Steam still clung to their skin when Eon and Elora stepped out of the washroom, towels wrapped tight around their bodies. The air in the main room felt cooler against damp skin as Eon ran a hand through his wet hair, trying to slow the leftover heat still rolling under his ribs.
As they were coming into the bedroom from the washroom, they both froze halfway through the doorway.
The innkeeper woman stood near the small table by the door, a wooden tray balanced in her hands. Two covered plates, a basket of bread, a wedge of cheese, and a pair of steaming mugs.
Seeing how she was not trying to be sneaky when they saw her, Eon realised she must have slipped in to drop these foods while they were washing.
But before Eon could realise why, her eyes went wide the second she took them in, both of them dripping, towels barely covering anything, the faint red flush still visible on Elora’s collarbone and the side of Eon’s neck.
Noticing what she was looking at, Eon’s face burned. He yanked the towel higher without thinking, fingers locking on the fabric. He didn’t even notice that his ears were fully out in the open.
“Uh… we didn’t hear you come in,” he managed, voice rough.
Elora stepped past him like nothing was wrong. The towel sat snug around her chest, water still beading on her shoulders. A bright, easy smile spread across her face.
“Oh, is that dinner? It smells really good. What did you bring for us?”
The woman recovered fast. Years of running an inn in a village that sat between counties had clearly trained her for worse. She set the tray down with calm, practiced hands and gave them a warm, professional smile.
“Stew and fresh bread. There’s some cheese too. Figured you two might be hungry. The stew’s still hot; eat before it cools.”
Elora walked straight over and peeked under one of the covers, eyes lighting up. “Ohh, thank you. I was starving. This looks perfect.”
The innkeeper’s gaze flicked between them one last time, lingering a beat longer on the pointed tips of Eon’s ears. She didn’t comment right away. Instead she turned toward the door, then paused with her hand on the latch and looked directly at him.
“Oh, and you don’t have to worry about people finding out about your ears,” she said, voice low and steady. “Your secrets are safe with me. We get way more people like you than you might think, people with complicated traits, I mean.”
Then a knowing little grin tugged at the corner of her mouth. “But maybe keep it down a little, you two lovebirds. The walls aren’t that thick, and folks downstairs have ears of their own, too. I can’t speak for others, you know.”
Getting the wrong idea of what she was talking about, Elora just smiled and nodded, without a hint of shame on her face. “Hehe… We’ll try to keep it down.”
The woman chuckled softly, slipped out, and closed the door behind her with a quiet click.
Eon stood there for a second longer, heat still crawling up his neck, still not knowing if letting her go like this might be good or not. Elora turned back to him, eyes sparkling with quiet mischief, and poked his arm.
“Hehe, she saw you half-naked.”
He shook his head, still gripping the towel. “And is that what you are worrying about right now?”
First staring at him with confusion, then she just stuck her tongue out at him and dragged the small table closer to the bed like nothing unusual had just happened at all.
The rest of the night blurred into something quieter. They ate the stew while it was still hot, tore into the bread, and talked in low voices about the road still ahead of them. By the time the plates were empty, the long day finally caught up with Elora. She climbed onto the bed, curled against the mattress, and was asleep almost the second her head touched the pillow, too full and too tired to even lift a hand toward him.
-----
Morning light slipped through the thin curtains in pale stripes. Eon woke first to the soft knock on the door.
The innkeeper stepped in without waiting, tray balanced against her hip. Steam rose from two bowls of porridge. Next to them sat a single banana and a green apple, looking oddly out of place.
“Rise and shine, you two,” she said, setting the tray on the table. “Your companions are ready already; look out the window. How long are you two going to sleep? Here, I brought something. Eat before you go.”
Elora sat up slowly, hair a mess, towel long gone, sheet pulled up to her chest, covering her bare body. She blinked at the fruit, then at the woman.
“Huh, Banana and apple? That’s… random.”
The innkeeper just shrugged. “Just what I had left. Take it or leave it.”
Though a little unsure if he should eat what she offered now or not, Eon sat quietly, Elora not much though. While she ate the whole thing, Eon kept his ears half-hidden under the messy fall of his hair this time. The woman watched him a moment longer than necessary when she came again to collect the empty bowls.
When they were at the door, getting out of the inn, after paying for everything, the innkeeper woman paused, hand carrying the coins. She looked straight at him.
“And you, you should be more careful when you’re outside,” she said, voice low. “Not many people are like me. Most don’t know how to keep their mouths shut while doing this business. So you better be careful when you’re outside.”
Elora tilted her head, clearly lost at what she meant. Eon only gave a small, tight nod.
They left the inn without another word. As they stepped out into the cool morning air, they saw the bigger inn sitting right in front, the wooden sign already catching the early sun.
Elora walked close enough that her shoulder brushed his every few steps. Once they were clear of the Willow Inn’s doorway, she glanced up at him.
“What was she talking about back there?”
Eon kept his eyes on the Oak’s Rest entrance. A couple of their people were already moving around the front.
“If you have no idea, then maybe it’s for the better.” He said quietly.
----
The sky was still pale, but the whole group was already gathered. Outside the inn, carriages were loaded again, horses saddled, and everyone looked a little more rested than yesterday.
Eon swung up onto his horse first. And Elora also climbed on behind him without getting on Elsa’s horse this time, wrapping her arms around his waist loosely and resting her chin on his shoulder for a moment.
“Hehe, I’m riding with you today,” she said softly, a little mischievously, though her voice was still a little sleepy.
Eon smiled despite himself. “What? Still sleepy after blanking out like that last night? Hold on tight. The road from here might get bumpy later, as far as I remember. You’ll fall off the horse like this.”
“Really, now you are lecturing me about horse riding? Me, to the Elora Denares? Just because I fell off the horse that one time doesn’t mean I suck at it, you know.” She pouted.
