The two of them sat at either end of a study wooden table. Eldred sat closest to the hallway, his back to the open door, looking back at Leola over the bowl of porridge. She cradled a small cup of warm tea, thin fingers wrapped around the cup and laced together. The kitchen was warm and cosy, the fire lit and heating the room easily. Its orange glow was the only light source in the darkening space, casting eerie shadows on the walls. There were two windows on the far wall, either side of a lopsided door. Plain curtains hung either side of the warped glass panes, although the fabric looked too thin to effectively block out any light.

Eldred took in a deep breath, enjoying the feeling of fullness for the first time in a while. He hadn’t eaten a proper meal in over a day, and his mother had been struggling to make enough money the last few months to feed them both. When he’d noticed her skipping more meals than she was eating, he’d started telling her that she was full before he had finished. Ness hadn’t had anything in the way of food with her, although she’d kept some of the rabbit back from the previous night so that he could eat something this morning. He hadn’t seen her eat, and wondered if she had caught something else after he’d gone to sleep, or if she had actually eaten anything at all. He was starting to agree with Leola’s theory- maybe Ness didn’t actually take off the armour. His mind was drifting, flitting from idle thought to idle thought as he scraped his bowl clean with the wooden spoon, staring thoughtfully at the wall just behind the old woman.

“So what’s such a lovely young man doing in the company of Ness?” The voice startled him from his thoughts, and his gaze snapped to her. She had leaned back in the wooden chair, and watched him intently, the kindly smile still on her lips.

“… With Ness?” he echoed, processing the question.

“Why are you travelling with her? I imagine she is quite a strange travelling companion, is she not?” the old woman prompted, the chair creaking as she readjusted herself.

He frowned, tilting his head. “She stopped some… bad men.” The memory of two nights ago was painful to prod, coming in flashes of violence.

Leola mimicked his motion, her own head tilting at an equal angle as her smile dimmed. “Some bad men? The ones who struck you?”

A nod. One hand rubbed absently at the bruise on his neck, but he didn’t say more.

“That must have been very scary,” she said with what sounded like pity. “Were they looking for Ness? What about your parents? Do they know you are with her?” Her tone shifted into concern, and she leaned forward now, brow creased in a frown of her own.

He shook his head, looking back at her. “They wanted to talk to my mother, but she didn’t like what they were telling her. I think I fell asleep, after- after I got hit. Ness came in and stopped the man from choking me, but-” He shook his head again, eyes dropping down to the scarred wooden tabletop. “I don’t think Ness got there in time, I think they hit my mother, too- I woke up with Ness, and we were coming here.”

The concern fell from her face, replaced with a genuine look of puzzlement as she leaned in even closer, glancing at the door behind Eldred. “The d- Ness, she rescued you?”

Nodding slowly, he looked back up, meeting her pale green eyes again. He couldn’t place the expression that she held within them, but it seemed to Eldred to be a mixture of shock and disbelief.

It took Leola a moment to regain herself, trying to fix the kindly smile back on her face but succeeding only as far as her mouth. “What about your father?”

The cottage’s front door opened, swinging wide and colliding with a thump against the wall. Eldred heard Ness mutter something, and twisted to watch as she reentered, closing the door with more care and starting to walk toward them. He opened his mouth to answer Leola’s question, but the old woman interrupted him before he could start, watching Ness carefully.

“Did you find the woodshed alright?” she asked, voice light and carefree.

Ness entered the room, walking around to stand to the side of the table, between the two of them. “I did. Ardghal is grazing in the meadow out front- I trust this will not be an issue?”

Leola shook her head, and Eldred thought he caught a spark of annoyance behind her eyes. “No, no problem at all.”

An awkward silence fell over the trio. Eldred tried to suppress a yawn, failing as a wave of tiredness swept over him.

“We’ve been on the road all day,” Ness said, “I think it might be best if the boy goes to bed- it has been a difficult few days for him. You have somewhere for him to sleep?”

The old woman started to stand, chair scraping against the tiled floor. “Yes, yes,” she said, voice impatient. “There is a patient room upstairs, if you’ll give me just a moment-” she stepped away from the table, moving over to the kitchen worktop. Cabinets lined the walls, both high and low, wood painted in an unassuming green. She collected the lantern that sat in one corner, crouching by the fire to light it. There was a flare of light as the flame caught, and she straightened. “There we go- it gets dark up there,” she said with a chuckle, smiling again at Eldred. “Follow me,” she said, and beckoned for them as she left the room.

