Business Plans (Sigma/Nightingale C)

[Sigma]

Luckily, no bandits were found as the two traveled to the next town. The sun was maybe an hour away before setting and letting nightfall reign. Sigma could still hear the hustle and bustle of the town ahead of them. The farmers were probably finishing up their day of work while taverns and inns would start seeing an influx of guests. If he had to guess, the village must hold no more than a couple hundred people within its wooden walls, crude but effective at keeping out unwanted strangers. Sigma took his two blades and hid them underneath his coat, prefering to not provoke any unwanted attentioné With Nightingale not bearing any weapons herself, they'd look like typical citizens, perfectly plain and innocent who didn't just bring bandits into a town for them to pillage and destroy it...

The town militia quickly let them enter without many questions knowing that they were probably only looking for a place to stay the night. Inside of the walls, you could quickly notice the fact that this place was small. Almost no organisation went into the placement of the houses and buildings compared to a bigger city like the capital. A couple of carts with grains and other commodities were strewn about, almost shouting the fact nobody was scared of being stolen by their neighbors. Definitely a place you could say had a simple way of life. Good thing Sigma had hidden his weapons, these people would probably feel threatened simply by him being there


Going to the nearest inn, him and Nightingale sat down at one of the tables. Sigma ordered the meal of the day on top of a large tankard of ale. He felt he deserved to enjoy himself after all. Fighting bandits could drain very fast after all. Looking around, a sighed a bit as if he had finally started to relax after all that had happened today.

Cracking his fingers while stretching he looked at Nightingale and asked: "Can I get you anything? You must be feeling parched after all of that walking."

[Deleted]

Most of the walk the pair did was in rhythmic silence. The two uttered nary a word to one another and yet the consistent pace they held had a rhythm all its own. It lead to her mindlessly walking with Sigma to their destination. Naturally her mind registered that the two had reached a town and that was good, but it was not until the pair was ready to order food and eat that she fully noticed their journey had reached its conclusion.

When Sigma offered to buy her some food, or rather drink her initial thought was that she was fine, and had her own money. Then she reconsidered those words. "You know what, that would be pretty great actually. I could use a drink, I'll take whatever will get the taste of sweat off my tongue." Not a flattering statement to what it would imply but who was she trying to impress? And darn it, she was tired of licking her lip and tasting sweat, it was gross and she was not used to the heat. "Oh, and some soup or something. But really its just nice to be off my feet for a little bit."

Nightingale leaned back in her seat and hunched into a relaxed position. She did not sit like this for long however as she soon set to removing her boots. "Oh man! That feels so much better! Remind me to buy some boots that are a little more travel and action friendly when we're done here, that'd be great." Oops, boots meant she had money, oh well, he offered.

It did not take Nightingale long to decide to bypass any sort of small talk, "So, the road we were both going to take has kinda sorta come to nothing but a horribly congested path of sociopaths. So what will you do now?"

[Sigma]

Looking over to the barkeep and gesturing for him to bring over the same to his new acquaintance. He didn't really mind offering the meal to Nightingale, it wasn't that big a deal. It might also just be his residual guilt from earlier forcing him to do something good for someone.

Turning around to her, he was pretty amused when he noticed her taking off her boots. She definitely wasn't the kind of girl to be concerned with personal image. "I'll be sure to make a note of that. Hurting yourself because of crappy footwear is not fun at all. No wonder bandits like to steal boots from travelers..." He was actually talking from experience with that one. Funnily enough, in his life he had been the boot stealer and the shoeless victim at separate moments in his life. It was pretty common in Ilia for warm boots to get stolen constantly in the poorer districts, a pair almost was worth its own weight in gold for a homeless kid.

She then quickly moved on to asking what he would do now. He still wanted to take part in the Bernese tournament... Ugh, this just wouldn't do. "Urgh, well I still need to get to Bern, I might simply cut through the woods, not like it would be the first time. Though that's not really the interesting thing here, now is it? As two bucks of foamy ale were set on the table, Sigma quickly grabbed his and drank for at least 5 seconds straight before coming back to what he was saying. The tankard hitting the wooden table with a satisfying slam, he sighed with a satisfied smile. Taking off his humid headband, he stuffed it into his coat before continuing.

"I say that we should meet up in a few weeks. Anyplace which'll make it easy for us to meet and travel up to Ilia. After that we can start investigating about that sister of yours. It'll give me time to do all I need like getting my horse. Also I imagine whatever info you can give me right now could probably help. Who knows? I might find some clues."

[Deleted]

"Uhh, while I have never had to deal with footwear theft before..." she raised an eyebrow at the thief, true, bandits DID like to take everything they could out of people he said it with such a... renewed understanding? Yeah, that seemed like the right wording to use. "Well, like I said, never had to deal with stolen boots but this was the wrong pair for such a hurried bit of travel, my feet are rubbed all wrong," and so they were, fresh red could be seen where not only her skin was rubbed away through contact but so too were there holes in her stockings allowing for such a mishap. "Its whatever though, I've had worse."

