, Ven blinked, then flushed a dark red. He had been over reacting a little and once the panic had passed, it was rather clear. The water coming down was unnerving, but it seemed harmless and it wasn't pooling anywhere.
Coughing, he ducked his head, feeling rather stupid, "Uh...yes...um...I'm sorry about that. I've...er...never been in rain before and uh...yes. Sorry."
Setsurri fixed the stranger with a glare. He couldn't believe this lunatic had the audacity to be indignant at him! "I gave you plenty of warning to let go of me. It couldn't possibly have hurt that much so don't carry on so."
The rain had soaked them both, and left Setsurri's shaggy red hair drooping into his face. He flung the wet strands from his eyes and returned the spear to his back. This man came from a desert maybe? He heard tell that little rain fell in deserts, though he'd never seen one for himself. It was the only explanation he could think of for someone who had never seen rain. "Well as you can see, we are both fine. Are you calm now?"
Ven gave a shiver as the rain soaked into his clothes. He felt like a drowned rat and it was highly uncomfortable. How did people deal with this nonsenses! There was hardly any warning, the sky seemed to change willy-nilly and then BAM! WATER! Because that wasn't incredibly weird!
Standing up, Ven tried adjusting his clothes, but the rain made that pointless. He then blinked down at the tiny elf, surprised at how much taller he was than him, "Uh...yes. I am. Again, sorry about that." Ven gave his best attempt at a winning smile, despite the red hair plastered to his face and held his hand out, "Now that I have climbed all over you, I should introduce myself. My name is Venyamin."
Set had to crane his neck back to look the fellow in the face. He had to do that with a lot of people, but this man was especially tall, perhaps even a full foot taller than Set. Usually his wild hair added a few inches onto his height, but at the moment it was plastered on is head by the rain.
He stared at the man's hand a moment before remembering he was supposed to shake it. It was not a custom his people held with. "Setsurri," he said, wary lest the man—Venyamin—take the opportunity to latch onto him again.
He seemed calm enough now, though. Set stepped around him and started to edge away, down the road. "If you're in no further difficulty..."
"Uh, well, um....you wouldn't....know how to get away from all this, would you?" Ven gestured to the rain that was still streaming down on them, "I haven't seen any shelter and uh....it's rather awful beyond words. How can you stand it all the time? All this changing!"
While he was keeping his distance for the most part, Ven was latching onto Set in another way. He hadn't seen anyone for awhile now and was pathetically lonely.
"I don't think it's going to stop any time soon." The sky was unbroken grey cloud from horizon to horizon. The rain was steady—the kind of rain that could continue all day. It didn't especially bother Set. He wasn't prone to chill and could travel like this in contentment. But this fellow could barely stand it. They hadn't even been out here that long!
"There is a settlement a ways up the road," he said. Assuming the map in his head was correct. He had stopped at a township early yesterday morning and asked to see a map of the surrounding land.
"It is..." He sighed. "It is on my way. Come along."
He was going in that direction anyway.
"Up the road?" Ven wilted a little, staring up the road mournfully. That seemed to far away, to have to trudge through all this rain. His tail hung low, pressing against his legs, "I just don't know how you can take all this...this...dripping!"
It was like standing in some waterfall. All the time. Only slightly less wet than that. But only slightly.
The taller man brightened at Set's next comment, his tail perking up as well, "Really! You'll go with me? Lovely! I don't know about you, but I just hate walking alone! It just gets so boring!" Starting off down the road with Setsurri, Ven kept up a steady stream of chatter, "I'm still getting used to traveling. I've never been to the surface before. I mean, I read a lot about it, but books just aren't the same, you know?"
"Yes. Up the road. That is what I said." And no amount of disappointment would change how far they had to walk. Set resigned himself. He walked with his head down to keep the water from his eyes.
