forum the house across the river // O/O // Closed

Started July 25, 2021 by @MarDeColores this is not it kids

tune

"I've had worse," Jin said, laughing and absentmindedly running his fingers over his throat. There was a scar there, appearing as though he'd had it forever. In reality, it had only been a few days– a week, at most– since Rusi Uyel slit his throat. "Who am I, really? I'm just an orphan who got good enough at killing to rise to the top of the world." Jin started walking again, twirling a strand of his waist-length hair around his finger as he did. The secret of who he really was was starting to pain him. Maybe… Iro didn't appear to be from around here, so he'd probably never even heard of him. Jin could just tell him, just to get it off his chest. And then he could fully become Jin. He could finally lay Hune Uyaki to rest. "My name was Hune Uyaki. My parents probably named me because of the prophecy, but everyone was doing it those days. Who wouldn't want to be the grand savior of the gods? I'm don't, and I'm not. It's just a misunderstanding. Some game the small gods are playing to make themselves feel clever." Jin nodded along with his words, trying to convince himself just as much as he was trying to convince Iro. "They choose favorites sometimes. It doesn't mean anything." He glanced over at Iro. "Do you have anything to eat? There's a pomegranate tree near my house, but I've eaten that for the last few days and I'm tired of it."

Jin was quite right, Iro hardly recognized a thing he was talking about. It was certainly intriguing, though. Prophecies, the 'small gods', it almost sounded like a story he would have been read as a child, yet here he was witnessing it for himself.

"Oh! Yes, I've got food," he replied, pulling his travel pack in front of him and shuffling through its contents.

"I have oranges, tart apples, bread… what else… oh, sausage… and some pastries, if you're one for sweets."

He pulled out a smaller satchel from his pack that contained all the foods he had previously listed, handing it to Jin so he could take what he wanted from it.

It had occurred to him that Jin chose not to say why exactly he changed his name, but he didn't bother pressing for any more answers. Jin had shared what he wanted to, and while it would have definitely given Iro more insight into the fellow, it likely wasn't much his business.

"Well, what's the plan for the rest of the day? I— oh, shoot," he groaned, rubbing his face with a hand. It had completely slipped his mind to ask some of the villagers for directions to Edenborough.

"I, hah, got distracted by the bandits. I meant to ask for directions when I got to the village."

He sighed in defeat, casting a glance back the way they came. "Well, no point turning back now. Good thing my mission isn't urgent."

"Ooh, yes." Jin accepted the satchel and sifted through it. He'd had enough fruit for a while, so he grabbed some sausage and bread. "I'm coming back for some of that pastry," He warned, handing the satchel back to Iro. "Oh, right. Sorry. We can go back later." Jin put the bread into his mouth and used his free hand to open the door to his house. Before he ate, he needed to do something. Before he lost his will to do it. He still had the sword from the bandits, which eliminated the need to find a sharp thing. Jin set down his breakfast on the nearest clean-looking surface and grabbed a handful of his hair. A couple of seconds later, his hair was falling messily down around his shoulders and he had a big handful of wavy white hair. "There we go. A fresh start." Jin stared at the hair for a second, then tossed it into the nearest corner. He had been planning on staying here, but… the way the villagers looked at him made him uneasy. Maybe finding a different place, farther away, would be better. Yeah, it would be. Jin grabbed the bread and took a big bite. Oh, he'd missed this sort of stuff.

Iro slung the satchel over his shoulder, chuckling to himself. A love for dessert spread further than home, it seemed.

He leaned against the door frame, crossing his arms, and watched as Jin took the sword he'd acquired earlier and cut his hair to shoulder length. He blinked, raising an eyebrow in surprise. That was a lot of hair he'd chosen to chop off. He could respect someone willing to approach changes in life with confidence — if not confidence, then determination.

While Jin ate, Iro turned his attention towards the house itself. It felt… empty. Ominously empty. There was a bed and a fireplace, but not much to really make a house a home. It, in a way, was almost sad to look at.

"Well," he breathed, briefly glancing outside before turning his attention back to Jin, "what do we do now? Those bandits are done for, but we just left that village. Is there anywhere else to go?"

