A few verses later had Elara getting a bit more animated, dancing along precariously and wobbling as well. "But as soon as that packet was clear of the bar, way aye blow the man down! The mate knocked me down with the end of a spar. Give me some time to blow the man down!" She punched the air as though throwing a punch, her eyes closed and laughing slightly.
Kieran sighed. "Your highness, please stop wobbling around, you will fall and hurt yourself." He said, steadying her as best he could, while still listening to her singing. I don't want to be responsible for yet another injury of yours. He thought.
Elara ignored him, hooking her arm around his shoulders and having to yank him down a bit to do so, as she continued singing. Maybe for support, maybe just because it was something she and Johnson used to do when she would walk him home from a night out at the tavern, while his sister was watching Mack. She didn't care about hurting herself. She never actually had, but her ankle was already busted, so adding another injury wouldn't be that horrible. A weird and definitely not correct way of thinking, but her way of thinking.
Kieran sighed, letting her pull him around as he continued doggedly towards the hotel. He didn't care what she did, he was just going to get them to the hotel. That was his job. To protect her, and that meant keeping her safe. He sort of wanted to just carry her to keep her off that ankle, but…no. Not a good idea.
"Way aye I need some ice." Elara sang, bursting into a fit of snickering at her plug into the rhythm of the words. And it was true. She really did need ice, once they got back to the inn, because her ankle felt like it was screaming. Not literally, of course. Figurative screaming. That she was now singing about, easily managing to find just the right amount of syllables as she sang.
Kieran sighed, shaking his head slightly. "Did you drink anything, or is this just your regular self?" He asked.
"Sleepy, man! An' sleepy means I gotta sing! Keeps the bad dreams away, didja know? Singin' t' people. Now I just gotta find somebody willin' t' sing t' me. Ya don' look like the kinda guy who can carry a tune." Elara trailed off, muttering to herself about bad dreams and music and people who could and couldn't sing. So, maybe there had been a little something extra in her drink. And by that, she meant the entire drink itself was the strongest whiskey at the tavern. Just enough to cause a strong-ish buzz, not enough to impede any of her cognitive functions. Helped that she was far from a light-weight, too.
Kieran sighed softly. "I don't know if I can sing. Now come on." He said calmly, leading her along patiently. "We are getting back to the hotel, and you are going to sleep." He told her. "And i really don't care if singing affects your sleep. I do know, however, that your singing is affecting everyone else's ability to sleep, since you're being so loud."
"Tha's prolly the rudest thing I've ever heard." Elara stated dramatically, absolutely full of shit. She'd heard plenty worse. But that was beside her point. "My singin' is a blessin'. Ya know, I don' sing, so consider yerself lucky, ktherion. A nap sounds nice though." She admitted, nodding solemnly and furrowing her brows down at her ankle. "Things been buggin' me for days now. Fucker."
Kieran shook his head. "No it isn't. And no, your singing is not a blessing in the middle of the night. And your ankle wouldn't be bothering you if you would stop walking on it. And jumping off of buildings and running and fighting Thari." He told her, still walking.
"You can' know either o' those things." Elara challenged, though it was obvious she knew he was right. "An' okay, maybe, but what am I s'posed t' do? Sit around all day? Tha's even worse than the stabbin' pain in my ankle righ' now, honestly. 'Sides, we get back an' I won' be jumpin' off anythin' or fightin' anyone."
Kieran sighed loudly. "Whatever you need to tell yourself, your highness." He replied. "And yes, sitting around all day would be much better for your ankle than what you do to it right now." He shook his head a bit. Why am i even lecturing her like this?? I could get punished for it!
"Sittin' still don' work, and sittin' still is bad, anyway." Elara said, shaking her head vehemently. Beyond her mother always telling her to never stop moving, because that was how you got caught, she just…couldn't. Even when she looked like she was sitting still, she was tapping or bouncing her leg under the table. Fiddling with something like her hair or her key. It felt like she couldn't stop moving some days, like if she did, she'd float away or something.
Kieran shook his head slightly. "Your highness…" He trailed off. "We are here." He said, looking at the hotel in front of them. "Let's go in, and we can both get some sleep." He suggested, heading inside and helping her along with him.
Elara directed Kieran up the stairs, which were a bit of a struggle to climb even with his help, but she managed. A few doors along the hallway lined with rooms were open, and she knocked once on the doorframe of the room Matthias was in, before sliding her arm off of Kieran's shoulders only to tug him by the arm into the room with her. "Hey, Matty! Ya get all the rooms set up?"
"Ryan did, actually. Here's your key though." Matthias tossed a single key attached to a chain her way, and she caught it, blinking down at it once before looking up at him.
"What the fuck? There's no way in hell this guy is gonna want t' share a room with me, an' I don' share with anyone." Elara said, turning around as someone stepped into the doorway.
"Figured he'd sleep on the floor." A man, not much older than Elara, with dirty blonde hair and a wicked smirk, said. "Aren't his kind used to that?"