Eldred startled the hand Ness put on his shoulder, glancing up at the helmet and then looking back at Leola and the light source she carried.

“Upstairs,” Ness said softly, and he slid from the chair to follow the old woman.

The stairs were creaky, the boards sinking even with Eldred’s somewhat insignificant weight. They were also narrow, and Ness turned at an angle to ensure no damage would come to Leola’s already spotty wallpaper. The old woman led the way, traversing the house with the confidence of someone who had lived there for a great many years, moving swiftly up the stairs making very little sound. She stepped out onto the short landing, reaching toward one of the rooms that branched off, and pushing open the door.

“There are a great many delicate things in this house,” she said as her guests passed her, stepping into the room. “Please refrain from wandering around on your own- I would hate for anything to get broken or misplaced.” She smiled again.

“We will do our best to heed your words,” Ness said stiffly as she followed the boy inside.

The patient room stood in stark contrast to every room Eldred had seen of the small house so far. It was small- its only furniture the bed- which by itself wasn’t unusual for the house, but the room lacked the clutter that seemed to cover every other available surface. Even the kitchen, although it had been less cramped than the sitting room, had pots and pans and trinkets and other items littering its counters, with boxes stacked in the empty corners of the room underneath one of the windows. This room was barren in comparison, its floor swept and relatively clean, although Eldred could see a few cobwebs casting long and ominous shadows on the walls. A single window looked out onto the back of the house- although it was too dark for Eldred to see anything but his own reflection in the glass. Like much of the house, it smelled of old herbs and disuse. Eldred wondered if the old woman got many patients. He hadn’t seen any settlements on their way here after they had descended the staircase- were there really so few people living in this land?

Leola stepped further in, reaching up to hook the lantern’s handle to the loop that hung from the ceiling. A small collection of white sheets and bed linens sat in the corner, dust collecting on the one at the top of the pile.

“It’s not much, but all you really need for recovery is the bed,” she said, noticing Eldred’s examination of the room. “Well, make yourself at home- this room is yours until I see fit to release you from treatment. I’ll find you in the morning.”

With that, she stepped back out into the dark landing, closing the door softly behind her. The room suddenly felt a lot emptier with only Eldred and Ness inside, and the boy stood in place, staring at the bed.

Sitting at the kitchen table, eating the warm food, all of it had sapped the boy’s strength, and he found himself struggling to gather the will to make the bed. He took a halting step toward the pile, trying in vain to stifle a new yawn, and reached down to pick up one of the sheets. He stared at it blankly- he’d made his bed before. At least, he had with the help of his mother.

His attention was caught by the sound of Ness moving behind him, and he glanced over to see her removing her gauntlets- thick, heavy gloves backed with the same dark plates of the rest of her armour- and placing them gently on the windowsill. “Come,” she said, stepping toward him and gently taking the sheet from him with hands almost as pale as the sheets themselves.

She moved over to the bed, Eldred trailing behind, and started to make it with practised efficiency. He tried to help at first- fumbling with the corner of the cloth in an attempt to fold it beneath the mattress, but stopped after Ness held out a hand for him to give it to her.

When she had finished, she stepped back, collecting the gauntlets from the window and pulling them back over her hands. “I will be just outside through the night- do not hesitate to ask if you need anything.”

Eldred nodded slowly, turning back to the bed. He sat down heavily, pushing his shoes off his feet and retreating onto the cot, pulling one of the blankets over him and letting his head hit the pillow.

Ness waited a moment, before she reached up to the lantern and snuffed it, plunging the room into darkness. He watched her for a few moments, a darker shape in the black of the room, as she returned to the door. She opened the door, the mechanism sliding open without a sound, and stepped through it. He watched as it shut again, and he heard the soft footsteps just beyond the thin wall, followed by Ness sitting down, her armour scraping momentarily against the wall. Then there was silence.

His eyes practically shut themselves, falling closed without him noticing, and he allowed himself to slip into blessed sleep.