The Orphan of Saint Olette

Sixteen

It took Rin a good hour to find them again. As it happened, Shay had a small makeshift encampment just on the outskirts of town. It wasn't much of a camp; the remnants of a small fire sat in the centre of the camp, while a ramshackle tent was off to the left. There were signs that Shay had managed to catch, or at least find a rabbit or two, though Rin wasn't sure he wanted to know how he'd been able to cook it without any pots or pans.

"I was startin' to think you'd gone and left us, Rinian," Shay called out, laughing, from where he sat with Aoife, arm still around her shoulders.

"Funny, I was thinking the same thing about you," Rin retorted, clearly annoyed.

"Careful, Rinian," Shay said, an unspoken threat in his tone.

Rin wanted to stand up to him, to show Shay that he wasn't afraid of him, but frankly he was. Rin towered over him, but the man was built like a house compared to the Western boy. Somehow Rin didn't doubt that Shay could knock him across the room if he so wished. Rin kept his frustrations to himself this once, choosing to ignore Shay for now, sitting down beside Aoife. He hadn't noticed when he'd arrived, too busy scowling at Shay, but in her hands the girl had a scone, slathered in honey. On the ground in front of her was a jar of the golden liquid, a trail of ants steadily making their way towards it. That was odd, he'd never seen ants around this late in the year before.

"Don't want your share?" Shay asked, another scone resting in his hand. The smug, self-satisfied grin on his face said it all.

"Stop bickering, you two." Aoife tutted, snatching the scone from Shay's hand with ease and passed it to Rin, picking the honey jar up from the ground just as the head of the trail of ants reached its base. "I've never had honey before, but I can see why they make so much profit from it."

Rin took the jar a little sourly. Unlike Aoife, with her sheltered and humble upbringing, Rin's childhood had been a fraction more luxurious. It had been relatively costly, and for the most part it was only reserved for special occasions, but he had tasted honey before. Honestly, he hadn't thought much of it, preferring the much less costly strawberry jam, but he knew he couldn't afford to be picky in this situation. It was with reluctance that he took the honey, and the scone, and if his stomach hadn't been growling at the thought of food, he might have stubbornly refused to eat until later. Hopefully later would be when Shay had gone, but the arm clamped around Aoife's shoulders implied he was in this for the long haul. Wonderful.

"So, dare I ask what a lovely young lady such as yourself is doing out here, all by herself, with a valley boy?" Shay asked, leaning in towards Aoife ever so slightly.

"Don't call him that, it's very rude," Aoife said sternly, but her tone softened almost immediately. "We're on an adventure."

"An adventure? Very impressive, dollface, but you're not exactly the best prepared for it."

"Well, we had to leave in a hurry, you see. Someone had snuck into the Cathedral and done something terrible, and we had to leave before—"

"Aoife, maybe you should stop talking," Rin interrupted, earning a scowl in response. "Don't give me that look, we barely know him."

"Rinian, that hurts," Shay said, spare hand reaching to grasp at his chest. "You can trust me, kiddos. We're all friends here, right?"

Despite another murmured warning from Rin, and an even quieter plea for her silence. Aoife chose to speak again. "We had to leave before the city watch appeared, in case they suspected we were involved. My being there wasn't out of the ordinary, but being the only survivor made me look like a suspect. Even if they didn't suspect me, I'm not sure I could stay there after seeing that..."