Paint me, Immortality

[Lion]

Raif couldn't breathe underneath the sack that covered his head.  It was difficult to see through the tiny holes provided and he suddenly felt lightheaded as if he were going to pass out.  He breathed hard, short breaths through the cloth, staggering steps that were roughly guided by irritated hands.  He didn't know how long they were walking, but he fell a few times along the way and was dragged up at a painful angle by his arms and his clothes.  He was sweating under that damn burlap sack and his legs ached by the time they stopped for a break.

"End of the line, you two," Adol said.  "If you're lucky, this won't be the last stop you make.  But we'll see how things go with the Boss.  Maybe you'll be more useful than you think."  Raif could see barely, through the holes of the sack, the outlines of what appeared to be a cabin, built into the rockface of a cliff.   They were shoved inside and complete darkness took them.  Raif felt himself being shoved down in a chair and the ropes at his wrists were knotted to back of it.  Suddenly the burlap sack was snatched off his head and he gasped for breath.  He looked around at complete darkness, but all the while his thoughts remained on his sister.  "Hearth?  Hearth!?"

"Now, now, that name is familiar," a voice far across from him muttered.  It sounded like Adol, but it was much gruffer.  "Don't worry your head about your sister, young man," he continued.  "She's right here with you...for now."  A candle suddenly came alight and expanded light through the dark room.  It was the barest room he'd ever seen.  Not even that weirdo of an apothecary Father just hired was as bare as this.  The floor was nothing but dirt and the walls were fashioned cave stone interspersed with woodwork that looked old and in need of repair.  There was a desk at the far end of the elongated room, no windows and a single door behind the desk.  The candle made sufficient light in the small room, and it flickered due to the draft that came under the door.  Raif turned to look to his side and saw Hearth beside him, and the cold stone in his gut grew smaller oh so slightly.

"Who are you?  What do you want with us?" Raif said slowly.
The man appeared in the light.  He wasn't very tall, certainly only five foot nine by estimation, though pretty big for his size.  He had long dirty black hair and a scraggly black beard that covered his scarred and ragged middle-aged face.  He wore a dusty black coat, stained with oil paints and he smelled of turpentine. On his hands were fingerless gloves and he smirked at the siblings tied to the chairs with a stain-toothed grin.  "Only a few questions, boy.  I'm a very busy man, if you can't tell and I'll just cut right to the chase.  It seems my boys found you two in a very compromising predicament.  It doesn't look too good for either of you.  Name's Baldron, in case you wanna know, now sorry for the poor introduction.  Normally Angaelo keeps the boys in line, but I heard you were putting up quite a fight.  Not a very smart decision on your part, boy. "

"You jackass...you attacked us first.  And you know it!  I don't know who this Angaelo is, but he's one crazy asshole if he thinks that's – "

Raif knew he was helpless in that damn chair and fell back in a crash when Baldron's boot came up to his chest and pushed him back.  He hit his head hard on the ground and nearly blacked out.

"Take him out of here!  Show him what the word 'Respect' means.  Nobody disrespects Angaelo's  name here."  Behind him the door burst open and out came Adol and another man that dragged Raif up in his chair and dragged the chair along the dirt and out of the room.

"Tell him nothing, Hearth!" Raif shouted as he was dragged out.  "Say nothing!"  And the door slammed behind him.

Baldron leaned back against the desk and grinned at Hearth.  "You don't want anything bad to happen to your poor brother do you?  Now why don't you be a good girl and tell me what happened.  And start from the beginning."  He crossed his arms over his chest and put his listening ears on.

[Anonymous]

It took a moment for Hearth to remember where she was, and why she was here.

She had blacked out, maybe. A part of her shut down after the bag had been tossed over her head, unable to comprehend the reality of their situation any further. As the candlelight flickered on, her system rebooted, and she blinked her eyes sleepily, breathing in the environment around her. Finally, she could see again, as that dreadful burlap sack had finally been removed from her head. It wasn't like this place was must to look at anyway; the room was drafty, and dust danced on the single desk that lay here, filthy and bare.

At least Raif was right beside her, but that was a small comfort that was promptly taken away. Her cornflower blue eyes widened as they lead Raif away – he would tell them nothing, and he urged for her to do the same – and Hearth found that she could only stare at him, a deer in headlights, unable to even scream out his brother's name. A part of her still clung desperately to the childish belief that none of this was happening, but with Raif gone, her only constant in this situation, she suddenly found herself feeling very alone, and very vulnerable.