Jin finished the bread and moved on to the sausage. "I dunno. I think I'm going to go somewhere else." He tilted his head to the side slightly. "I could go with you to that place you were trying to find." The place where Iro was going probably wouldn't know anything about the prophecy, which meant that he could just relax. "Do you have a map? I could try and see if I know where you are on it." Even though he'd cut his hair and changed his name, word of the strange white-haired man who could rise from the dead would eventually reach Muna and Rusi. They would definitely come to investigate, and then he would be done for. Leaving this area for good didn't seem like such a bad idea. In fact, it seemed like a very good idea.

Iro nodded, pulling his map out from his travel pack and unfolding it. He pointed at a bundle of land off to the west of the continent, "That's Darchester, where I came from. Big city with a decent population, but pretty isolated from the rest of the world. I'm looking for Edenborough, which is riiiiight…"

He drew his finger across the map, resting it on top of a smaller patch of land bordering the coast, some distance away but otherwise mostly east of Darchester. "Here. It's no large society, but that makes it a good spot to establish diplomatic relations. Nobody would expect it, which would make it easier to stay under the radar for the time being."

He pursed his lips, scanning the rest of the map in a vain attempt to pinpoint his location. "Given that all I had to do was walk east, I'm a little concerned I ended up getting lost anyway, hah. You wouldn't happen to recognize anything here, would you?"

Jin stared at the map, eyebrows drawing together. "You're really bad at this, you know." He tapped a spot on the map south of both of the locations. "We're here. Around here, at least. Generally in this area." Before he'd come to this area, he had studied maps of the surrounding land. They had been different than this map– more detailed on the specific area, but he could remember enough of them. "So you would have to go all the way up here to get to Edenborough." He giggled, tracing a straight line between the two points. "How in the world did you manage to get all the way out here?" Jin shook his head and went back to eating. "It's a miracle."

Iro broke off into laughter. It really was an absurd concept, but he didn't think he could explain himself if he tried.

"I don't know, man," he managed, "I-I just— I don't get out much. Navigation isn't exactly something I'm good at."

While Jin continued to eat, Iro studied the trail Jin had pointed out to him. He sat down in the grass, pulling out a quill and ink and marking the directions to Edenborough from where he was now. Hopefully he wouldn't forget again.

"Alright, so… when we get to Edenborough, I gotta find the head honcho there and talk to them. Did you, uhm, have something you needed to do there, or are you coming with me just for the sake of it?"

"Obviously," Jin snickered, finishing off the last of the sausage. "What kind of pastries do you have?" He asked, eyeing Iro's satchel. At the man's question, he shifted his gaze to Iro's face. "I have nothing I need to do. I'm coming for the fun of it." He shrugged. Maybe once he got there, he would leave again. Maybe he would stay there. It all depended on the situation. "What are you talking to the 'head honcho' about? Or is that a secret I'm not allowed to know?" Jin raised an eyebrow, half of his attention already focusing on finding something to tie his hair back. He couldn't wear it loose anymore, not with the length it was at. It directly contradicted his clothing, but he would have to make do with it until he could find something else to wear. At least once they left the areas he knew, he could stop worrying about it so much. Then again, he could always pretend to be newly rich. His clothes were a bit dirty and blood-stained for that, though. Never mind that idea. Back to the stolen clothes excuse.

Iro tossed Jin the satchel. "Muffins, cream-filled donuts, and a signature dessert from home. I forget what they call it, but it's a little patch of dough filled with berries and chocolate. One thing I do happen to like about home is that I have yet to find better dessert."

He continued making marks on his map, adding more specific details to certain locations and jotting notes for both himself and the Brigade Council for when he returned.

"Oh, it's, hah, really boring stuff," Iro snickered. "Politics, diplomacy, all that jazz. My job is to represent my boss, the Director, and secure an alliance with the government body over at Edenborough. We're trying to establish strong foreign relationships so we pose a political threat to the ruling body, the Three Chosen, back home."

He seemed to realize he was about to go into tangent mode, so he cut himself short, not wanting to bore Jin too much with his work. "Long story short, Darchester's ruling body is rife with corruption — kind of an oligarchy going on — and because nobody has the power to rival their leadership, the Director's trying to acquire that power. If we can get foreign support, that means expanding our influence and having potential backup if things go south."

Iro waved a hand dismissively. "But you probably don't care about any of that, you sound like you've got enough problems of your own."

