Chapter Twelve

Once dinner was finished and the dishes cleared, they sat and drank as Ven ate her sweetroll. Master Eujin had hot tea, and to her surprise put up no resistance when she ordered herself an ale. Mother would have had a fit had she even suggested it back home. So she ordered another. Then another. Only when she started on her fourth and could feel the world getting all light and fuzzy did he very subtly make the Cant sign for “that’s enough” with the tips of his fingers on the table. Ven pouted at him, but when he made it clear with his eyes that he wasn’t kidding, she sighed and nodded.

They were given a room on the third story of the rearmost building behind the tavern, with a window that looked out over its roof. Whatever fuzziness she’d been feeling from the ale before was now strong enough that she could barely walk, and on more than one occasion Master Eujin had to catch her by the arm to keep her from tottering to the ground. The stairs were such a nightmare to ascend that after the first flight Master Eujin finally gave up on waiting on her, threw her over his shoulder, and carried her the rest of the way up.

The room was small but warm, despite the chill outside, thanks to the heat from a central wood furnace being piped into the room. There was only one large bed, but she barely noticed that fact as Master Eujin dropped her rather unceremoniously onto it. It mercifully gave with a soft whump, and she kicked her slippers off before curling further into the pillows. The whole world was spinning now, like she was sitting on the spoke of a cart wheel as someone spun it as fast as they possible could. Was this what drinking ale was always like? She could barely keep her eyes open, and every movement made her dizzy and want to throw up. She shifted on the mattress and groaned as another wave of nausea washed over her.

“Wish you had stopped earlier, now?” Master Eujin asked.

“Yes.” Ven said, trying to say the word while trying to open her mouth as little as possible.

“That feeling will go away with time. Sleep helps.” He replied.

“Is it always like this?” She asked.

“Yes. If you drink enough of it.”

“Why would anyone choose to do this to themselves? It’s awful.”

Master Eujin snorted.

“It has its uses, especially if you are trying to forget something. And you eventually get used to it.” He said.

He grabbed a blanket from the folded pile on the chair in the corner of the room and laid it gently over top of her.

“Get some sleep, kid. Tomorrow morning’s gonna be rough.” He said.

Ven wanted to ask him what he meant by that last comment, but sleep was catching up to her so quickly she could barely manage more than a yawn before she was fast asleep.

Eujin looked down at the gently snoring figure of the girl on the bed for a long moment and sighed quietly.

“Sleep well, Syrvena.” He said softly, before sliding out of the room and closing the door noiselessly behind him.

When Ven awoke next, it felt like someone had stomped on her head. Judging by the darkness of the room and the lack of light coming through the shutters, it was still sometime before dawn. It wasn’t the pain that woke her, though. Her bladder felt like it was about to burst. If she didn’t relieve herself, Master Eujin was going to wake up next morning to find a deflated husk and a suspiciously wet mattress where she used to be. She sat up with a wince of pain as the throbbing in her skull intensified. She groped around on the floor for her slippers and pulled them on. She was about to slide out of bed when Master Eujin’s voice spoke from the darkness of the nearby corner and nearly made her jump out of her skin.

“Where are you going, Ven?”

She looked directly into the place where his voice had come from, but she could not see anything in the darkness. Either he was so adept at blending into darkness that he matched the shadows, or he was actually invisible.

“I need to use the latrine.” She said, looking around for some sign of him.

“Do you feel capable of using it on your own?” He asked.

Ven scowled in his general direction.

“Yes, I suspect I can manage.” She said.

“Very well. If you have not returned in a few minutes, expect me to come looking for you.” He said, then added, “And take your blade with you.”

“I don’t see why that’s necessary.” She said, walking towards the door.

A steel grip clapped onto her shoulder as another hand forced her sheathed dagger into her hand.

“I will determine what is necessary.” He said, his voice directly behind her.

She spun around to say something to him, but he wasn’t there. She slapped the lumenite rod by the door, causing the room to flare to life with light, but once lit, the room was entirely empty. Feeling more than a little freaked out, Ven darkened the lumenite lamp again and shut the door behind her

How the hell does he do that?

The latrines for the inn were a dozen or so paces behind the building they were staying in, but it still took Ven several minutes to get there. The three flights of stairs to the ground were a nightmare to traverse when she felt like this, and she had to pause several times to keep herself from puking over the railings. There were three outhouses, the trio lit at either end by free-standing lumenite lamps that glowed gently in the surrounding darkness. As she approached the closest one, she thought for a brief moment she saw something dart between two of the little buildings, but when she peered between them, she saw nothing but swaying grass fields receding into the distance.

Seeing no other sign of anything moving, she chalked it up to the alcohol messing with her. She pulled the latrine door closed behind her and barred it closed. She was nearly finished when a hard pounding on the latrine door nearly sent her flying out of her skin.

“Occupied!”

Someone pounded again, this time hard enough to rattle the door in its metal hinges. Ven, feeling her instincts starting to go off, quietly pulled her dagger from its sheath.

“Master Eujin, if it’s you, I will be out in a moment.” She said, more softly than before. She felt certain she could have whispered it and he’d have still heard her. Finding herself no longer having to go, she pulled up her trousers and peered out through a crack in the door. There was nothing there but grass.

I swear, I am going to scream at him if he keeps doing things like this to me.

The door rattled again, and this time Ven lost her temper. She threw the door bar up and stormed out, blade in hand.

“I said, it’s occupi-!” She started, but froze when she found herself face to face with the man Master Eujin had named Kassadin Krin.

“Oh, how rude of me.” He said, grinning viciously. “I had no idea!”