Slowly, she brought her eyes up towards her captor, but could not look him in the eyes. Raif, he was gone – who knew what they were doing to him! He had went out of his way to take her on a peaceful stroll – and now? She couldn't bare to think of it – she had to work hard to stop her imagination from producing heinous images in her head. She worked so hard at trying to stay calm that she barely even heard the man talk. As still as a stone, she sat deathly still, except for her hands, which quaked with fear.

And he wanted her to talk to him? She could barely talk to her family, and this man wanted her to talk? She opened her mouth to speak, but then remembered – Raif had urged for her to say nothing. Raif had been lead away, yelling and screaming for her to say nothing. So she looked at him, and tried her best to explain why she could not obey him.

"S-S-S-S-Sir," Hearth stammered, shaking like a leaf. "I-I-I-I... I c-c-c-can't t-t-t-tell you a-a-a-anything." She didn't understand why she couldn't. In fact, this was all a misunderstanding, and she was sure that explaining that would make the situation a lot easier for the both of them. But Raif was surely a lot smarter than she was, so she would listen to him. "M-My b-b-b-brother t-t-t-t-told me not t-t-to say a w-w-w-word." Her speech was hardly understandable, so bad her stutter was, and so soft was her voice.

"B-B-B-But p-p-please," she went on. "D-D-D-Don't h-hurt h-h-him. Th-This is a-a-all... th-this is all a b-b-b-big m-m-misunderstanding..."

She willed herself to look in his eyes, hoping for some gleam of humanity.

[Lion]

Baldron crossed his arms over his chest and waited for the answer that he sought.  Waited...and waited....and then waited some more.  Gods, was this girl ever going to spit it out!?  His eyes suddenly began to widen with the realization that this was going to take all day and probably all night too.  She stuttered like she had some kind of mental disease.  It took five whole minutes for her to say what he only would imagine would have taken a normal person about thirty seconds to say.  Okay maybe he was exaggerating greatly, but he didn't like having to be stuck with a brat that couldn't even say what she wanted without making it a contest with herself.

Baldron's jaw was just dropped open and when she finally finished he sighed and buried his head in his hands.  "Adol, you shit.  I'm gonna get you for this," he muttered to himself before rubbing his face and scratching his beard.  He gave a snarl of a smile and tried his best to remain as professional as possible.  "You know," he said, smiling softer now, "I bet you think you're doing your ol' brother a real favor by keeping your mouth shut.  Now normally, I'd applaud your determination to save your brother.  But, I think I'd be better off telling you the truth.

"Your brother is in a room down a dark, dank, hallway getting his attitude readjusted as we speak.  Yeah, that's right, he's getting the ever-living crap beat out of him and he'll get much worse if you don't start telling me something that's worth a damn girl!  And I'll tell you another thing, you might think yourself high and noble and whatnot, but down here, you're just a rat whose been given the privilege of being in the presence of one of Angaelo's esteemed acolytes, so you better start showing some respect...or else."

There, Baldron thought with a satisfied smile on his face, that ought to get her talking right.  That 'or else' part always seems to do the trick.  And if it doesn't....well, I'll figure something out.  Baldron would try being nice one more time.  He strode to her side and went down on one knee to give a more eye-level view between them.

"Now, Hearth, why don't you start from the beginning, please.  Even if it was a misunderstanding, I just really want to know what happened...through your eyes.  Do you know who that woman was that was on the side of the road?  Try...for your brother's sake...to tell me something useful.  You don't want him to get hurt more than he has to...do you?  What kind of sister would you be if you did?  I can't imagine he's in a very good position right now."

 -Meanwhile—
Raif was still tied to that chair.  His head still pounded from falling on the ground, but he was a little less than impressed by the strategy of these goons.  He just sat there in the corner of the room while he watched a puff of smoke rise from Adol's cigar as the man threw in his cards.  "Fold," he said disappointedly before taking another puff.

Raif looked around the dirt-floored room.  It was much smaller than the last one and he could only sigh.  "Aren't you guys supposed to be interrogating me or something?" he asked with some annoyance.