"Oh, I'll try that mystery dessert." Jin poked around the satchel, then brought out something that appeared to be what Iro had just described. "Oh, I see." He nodded along with Iro's explanation, though half the words the man was saying were flying right over his head. He'd never concerned himself much with politics and power. It didn't even matter that much in Kito, since everyone and no one had power at the exact same time. He just made sure the other groups of people didn't kill his group of people, and that was that. Nice and simple. "This is really good," Jin added, waving the remaining pastry at Iro. "I don't care, but I'd rather focus on that than my own problems." He laughed and stuffed the rest of the pastry in his mouth. Seriously, it was so good. It was a shame he'd probably never get to eat it again. Maybe that was for the best, actually. He'd probably never eat anything else again if it was easy to get.

Iro grinned. "Hell yeah it's good. It's my favorite dessert."

He laughed alongside Jin. Sometimes he wished he didn't care either; he truly believed he was on the right mission, but the whole ordeal frequently left him more stressed than he could handle. He didn't like having the weight of a nation on his shoulders.

But he wasn't bearing the burden alone, and sometimes he wondered if that was the only thing keeping him going.

Iro rolled up the map, shoving it into his travel pack and tying it shut. "That's that."

He sat up, slinging his pack onto his back, and faced Jin with a new determination.

"Well, I'm ready when you are. If your directions are accurate, we should probably be able to get there before noon."

"You have good taste." Jin gave him a thumbs-up and brushed his hands off on his jacket. "I'm ready. I don't need any of this stuff." He waved a vague hand at the mess in the house. Jin hadn't found anything to tie his hair back anywhere in the small area that he'd searched, which made him a little angry. He did have something… Jin grabbed his wrist and pressed his lips together. He couldn't use that. He couldn't… but he would if he didn't find anything else. Jin let out a breath. He really had to let the past go. It was just a ribbon. It wasn't doing any good wrapped around his wrist. With a slightly angry breath, Jin reached under his jacket sleeve and unwound a long, expensive-looking silver ribbon from his wrist. Both ends were embroidered with sprigs of lavender. Jin spent a moment staring at it, running his fingers over the embroidery. It really was beautiful. He shook his head slightly and quickly tied his hair back in a low ponytail. "Okay, off we go!" Jin clapped his hands and headed towards the door. "Let the adventure begin!" He opened the door rather violently, slamming it open with excessive force. Whatever. It wasn't his house anymore.

Iro couldn't help but notice the hesitancy with which Jin decided to use the ribbon around his wrist as a hair tie. He didn't consider it his place to inquire, but it did make him wonder what the ribbon meant to him.

Jin's change in demeaor confirmed that there would be no room for questions, and Iro was content with that. He readjusted himself, then followed suit as Jin made his way out of the house The slam of the door made him flinch, yet he was better this time about remembering where he was.

"You're sure you didn't want to take anything with you? Wasn't that your house?" he inquired as they walked, casting one last farewell glance at the house behind them.

"It wasn't. I just borrowed it for a few days." Jin shrugged in a carefree way. "It'll just go to the next wandering soul who passes by. Maybe they'll stay. Maybe they won't. Maybe the living will chase them away to far-off lands as well." He sighed softly, unconsciously reaching up and playing with the ribbon. Jin didn't know where that last sentence had come from. He wasn't usually so poetic. But the more he thought about it, the more it rang true. He really was being chased by the living. The ones who'd survived. He was just a ghost. A ghost who was afraid of those who were still alive. Ah, he needed to stop thinking like this. These sort of things made his heart ache with something choking. Something that filled his chest with a void that just kept taking. Jin quickly brushed the ribbon back over his shoulder. "Why don't you lead the way? Being with the map and all. And I'll be useless once we leave this area." He grinned at Iro, pushing all the troubles he could out of his head.

Iro pulled the map back out, glancing at it and gauging their position relative to the map.

"Based on what you said, we're still on the right track," he mumbled, more to himself than to Jin. He rolled the map back up, but kept it in his hands as opposed to putting it away.

His gaze drifted for a moment, taking in the scenery around him. The natural world was quite beautiful. Maybe, if he could, he'd take a plant or two and bring it home; he'd wanted to expand his garden a little more past native flora.

He gripped the straps of his travel pack, briefly indulging in his thoughts. Well, if these two were going to see the trip through together, he might as well get to know his new companion.

"If you're not from here, then, what brought you to this place to begin with? Where did you come from?"

