Permafrost Slumber

Chapter 10

The following morning's chill brings the Captain's sleep to a slow, but steady, halt. A shiver runs down his spine and wakes him from his unexpectedly restful night. No dreams or odd visions were troubling him, or perhaps he did dream of something but forgotten once he woke up, it is impossible to know for certain.
As the Captain sits upward, he stretches briefly and his joints seem to welcome the relief, it seems that he has yet to recover from the time spent sleeping on the possibly rock-filled mattress from prison.
Standing up, the Captain takes a moment to properly make his bed then quietly peeks over the edge of the tarp separating him and Kallen. Considering how quiet it was, the Captain expected to see Kallen sleeping away soundly, but his heart skipped a beat when all he saw was an unmade bed and all of Kallen's belongings missing. Witnessing such a sight, the Captain can't control himself and a worried set of words escaped his lips in a hushed tone:

Captain: Oh no...

As the Captain rushes back to his bed to pick up his fur coat and hurriedly put it on, he almost doesn't notice something scribbled on the wall with the corner of his eye. Taking a moment to glance at whatever it was, the Captain soon discovers that it is a message, with rather crooked letters, from Kallen written with what seems to be like coal smears that read:

"I have to retrieve the Oath of Judah. I lost my guns, I feel vulnerable, and YOU better have a plan for getting them back. I'm not leaving this world without my guns, and especially not without Judah! If my hunch is right, the Judah should still be at the Cookhouse. If everything goes well I'll be back before noon."

At the bottom of the message, there's a palm-sized space left that separates a second message and a cute chibi-style drawing of Kallen's face giving a wink with her right eye while holding a two-fingered sign of victory at the end of it that reads:

"Don't worry, I have a clever disguise in mind that will help me blend in with the crowd."

Knowing Kallen, the only way she could disguise herself would be as a Keeper of Faith, a Cleric, or perhaps she hoped that no one would remember her white fur coat and be mistaken for someone else.
Fearing the worst, the Captain finishes putting on his coat and then rushes toward the door, but as soon as he swings the door open he is met with Nightingale who held her hand leveled to her face with the back of her hand turned toward the door. She likely intended to knock but the door swung open so suddenly she was caught off guard.

Nightingale: Oh, you're still here. And I thought you'd left just like your companion did. Are you alright? You seem a little nervous.

The Captain composes himself and tries to move a little bit to block Nightingale's line of sight in an attempt to block Kallen's wall scribblings and says:

Captain: I'm sorry. I just woke up and my companion went missing. I haven't heard her leave the room and I'm afraid she might do something... uncalled for.

Nightingale doesn't seem surprised, she frowns as she glances sideways to her right, looking at nothing particular, and seems to be a little bothered about something as she briefly ponders about what the Captain just said. After a moment's pause, Nightingale then weakly smiles and says:

Nightingale: I guess Otto was right about your companion then, but I didn't believe him.

Captain: What do you mean?

Nightingale: He said that she'd sneak off to look for something that's been the talk of the city for a few days. An oversized item she was carrying and left at the Cookhouse on the city's northern side. People tried to move it but it was impossibly heavy.

Nightingale then crosses her arms and continues:

Nightingale: She didn't strike me as the daring type. On account of how she behaves around me. Do I seem that frightening to you?