"Oh, shut up, boy," Adol said with a prepared for another round of cards.  The goons around the table reshuffled the duck and laughed at Raif before speaking up on his own.  "Yeah, we, ain't much for interrogating.  We'll get to that later.  Right now, we've had a long day.  But don't tell Baldron that.  Won't want us to think we're incompetent for anything."  Adol laughed and viewed his cards in his gloved hands.

Raif rolled his eyes.  "Maybe because you are incompetent," he murmured before shaking his head.  "So I'm just gonna sit here.  Is that what you expect me to do?"

Adol glared at him.  "No.  I expect  you to sit there and shut up," Adol snapped.  "Geeze, talk about ungrateful....  Unless you want to get in this card game?"

"I bet I could take all your money."

"Oh yeah?  How much?"

Raif grinned slightly.  "Let's find out," he said before one of the goons stepped out to pull the chair closer to the table.

[Anonymous]

He was smiling at her, but there was no warmth in the gesture. Hearth held her breath, her hands clasped in her lap, trying her very best to keep from panicking. Her heart was racing in her chest, and the more this man spoke, the more she wanted to give in to his demands. Raif was in trouble down there— only Adrastia above knew what horrid things they were doing to him —and it seemed like the only way to get him out of that jam was to tell him the obvious, that they really didn't know anything! But Raif had told her no, and who was she to disobey her older brother, who knew so much more about things than Hearth did?

By withholding the information, she wasn't doing anyone any good, was she? Perhaps it was possible to reason with him? He didn't really seem like a reasonable sort of fellow, but if she didn't tell him anything, then who knew what would happen to her brother! She was visibly shaking now, and she struggled to even decide what to do, nevermind what she was going to say. The man wasn't really helping the situation by going so far as to taunt her either — as if she didn't have enough to deal with at the moment!

...You might think yourself high and noble and whatnot, but down here, you're just a rat whose been given the privilege of being in the presence of one of Angaelo's esteemed acolytes...

Well, that was wasn't fair at all! Hearth, who had never had someone take to her negatively because she was noble, was taken aback by his statement. High and noble? She wasn't even sure what he meant by that. Was he implying that she was stuck up? She could barely speak! What did she have to be 'high and noble' about? She found herself actually a little angry at his baseless accusation and so help her, if she could talk, she would've loved to correct him. But no, she was stuck with only stuttering out the bare necessities, and she didn't have the courage to take a firm tone with anyone anyway. But she would've liked to, dearly.

"I... um..." She took a deep breath, trying to remember her lessons with her speech therapist, remembering to find the words before she actually spoke them. "I-I-I-I'm s-s-s-sorry, I c-c-c-c-can't," she finally managed, looking up at him. But she thought of Raif, her dearest brother, and bit her lip.

"W-W-W-We r-r-r-really d-d-don't k-know anything a-a-a-anyway! W-We j-j-just s-s-saw a w-w-woman l-lying th-there, a-a-a-a-and, a-a-and th-then y-y-your m-m-m-men sh-showed u-up." She was shaking more nervously than before, worried than she was betraying Raif's orders, but when her imagination ran wild of what they may be doing to him, how could she keep still? Besides, was it really telling him anything, to admit that they knew nothing.

"P-P-Please d-d-don't h-hurt R-R-Raif," she muttered, in a very small voice. "W-We've r-r-r-really d-d-d-done nothing wr-wr-wrong! I-I-I d-d-don't k-know wh-what e-e-e-else to t-t-t-t-tell you, s-s-s-sir."

What did he want to know? The only thing she could remember notable about the woman was the note that spoke about a Gossamer Seed, or something— but maybe that was what Raif didn't want her to mention. Maybe she wouldn't have to, maybe he would note that they really were innocent in this whole affair, and perhaps he'd let them go.

She ruminated over his words, trying to think of something to say to placate him, and then— ah, he had mentioned a man, an Angaelo! He had mentioned an Angaelo! The woman, the woman, she had mentioned an Angaelo, and  she had told them, in her last breath... something important about Angaelo! Oh, but Hearth couldn't remember what exactly she had said... But it was important! If only she could remember!