It wasn't that he liked traveling in the rain either. He probably would have stopped at the settlement anyway. This was a bad place to be in a thunderstorm. He hadn't seen or heard much lightening yet, but he wouldn't want to be stuck out on the plains with nowhere to go when the heavens started lighting up.
"Surface?" Set looked up at at Ven through the curtain of rain. "Where are you from?"
Water streamed off his head and body. It was as bad as jumping into a river. How did people stand this?! Ven looked up the road pitifully as he walked along with Setsurri. Nothing in sight yet. He was going to drown out here and the tiny man didn't seem to care.
"Oh, well, I am from the Below World!" Ven said this as if Setsurri would of course, know what that was. Because obviously, the entire world knew about it. "This is my first trip to the surface. Not many of my people come up, it's, well, it's just not natural up here. Things don't work right. But I'm very adventurous."
Venyamin looked absolutely miserable. Set couldn't understand what was so horrid about the rain, but he picked up his pace anyway. He didn't want to have to look at Ven's pitiful expression anymore.
He was interested in the place Ven came from, though. This Below World. He'd not heard of it before, but it sounded like some village or group that persisted underground. It was intriguing. He'd never visited such a place before, but he had heard of cities built into cliff faces and in chasms. An underground settlement was not so inthinkable.
"I can understand that," he said, smiling as he looked on. He could make out the lights of the little village now. "That is why I am here as well."
Ven hurried to keep pace with Setsurri, awkwardly trying to use his arms to keep the rain off his head. His dark red hair was almost black now, plastered to his head.
"Really? You want to explore too? Where are you from then? Are you from a jungle? I've always wanted to see a jungle. I had never seen a tree until recently and jungles are supposed to have giant ones everywhere. Do you think they really do? The book I read said they can be so big and thick they will block out the sun."
Shaking his head, not liking how the water kept running down his face, Ven's babbling didn't slow much, "I think that would be nice. I don't like the sun. It can't seem to make up its mind about what it wants to do. It's moves. That just isn't natural!"
Set continued on in the rain, glad to be in a subject he knew about and could relate to. He'd been all over, including suth to the Kishahn Jungles, though he had only skirted the edge before circling north and heading up through the desert.
"I was born in a forest and lived most of my life there. The trees are indeed enough to block out the sun there in the deep forest there are places that may never see sunlight and all manner of dark things from there. It is beautiful, but I wanted to see more. We should take you to the Kishahn Jungle sometime. The plant life there would be even stranger to you I imagine."
"Jungle...that's like a forest, right?" Ven had never really seen either, so he didn't fully understand the difference between them. They were different, that much the books made clear, but he was iffy on what the criteria for them were.
"I think that would be exciting to see. And much more comfortable. I mean, who wants to be out under all this...sky. It's like it is going to swallow you up at any moment! There is nothing stopping you from falling into it. It's unnatural."
"No no they are nothing alike. Well they both have trees but they are very different. They have different animals and different climates and the spirits that preside over both are very different and that's probably the most important difference. They are spiritually different from each other and being right with the spirits of the one don't mean you will be right with the spirits of the other."
"It might make you more comfortable because you have the canopy over your head. There will be forests in Adela, at least that is my understanding of it. If you are going that far."
"Spirits? Whaaaat? There are spirits in the land up here?" Ven knew that the earth was alive, a spirit, but that there were individual spirits up here was a new one to him, "You mean, besides the mother spirit? I've never heard of that!"
"Oh really? That's probably why you got caught out in the rain. You could have asked the spirits to hold the rain until you reached shelter if you knew how to commune to them. They are all different and all like different things but they all take tithes and offerings of blessings. You could have communed with the rain spirits of this place."
"No way! Teach me! I hate this rain!" Ven pulled a face, rain dripping off his hair and clothes still. It was disgusting, all this weather. He gave a small shudder, shaking his head to try and get the water off, though more soon quickly replaced it.
