𝕰𝖓𝖊𝖒𝖞 𝕺𝖋 𝕸𝖞 𝕰𝖓𝖊𝖒𝖞· [𝐷𝑖𝑛 𝐷𝑗𝑎𝑟𝑖𝑛 & 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝐽𝑒𝑑𝑖]

𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐅𝐨𝐮𝐫: 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐃𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐫

"Kenna...It's better than Cora," He begins walking again and she sighs in relief and follows behind him; at least he doesn't know her last name...yet.

~~~

The trio reaches a common house which they all enter through. People are looking and pointing as the child looks around. One woman, looking like a warrior, seems particularly interested in their arrival. The child is startled by a took-a-cat and they take a seat at a table and a Proprietor approaches with a warm smile.

"Welcome travellers. Can I interest you in anything?"

"Bone broth, for the little one and," He looks at Kenna who shakes her head. "Just bone broth then,"

"Oh, well, you're in luck. I just took down a grinjer, so there's plenty. Can I interest you in a porringer of broth as well?" She eyes Kenna as she scans her surroundings and then looking at the warrior who has been staring at them.

"Just the one,"

"Very well--"

"That one over there, when did she arrive?" Kenna asks just as Din was going to.

"Uh...I've seen her here for the last week or so," She responds glancing over at the woman.

"What's her business here?" Din questions.

"Business? Oh well...there's not much business in Sorgan so I can't say..." Din tosses some coin on the table. The common house proprietor looks down at it. "She doesn't strike me as a log runner...well..." She takes the coin. "Thank you, sir. I will get that broth to you as soon as possible, and I will throw in a flagon of spotchka, just for good measure. I'll be right back with that," The common house proprietor leaves, and Kenna and Din notice that the warrior woman is gone. He gets up and moves to leave, leaving the child behind at the table.

"Keep an eye on the kid," Kenna gets up and places her hands on the table.

"Where are you going?"

"After that woman,"

"Alone?" She hisses.

"Kenna, please, the kid," She glances down at the kid and huffs, sitting down. He exits and the woman returns with the child's broth.

"That man, how do you put up with him?" She asks but the child has gone. She quickly looks around and the child is nowhere in sight. She looks under tables and behind counters but can't find it anywhere inside. "Shit," Kenna runs out and finds the child slurping on his broth while staring down at Din and the other woman in mid-fight.

"You want some soup?" Din asks the woman who sighs and gets off him. She stares at Kenna for a long time, as if she knows her.

~~~

"Saw most of my action mopping up after, mostly ex-Imperial warlords," Kenna chokes on her water she ordered but covers it up with cough when Din looks over at her. "They wanted it fast and quiet. They'd send us in on the drop ships. No support, just us. Then when the Imps were gone, the politics started. We were peacekeepers, protecting delegates, suppressing riots. Not what I signed up for," The woman known as Cara Dune explains and she eyes Kenna as she cleans up the mess the child made by purposely spilling his soup.

"How'd you end up here?" Din asks through his modulator.

"Let's just call it an early retirement," She takes a sip, still eyeing Kenna but then looking back at Din. "Look, I knew you were Guild. I figured you had a fob on me. That's why I came at you so hard," Cara said, glancing between the duo.

"Yeah, that's what I figured," He noticed how Cara seemed distracted by Kenna.

"Well, this has been a real treat," She begins to stand up. "But unless you wanna go another round, one of us is gonna have to move on, and I was here first," She finishes her soup, sets the cup down. "You look familiar," She addresses Kenna and then walks away. Din turns to the child and a surprised Kenna.