[Lion]

"Oh spit it out girl!" Baldron snapped venomously.  "Is there anything you can say without twisting your tongue?!  I wonder if cutting it out will make it all better!  Y'know, I'm a pretty patient guy, you'd have to be working for the best damn artist in Lindolen.  Maybe even all of Fallial!  I thought you were a sweet girl, and I was willing to be patient with you, but now I think you're just trying to drive me nuts on purpose!  I'm sick of having to wait for you to stammer on every word!"

Baldron was livid and he was just about to let a hand fly across Hearth's face.  He didn't take any particular joy in hitting a woman, especially one so young and sensitive looking as this young lady in the chair, looking like the world was literally falling apart around her.  He didn't have time to feel sorry for her however.  Angaelo wanted answers and by the beauty of the gods, he'd get them out of this girl one way or another.  He knew she had to know something, even if he had to smack her to get it.  He took off one of his gloves and was about to smack her with a back hand, when she said something that made him pause.  His hand stopped a centimeter from her cheek and he stared at her with wide eyes.

It took a few seconds to register that she'd said anything at all.  Soon his hand retracted slowly and back into the glove it went.  Another smile spread across his ragged face.  "Finally!  Something useful!  See, now that wasn't so hard, was it?  If you really think about it, all of this could be over if you just cooperate.  You don't want to listen to your stupid brother.  Honestly, think about it.  How much could he really know?  He's not so very smart if he'd put himself and his own sister in danger like this.  But you—you're a smart girl, and very pretty one at that!  And you do know more than you think."

Looks like this wouldn't take long after all.

"So you did see a woman there.  I knew you had something good.  Now, please don't be afraid to tell me more.  Did the woman tell you her name?  Where she came from?  I can't imagine she lasted long...there was so much blood!  Did she say anything...peculiar?"  Baldron moved to kneel down by her side.  "Now young lady...did the woman have something...special?  A note perhaps?  A very pretty note on parchment paper...with a pretty little wax seal?"  If the woman was who he thought she was, this could prove to be a very fruitful interrogation indeed.

[Anonymous]

His hand had been hovering so close to her cheek— she was sure he was going to slap her, but thankfully, she had said something that managed to cool his rage. Hearth took a deep breath in relief, but her heart was still racing fast from the anticipation of that blow. She had never been struck in all of her life— no hand had ever reached out to hit or strike her— so the idea of this strange man attacking her was enough to make her shake in terror. In fact, she was still shaking, and she had to clasp her hands together, as if such a gesture would wash away her fears.

She shook her head vehemently at his questions, and promptly cast her eyes down toward the floor, no longer wanting to look this man in the face. "Sh-Sh-She d-d-didn't g-g-g-give us a n-n-n-name," she told her, her voice more hushed than usual— she was taking great pains just to speak. What she said was the truth anyway, she honestly didn't know much about the woman. "N-No l-l-location either, sh-she d-d-d-d-didn't have m-m-m-much t-time to t-t-talk." Her bit her lip fiercely at the memory— the woman had been bloodied so badly that it was hard to even remember what her face looked like. All she could remember was the blood. Her stomach lurched at the thought, wishing she could put the experience out of mind...

"Now young lady...did the woman have something...special? A note perhaps?"

Hearth's eyes, which had been staring somberly at the dingy floor, shot open at his mention of the note. Adrastia above— if he was asking about the note, then perhaps the Angaelo he spoke about was the Angaelo the woman mentioned. Hearth could recall quite clearly now that the woman had specifically said, with the last breath in her body, not to let the note fall into Angaelo's hands!

"I-I-I... u-um..." she began, shaking. "I-I-I-I d-d-don't k-know... I d-d-don't r-r-really r-r-r-r-r-remember a n-note b-b-being th-there..." Hearth muttered evasively. Her voice was barely audible, broken under her horrible lying skills. Gods, she was afraid of this man, truly, but how could she forsake the dying wish of that poor woman? Was it possible for a person like Hearth Stone to be brave? She could only wonder.

[Lion]

And just when he thought he was getting somewhere, she pulled him right back out.  Baldron grimaced with a snarl and sighed horribly.  "I thought we were finally going to be able to let you go," he muttered, shaking his head.  "But I think now you only extended your stay here....  So now that you're staying, we might as well get to know each other.