(btw, I'm going on a trip for the rest of the week and probably won't be able to respond until I'm back. :)
Jin nodded, glad that they were going the right way. Seeing as how Iro had gotten lost the first time, he probably should have been leading. But he didn't feel like it, and Iro had directions now. He would do fine. "Eh?" Jin glanced over at Iro. "Oh. I came from one of the cities by the coast." He didn't say its name. It would bring up too many memories. "I…" The reason he'd come here in the first place was because of the war between his city and another. And the reason he'd been left here was because he'd been betrayed. Someone– he didn't know who– had framed him, turned everyone against him. That seemed like a little much to tell someone he'd just met. "I came here because I needed a change of scenery. Home was getting too boring for my tastes." He let out a light-hearted laugh and glanced around. "This place sure is more interesting."

(alrighty! safe travels :D)

Iro laughed alongside Jin, content with his answer. "Ah, the coast. I've always wanted to live near the ocean, to be honest. My home's got mountains for miles; it's kind of geographically secluded from other places, which, naturally, leads to social seclusion. I'd imagine a more open city gives way to actually being able to interact with the outside world."

He shrugged. "But I can agree with you on that; this place is certainly different. I'm almost a little sad to leave so quickly, but business is business. At least it'll make for a good story."

He tilted his head ever so slightly to the side. "You mentioned the 'small gods' earlier. I, well… are they figures I should be familiar with? I'm not sure if their influence will carry to Edenborough, but they sound important."

(Thank you!)
"Mountains… I've never been. Are they pretty?" Jin asked, frowning in curiosity. There were mountains visible from where he'd lived, but he'd never gone near them. They were always lurking on the horizon, far out of reach. "I think the place could've benefited from a little seclusion. There was always too much interaction with the outside world. The place down the river and down the coast are constantly coming in and messing with us. I never got to relax!" Jin glanced over at Iro at his question, wondering how exactly he should explain those annoyances. "Well… they're… they're these… little gods. They're smaller than an average god… I guess. Though I've never seen another god. I've heard Sol, from up in Opria, is basically the sun." Jin paused. "And they're apparently 7 feet tall on a bad day, so they're big both literally and figuratively. But the small gods… there's a lot of them. And they all have their own little things they look after. Lavender, for example," Jin reached up and grabbed the end of his hair ribbon, holding it out so Iro could look at it, "presides over healing. Sage is protection, yellow roses friendship…" He trailed off. He'd just described the two small gods that Muna and Rusi had liked the most. He hadn't meant to do that. He really wished he hadn't done that. They'd all gotten hair ribbons with the symbol of their favorite small god on them for the flower festival one year. Oh, why had he done that…
"Anyway, they're just little beings and they have little shrines in all the cities and some people pray to them and some don't and they just sort of live here and sometimes they pick people they like and mess them up for their own amusement but that's fine and hardly ever happens!" Jin spit out in one breath, gasping once he'd finished the long sentence.

"Mmm.. depends on what you find pretty," Iro replied. "If you find pretty in feeling small, standing at the base of the mountain's probably the best feeling you'll get. But, personally, I like the sights on top. When you finally get to scale one, and you look at all the land below that'cha had to climb to get there?"

He exhaled, sounding exhilerated just from imagining it all. "That's the good stuff, lemme tell you."

At Jin's explaination, he nodded curiously. "Oh, that's interesting. Gods aren't big where I come from, so excuse my ignorance, hah. They believe instead that there's forces in the universe at work that live in harmony with us. But, to be honest," he admitted quietly, "I'd always felt there was a little more to it. Some of those forces always felt too smart to act the way they do, almost like someone was behind it all, y'know?"

But as Jin continued, he noticed there was a certain energy to his words that felt… off. His brow furrowed, and he came to a stop, now facing Jin with a new curiosity, accompanied by worry.

"Are you… okay?"

"Am I okay?" Jin exclaimed, looking at Iro with a wild look in his eyes. He was, to put it simply, not okay. The idea had been rolling around in his mind for a while, but he hadn't really considered it until just then. The small gods had chosen them, hadn't they? That's why he was still alive, why his hair was weird, why he felt so off. Those that the small gods chose were always changed. The small gods somehow messed with their personalities, with their minds. He'd known someone who'd gotten chosen. She'd always been very nice and sweet, always careful with her words for fear of hurting someone else. After… she hadn't held back at all. Her words were almost so sharp they could cut, and she'd started lashing out at everyone. She had almost seemed like an entirely different person. Just like how he felt. "Am I okay? No! Everything was going so well! I thought we were going to spend the rest of our lives together. Us against the world. And instead, they killed me! Muna stabbed me through the stomach and Rusi slit my throat. And I wasn't even allowed to die!" Jin dropped to the ground, holding his head in his hands. His emotions were all over the place and he couldn't stop the whole story from slipping through. "I am not me anymore… but I'm still here. They took Hune Uyaki and they ripped him apart and put him back together all wrong." Jin choked back a sob, his mind spiraling too fast for him to handle.

