No trouble was worth getting into. Just mind your own business, he told himself, and everything would be all right. Nothing would happen and he could leave this awful town in the middle of the night like he always did, with nothing more than the clothes on his back, the blade on his wrist, and the herbs on his belt. The sooner Abraim forgot about him the better, because chances were, nothing good would come of it. Someone would have to die. And the debts he incurred would never be repaid.
They always found him. They watched him, and he couldn't just disappear as much as he wanted to. Suicide was always an option, but before he could plunge the knife something happened, stayed his hand and kept him in this painful world. He was paying for mistakes of the past and there was no path to redemption no matter where the road or non road led him.
Serendipity was no different. The old kingdom, land of the fae, of magic and mystical arts that no one would open a blind eye to his shenanigans. Of all places to wander into, this strangely felt the most like home. And the coastal breeze could rival that of the bluffs of Folkvar. It was nice. Like for a brief moment he could finally be at peace. Reneth, took in a deep breath, holding it as he let the breeze pass over him, brushing his hair back. Night was drawing in and the ache in his bones from all that walking he'd been doing earlier.
A place to rest was all he could ask for.
Reneth's tired eyes couldn't mistake the familiar face in front of him. And when he felt those eyes lock with his, that breath he'd been holding left him with a cold gut. "Fuck," he hissed and immediately darted out from the main street and into an alley just right of him. Reneth didn't know this city but any set of zig zagged directions would be better than nothing. His feet kicked up small stones and dirt as he shoved himself into the first side-door that came loose, slamming it shut behind him.
He panted softly, swallowing hard on a raw throat. The quiet of the building set him at ease, and he pulled his cloak higher of his shoulders, avoiding a woman walking down the corridor and into a doorway to the left of him. Must have been a service entrance he'd barged into, and thus far had gone unheard. No one would be the wiser if he just quietly made his way to the front. He was a traveler like anyone else.
Reneth did just that, slipping into the common room and when eyes were averted into a chair by the fire, tucked away in the corner. He eased out a sigh of relief, shoving his hair back and burying his fingers into the thick of it. "That was close," he murmured to himself, resting his head on his hands, elbows digging into his knees. Footsteps made his stomach drop but he remained calm, tilting his head up enough to see a woman looking his way.
"Fucking hell, can't I get through five minutes without someone staring at me," he murmured under his breath.