"As you probably know...because I just told you, I work for the great Angaelo.   Probably the best damn painter in all of Fallial.  Maybe even the world, but I wouldn't throw the stone that far unless they were in earshot.  But you, young lady, where are you from?   We can talk about the note later.  Because I know you know what I'm talking about.  Now, from the looks of your clothes, you look like a nice upperclass kind o' gal, but from where.  Who is your family, besides that stupid brother of your that's probably hanging by the threads of life right now...  Can you at least tell me that much?"

[Anonymous]

"But I think now you only extended your stay here.... So now that you're staying, we might as well get to know each other."

No, no, she did not want to stay here longer! She wanted to leave, and find Raif, and make sure he was okay and lock herself up in her room for a good month or so, and she wanted to somehow leave without having to betray the dying woman's secret too — she wanted to do so many things, and it didn't seem like any of them were possible, at this point. Her eyes widened as he told her this, but she tried not to betray too much of herself around him. Fidgeting in her chair, she could only wonder how much longer she had damned herself into staying here.

He knew she knew about the note, and she wasn't sure how she'd breach that topic when it came up once again, but that was a bridge she'd cross later. He spun the conversation around and asked of her family, to which Hearth furrowed her brows. Her family? What a strange question. Hearth could not find the relevance, but she wondered whether or not it would be a good idea to mention her last name. On the one hand, maybe he would apologize for locking up a member of House Stone, and release them at once! On the other, he might use it to blackmail Father, or something — she wasn't sure how, but she had read something like that happening in a silly faerie tale, once. Sure, that had all worked out for the best anyway, but Hearth was smart enough to know that her life was definitely not an idyllic faerie tale sleeping in the confines of some children's book.

When he brought up Raif again, she visibly winced — Raif was in danger and this guy wanted to have a chat about her family?!

"W-We l-live in L-Lindolen," she began, clasping her hands together. "B-B-Besides R-Raif, I h-h-have a-a-a-a-another b-b-brother. The e-eldest, h-h-he's a..." She paused, not because she wanted to lie, but because she had no idea how to describe Gemini. A knight? Not really. A scholar? That was debatable. Uh... huh, this was hard! "A m-m-mage, I g-g-guess..." She wrinkled her nose — she hoped he didn't mistake her falter for lying.

Hearth was doing her absolute best to make sure her stutter was not so unbearable — she had to be strong, for Raif's sake. She looked up at him, eyes wide. "I-I'm n-n-not s-s-s-sure wh-what e-e-else y-y-you'd w-w-want to k-know a-about th-them, s-s-s-sir." She hadn't lied to him, but she wasn't sure if it was a good idea to let him know the absolute truth.

[Lion]

She might not have said much, but if only she knew how much she did say by her limited words.  Granted it was still very irritating hearing her try and muster a credible answer and Baldron was hard-pressed not to tear his own greasy hair out.  He was finding however that working on his patience rather than lashing out at her was getting him more results than he otherwise would have thought.  He knew taking the gentle approach would be more rewarding with the girl.  She was soft and appeared so vulnerable.  He could easily smash her if she tried to get cross with him, but he seriously doubted she had it in her to do so anyway.  He kept his aggression at bay while she explained her family to him.

So they lived in Lindolen and her brother was a mage and sister an herbalist...  Hm.  "What about your parents, little lady?  Would they miss you and your brother being gone this long?  Wouldn't anyone be worried about you?  You seem awfully young to be entrusted to the care of your siblings alone and I'm sure your siblings have better things to do than to take care of you.  Surely you have parents.  Who are they?"

[Anonymous]

"My p-parents..." Hearth echoed, not realizing she had totally left them out of her explanation. She couldn't very well tell this man that her father and mother were the High Lord and Lady of Fallial, could she? That would only give them more incentive to keep them captive, she was sure... There was the off chance that they may be afraid of the wrath Father would invoke on them if they went missing for long, but what if he didn't care about that sort of thing? Or what if he decided to kill them for it, or something? Oh, this was turning into a mess...

"F-Father... h-h-he's an a-a-art c-collector," Hearth muttered, and it was true, on some level. "And M-Mother, sh-she's a-a-also a m-m-mage." Why this man wanted to know about her family was lost on Hearth, but she figured she would just tell him something, to satisfy him. She wasn't going to ask why he wanted to know about them — no, no, she did not want to risk his anger again. So stayed silent once more, unsure of what to do — maybe he'd be happy with just that and let Raif go! She doubted it, but it was something to hold onto, at least...