Kieran followed her, letting her tug him into the room without resistance. At the blond man's words, his jaw tightened, and he tensed, but he didn't say anything. Don't react. Don't react. It doesnt matter. He told himself, keeping his gaze blank and expressionless. Toa anyone but the sharpest eyed and those who really knew him, it didn't look like he had reacted at all.
Even if Kieran didn't react, Elara was visibly pissed. She straightened to her full height, having been sort of off-kilter thanks to her ankle, stepping towards Ryan. Her anger wasn't fiery. It was cold. Her face stony and almost expressionless, but her eyes glinting with a cold fury. "What the fuck, Ryan?" She finally closed the distance, and Ryan had the sense to look slightly afraid. "That is not how you treat anyone, least of all someone under my employment and protection, your coworker."
He took a step back as she kept moving forward, and she kept talking once they were in the hallway, her words sharp and deadly. He muttered something in response, and the answering sound was a crack, that of a fist hitting a nose. Matthias's eyes widened even more, somehow, and he hurried out into the hall, where Elara was standing over Ryan, who had hit the ground with the force of her punch.
"You fucking bastard." She spat, not bothering to fight Matthias as he lifted her up and moved her away from Ryan, so one of the other guards could come and pull him away. "I have half a mind to make you sleep on Matthias's floor."
Kieran blinked, and followed Elara. When Matthias pulled her away, he sighed softly. "That wasn't necessary, your highness." He said slowly. "He was right." He shrugged slightly, eyes darting to Ryan, then back to Elara. "There was no need for violence." He shifted from foot to foot.
"No, he wasn't." Elara turned her gaze on Kieran, Matthias still holding onto her like he was afraid if he let go, she'd go after Ryan again. "What he is, is a racist bastard with a small dick and self confidence issues." She continued to spit a few more, increasingly vulgar insults at Ryan as he was helped away, looking rightly terrified now. "You're taking my bed until I get you your own room, and I'm not in the fucking mood to argue." She paused, closing her eyes and taking a slow breath as she counted to ten. Another incredibly un-Princess like thing, her temper and intolerance for bullshit like that.
Kieran crossed his arms. "I dont care what he is. I am not taking your bed. Because I am just a guard, and you are the princess. You are sleeping on your bed. Just give me a blanket or something and I'll sleep on the floor. I don't care whether you think it's okay or not, you are sleeping on your bed." He replied, looking down at her. "Because when it comes down to it, you are a royal, and I am essentially nothing. So you will take the bed, and I will take the floor." His voice was firm, and unyielding.
"And just a year ago, I was too." Elara said quietly, tugging her arms free from Matthias's hold. "I can' sleep on the beds here anyway, so it doesn't matter." However unyielding his voice was, her own matched it. "Kieran, I want you to look me in the eyes." It was the first time she had used his actual name. She waited to speak again until he was looking at her, her eyes sparking once more. "You are not nothing. Maybe back where you came from, but not here, and not while you're guarding me. You keep reminding me I'm a royal, so let me remind you that you're a royal guard. Now, I'm gonna go get some air, feels stuffy in here." She lifted the key still in her hands, checking the number before finding the door that matched it. Once in the room, she headed straight for the window, unlocking and opening it to climb out onto the roof. She didn't go anywhere, just sat.
The room wasn't anything incredibly fancy, just a single bed room with a desk in the corner, another door leading to a bathroom, and a bed sandwiched between a nightstand and a few feet of empty space. That was where Elara's problem lay. She couldn't sleep without her back to a wall.
Kieran met her eyes when she said to, though his skittered away after a few moments. It was too ingrained in his mind not to meet the eyes of people who were his superiors. "A guard is not the same as a royal. And obviously it doesn't matter where I am, people behave the same." He replied as she was leaving, crossing his arms. He followed her into the room, but not onto the roof, looking around the room carefully.
"A guard is more than nothin'." She called back in response, holding her hand up and letting a bit of light flow to it to survey the bruising on her knuckles. Her hand was already throbbing, but it was a good kind. It had felt good, to hit Ryan, after what he had said. "People're assholes everywhere, don' mean it's fine." She muttered, releasing the light to tuck her hand against herself as she stretched out the leg with her injured ankle.
"Yes. But I still stand by what i said. You get the bed." He said stubbornly. I… can't sleep on them. Too many… He sighed softly. Every experience he had had with an actual bed was…not great. Hands on his hips, groping his body, hardly able to breathe because of the way his head was shoved onto the pillows, wanting and needing air but at the same time hoping he could just pass out. "I will sleep on the floor. I don't mind."
“I guess nobody's usin’ the bed then.” Elara said, shrugging her shoulders as she leaned back, propping herself on her hands to gaze up at the night sky. She might find herself sleeping in the bathtub, or on the roof, or even curled up in the corner. Usually she would sleep in the corner of Roman’s room, when she had nightmares or found herself picking too many noises out of the nightlife, because he never asked questions.