It had been three weeks since Konnor and his friends had come back to Malik's tavern. Spring had arrived, the sun was out earlier, the air felt warmer, the muddy paths were now mostly dry. The rich townsfolks were now swapping their heavy fur coats for silky robes and classy shoes. The city was preparing to celebrate the Circadium, a grand celebration about giving and receiving where most people would exchange gift with their loved ones, light candles and pray to the Creator. Therefore the city was getting a lot of traffic, new merchants from far away countries and thus way more people to serve at the tavern. Konnor's day were busy. Wake up, prepare the main room, serve the clients, have a small break and back to work until nightfall and then he would just fall from exhaustion into bed. Ever since his breakout and under Richard's and Malik's recommendation he had not been away from the tavern. Maureen and Izi were also getting worked to exhaustion so the trio did not have much time to interact with each other until one night.

  It was an evening like any other, customers were taking their bedrooms, finishing their meals and drinks and emptying the main room one after another. Konnor was finishing to sweep the floor and was ready to go and pass out in his bed. He placed the broom on the door near the kitchen and was ready to run into his room. As he was making his way up the stairs he caught a glimpse of a hooded figure entering a room at the end of the corridor. He did not see this person enter the tavern, it looked like the build of a woman. " Seems kinda suspicious .. ". He approached the door that he saw the figure enter and peeked inside. The room was barely lit and he could not make the shapes inside of it from the angle he was. " Why is it so dark in there ? Usually I can see pretty well in the dark. " The answer was quite simple, as he looked up, he realised he could see the difference between the lighting of the ceiling and whatever was in front of him. He then realised that it was not dark because he could not see the person, what he was looking at was the person staring back at him from the other side, barely an inch away from the door. Realising the position he was in, he jumped back and got into a fighting stance, ready to fend off whoever it was.

  " Unless you want broken bones you better come out of here! "

  As a response he heard a woman giggling from the other side of the door. The door then opened to a woman in a dark silky hood. The hood was so dark it could make shadows stand out. She then lifted her hood and Konnor relaxed himself.

  " Helen, what are you doing? "

  " I was getting into my room before someone tried to take a peek. " She walked closer to him and made her finger dance on his chest, she leaned over and whispered into his ear. " You know if you wanted to see me with less clothes, you just needed to ask. "

  Trying to hide the fact he was blushing, he moved her hand away and looked to the side.

  " I just did not see you in a few days and I did not remember that it was specifically your room. "

  " You have been here yet absent boy, I see you everyday and I do work here. "

  " I guess you are right.. "

  He looked into the distance, not knowing how to follow up on this. She then took him by surprise and grabbed his hand to bring him into her room.

  " Come here and sit down, I feel like you need to talk. "

  " Hmm, ok .. "

  The room was like every other room of the tavern except she had arranged a small cupboard full of books. The smell inside the room was peculiar, it was a mix of vanilla and some weird sour chemical.

  " Here, take a sit "

  Without saying a word he sat down on the bed and watched her sit down on the ground in front of him. She sat there, smiling at him in silence. This whole situation was extremely awkward, he had no idea of what to do.

  " Hmmm, nice shelf. "

  " You really need to work on your social skills young man. "

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  " I guess, what are we supposed to talk about ..? "

  She brought her legs towards her and rested her chin on her knees.

  " I don't know, how about you explain why you look the way you like now? "

  " It's a very long story. "

  " I like to listen. "

  " It's just ... things happened, I found my friend, got out and came back. "

  " That's it? "

  " Yeah, that's it. "

  " Don't you feel like you rushed me through somethings? "

  " I don't know, maybe ... "

  " And your friends, how are they feeling in the aftermath of this 'not so important thing that caused me to disappear for a month' ?

  Konnor had a heavy sigh and layed down on the bed and stared at the ceiling. To be able to speak he needed to not look at her.

  " I guess they are fine. "

  " You 'guess'? "

  " Yeah."