[Lion]

Baldron had had enough of this and he bit his lip until a dribble of blood was lingering at the corner of his mouth.  Gods be damned and he thought he'd had the easy one.  He was feverish with rage and just when he thought he was going to strike her for real this time he about-faced and went straight for the door, opening and closing it with a slam, disappearing on the other side.

He stalked angrily down the hallway and knocked furiously on the doorway.  "Adol!  Bring that son of a bitch out here!  Now!" he demanded.

Adol froze amidst the card game, having lost a good hundred gold before he looked over at Raif.  Raif, too, froze for a good long moment before he felt Adol's fist suddenly collide with his face.  Suddenly the rest of the players were all on him, and threw his chair over, which cracked in several places upon impact.  They stomped on him, beating him and within a few seconds, Raif's lip was bleeding and he had several welts across his face while he sat defenseless in his chair.

He groaned in agony as the door was thrust open and his chair plucked off the ground with ease and was taken out of the room and back down the hall.  Raif was dazed and was seeing twice of everything, for they scrambled his brains hard in his head.  He looked like crap, to put it lightly.

Raif's chair was planted a few feet away from Hearth's with a slam and Raif's vision blurred with the movement.  "He-hearth!?" he asked, almost having forgot about her.  "You didn't tell them anything did you?"

"Shut up," Baldron stepping to the side.  He pointed down to Raif as he spoke to Hearth.  "This has been going on to your brother.  And if you don't start telling the truth it's going to get a lot worse...and you're going to watch."

[Anonymous]

Hearth, who had calmed down considerably after being asked these inane questions, jumped suddenly at the man's change in tone. She turned her head to watch him leave, twiddling her fingers together in anxiety, unsure of wondering just who he was going to bring in here. Did she dare hope he was bringing in Raif, that he'd finally decided to let them free. She would've liked to clasp her hands in prayer, but the ropes that bound her to her chair refused to permit such a thing.

So he did bring in her brother, but she could hardly be glad to see him again. Bruises and blood decorated his face — cut up, beaten, utterly broken, it caused her chest to constrict, launching a pain deep within her chest. Eyes wide, quivering, she could only yell his name out in despair. "R-Raif!" It was useless — he was bound, the same as her, they both completely in the hands of these men, and seeing Raif as he was now, she realized that not even her big brother could get her out of this situation.

"R-Raif, I..." A few rebellious teardrops slid down her face, and she looked away from Raif, not wanting to see her big brother looking so brutalized. "I... d-d-didn't s-say a w-w-word, a-and l-look wh-what b-b-became of y-y-you b-b-because of it! B-B-Because of m-m-me!"

And just as that man said, it would continue to happen if Hearth didn't just speak up. She shook her head, wanting to wave the situation away, wanting to wave everything that had happened away, locked up in some dim place in her mind, but she couldn't just do that. The reality of this situation seemed palpable now, choking her, forcing her to act, instead of merely reacting.

"I h-h-have to t-t-tell h-h-him, R-Raif," she realized. "I c-c-can't... I c-c-can't let th-them b-beat y-you a-a-anymore!" More tears fell, and she faced the floor, closing her eyes, still trying with all of her might to escape this newfound hell. "Th-there w-was a l-l-letter! It m-m-mentioned a G-G-G-Gossamer S-S-S-Seed and a G-G-Goldring G-Gallery, b-b-but th-that's a-all I c-c-c-an r-r-r-remember!" It was really the truth — she hadn't memorized the contents.

"Now p-p-p-please!" She looked back up at that wretched man, her cornflower blue eyes wide, fear nearly paralyzing her. "L-Let R-Raif go!"

[Lion]

Raif was coming to more and more as Hearth went on explaining everything that he'd hoped to the gods, whatever there may be, that she could keep her silence, despite everything, anything!  He knew she was strong, somewhere deep down inside that shy, quiet, stuttering exterior.  He knew she could do it...she could...she..could...  But as he heard her give away what they'd been trying so hard to hide, a part of him snapped inside and he looked at Hearth with crazed, wide eyes.  "No!  Hearth!  What have you done!?"

