25th of Fall
OOC: Continuation of this thread.
The city of deceit was like a smooth merchant in ragged clothes, leaping out of some God forsaken back-alley, a dazzling smile curving his lips. At first Timothy had thought it an wondrous place. There was an unquestionable undercurrent of magic, that mixture of fear and awe tickling the soul. But wonder was easily replaced by fear when dwelling endlessly through the city's slithering maze.
His first time out of the inn, and the first time away from Sayana's motherly gaze had returned memories of wandering through Sunberth alone oh so many years ago. The streets had been draped in an eerie silence, his footsteps but a muffled noise. Houses, heavy-lidded with their curtains drawn, had looked on with indifference. What's becoming of me? he'd wondered. All else seemed so distant now. His life stable, more so than it had ever been, but the future still uncertain and well out of his grasp.
Andreas demanded a great deal of his time. During the day he was happy to have something to invest effort into, even though the crying sometimes gave him an headache. Yet it weren't Andreas's cries that kept him awake at night. Rather, it was the crushing weight of responsibility hanging over him. Without Sayana he would have no food, no place to stay, and no means to take care of that poor baby boy. The one he had stolen. The one he'd torn from a good home. The one whose dull, but stable future he had replaced with one brimming with uncertainties.
For the moment he had resolved to enjoying all Sayana had offered. The place they stayed in was unlike anything he'd ever seen. Spacious. Pretty things on the wall. The softest bed in all the land and furniture of the finest make. It wasn't very home-like, but he didn't mind sleeping on the couch for the rest of the season.
While Sayana was away, Timothy had managed to produce some tea. He'd spied a few times how Sayana had done it, though he wasn't quite sure if the herbs were supposed to go in before or after the water had boiled. With Andreas soundly asleep, Timothy had made himself comfortable on the couch. A steaming hot mug of strong tea cooled on a wooden tea-table which he'd repositioned to be within arms reach. A thick book smelling of dusty old things rested in his lap, his finger slowly tracing the words as he attempted to decipher the page's hidden meaning.
When the door opened, Timothy jumped up and rushed towards it. "Sayana, do you know what this word mea-?" He stopped there, the book nearly slipped out of his hands. "Who is she?"
In spite of all that Sayana had done for him, he had never managed to qualm a sense of unease upon meeting another Eypharian. There was something distinctly off-putting about their many arms that, even after having resided in the presence Sayana, never quite ceased to take hold of him. His eyes traced the girl. She looked graceful, regardless of the chains put on her. Without those chains, he would certainly have deemed her haughty. Instead, she resembled a life-like doll with her big eyes and flowing hair. Puzzled, Timothy's eyes darted between the two of them before fixating upon the girl's collar. "Is she...our guest?" he asked hopefully. His stomach clenched in anticipation. Of course she wasn't a guest. It looked like servitude. It reeked of slavery.
He had never conceived Sayana capable of such a thing.