Iro stood there, stunned, his gaze tentatively resting on the figure on the ground before him.

Then, he slid his travel pack off his back and let it fall to the ground, setting the map beside it. He lowered himself to his knees in front of Jin — Hune? He wasn't sure. Jin for now — and cautiously rested a hand on his shoulder.

This was a unique predicament, and Iro didn't quite know how to offer any kind of support. His gaze dropped to the ground, flickering between blades of grass almost as if literally searching for words.

He was fortunate to not yet know what betrayal felt like. But he did know loss, and choosing to think of betrayal as a form of grief helped him get an idea of what Jin might be going through — an idea, of which he wasn't certain of its accuracy. But he wanted to do something.

"I'm… sorry that happened to you," he managed, his voice a whisper, his tone genuine. "I-I don't really know how to be helpful other than to say it's okay if you need to take a minute and let it out."

Jin tried to take deep breaths, tried to stop the tears that were almost spilling down his cheeks.
"Aww, come on. This is just pathetic," A voice grumbled next to his ear. Jin whirled towards the sound but found nothing.
"Yeah. He's no fun like this. Someone fix it."
"I got this." Jin smelled something unfamiliar, and then… his mind blanked out. He wasn't sad anymore. He wasn't much of anything, anymore. He just felt that strange, untethered feeling. His hands dropped to his sides, a laugh bursting out of him before he could stop it. And then he just kept laughing.
"Ah, it doesn't matter anymore." He stood suddenly, rubbing his eyes. They were wet because he'd been laughing so hard. "The past is the past." Why'd he been sitting down? Ah, it didn't matter. He had places to see. Things to destroy. People to mess with. Etcetera.

Iro didn't quite know how to respond to such a sudden shift in mood. He hadn't heard the voices, and was running with the assumption that maybe Jin just didn't like to cry.

"… Alright," he managed, standing up and retrieving his things. "Well… we've still got a little ways to go. Daylight's leaving without us, heh."

He continued onward, his ganders at his surroundings now more hesitant and cautious, almost as if he expected something to jump out at him.

Whoever these small gods were, he didn't think he liked them very much.

(btw, I won't be able to respond as often, as school is starting up again. :)
"Oh, yeah! I guess we'd better hurry." Jin nodded. He didn't mind staying out in the dark, but Iro probably thought differently. There were always much more interesting things happening at night. That was when all the interesting people came out. And sneak attacks worked much better when the receiving party couldn't see anything. Not that they needed to sneak up on anyone at the moment, but still. Maybe that was why Iro wanted to get to his destination before the sun disappeared. He didn't want to be on the receiving end of the darkness. Jin wandered after Iro, wondering why he was looking around so often. It wasn't like the sun was gone just yet. He didn't need to be so nervous. "Are you looking for something?"

(alrighty!)

Iro shook his head, an apologetic look softening his features. "Oh, no. I-I think…"

His voice faltered. He didn't know what to think. Everything was so weird, and while he'd once found it endearing, it now began to creep him out. He didn't know what to expect, and the more he mulled over the thought, the more on edge he became.

He waved a hand dismissively. "It's fine. It'll be fine."

Hopefully.

Hearing Jin's story had made him wary of the small gods, especially so now that it sounded like Jin was their 'chosen one'. It hadn't occurred to him until now that not all gods were benevolent, and these two were at the mercy of these small gods. He hoped they didn't think of him as disposable.

But he wasn't ready to reveal his worries just yet, and so decided that maybe society was a safer place to be than what was pretty much the wilderness, and that he'd like to get to society as quickly as possible.

