Iris walked out of the cell, with her hand and dagger covered in blood. She knew it quite possibly looked gruesome, but at the moment, she didn't care. All she cared about was that her family might find their graves in two weeks. Two weeks. When she stepped back to where Kayde and Thedorn stood, their eyes shot to her... and then to her hand.
"Gods," Thedorn shivered, "You killed him?"
Iris nodded at the both of them.
"Aye, the Token is dead. He deserved no less. But his information did not die with him," Iris said, "in the morning, I shall have a lot to discuss with the General."
Thedorn still stood motionlessly, staring at her as if she were some type of weird zoo animal. She furrowed a brow at him and stared at him hard in the eyes. She didn't understand why she was looked at strangely. Zayn was going to kill the captain anyways, so it wasn't as if she'd committed a crime.
"You're a girl," the lieutenant spoke, "How did you kill him?"
Oh. That.
How easily she had forgotten that, as a woman, she was looked upon as fragile. After all, girls weren't supposed to be able to kill anyone. They were supposed to cook, clean, and wring their fingers over petty things. Iris sighed and looked down at her blade. Soldier or not, she would not be seen as weak.
"With a dagger," she commented, "It was easy enough with his circumstances. Give me some credit, his hands were bound. I'm not that incompetent, now."
"Of course not... miss," the soldier still fumbled over his words, "I've just never seen a woman with a weapon, is all."
"Well," she said with a twitch of her lips, "There's a first time for everything, I guess. With the war going on, it would be foolish to walk around without a way of protecting myself." As she spoke, she slid the bloody blade back into its spot on her calf, not caring that it dirtied her skin.
"Right," he replied, looking nauseous, "At least you got the information."
"And you got a mess to clean. Sorry about that," she said. She drew the handkerchief she'd stuffed in the left breast of her gown and wiped her hands. "Shall we go, then?" she asked Kayde. "I'm tired."
Kayde looked thoroughly amused at her. He even laughed a little before he said, "Of course, Miss Elisa. Let us get you back home."
Wordlessly, Iris walked past Kayde and Thedorn. Only the guardian followed her out. She walked fast, so it took a minute for him to catch up with her. But when he did, he sent a crooked smile her way.
"You really have changed," he pointed out once they were out of everyone's earshor. She raised an eyebrow and looked over at him.
"You've told me this," she said with a chuckle, "In fact, I think it was earlier today." She teased and then looked away from him and up to the moon. Tonight, only half of it shined in the night sky. Kayde followed her eyes to see what she was staring at, but drew his eyes back to her face after only a second.
The glow of the night washed over her porcelain face, highlighting its angles. Iris sighed. "It sure is nice out here, isn't it? I wish I had the time to go for a walk through the city."
A smile wisped to life on the guardian's face, and a sudden idea came to mind. "You should make time, then. I could use a walk myself."
Iris's head snapped to him. "Right now?"
"If you wish," Kayde offered lightly. "None of us are promised tomorrow, after all, especially considering the business we're in. Might as well make the most of what you can when you can. What do you say?"
"What about sleep?" Iris asked.
"Ah, who needs it?" he said with a crooked smile. "We won't be long, girl. I promise."
Kayde took Iris around the main marketplace of the city. Even late at night, there were people strolling about the streets. Thankfully, it wasn't near as busy at this hour. They chatted every so often as they took in their surroundings, though it was mainly small talk. And when they weren't talking, Kayde was whistling cheerfully alongside Iris. It was when they'd bought pastries from a late-night stand and settled on the edge of the city fountain that Iris finally had to ask, "What's gotten into you, then?"
Kayde raised a brow. "What do you mean?"
"You're being so pleasant," Iris narrowed her eyes. "It's strange."
The guardian couldn't help but let out a loud laugh. "Am I ever not?"
"Not like this," Iris said. "You're usually on me about something. I'm not used to this."
"I suppose you're right," Kayde admitted. "Maybe I'll find something later. Right now, I'll nurse this good mood while it lasts."
Iris took a mouthful of her pastry. "I'm skeptical," she said mid-bite, taking care to cover her mouth with a hand.
"Very lady-like," Kayde teased. "Didn't anyone ever tell you not to talk with your mouth full like that?"
Iris narrowed her eyes. Without a word, she tore a small chunk from the dessert and flicked it right at his face. It was meant to be a small punishment for making fun of her. It hardly turned out that way. He caught the bite in his mouth instead. His mouth curved up one corner, and he pointedly swallowed it. "Not bad," he said. "Blueberries were a nice touch."
Iris grumbled. Seeing her face pinched like that earned a loud laugh from Kayde,
"You weren't supposed to catch that," she said. "Now you owe me."
"Do I, then?" Kayde asked. "Even with malicious intent? Tsk tsk."
Iris had been kidding, but still, the guardian tore a small chunk from his and offered it to her. She looked down at it. "I wasn't being serious, you know."
"I am. Try it," Kayde bade her. "It's good."
Iris shrugged and opened her mouth. He shook his head at her antics and popped the small morsel of cherry tart onto her tongue. She chewed it thoughtfully. When she was finished, she said. "Pretty good. I admit it."
"I thought so too."
Silence encompassed them for a long minute, for neither of them knew what else to say at that moment. They both chewed on the rest of their respective sweet and stared up at the sky. It was peaceful.
Kayde was the one to finally break the quiet. Softly, he said, "I'm really proud of you, girl. But it's more than pride. What you've been able to do... it amazes me. Do you know that?"
Iris looked to him. "Where did that come from?"
