Mary woke up to find Dratless pulling her bedroll out front under her with a violent yank.
“Get up, there’s breakfast.” He grunted. The sun was just barely peeking over the horizon, the sky growing paler with each passing minute. It was obnoxiously plain to Mary that Dratless was annoyed with her, but it was a little difficult to talk it through with their new companion crouching nearby, frying up some robin’s eggs on a flat stone. The smell of cooking food was enough to bring Mary to her feet, brushing dirt from her dress as she made a point of ignoring the Goblin. Dratless folded the bedroll and went back to packing in as sulky a manner as he could possibly manage. He kept glancing back at them, however, an action that Mary could not help but find irritating. Kin flashed a cheery grin at her as she sat down beside him. There weren’t many eggs on the stone but she gave her best impression of admiration as he scraped her small portion onto a leaf and handed it to her. She swallowed it without tasting it before accepting some of the biscuits Dratless had packed for them. She took a moment to observe Kin, now that the initial surprise of their meeting had worn off somewhat. Gone was the faint air of desperation that had clouded him when they had first met. He now seemed comfortable and confident in his new company, as if sleeping by their side had somehow created a bond of trust between them. In a way Mary supposed it had, considering how he had neither stolen their supplies nor slit their throats while they slept. She supposed she ought to give him some credit for that. Dratless, however, was beyond the benefit of the doubt where Kin was concerned, and simply eyed his portion of eggs suspiciously before refusing it, preferring instead to munch on some of the queer, smelly dried fish he favoured.
Kin simply shrugged and took it for himself, turning to face Mary. He was quite handsome she decided, though in truth she didn’t have much to compare him with. He had a long but well-proportioned face with a thick mop of curly light brown hair to cap it off. His long, lean body was clothed in a manner that reminded Mary of the acting troupe she had seen in Moon Bay when she was ten years old. They had been loitering around their caravan after a show, and most of the men had been dressed in white shirts and patterned vests, quite similar to the one Kin was wearing. She had thought them quite strange and exotic.
“Did you ever do any acting?” she found herself asking as her eyes travelled over the vest, brown with a faded gold design running over it. He seemed mildly surprised by the question.
“Funny you should ask. I did spend some time with an acting troupe, yes. Rather a niche group, though, as far as material. It, uh, didn’t last long.” He said uncomfortably, though he patched it over with a smile.
“How about you? Ever done much acting?” he asked.
“Only in my lessons.” She answered with a grin, but it faded rapidly when Dratless hissed at her for quiet. Kin laughed, ignoring the Goblin, but he didn’t ask any more questions about acting. Instead he tossed away his empty leaf, announcing that they ought to make haste if they wished to reach Halfhome by nightfall.
Dratless hefted the sack over his shoulder and gave Kin yet another suspicious look before marching off in the direction Kin had indicated.
Dratless had wasted no time in urging Mary that they ought to reveal as little of themselves as possible, but it was incredibly difficult to not be drawn into conversation with Kin. The very idea of having someone new to talk to was so novel that she doubted she could have kept her mouth shut had he not been half as interesting as he happened to be. It also didn't help that he seemed so interested in her. Mary thought that Dratless ought to realise that the more suspicious he acted, the more suspicious they would seem. There was no point in trying to avoid discovery if all it did was make people ask more questions. Mary did her best to seem calm and natural, not quite avoiding Dratless' disapproval in the process. She attempted to carefully avoid many of the topics that might give her away, such as her altercation with Kadley and their ultimate destination, keeping the conversation light. She had always thought herself to be quite boring in truth, but Kin's questions kept coming despite her best attempts to deflect them. By mid morning Kin had discovered that her father had been a sea captain, and her mother a Witch. Dratless seemed quite horrified when it came out that Kin had witnessed Mary performing magic, and demanded quite forcefully that Kin keep quiet about it until he had gained a rather nervous guarantee of discretion from the young man. Once that was accomplished he lapsed into a rather pronounced silence as he trudged along, the kind of silence that made Mary more aware of him than if he had been shouting in her ear.