“Yeah, yeah, I get it. Sorry, my bad. Now hold tightly. If you fall, your brother might seriously kill me.” Eon said jokingly.
Elora looked over, where her brother was, on his horse, staring right at Eon, as if trying to stare a hole in him. Clearly furious that Elora was riding with Eon and not him, once again.
A short distance away from them, Nora rode with Elsa. The dark elf sat behind the silver-haired woman, looking more comfortable than she had the day before. Elsa was saying something quiet to her, and Nora was also nodding in reply.
-----
The caravan started moving.
Once they left the village behind and no other people were in sight, some of the elves grew bolder. Heads started poking out of the carriage windows. They looked around at the trees and open fields of the Denares ’ marquessat’s blessed land like they were seeing this much empty space without being used for anything for the first time in their life.
Eon saw this, and realised they might’ve been too accustomed to being in a cramped place, so having seen this open land might be a little too shocking for them after so long. That’s why he didn’t object to them getting their head out now.
One of the elven women leaned out a bit farther and called over to Elsa. “Uhh, Miss Elsa was it? Uh…how much longer until we reach the destination?"
Elsa slowed her horse a little so she could answer clearly. “Why? Tired already? We haven’t even entered the Edger estate yet. You guys’ll have to endure for more than two or three more hours, I think! What do you say? Should I ask the coachman to drive faster?”
The elven woman pulled her head back quickly and laughed awkwardly. “Ohhh… No need to do that for us! Plus the road is already bumpy enough. I feel like I’ll vomit anytime if we go any faster.”
Elsa chuckled along with her. The sound carried through the quiet morning air.
For a moment, the group felt light, with all of their normal interaction, as if nothing had been wrong with their life in the past couple of years. Some of the other elves smiled too, enjoying the small moment of normal talk, making the scene more heartwarming.
But as if breaking their hope of having their long-awaited freedom once again, something blocked their way.
The lead carriage jerked to a sudden halt. The elven woman who had been laughing just now bumped her head against the window frame with a small yelp. She rubbed the spot and looked out, confused. “Wh-what just happened?”
Elsa turned her horse sharply to check on her. “Oi, you okay?”
“Yeah, I’m fine,” the woman called back, waving her hand to let Elsa know not to worry for her.
Elsa rode ahead to the front of the line where Eon sat, looking ahead at a face which she didn’t see before. “What’s going on? Why are we stopping here all of a sudden?”
Eon stared straight down the road, his body tense. “Look ahead. You’ll find out why.”
Elsa followed his gaze and saw a large group of riders coming toward them at an incredible pace. Dust rose behind the horses.
There were at least twenty of them, maybe more. And what’s worse, every one of them didn’t look like ordinary travelers. Weapons glinted in the morning sun at their waist, and they rode in a tight, purposeful formation.
“Bandits?” Elsa asked, her hand already moving toward her sword.
“Looks like it, not sure yet,” Eon said. His voice stayed calm, but his mind was racing, wondering why not a single thing he does in this world works the way he wants it to.
“They’ll reach us in a minute or two,” Alaric said, coming in closer to the front, his soldiers just beside him, ready to guard him any time.
The soldiers that came with them all volunteered to come, knowing the situation of their master’s stance right now, at least enough to make them come without having to ask.
With how they asked Eon last night to let them come with their master, to guard him, made Eon sure that no matter what, these guys are going to come. If he doesn’t allow it, they will come sneakily. And he can’t have that. They might think too highly of Eon, having captured their master in his own trap; but Eon himself knows it too well how vulnerable he was right now. If Alaric wanted, he could have freed himself in several ways, but he didn’t do that. That only means Eon is now treading on thin ice. So trying to make himself look too strict might backfire on him. He realised that too well. Plus, Alaric might not have any intention to disobey and pose any harm to him, but that rule doesn’t apply to his loyal followers. Who knows from where they might strike him, so he has to make sure he doesn’t tread too far in this case.
So, when the soldiers moved their horses and surrounded Alaric’s position, forming a protective ring, Eon didn’t say anything about that. Even though that might look like Alaric was in charge of this group, right now, instead of him. Even though Eon had been leading most of the journey, these men still answered first to their noble master; that fact doesn’t change in any way.
Now staring at the sudden appearance of this big group of bandit-looking people in front of him, Eon turned in his saddle and raised his voice so everyone could hear, making it visible to his elf companions that he was still in charge.
“Everyone, don’t panic. Stay together and don’t leave the group at any cost. I’ll try to talk it out first. Whoever they are, I’ll not let them harm any one of you.”
His words spread quickly through the line. The thirty or so people behind him, elves, servants, and guards, went completely silent. Even the horses seemed to sense the tension in his voice, however much he tried to mask it by raising his voice.
No one moved. The only sound was the growing thunder of hooves coming closer toward them, as almost a hundred men were coming closer to them.
Eon kept his eyes on the approaching riders. His hand rested near his waist, ready if needed, but he hoped it wouldn’t come to that. Behind him, he felt Elora’s arms tighten around his waist. Nora had moved their horse closer to his side, too. The elves inside the carriages had pulled their heads back in, but he could see nervous faces watching from the windows.
Everyone was now nervous, no matter how tough he tried to act just now, to keep them calm.
The bandit group slowed as they got closer. Their leader, a tall man with a scarred face and a heavy cloak, raised his hand. The riders behind him stopped about thirty paces away. Dust settled around them.
For a few long seconds, both groups simply stared at each other.
Eon waited, heart steady but mind sharp. They were almost in Edger county, in their home territory.
But after enduring so much till now, just when he was about to get these elves to a safe place he made a home, a whole group of bandits, numbering in almost a hundred, made him unsure if getting there home in one piece was even an option anymore.