"From the bottom of my heart," he snorted. Though, he dropped the satire after another second passed. "I've wanted to really say that for a while now. When I started training you, I always assumed you'd be one to hide in the background as best as you could." He paused, "I realize that probably sounds awful. But still." He found her gaze. "You've proved me so wrong, dear girl. On everything. You've proved the world wrong too, they just don't know it."
"Kayde..." she interrupted, touched at the sentiment.
"I have some friends among the guardians, to be true, but I usually tend to keep to myself. You... you are my fondest one yet, I believe. That's another thing I've been meaning to say."
This made Iris smile. "You're my friend too, Kayde. I might've not made it so far had you not found me."
"Quite possibly," Kayde said honestly, "You were a mess when I first saw you."
"Thanks," Iris grumbled.
"Ah, I'm not done with my talk just yet." He grinned, and then went on, "When I consider who you were when this started, I can't help but feel so honored that I was the one that got to witness it. It's like I got to raise an awkward little baby bird until it grew big enough to fly."
"And now I'm really skeptical," Iris referred to an earlier bit of their conversation. "You're being really sweet."
By now, his green eyes ablaze with amusement. "Enjoy it while it lasts. I don't often go soft like this."
They shared one last laugh at that. Then, Kayde looked to the sky. "Ah, I guess it's getting late. We should go ahead and get back, I suppose." She nodded quietly at that, and he helped her up from her spot. "Inn isn't too far from here."
Kayde walked two steps ahead before Iris called him back with a voice. "Kayde," she said.
He stopped in his tracks and faced her. "Yes?"
"Thanks for the walk."
----
General Zayn lay awake in bed, a little confused. He hadn't been awake for long at all... just long enough to figure out that Kayde and Iris were not there in the room with him. His eyes scanned across the room as he laid down only to find Iris's armor laying folded on her bedside. Now he was even more confused. She never took her armor off.
"What are you doing, Gwen?" he muttered to himself.
He laid there for about another ten minutes, slightly worried. Had they found her out? What was happening? He almost wanted to get up and go look for them. In fact, he was about to get out of bed. That's when he heard it. Footsteps. Approaching the door. Quickly, he shut his eyes.
The door groaned as it was opened.
After the door closed, the general quickly peeked to see if it was Iris and Kayde who had entered. He saw Kayde, who eyed him like a hawk. "Shut your eyes," Kayde mouthed directly at him. He was confused, but shut them anyway. It was then that he heard Kayde whisper. "He's asleep. Come quickly."
Damn that curiosity. Zayn couldn't help but to peek once he heard the shuffling. It was both Iris and Kayde. Iris and Kayde. Not Ingred and Kayde.
What are you doing? his mind reeled as her watched her through small slits. She was in a dress. A dress, for gods sakes! In the middle of Alabast! What was she thinking?! Zayn wanted to jump up and ask her just that... but he didn't. Instead, he kept watching her silently, and prayed she didn't notice.
After the initial shock of her appearance wore off, the general watched as she gathered up her armor. He allowed himself to admit that she really was a lovely girl. With dark hair and a soft, pale face, he found himself wondering how someone so pretty could be so... dangerous. She pulled her weapon from her leg, and Zayn immediately saw that it was coated in red.
What had she done?
Who had she killed?
And then it clicked. The Token captain. Zayn had no doubt in his mind that the blood was his. This, whatever it was, had to be a part of the plan she had mentioned earlier. She hadn't told him about it to protect her secret.
It was ironic to Zayn. After all, in the sense of it all, her secret was already gone. So, in turn, it was useless to keep it from him. He felt like the secret was actually his now. That was another paradoxical thing about this entire thing. Either way, he decided it best to shut his eyes and try to go back to sleep. As much as he wanted to ask her what had happened tonight, he could only hope that she'd tell him tomorrow. Maybe.
As he drifted off again, he couldn't help but wonder just how much she loved her father. Tonight, she had risked her life, in a sense, to save his. She knew what the consequences could be, and accepted them.
Hopefully it was worth it.
----
The next morning, Kayde was the first to wake, followed by Iris... and then General Zayn. They were all quick to get ready, but the rogue was the quickest. Needless to say, she was in a hurry to set everything in motion today. If she had any chance of saving her father, she'd need to be swift in getting everything done.
Which is why she didn't even wait until they went downstairs to tell the general. Right after she saw that he was done getting ready, she marched right on over to him.
"Yes, Ingred?" he asked, looking puzzled.
"His name is Erodyne Maug-Rin. There is a back entrance to the fortress. The attack on Eda will happen in two weeks," she said, her words right to the point. At this, the general was thoroughly shocked.
"Wait what? How do you know?"
"Because he told me," she said in her usual, gravelly voice, "I told you I had a plan, general."
At that point, the general looked even more surprised. When he had seen the blood on her dagger last night, he hadn't expected that she'd gotten anywhere. He figured that the captain didn't say more, and she had killed him because of it.
"What did you do?" came the obvious question.
"Ah, a couple of things. Gave myself a good punch to the dignity, if I do say so myself," the rogue coughed, a small smile present on her face, "the Token may have defenses against soldiers, but not against women."
"What? Woman? Who are you talking about?"
"Did you not hear what I said? The dignity bruising came from the, uh, skirts that I wore," Iris joked, "Or maybe it was the lipstick."
Then, the general laughed. He had to.
"You did what?" he asked, "How'd you manage to pull that off?" He already knew the answer.
"Very shamefully," Iris grumbled, "I am glad you didn't have to see it. It was quite embarrassing. But it worked well enough. Gods, I don't see how women do it. It was bloody uncomfortable. But... it was for my father. And my family." She sobered. "General, they will kill my entire village in two weeks. Is there anything we can do?"
"I'll do what I can, Ingred. I promise."