The World Wanderer Chronicles

Ch. 8 (or the one with an attempted defenestration and the demolition of a door)

It was morning when she woke up to the pounding at her door, though it wasn't exactly morning. The sun shone high and bright through her window, but Liliana had buried her face deep into her pillow. The pounding continued on. Her friends knew not to disturb her before sunrise or up to four hours after that—not that they could wake her, even if they wanted to, but it seemed to be important.

'Alright, alright! I'm up.' She rolled out of bed in a huff and put on a dressing gown. The room was protected against the cold weather outside, but it was still not warm enough for her standards. With a few quick strokes, she untangled her hair on her way to open the door.

'Good Morning, good-looking.' Bellard grinned his dopey smile and waved enthusiastically. Delya stood behind her brother and carried a tray with fruits, fresh bread and a spread of different cheeses and meat.

'We brought breakfast.' She curtsied softly upon seeing Liliana, who gave her a quick nod in return.

'You're feeling better, I see,' she sighed at Bellard. His energy was already too much for her. 'I preferred you yesterday evening more.'

'But I was absent the whole evening and suffered all alone in my room,' he complained.

'Exactly,' she replied smugly, 'and now come on in.' 

After closing the door behind her two friends, she built a wall of compressed air again to shut out any potential listeners. She slumped down onto her bed, while the other two took place on the floor. Delya began distributing their breakfast evenly, but she declined and nibbled on an apple slice instead.

'I guess you two didn't have the time to require intel yet?' Delya shook her head disappointedly. A muffled something that sounded highly unintelligible came out of Bellard's full mouth.

'Manners, Bel. I can't believe you have royal blood in you.' He swallowed his food like a dying snake and nearly choked if it weren't for Delya who gave him a soft pat on the back. 

'We just arrived,' he choked out. 'It's impossible to gather information after the amount of undigested food I had to puke out yesterday,' he said with a red face. 

'We're eating, Bel!' 

'And I may have the blood of a royal, but my heart is that of a rogue.' 

'The heart of an idiot, that's what you have.' Delya giggled at her comment. 'Anyway,' she continued, 'we might have a problem.' 

'So soon?' Delya's laugh died down, and her clear blue eyes widened with fear. 

'Unfortunately. The situation forced me to engage with the innkeeper's guest. It turns out he is a noble. A lord, if I'm correct, or at least the son of one. The chance that I'll see him again at the palace is very high.' 

'But isn't that good? I mean—' Bellard hesitated. He looked uncomfortable. His red face turned pale. She really contemplated the decision to have those two as her intelligencers. Their faces rarely hid any emotions. 'You can use him for information, and if he is smitten enough, he can bail you out of situations. Have him vouch for you.' 

'Because it's always a good thing to have a noble in your corner, right?' she repeated the exact words of Red. 

'Exactly!' Bellard boasted, puffing his chest out proudly. 'Wrapping a guy's heart around your finger is nothing for you. I bet you already have his whole backstory figured out.' Bellard's emotion changed from hesitant to actively excited about seeing his Boss emotionally manipulating a fellow lord. 

'You're exaggerating.' Bellard leaned back and crossed his arms defiantly. He raised his eyebrows, challenging her to deny his accusations. 'Alright!' She knew when to give up. Bellard was rarely right, but when he was, there was no arguing with him. He spread out his hand like a conductor introducing the next show, smirking smugly at his victory. She gave into his dramatics.