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Chapter 11 - Returning A Part of Your Heart To You

Elbereth's storytelling paused when a red-headed woman walked into the room. Her hair wasn't as bright as Rhistel's. Hers was more orange and his was genuinely red. In her hands, she held folded clothes and objects piled on top that would seem random to anyone normal, but almost everybody in the room recognized what they were. 

"Ms. Eirana," Valka said, surprise coating his voice. "Hello." 

"Good morning, Lord Valka," she greeted, then turned to Elbereth. "I've got something for you."

Elbereth didn't have to vocally say that he knew what it was. Everyone could see plain as day that what Ms. Eirana carried was none other than his assassin's clothes, tools and trinkets. Ms. Eirana handed them to Elbereth when he held his arms out.

"Sorry I'm so late." Ms. Eirana side-eyed Valka. "I actually had to wrestle his stuff away from Zéphyr."

"Was he doing experiments on Elbereth's cloak again?" Rhistel chuckled at the thought as he marked the end of the chapter and began cleaning his quill with a rag. He guessed they were taking a break with the arrival of this new development.

"Having you there would've helped me a lot, you could've physically overpowered him," Eirana breathed out, letting her exasperation fade away.

"I do remember the fact that Zéphyr was wholly entertained by the cloak's fireproof and stab-resistance properties but for him to be entertained by it for twenty long years, that's something else," Valka said.

"Oh, I believe it. Every time I passed by Zéphyr playing with it on my way to the castle, I was wishing I could've just...snatched it from him," Elbereth sighed. He recalled how he couldn't because thievery would've prolonged his release by a few years.

On top of the folded clothes were his knives, bracers, boots and his grappling hook. Along with his crossbody belt straps with little purses attached and the last thing he noticed was a bag of coins.

Elbereth held up the bag of coins by the laces. "Is this what I think it is?"

Valka bobbed his head in a nod. "The money the man you killed stole from you."

"Why are you returning it?"

"Why would we not? It is yours."

Elbereth exhaled deeply in response. He couldn't really argue with the fact that it was his and that he'd murdered a man in cold blood for stealing it from him.

He remembered how much tender he'd gathered throughout the years. A few hundred platinum pieces, about fifty gold pieces, twenty-one silver pieces and three copper pieces. He'd account for every coin later that night, when there was nobody in his room, so as to not seem rude. It was unlikely that anyone would've stolen from him, yet he wanted to make sure it was just anxiety whispering in his ear. Elbereth trusted practically everyone in the Castle of Glass. Anyone close to Valka was a trustworthy soul; Zéphyr Rún not so much. Valka had once described Zéphyr Rún to be the closest person in personality to his psychopath little brother and Elbereth understood almost immediately where that parallel came from.

Elbereth placed his items to the side, giving his full attention to the tan-colored shirt as his friends started up conversations of their own.

"I don't believe I know you," Ms. Eirana said to Sia. She was the only person Eirana didn't know personally. She knew Rhistel well as she worked alongside him on a daily basis. Rhistel often stayed in the classroom with the boy king as a precaution, especially when Elbereth had also been around. Ms. Eirana knew Lady Margoth as a member of the High Council, who was free to lounge about the castle at will.