LongestRoad Sil Backstory2
Zahn and I first met in the hallway outside our rooms in the inn. We passed by each other, and he said hello. He apologized for being a part of the argument downstairs. My first impression of him was that he was young, friendly, handsome, and human. I guess I was mostly right.
I remember him staring at me. At the time, my usual outfit was a green robe and hood that I positioned carefully to hide my hair and ears. I was deliberately trying not to be noticeable, and hiding as much of gold skin as I could. If you really wanted to not be noticeable, maybe bright green silk wasn’t the best idea in a drab fishing town. He looked like he wanted to talk some more Read: sleep with her, but I wasn't feeling chatty, so I excused myself and went to my room. Foiled again! No, wait, foiled for the first time. It’s amazing how early in our relationship we hit on our theme.
Zahn's room was next to mine, and the walls were thin. I heard him settle in to sleep as I was preparing to rest for the night. I hadn't yet gotten into the practice of sleeping on a pile of gold--in fact, at that point I didn't have much to make said pile. Instead I meditated and got my four hours of elven restfulness (preemptively: shut up.) and was alert again when a group of people walked down the hallway. It's hard for so many humans to be sneaky in such a setting, and they weren't very well trained. They entered his room, and I heard a scuffle, and then said scuffle moved quickly into the hallway, down the stairs, and out of the inn.
I didn't confront them when they were in front of my room, though I would now. I was still considering my course of action when I saw the group of them outside my window, carrying him down the street. I snuck after them, unnoticed. Despite the noise they made, they didn't wake anyone else up. You'd think that the people of the town wouldn't be so heartless to ignore Zahn's screams, as he sounds so much like a little girl, but there you have it. I was gagged. You didn’t get to hear me scream like a little girl until much later.
I followed them down to the docks and caught up just as the men had finished pummeling him and started binding him tightly. This was the point when I jumped into the fray. I caught a glimpse of him right before they kicked him off the end of the pier. He looked a lot more worried about seeing me there than he had when they were tying him up. He sank when he hit the water. I took a few heavy blows before I could get to the water to go after him. They nearly knocked me out and I staggered as I fell into the water, but recovered after sinking a bit.
At the base of the pier Zahn was struggling with his ropes. I swam down to him and he started spazzing. I thought it was some combination of him running out of air and not being able to see what was grabbing him in the dark. I hauled him up, keeping underneath the pier as much as I could so the group above us wouldn't see us. He got his arms free and held on to me, while I kept a grip on the support of the pier to keep us from drifting out. There was very little moonlight, and we could hear the men arguing loudly over the crash of the waves.
One of them insisted that I had been knocked out before I hit the water, and must have drowned. Another wanted to know where "the hell" I'd come from. There was some argument about who was going back to the inn to get rid of Zahn's stuff, and who was staying here to bust our heads if we came up for air. They said something about trying to find my room, too, and getting more keys from the innkeeper. Eventually, they split up, and we snuck out from under the remaining thug's nose.
We made our way back to the inn, Zahn keeping a few steps behind me the whole way. Ever wonder why? I’ll give you a hint: it involved you being soaking wet. I helped him climb up the wall and into my room through the open window. Once we were safely in the room, we introduced ourselves and I asked him what the story was.
The men were from the mayor. Some of them were actually part of the town guard, so it we wouldn't be able to get help from official channels. The mayor's daughter had actually disappeared, and Zahn was partially responsible, but it was part of a grand scheme for her to get away without any pursuit from her very nasty family.
"It was a brilliant plan," he said softly. "We're seen together a lot for a couple of days, then she vanishes. I'm a stranger here, so I'm blamed. They harass me for a little bit, then there's some swift mob justice with ends up with me drowning in the ocean."
"How is drowning a good plan?"
"A well timed potion of water breathing." He grinned at his own genius. Because it was brilliant. I still challenge you to come up with something better.
I pointed out the large number of things that could have gone wrong with this plan, but he brushed them off as either being contingencies he'd planned for, or too unlikely to be worth considering. The latter included the concept of the thugs being vaguely competent.
"The only thing that went wrong was you showing up. I'm sorry I got you involved." His smile disappeared and he looked genuinely contrite over this, blaming himself for having talked to me earlier, and getting my attention. He said he hadn't realized I was the type of person who'd come to the rescue of a stranger. I had a very skinny, dripping wet young man sitting on the floor of my room, looking very foolish and pleading with me. I know now it was an act, but it was adorable and I fell for it. It didn't take him long to convince me that I was in danger, and that I had to leave town and come with him. There was some ridiculous thing in that speech about him protecting me, but even then I knew it would be the other way around. I didn't mind. I'd forgotten how much I liked good company.
Do you think that whole “I’m pathetic” act would still work on you?
With you, it’s not an act.
In other words, yes. That one gets added to the list.
... You just wait until I get my gold crayon.