  " Did you ask them? "

  " Not really ... we haven't talked that much since we got back. "

  "That's your issue, talk to them. I guess now your skin is as dense as you are. "

  " I guess I deserved that ... "

  " Stop guessing, start thinking. You don't seem to lack empathy but you sure do lack reflection. " She then stood up and sat next to him on the bed, resuming her previous position with her knees against her chest. " But at least I'm glad you came back safely. "

  " Yes, thanks to your advice, but how did you know ... about the ring and the path? "

  She took a slight moment to think and looked at the ceiling.

  " I see things sometimes, they can be words, situations, it can be smells but it's never in order. Sometimes I see things that can happen next week. So it's more of a hunch as to when I need to listen to it. One time, I remember my mom and I were walking and she asked ..."

  While she was explaining her visions, Konnor realised she seemed different than the other times he spoke to her, she seemed younger, more animated but like a completely different person.

  " ... and that's how I discovered she had stolen my mirror and my mother wouldn't believe it when I told her how I knew. "

  She tilted her head to the side, noticing he was simply staring at her but had no emotion on his face. She leaned forward to the point she could feel his breath on her skin and gently flicked his forehead with her index finger. The flick brought him back to his senses.

  " Hey! What was that for?! "

  " Because you were lost in your head."

  She then got closer to the same point but this time gently pressed her lips against his only to back away and sit down in her usual position. The young man was frozen.

  " Wh- what was that for? "

  " Does anything that happens to you need a reason? "

  " Well for something like this, yes. "

  She smiled at him, stood up and took his hand to make him stand up. She led him to the door and opened it.

  " We will talk again but for now, go talk to your friend. "

  Once he was out of the room he stood still in the hallway wondering what this strange encounter was about. " This woman is a complete mystery, but she is right, I need to talk to Izi. ". Taking a deep breath he entered their bedroom and found Izi already in bed with his back towards him. Removing his shirt he got in bed and kept his back turned.

  " Hey Izi, are you awake? "

  No answer from his friend, his calm breathing made it seem like he was asleep.

  " Ok hummm, I've been thinking.. well not really. I've been doing things automatically ever since we got out. What they did to me, it was horrible, I wished to die so many times. Sometimes when I close my eyes and I open them again, I'm still in this room, with a chain digging in my wrist. I can't feel pain anymore yet I feel it. Some nights I wake up and I feel the poison in my veins, it burns so much... And I did not want to worry all of you. I figured that it was behind us so I didn't want to speak about it. I did not think you guys wanted to talk about it and to tell the truth I'm scared Izi. I'm scared every night that some Nightingales are gonna bust down the door and take revenge on all of you for this." Konnor paused, Izi was still silent. " My parents paid the price for a mistake I made and it forced me and my brother to run away, then a mistake of mine got my brother killed, I was scared of losing you. "

  The silence fell between the two of them. He couldn't bring himself to even look over his shoulder to see his friend. He then felt Izi moving around to turn in his direction.

  " Me too, I have nightmares of my 'dad'. He was the only person that mattered to me because I did not understand how things were supposed to be. But you showed me how it's supposed to be. " Izi forced Konnor to turn towards him, he had tears in his eyes. His young face was a complete mess of tears and snot. " I hate saying it but I called you my friend a lot and I don't think I ever did that with anyone. And.. and I was terrified of losing you because you mean a lot even if you are stupid and you annoy me but you are always there and you did risk so much for me even though you barely know me. "

  Konnor wiped the tears from Izi's face, he then pulled him in to hug him and patted his back as Izi kept on crying on him. Once he had calmed down, he backed away just enough so that the two of them were an inch away. Just like Helen did to him, he leaned over and just pressed his lips against Izi's. " What am I doing? ". His body had moved before he could even think of what he was doing. He backed away as slowly as he leaned in, Izi stood there dumbfounded. To dissipate the awkwardness of the moment Konnor decided to lay down.

  " Let's just sleep, ok? "

  " Ye-yeah."

  Izi layed down but decided to rest his head on his friend's chest this time. For the first time in weeks, the both of them had a peaceful night.