"Now is hardly the time. It's not that simple, anyhow. And we're nearly there. Look." Setsurri pointed through the rain at the blurred outlines of houses. They were small, squat, and few in number. It was only just past midday, but the clouds had darkened the landscape and lanterns shown through the downpour.
"Have you been guest at any of these plains settlements?" Set himself had not, and he'd learned the hard way that ignorance of local customs could pull trouble down on yourself. He was hoping Ven might prove useful in that regard.
"But I'm wet now." Ven pouted, sticking out his lower lip slightly. But he perked up when he noticed the houses in the distance. He hadn't seen anything like them before and he shook his head, his hair sending out wet droplets, "No. Though I have read about them. Why? Have you?"
"No," Set sighed. "Unfortunately not. I have never been to these parts of the world before. Let us hope they are welcoming of strangers, no?"
Most villages had an inn or, barring that, a customary extra room or two kept for travelers in the common hall, where people like Set could have a bed and a meal for a bit of coin. Very occassionally he had encountered places unwelcoming, where the people looked at his horns instead of in his eyes, where they seemed afraid or hateful of strangers. If this was such a place, Ven was going to be most distraught, for it would mean they would have to continue on in the rain and find a place outside to make camp for the night.
The settlement up ahead was tiny. He could see that even before they reached the first home, a simple, thatched-roof affair made of stone. Most of the buildings were stone, he saw, and no few of them were large tents made of hide. Of course. Few trees for wood out here.
"Of course they will be. Who doesn't like strangers? We shall bring stories!" Ven reached into one of his pockets, pulling out a handful of gems, "And everyone is very nice for these stones. I don't see what the excitement you topsiders have with them."
Gold and silver too. Which while they were pretty enough, they weren't worth much. But people loved them, which made him popular.
He replaced his hand in his pocket as they entered the village, glancing around, "Let's find shelter! Who knows when the stupid sky will change again."
Waving at the people that had come to watch the strange newcomers, Ven seemed utterly unaware that there might be the slightest problem with their arrival.
Set had no trouble imagining a place unwelcoming of strangers. He'd encountered too many of the like himself. His own people, even, would never have tolerated outsiders in their presence. The two of them, in this village, would look most out of place.
His eyes widened at the gems Ven produced. If Ven hadn't put them away, Set would have made him. "Keep those hidden," he said. "People will covet them."
"Oh? What? I don't know that word. But people really like them. Shiny I guess." Ven shrugged and kept the gems away, "They trade all kinds of things for them."
He pointed to a large home, "Let's see if they have a place to stay. I've always found that the biggest houses give the best beds."
"They're valuable, yes," he said. "As currency. Hard to find...up here." Ven wasn't the only one who had once been confounded by money. Setsurri's people had no concept of the stuff. He had little need of it himself, being more than comfortable—preferring it, often as not—to sleep in the wilds, to hunt, to skin beasts for his own clothing. He kept some for the convenience of it, and when some oddity or confection he'd never seen before beckoned him.
"If they'll let us to a bed." Set had slept in stables mostly, when he chose to sleep in a town at all. That, and his lack of coin often put inn rooms out of his reach. Though he traveled such odd roads, he rarely encountered a town large enough for an inn anyway.
"Well, we can always hope there is a bed!" Ven smiled brightly, heading over to the house, not paying attention to the stares the pair of them drew and knocked on the door, calling out, "Hello! Any one home?"
Set didn't have near Ven's aversion to the rain, but the pummeling downpour was becoming tiresome and cold. It was a heavy waterfall on his shoulders and he stood beneath the eaves of the house while Ven called a greeting.
Long moments passed, and no one appeared. Set crowded in front of Ven and pounded upon the wood. Finally, a man opened the door to them.
Set had no idea what race to put to the man. He didn't know who lived on these plains. The man had long hair, strait and black and with much of it plaited into small braids. He'd oiled his short beard into two points.
Set tried Common. "Greetings. We've need of a bed, if you can spare."