Jin narrowed his eyes slightly at Iro. He didn't exactly look like everything was 'fine', but Jin decided to let it slide. Iro didn't seem to know much about the area, so it made sense that he was a little on edge. "Alright, then! To that city you mentioned with the name I forgot." Jin clapped his hands, trying to ignore the voice at the back of his head that whispered that this wasn't right. What did they mean, this wasn't right? It was quite all right. Very right. And yet… it still lingered. He could have sworn he smelled lavender, but there was nothing that could have made that smell around them. And his hair ribbon had long since lost the scent of– Jin froze. A flash of emotions– deep, endless dispair and a want to tear something to shreds– ripped through his mind at the thought of the ribbon. "I'm supposed to be sobbing right now. I'm supposed to be unconsolable about something." The only problem was… he couldn't figure out what about it he was supposed to be sad about. It was a ribbon given to him by the past, nothing more. Why did he need to be sad about the past? What was in there that he so desperately craved? What had he lost?

Iro had continued his trek, taking an absentminded gander at the map — his thoughts were too occupied to put any real focus into his actions. He rubbed his nose, the floral scents beginning to irritate his senses. He'd chalked up the smell of lavender to Jin's ribbon, but, admittedly, he found the strength of the scent rather odd. If it'd been a while since he'd gotten the ribbon, why did it smell so… fresh?

He didn't have an answer, nor did he feel like pressing for one. But in response to Jin's out-of-the-blue remark, he lifted his head and gazed at his companion, unable to disguise his confusion — confusion that seemed to be shared between the two.

"You were, just a second ago," he informed him, a nervous edge to his voice; he was afraid that reminding Jin of the events would bring back that surge of emotion, and thought to be a little careful with how he would word his next statement. He was only an observer to how the gods toyed with Jin, and being unable to put the pieces together left him worried. "You, uh, mentioned something about a Muna and Rusi, and it, well, seemed to upset you. Then you just… got up and kept walking like nothing had happened. I-It—… it's all very odd, to be honest."

Oh. That was what he'd lost. Rusi Uyel and Rei Muna. The people he'd thought he would spend the rest of his life with. And he had, technically. The feeling of despair swelled in his chest, but something was keeping it from coming to the surface. Even then… should he really keep crying over them? What was done was done. He couldn't go back in time, and even if he did… he didn't know who had framed him. So it would just end the same. He had to face the truth. He would never be able to see them again. Not as his vinpola. If they met again, it would be as enemies. As people on the opposite side of a war that had been stretching on far too long to ever resolve. His only hope would be if their regret was more than their anger. With Muna… maybe that was a possibility. But Rusi had been furious.
"Ah, them." Jin let out a shaky sigh. "No wonder." Even thinking about them was starting to bring on a feeling of unease. Not his own. He caught a strand of his hair and stared at it. The small gods were behind this. He was sure about it. "Relax, you idiots. I'm not going to break down again. One of you is making very sure of that." Jin brushed the strand behind his ear and turned to Iro. "I'll be fine. Let's hurry. We don't want to be out here after dark."

Iro nodded his agreement, eager to complete their trek before the sun set. He rested his eyes on his map, confirmed they were still heading in the right direction, and continued onward.

The sun was making its way towards the horizon by the time the two of them made it to Edenborough, yet instead of being met with bustling society and the chatter of crowds, they were greeted with an eerie lack of people and a sickeningly heavy atmosphere. Iro grimaced, his confusion and concern written plainly on his features. This wasn't Edenborough, was it? Edenborough was a thriving city, a pioneer in technology and education that greatly attributed to its wealth. Not… whatever this was.

He checked his map. According to it, they were right where they needed to be.

The city was at least partially what it had been described to be, however. Towers of wood and stone scraped high at the sky, juxtaposed by the numerous shopping districts and colleges scattered beneath. And these buildings were no run-of-the-mill village houses, either — it was clear a little more thought was put into their design than a need to survive. Despite the ominous atmosphere, one could say it was a pretty town.

But a town needed people, and, again, it was a bit lacking in that regard.

"I don't like the look of this," he managed, casting a wary glance back at Jin. Why couldn't this have been a normal mission? Whatever normal even meant at this point?

He made his way over to a tavern, pushing the door open to reveal an inn that was a nice little reflection of the city itself. He met the gaze of a tired innkeeper, glancing back again at Jin before stepping inside.

"You aren't from here," the innkeeper stated plainly. "If you were, you wouldn't even be out and about, the way things are right now."

"What's going on here?" he asked tentatively.

"A plague," mumbled the innkeeper, a certain glazed look to his eyes as he replied. "I imagine word hasn't gotten far about it if travelers are still arriving. Which means aid from the Kingdom isn't going to be here for a while…"