"Shut up, boy!  No worries, li'l love, you did the right thing," Baldron said and he struck Raif across the face once again and he spit up blood as a response.  He coughed and looked imploringly at his sister before dropping his chin to his chest, regaining his breath.  "We'll let both of you go, but I think both of you ought to meet Angaelo before you leave.  The artist, truly, I mean you cannot possibly leave without seeing what masterpieces were crafted by such a genius mind."

"But before we send you both to get cleaned up, there's this matter of the note."  Baldron smiled like a scruffy looking snake and glanced over to Raif.  He looked over the beaten and bruised young man before running a hand over his sleeves.  He said nothing as he tore the fabric and revealed the bloodied parchment inside one of them.  "Ahhh, now here's the prize."  Baldron snapped his fingers.  "Adol, get these two cleaned up, and make them look nice.  Get a new suit for the lad.  He's a mess.  I told you to keep it clean."

Adol rolled his eyes as he and his men dragged both of the chairs away.  They were taken down another dark hall, on the opposite end of where Raif had been before.  The hallway was torchlit, revealing the wooden slats built into the dirt walls and at the end of the hallway was a double-door room.  Adol opened it and within was a rather well-made wash and dressing room, almost as well-set up as something one would find in an expensive hotel.  On the walls were several portraits of rather strange paintings, one labeled "Exploding Cow" another, "Exploding Chair" and, "Snot Covered Man – Pre-Explosion."  Raif eyed them through bruised swollen eyes, wrinkling his brow at the strangeness of it all not noticing that Adol had cut them both loose.

Just as he and his men were going to take their leave, Adol peered his head through the door and said to them.  "I'm sure both of ye are a big pair and can dress ye'selves.  And don't bother trying to escape.  Door's made o' oak and it'll be locked until the Master comes along."  With that he smiled widely and stepped out, slamming and locking the door as he'd promised.

Raif gave a great heaving sigh, looking over at Hearth.  He said nothing for a good long, uncomfortable moment.  After a while he dropped his head.  "It's okay, Hearth," he began in a half-defeated voice.  "I know you did your best."

[Anonymous]

She had been so sure that she had made the right choice, so certain that this was the only way to save Raif from taking any more of a beating. But once Raif's eyes opened wide — once that wretched man let a hand fly across her brother's face again — that certainty slowly vanished, as if it had never existed in the first place. His imploring stare hurt more than anything, for all Hearth could do was stare back, as if she expected to find the answers in his eyes. There was nothing there, just shock, peppered with disappointment, and she hated herself for what she saw.

The note was gone — snatched up, along with Hearth's confidence. That woman who had died, who had been bloodied, battered, brutalized — all of her sacrifices had been for naught, hadn't it, because Hearth hadn't been able to be strong. For that moment in time, she couldn't justify putting her own brother in harm's way because of a stranger she had never known, whose name and origins were a mystery to even her. She quivered in her seat, barely registering that she and her brother were being dragged away, her already faltering voice lost to her.

 Dress ye'selves, the man had ordered — something about the Master, the artist who was the cause of this whole mess. With that, he closed the door, and her head was filled with the sound of silence. She hitched a breath, unsure if she could even speak to Raif, but could she apologize — for only doing what she thought would save them? After all, they were leaving, weren't they? They could leave, and they could forget — they could just forget about all of this and she could go back home, back in the attic, and she'd think thrice about leaving her room in the tower to take a "leisurely ride"...

Its okay, Hearth, Raif finally gave in. I know you did your best.

Hearth turned to look at her brother, biting her lip. She was a volcano of emotions, a torrent of water beating against the dams of her mind, and that one sentence was enough to finally break her. The youngest of House Stone exploded into tears, all of which had been building ever since they had been kidnapped in the first place. From the moment when those men had thrown those burlap bags over their heads, she had desperately been trying to keep it together, but now, she was a waterfall.

She wiped tears away with the sleeve of her shirt, trying to pull herself together. "I-I-I j-j-j-just c-c-couldn't s-s-s-see th-them t-t-treat y-y-you l-l-like th-that a-anymore, R-R-Raif," she sobbed, sniffling, shaking. "I-I j-j-j-just w-w-wanted t t-t-to help b-b-but... it s-s-s-seems like... like I c-c-c-can't d-d-do anything r-r-r-right at all."