Songbird: What it Means to be the Hero

{-Rennyn-}

Somehow, they were able to find a caravan going to the same place they were, and willing to let them tag along for the ride. The small fee they had to pay for the space was worth keeping them out of the colder weather—it kept them from having to deal with any setbacks that might’ve happened from walking there. For a few moments, the ride even seemed peaceful; it was like the trips he’d take with his family, when they traveled from their village to Silvium for business.

But then he remembered that he was out here to save the world, and that he couldn’t afford to get distracted. There was no telling what stage Dhymos was in his plan by now, so there was certainly no time to stand by and find out.

Of course, there were some minor annoyances attached to the whole thing, as well.

“I can tell you’re looking at me,” he mumbled.

“I’m not!” Lyrei quickly defended. “I look around when I’m trying to decide what to write next. I just ended up looking in your general direction.”

“That felt like more than just my ‘general direction.’”

“How can you tell, anyway? You have your back turned to the rest of us. You have been for practically the entire trip at this point.”

“There’s just some things you pick up on after a while. I don’t see how it matters right now.”

She mumbled something, but apparently that wasn’ the end of it. After writing a bit more, she must’ve looked back up at him, and asked, “You’d talk to us if something was wrong, right?”

“Don’t see a point in worrying about that right now.”

“I think that, maybe, you do. Something important, something that bothers you. Would you tell us about it? Would you trust that we might be able to help?”

He knew what answer she—and the others, who were undoubtedly listening—wanted to hear. Yet, he gave a simple answer: “No.” Then, after a moment, he explained himself. “Those kinds of things are for me alone to deal with. You’re not going to be able to help and there’s no point in pretending like you could. It’ll probably be for the best if you don’t worry about it at all.”

There was a brief pause, perhaps long enough for a nervous glance to be shared between the four of them.

Slowly, Noa said, “You don’t have to keep anything to yourself. You can trust us with whatever’s going on. Sometimes, just sharing that burden could be enough.”

Still, Rennyn said or did nothing to indicate he was even listening to them any more.

Seldir sighed. His voice was quiet when he spoke, but he undoubtedly still meant for Rennyn to hear it. “I don’t think we’re going to be able to convince him of anything. This is something he’s going to have to figure out on his own.”

There was a brief pause, then, “Lyrei, if you’re writing something, does that mean you’re going to need to find someone to deliver a letter?” Kaylin prompted. She’d been just as quiet as Rennyn had, though apparently that didn’t matter nearly as much.

Lyrei nodded. “It’s another story I want my parents to have. I don’t want anything to happen to it while we’re traveling. Noa, isn’t it about time you send an update to Lord Aymer, too? He’s probably waiting for one by now.”

“Somehow, I almost forgot about that…” Noa mumbled. “Do you have some paper I could borrow..?”

They had a short and quiet exchange then, to fight off the silence, they all tried something else. Even if it wasn’t exactly a good topic of conversation.

“On the line of Lord Aymer, we’re almost out of what he gave you, right?” Seldir prompted. “Seems like he gave a lot, but we haven’t exactly been going around asking for rewards or trying to get high-paying commissions. It’s bound to run out soon.”

“It’ll last us until we’re out of Askoria,” Rennyn muttered. “We can deal with it while we’re waiting to meet with King Dain. We could probably hold it off until we’re trying to get an audience with Empress Shaerra—it’s probably going to take us a while to get close to meeting with her…”

“Seems like something we’re just going to have to handle when we get to that point,” Kaylin said with a sigh. “Or at least until we actually get to the city.”

A new voice was accompanied by footsteps. Both belonged to one of the merchants who owned the caravan. “You’re in luck, if you’re hoping we reach the city soon—Cambria is our next stop. Is there any particular place you want us to drop you off at?”

“Wherever’s more convenient to you,” Rennyn responded.

“Alright. Oh, and before I forget, thank all of you for your help. For a bunch of mercenary-looking folks, you sure do know a lot about being a merchant. You’re probably the most useful kids we’ve ever picked up, and that’s practically our second specialty.”

“No need to thank us. You were just a means to an end.”

The merchant let out a sheepish chuckle. “I don’t really know how to take that, but it’s fine. Pack up all your stuff and be ready to get off once it stops.”

…

Everything felt like background noise but, somehow, he stayed “there” enough that he actually understood where they were going and why. Their first stop was so that Lyrei and Noa could get their letters sent; after that, they’d go and check on the progress of their meeting with Dain.

But their plan changed when the clerk looked up and saw Rennyn. They mumbled a couple of things—a description, from the sounds of it—under their breath before nodding to themself. Finally, they started to explain what it was for by prompting, “Sorry to bother you, but do you happen to be Rennyn? And do you have a sister named Allyna?”

That dragged him out of his thoughts immediately. “Do you have something from her?”

“Yep. She came by not that long ago to deliver it, in fact. Let me put these other two letters of yours away, and then I’ll go and grab hers.” They took Lyrei and Noa’s letters, placed them to the left of them, then took another from the right. They gestured Rennyn closer to accept it, so he stepped up to the counter. “I can’t say much for what’s in it. She seemed a bit nervous to be sending it, but I got the impression that the two of you don’t talk very much. Not that I tend to pry on your personal matters.” They paused. “Now, might I interest you in reading that outside? This place isn’t exactly big enough for five non-customers to just be loitering around.”

“Right.” Rennyn was already out the door, though his focus remained solely on the letter. “We’ll see what Allyna sent outside.”

With a fair bit of apprehension—almost a little afraid of what it might say—he walked over to a nearby bench and started opening the letter. Kaylin moved to sit next to him, but the others remained standing.

She didn’t seem to want to say anything at first, but slowly she pointed out, “It… might be worth considering how Allyna knew that we would come by here.”

“If she was trying to contact us, she probably knew where we’d be headed. It’s not like we’ve had the most subtle of routines, especially with the updates Noa has to give Lord Aymer.”

“Something doesn’t seem right about this. I think… I think you might realize that, too, somewhere.”

He glared at her. “Allyna is my sister. If there’s one person we can trust, it’s her.”

Before he could be given any more objections—have any more seeds of doubt planted—he opened it up and skimmed it over. “She found something she wanted us to see,” he announced. “She said it was urgent, and included the location. There’s still plenty of time left in the day—let’s go see what she found.”