Skyline of the Sea

Chapter Seven

"Where have you been, Ria?" Beau questioned the moment she slammed their bedroom door. She stumbled all the way to the chair, and slumped into it. She kept blinking, desperately wanting those gruesome images to leave her alone. 

"Ria!" Beau repeated himself.

She snapped to attention, "H-huh?"

He cocked his head to the side, "Are you okay? You look like you're going to throw up any second." and he slid off the bed and poured a cup of water for his sister. When he offered it to her, Auria took it gratefully before chugging it down. 

She swallowed, "Thanks, Beau." 

He sat on the carpeted floor, cross-legged as he looked at her. "So...how was work tonight?" he asked. Auria wasn't sure how to answer him. Yes, because I robbed enough money? No, because I just saw someone get killed and minced to pieces? She was at a stump. 

"Well, I did get money," and she fished out her night's earning and laid it on the little coffee table. A golden watch, a ring, a few pairs of earrings and some kruge. The dead man's pouch still rested in her pocket, Auria wasn't quite sure if it was right to steal from a dead man. Beau didn't need to know about it. "I think this should be enough for the week if we're careful with our spending."

Beau squealed in delight, "Can we buy those sparkly pastries downstairs?"

She laughed and ruffled his hair, "Sure, for you Beau."

He suddenly wrinkled his little nose, "Ria, why do you smell like blood?"

Auria's face turned pale, "Oh, really?" she said a bit too flustered. "Ha, I must've gotten it from the kitchens. I'm going to need to wash these clothes, I need to wear them tomorrow." she had lied to Beau about getting hired at the restaurant near where they lived. Beau didn't know his sister was bandit at night. And she didn't plan on him finding out anytime soon. She faked a smile, "Thanks for telling me, Beau."

He rested his head on her shoulder, and hummed before speaking, "Ria, are we ever going back to Wandering Isle again?"

"Do you miss Wandering Isle, Beau?"

He shrugged, "I didn't like the way they treated you," his pewter eyes stared at Auria. "You have a right too, Ria."

She laughed, "And how do you know so much about rights, cricket?"

"Well, I heard the chief talk about it the house once," and he stood up, exactly like the chief. "Every man deserves the rights they deserve, even the right to keep his wallet in his coffin to the earth." Ria had to admit, Beau could become one of the actors from the Komedie Brute one day, his impersonation of an evil village chief was top notch.

When he said that, Auria felt guilty as ever. Her hands felt the pouch in her pocket, she felt more and more bad for taking something that wasn't hers, much less from a dead man. 

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The next morning, Auria went downstairs earlier to buy the pastries Beau had asked for the previous night. But first, she had to exchange the trinkets she had snatched to kruge. But then she thought again, people must turn heads at a twelve year old girl with a handful of golden loot. So she turned towards the Barrel, the place she knew she shouldn't dwell in.

As she exchanged the loot, the gull tattooed man only turned to look at her because she didn't reach the height of the counter. Her eyes barely in sight. Auria wasn't sure about bringing out the pouch in her pocket, she at least had some conscience left in her. To her left, a few women in brightly colored dresses smoked on their pipes and chewed on jurda.