Where? (Sinbad)

15. Uninvited Guest

"Who are you?" Sinbad asked with a stern tone.

The boy simply huffed and looked around, carefully examining everyone present in the room.  His cold gaze landed on Eve, who returned the gesture in kind.

"Hey, I'm asking you a question!" Sinbad raised his voice slightly, leaning closer to the assailant. "Who are you with? Where are you from?" 

Silence was all that answered him. The boy's gaze was still locked on Eve.

"This brat," Pipirika started.

"If you don't answer, we won't let you go. You don't want to die here, do you?" Hina threatened, though his words seemed to mean less than little as the boy's gaze didn't tear away from Eve. Both of them were making eye contact and neither one seemed ready to give up.

Eve sighed in frustration before walking up to the boy. She kneeled down, pushing her weight onto her heels as she did, allowing her to look him in the eye. "I'm going to go ahead and throw out a wild guess here; seeing as how you were targeting this idiot," she pointed her thumb behind to her to the now offended Sinbad. 

"Hey!" He remarked, though Eve ignored the comment.

"I'm assuming you were sent by Parthevia, right? Now, I can't say I know a whole lot about the country, but I'm going to guess they didn't send just you. They probably sent another... let's say two, maybe three people with you?" Eve continued.

The boy's eyes quickly landed on her's. His brows furrowed together and even though the mask, his frustrated frown was clear. "Why you-"

Before he got the chance to speak, she cut him off, raising her hand and putting her finger to her lips. Surprisingly, it worked and he went silent. "I'm not finished yet."

Sinbad, Pipirika, and Hina watched Eve gain control of the situation within only a few minutes, not quite sure how she did it. 

"You're quite young to have fallen into this line of work," Eve remarked as she pushed herself up to a standing position. "You must have some pretty good skills to have gotten by like this."

Sinbad took a step forward, making Eve look up at him and taking her gaze away from the assassin. A small 'tch' sound was barely audible as the assailant sneered.

"Hey! Was that a sneer?" Sinbad quickly looked at the assassin, before he began scolding him. "You have attitude problem or something? And to a lady, nonetheless! Are you listening?!"

The assassin simply huffed and looked away before Sinbad scoffed and continued.

"You shouldn't be doing this at that age," Sinbad warned, waving his finger in the air like he was casting a spell that could teach the child manners. Eve took a step back, her expression blank and unreadable as she watched the conversation unfold silently. "I don't know what you've been through, but you'll make your parents sad. Do you think you can live a proper life doing this? You can't grow up into a decent man this way, get it?"

Something Sinbad had said caught Eve's attention. "Sinbad," she started, a somewhat pitiful and slightly concerned expression coating her features as she spoke. "... this child probably doesn't have parents... to have fallen into this line of work at such a young age..."

She didn't need to finish for the point to get across. Sinbad's expression was hard to read. he looked somewhat frustrated and sad at the same time. Eve nearly thought it was pity for the boy that was concerning the sailor, but she couldn't quite tell.

"Shut up..." a low whisper called.

"Watch the way you talk!" Sinbad chastised. "That's the problem, I'm telling you. Don't you think that'll bring shame to your parents?"