Borrowed Time

Chapter 1

It was a calm night on the Boiling Isles, and Luz was curled up on an old beanbag chair in her room, rereading an Azura book for probably the 30th or 40th time. When she was feeling a little glum or homesick, she found rereading them was a source of comfort. She'd zoned out for several hours that way, absorbed in her book even as the night grew darker and the light from her candle was little more than a flicker.

Just as she was nearing the end of her book, there came a quiet little rapping at her window. She glanced across the room, brows raised in surprise.

"... Hooty?"

Nothing.

Hm. Maybe she was imagining things.

Luz stood and stretched, her muscles a bit cramped from sitting for so long. She let out a yawn.

Rap tat tat tat.

She froze. Her eyes were drawn to her window. That ... she hadn't imagined that. Frowning, she asked again,

"Hooty? Is that you?"

It didn't seem likely, if she was being honest. Gentle tapping on her window was not Hooty's style. Smashing through it was much more in-character for him.

Which ... left her with quite a mystery.

Rap tat tat tat.

Luz swallowed. Maybe it was, uh, a bird? Or something? Heck, maybe it was a piece of trash blowing in the wind. Although it didn't really sound like it.

As the sound came again, this time louder and more persistent, Luz decided to stop messing around and just go check. So she crossed the room, unlatched the stained-glass window and opened it cautiously.

Luz had been expecting potentially a number of possibilities: a piece of trash, a bird, a raccoon, maybe a little demon looking to build a nest, or maybe King had somehow got himself stuck on the roof again. What she was not expecting was to see the Golden Guard floating on his staff directly outside her bedroom window, creepy mask and all.

Survival instincts kicking in, she yelped and backed away immediately, scrambling for where she'd left a stack of magic glyphs. Oh, god, oh god where did she put them?

In a half-hushed voice, he spoke;

"Whoa, whoa, hold on, it's ok– I'm not here to fight."

Her eyes darted up to him and she saw he was holding his hands up to indicate he was unarmed. Which was technically inaccurate since he had his staff, but he strangely sounded like he meant what he said.

Luz narrowed her eyes at him. He slowly reached up and pulled off his mask, tucking it into the folds of his cloak. He looked at her appeasingly.

"If I'd wanted to attack or anything I wouldn't have bothered to announce myself, right?"

Luz frowned, crossing her arms.

"I guess that's a fair point. But, then ... what do you want?"

His reply took her off guard.

"I came here to talk."

She blinked at him. She tried to imagine what he meant; was he going to issue a threat? Pass along some taunts from Belos? Was he looking to bargain or something?

"All right, I'm listening."

She waited patiently, but he seemed to almost freeze. He began to try and speak but then stopped short, almost as if struggling to get the words out. He looked visibly frustrated, and Luz felt her curiosity spike. What was going on?