The man only squinted at him, and Setsurri looked up at Ven for help. He, at least, sounded as though he'd done this more often, asked folk for lodging. Maybe it was the way Set had said it.
"It's very wet out here." Ven spoke slowly and carefully, the way one might speak to a very slow person. He paused, the man still stating at the pair of them, the water streaming off his horns and hair.
"So...can we come inside?"
"Nope."
Ven blinked, not quite sure what to make of that, "Oh, well, um, I promise we mean no harm or anything. Set here looks very scary but he's not a murder or a rapist that I've seen."
Set peered up at Ven. He didn't think that was the right thing to say. Turned out he was right, as the fellow refused them entry outright. He was ready to try interceding again when Ven went and made the oddest proclamation.
"I do?" He looked back and forth between the both of them, as if either one would expound on that in these circumstances. Was it the horns? The glaive blade glinting over his shoulder?
The man started to close the door. Set stopped it with a hand. "We can pay."
A pause, the light of consideration on the fellow's face. Set nodded to Ven. "Show him."
Ven looked at Set blankly for a moment, then brightened, hand reaching into pocket and pulling out a handful of the gems, "I have lots of the shiny stones! So, um, can we please come in. There is a lot of water coming down and I really don't want to drown."
The man's eyes locked on that handful of gems. Set rubbed at his forehead.
"Those'll do." The man to grab them, and Set got between them, blocked his way.
"Not all of them." He negotiated, or performed his own blunt approximation of it. He had no talent for haggling, could only insist on what the room was worth to him, and he did know what it was worth. In the end, they settled for a price higher than what Set would want, but worth it considering the deluge they'd be sleeping in otherwise.
He took two gems from Ven's hand and motioned for him to put the others away. "We can go in."
Ven watched the exchange with a puzzled interest, his Common was good, but they spoke a little quickly for him. Plus, haggling had never been something he was good at. He had been wealthy in his homeland and here people would bend over for a few useless gems.
"Oh! Wonderful!" Ven moved quickly inside, shaking his head to clear the rain from it, "Now, how about a nice fire and some food? I know I'm quite hungry!"
It didn't occur to Set to wonder, until Ven pushed his way into the house, why he was here at all. He could have easily found lodgings of his own, but somewhere in the short time he'd known Ven, he'd begun to throw his lot in with him.
"We should go to our room," Set said. He wished Ven spoke his language so they could keep their conversations private. "I've bought us food for the night, we can eat there."
He watched the man in his peripheral vision and listened for sounds of others in the house. Within minutes everyone in this house would know Ven carried around more wealth than many of these people would see in years of toil, perhaps in their lifetime. Set intended to be in an easily defended room when that knowledge spread.
Ven was rather clueless about any problems that might arise. He glanced around the home, blissfully unaware, "Oh, what really? I'm sure we can get this lovely man to-" He trailed off, the man's intense expression unnerving him a little.
"Er...okay. Yes. Room. Where exactly is that?" He had wanted a bath and a hot fire, but the grubby humans here seemed really edgy and it wasn't very nice.
The man grunted and pointed to what seemed to be a weaving room for the woman of the house. Ven shrugged his bag off and set it down with a soft squish.
Once they found the room, Set left only once—glaive apparent on his back still—and returned with hot water for the room's wash basin. He brought rags as well, so they could clean and dry themselves. Moments later, a woman brought them a tray of food.
In retrieving the water he'd seen three other people in the house. Two he counted to be worthless. The others, the two men, looked as if they knew something of fighting, and Set had glimpsed a sword on the wall through a crack in a door. There may be others as well, but they all knew now that he was armed, and if they knew at all what they were looking at and had any sense they would hesitate to cross him just for a handful of gems.
Set left the food for later and slipped immediately out of his breeches and stood at the basin, cleaning the grit from his body and the mud from his bare feet.
Ven had already stripped down while Set gathered the water. His clothes were laid out around the room, drip drying, "I do wish we could be out by the fire."