"I've waited years for a chance like this, I can wait a few more weeks," she agreed. "I'm not certain what I'll do in the interim but I suppose I'll figure it out, maybe I'll sew a blanket. Its cold up north after all." Not that she really thought so. "Call it a part of my payment to you when the job goes over well." She offered a cocky smirk. This may have been her only lead in almost a full millennia but she had a good feeling about things. "We could always meet up here again, safe, quiet, no unwanted and unsavory ears?" She shrugged.

He wanted more info, only natural, but it was grating on her nerves deep down. She provided him just about everything she knew about it, and a well thought out, as well thought out as on the spot can be, fabricated tale of familial woes and slights. "So, here's something else I can tell ya." She pointed at her hair with a solitary finger and elbow on the table, "She has raven black hair, famous for it." Why was her hair apparently so great? She too had raven black hair! She received no longstanding praises. Hmph! "Much like myself actually." She ran a hand through a thick pigtail to stress her point, pretending she did not yank out tangles as she did so."But I have not seen her in quite some time so I don't know everything, or necessarily what you think is relevant." It was a statement just as much as an open invite for him to ask away. She could fabricate as needed or tell him the bits and pieces she knew about from her travels.

[Sigma]

People in the tavern gave a few glances at the two of them, whether it was her taking off her boots or the way he talked about his plan, he didn't particularly care. Right now he just wanted to forget about people for a bit after what he had done to that man earlier. Even if he had no choice, it still felt awful to do that to someone only caring deep down about his family.

Really he would just put it behind him soon enough, he took another swig of the ale. It was pretty good actually, much better than what he would usually find in small holes in the wall like this. In fact, the place seemed pretty clean too. Huh, nice change of pace for once. He just hoped those glances from the townsfolk didn't mean anything bad. Nightingale's joke about blankets did bring a smirk to his face (or at least he hoped she was joking.)

Anyways, Sigma's attention was drawn towards Night's finger pointing towards her hair. So apparently she also had black hair... Hmm, so let,s review the facts. She is named Elaina, lives in Ilia, was born from nobility and has black hair similar in color to her's... Not saying anything for a few seconds, Sigma looked down at the table, deep in thoughts, trying to remember the woman she had briefly seen back in Ilia with the resistance... "Raven black hair..."

Holy crap, it might just be her.

Looking back up, he lifted his hand to cup the bottom of his chin, his eyes still showing he was trying to remember everything about the Elaina in the resistance. "This might sounds strange, but i think I've met this Elaina, or at least a very good lookalike. The one I know definitely seemed to have been born out of wealth. Never did really talk to her so I can't be sure but the coincidence would be very unlikely. For her to be in the resistance means she's most likely Ilian too so that's another strong point... Huh, wow, this might be faster then i thought if we get lucky and it turns out she's the one."

He was still surprised by the pure coincidence of it all. Small world eh?

[Deleted]

Listening to Sigma muse and process this information Nightingale's eyes grew wide. He knows her? Oh no! Wait, he only knows her in passing? Then that is more than perfect! He can lead her to her but not catch on to any inconsistencies born from intimately knowing her! This was going perfectly! Lady Luck, continue to shower me with your blessings!

Unable to contain her excitement she nearly leapt across the table taking hold of one of Sigma's hands into her own, clasping them between her own fingers. "A small world indeed my friend! It would seem that whatever powers that be have deemed it right to send you to me in order to find Elaina and then set things right!" There was an almost wild look about her eyes. An ill contained excitement, as far as she was concerned finding her stone was as simple as traveling back into the north. But Sigma had business he needed to tend to before the pair could continue onto their path.

Remembering this fact the light in her eyes dimmed and her face fell back into a stoic look. "Well," She cleared her throat. She let go of Sigma's hands and returned back to her seat. Yes, she did indeed stand with bare feet in the tavern and did not even care. "How long will your business take you again? I hate to sound impatient, pushy, and all that yaddy yadda but if you know where she is then I do not want to miss out on this opportunity should she depart again."

[Sigma]

Happy things seemed to be aligning themselves in their favor, Sigma smiled a bit, bringing his mug to his mouth about to take another sip... Damn near spilled the ale all over the table from surprise as Nightingale grabbed his other hand, now almost as gleeful as a kid receiving a gift for his birthday. "Well those are certainly some strong words to use. I'm happy to see you in high spirits about this but let's not get ahead of ourselves. It has been a while so there is a chance she's not there anymore. I just don't you to start thinking we'll instantly find her."

As she calmed down and sat back on her own chair, she started to get inquisitive about how long Sigma was planning to stay in Bern... With his travel route now in need of adjustments, it was sadly going to take a few more days, but probably not anything too crazy. Normally his horse Gambit would shorten the travel time but he had left it for the duration of his travels in the care of some villagers he knew near here. Mutual exchange, they had given him shelter and he payed it back by lending them his horse to help around the farm. Anyways, he also had to deliver a package to someone in the city of Bern on top of going to the tournament. Knock two birds with one stone. That meant that sadly, he couldn't just simply drop it (also it gave him an excuse to not have to cancel his plans to go to the tournament without feeling bad. Pretty lucky, all in all.)

"Well let's see, going from here to Bern and back, adding the trip to go get my horse... Hmm, with a good pace I think I could make it back here in what, ten days? Would that be short enough for you?"