He took a rag and started to clean up a little, making a face, "How can you people stand this? The suddenly being wet like that. It's awful!"
"You've never swam?" To him, it would be the same thing, and he knew of underground lakes and such. Had even seen one or two, in exploring the limestone caves nearing the mountainous borders of his wood. Perhaps Ven lacked even those in his home.
He felt immensely better with the clean water washing away the dirt of travel. He wanted rest, but there would be none yet. While his breeches dried, hanging on the back of a chair, he sifted through his rucksack for his vials of venom.
"In water! It doesn't just...splash all over me from above." Ven huffed, cleaning himself as best he could, paying close attention to his tail where it had dragged in the dirt and mud. Naked, he looked even less human, with his scales and odd legs.
Glancing over at Set, he leaned closer, having finished his cleaning, "What are you doing?"
"Preparing," he said. He pulled out tiny vial of clear liquid.
"Step back." He dd not take chances with the poison. It was far too potent. A residue of it on your finger, that finger touching your lips, your tongue, would kill you. He'd never harmed anyone through carelessness and would not do so now.
He pulled the glaive over to wear he sat. After upturning the vial he pulled the cork out, now with a slight sheen of the thin liquid coating it. Holding the dry end, he coated the edge of the blade in poison—invisible, deadly.
"Don't touch this," he said. He leaned it in a corner well out of the way. In a few minutes, after it had dried thoroughly, he would secure the blade in its cover.
"What's that? What are you doing?" Ven still didn't have any idea of the danger they might be in. He took a seat, crossleg and watching Set with obvious interest.
"I poison my blade. It makes fights trivial." Just the way he liked them.
There was already a pallet set up for sleeping. One of the women must bed down in here. It was small, but they would both fit comfortably. Set sat down upon it, though he would not be sleeping yet, not for some time.
"What? Why?" Ven's mouth dropped open, staring at the blade with undisguised horror at it, "That's dangerous and we're going to bed!"
"I'll sleep later maybe," he said. "I don't trust these people."
If he didn't sleep, that would be fine. He'd rather stay up and protect Ven—who seemed to need it—than rest and risk killing them both.
"Really? Well, I mean, they seem a little odd, but why would they attack us?" Ven wrinkled his nose, glancing at the door, "Should we take...shifts?"
"If you feel capable," he said. He would prefer that. It would mean he could get some sleep himself.
"They want your gems," he said. "If you want to do this, you can't fall asleep while you're on watch."
"Why not just give them more gems? They aren't hard to get more of." Ven gave a small shrug, "And I can stay up. I'll take first watch, that's easier than second watch."
"You're welcome to give them all you like. They're yours. But they won't believe that's all you have. And even if they search you, find them all, they'll put us both out into the rain once they have what they want—if they don't kill us for the sport of it."
He gave Ven an appraising look. "You're sure you can stay up?"
"...Are all humans that rude?" Ven huffed, glaring at the door now, "We're paying for the room! And yes! Why wouldn't I be able too?"
"Rude?" One brow rose. He found Ven's disregard of murder disturbing. "That is your word for what I described?"
"Well, I mean, stealing our things and kicking us out is rather rude wouldn't you say? What would you call it?"
"That I would call cowardly and greedy," he said. Rude had been making them pay so much for this room in the first place.
"Wake me if you hear anything or if anyone approaches the door," he said. He yawned a settled down on the pallet, and fell into silence.
"Oh. I'm sorry, Common isn't my native tongue. Now, sleep tight my new friend." Ven settled down, back to the wall. Things went fine the first few hours. It was a little boring, but he managed to keep awake, if not on high alert. He was starting to feel sleepy enough to wake Set when he froze, hearing sounds outside the door.
Reaching over, he shook the other man's shoulder, his voice low, "Set?"
Set came awake at the touch. He sat up, pointed to a lantern nearby. "Light that." He made no effort to keep his voice low, nor did he attempt to quiet his footsteps upon the creaking boards as he strode to the glaive. He wanted them to hear him. Wanted to give them that chance to rethink what they were about to do.
"Oh, yes, okay!" Ven stopped whispering when Set didn't whisper. The adrenaline drove away any lingering sleepiness as he moved to the lantern. He had to dig through his bag for flint and steel, striking them together to create a spark enough to light the lantern.
"Um, it's all lit. Now what?"
Set whisked the cover from the glaive. It produced that unmistakeable hiss of leather on steel, loud enough for the men outside to hear if they had any luck. He set himself to the side of the door.
"Stand there, in the middle of the room."
Murmuring filtered through the closed door, but no other sound. It was dark in the other room, no light shone through the crack beneath the door. This was their chance to live, and Set hoped they took it. He did not want to flee this settlement in the middle of the night for having killed one of their own. He'd made no attempt to hide their wakefulness. The men would have seen the light, heard them talking, heard their movements. If they were wise, they would count it too risky and leave off. He thought they might. He thought he'd given them enough hard looks and glimpses of the glaive to convince them they would not live through this attempt.
He waited with even breath as the murmuring continued in the next room.
Ven scrambled over to the center of the room, "I have magic, if, uh that helps at all." He had never really used it offensively much, but he had the theory of it down at least. He made sure to speak loud enough for the men to hear, really hoping they would just go away.
There was some more muttering, then the sounds of people walking away. Ven gave Set a hopeful look, "Are they all gone then?"
Set stayed where he was, eyes on the door for some time. He risked letting it out of his sight to nod at the pallet on the floor.
Ven could sleep now. Set would watch the rest of the night. "We'll keep the lantern on."
Still watching the door, he crossed to where his torn and threadbare breeches hung. They were old things, and cut off at the knee. The thin cloth hadn't taken long to dry. The shadow of his legs crossed over the crack at the bottom of the door for anyone on the other side to see, and that was good. He didn't quite believe they were all gone.
"Well, that was quite exciting. Gets the heart pounding, doesn't it? Not sure I can sleep just yet." Ven got up, pacing a little, all nervous energy. There was no way he was sleeping, all his exhaustion had vanished.
"Does this sort of thing happen a lot?"
Set laid the glaive against the wall for the few seconds it took to slip back into his breeches. He trusted them not to barge though the door in that little bit of time, and suspected they'd given up—maybe not for the whole night, but for now.
"It happens," he said. "Define a lot."
Ven was still naked, not bothered by his nudity. He frowned, "My. I haven't had any problems like that, but I haven't really been on the surface long. Things are much more civilized where I'm from, let me tell you."
"Mm, are they?" He doubted that. In his experience, most people thought themselves civilized and the rest of the world backward, himself included on occasion.
He paced, glaive in hand, too invigorated now to sit and nothing else to do but walk off his energy and stare at the door.
"If we're both too awake to sleep and I think that awful water as stopped, why don't we just keep going?" Ven cocked his head, watching Set pace the room, "I mean, it seems silly to wait around a place like this if all we're going to do is pace."
He would be tired all tomorrow, but he had done without sleep before.
Set stopped in his pacing. "Can you go on without sleep?" He doubted it, but he would accept whatever answer Ven gave, and he hoped he put some thought in it. He hoped he understood what it would be like to push on through the plains in the hot evening, no settlement yet in sight.
For all that, it wasn't a bad idea, and Set would gladly leave this place if Ven could handle it. They may even find someplace better down the road if their luck held.
"Uh, I think so. I mean, I'm pretty awake now and I've gone without a night of sleep before. Probably wont make the best time tomorrow, but we'll be well away from here." Ven gave a small shrug, "It still seems better than staying here."
Set raised a brow, but he shouldered the glaive and his little rucksack just the same. He felt he could fair well on the plains, but then he wasn't the one with the powerful aversion to weather. "And if the rain picks up again? Are you going to panic?"
Ven froze at that, half way to his feet and he stared at Set, "D-do you think it will?"
Set shrugged. "It rains. In some places, often. Every day in others. It will rain on us again, sometime. Maybe today."
Ven wouldn't risk the rain but he would risk their murderous hosts? Peculiar fellow.
"What? That often?!" Ven glanced over at the door, "It's not really so bad here. I mean, I'm sure those men have gone to sleep now and wont bother us."
People with weapons, he could handle that. Water from the sky was just not right.
"Make up your mind then. The men or the rain."
In one thing he agreed—he didn't think they would try again tonight. He would still stay up, and he would stay vigilant, but if his estimation of them was accurate, they would deem the gems they already had as payment enough and not risk losing their lives for more. Their leave-taking would be tense, but not impossible.
"There really should be a third option..." Ven grumbled, tail lashing in annoyance. He glanced at the door. Rationally, he knew the rain was the much better option, but it filled him with a raw terror that some goons just didn't. It was primal and hard to argue with.
"I...it's up to you?"
Set watched Venyamin's tail curiously. What it must be like to have such a thing. That must have been what other folk thought when they saw his horns he supposed.
"Then we'll stay. We'll have more than enough opportunity to deal with the weather, and who knows when we'll be able to spend the night under a roof again. You should try to sleep if you can."
Ven nodded, "Alright." He tried to settle down, curling into a ball, his tail wrapped around him. The adrenaline would fade and he would crash soon, but it was still a little while until sleep finally claimed him.
The night went by without anymore late night visits. Ven slept like the dead, though his right foot kept twitching, the claws flexing in his sleep.
As soon as the sky began to lighten to grey, Set nudged Ven's ribs with his food. The night and the rain both had passed, and he wanted out of here. "Ey. Up with you. Let's be rid of this place."
He'd already done what little needed doing to be travel ready. Rearranged his rucksack, checked the glaive edge, checked his supplies. He was ready to walk out.
Ven woke slowly, groggy from the deep sleep. He yawned, stretching as he stood, "I feel like I hardly slept. Is the rain gone?"
Standing, Ven started to get ready, his movements a little sluggish, "Next time, lets stay somewhere less violent."
"Aye, it's gone. Can't say for how long. We should make distance while we can. Maybe find someplace...more to your liking."
Less violent? How were they to know?
"What do you need to get ready?" Set hovered by the door, rucksack already on his back.
"Yes! And maybe better food!" Ven perked up a bit at the discovery the rain was gone and there would be a better place that night, "How often does that water come down? There really should be a better warning."
Set paused with his hand on the door. "Depends on where you are. In some deserts it almost never rains. Then there are places where it rains every day. Here? I don't know. A couple of times a month? We'll see."
He eased the door open, stepped through cautiously. Their hosts were there, going about their morning business, and Set exchanged a look with each of them in turn. What was there to say? They all knew what had happened, and they all knew he and Ven would walk out of here now.
Ven seemed oblivious to the tension, still chattering on to Set as they left the building, "Well, I still think it's weird. I mean, all this change. How to you handle it! Just look now! A few hours ago, dark! Now it's light! It's enough to drive a man mad!"
Set opened the door leading out, and ushered Ven through. He went last, keeping one eye on their hosts.
"But the day and night last for predictable hours. It's not that mad. An unchanging twilight, now that is madness."
"It's not predictable at all! I'm told the amount changes with the seasons! Which! Speaking of those things, how can you handle all that?" Ven continued to be rather oblivious to their surroundings, wandering out of the house.
He winced at the light, lip curling back to reveal wicked fangs, "And everything is so bright! I mean really! It's all so uncivilized!"
"It changes predictably with the seasons. Longer days in summer and shorter in winter. There are even calendars that chart the exact times the sun will rise and set on any given day."
He smiled up at the blue sky, trailing his gaze down to where the horizon met the road. "But it's only bright half the time."