Elemental Thief Part I : Child of Calamity

Deals

Treasa looked up from where she was sitting on her cot, staring at her hands, trying to calculate just how long the Captain in the cell beside her could sleep, when the outer door banged open and two Guards escorted a sullen, growling Kethan through the processing portion and to the cells.

He met her eyes, and for a moment his expression cleared, as one guard took a hold of him and the other one opened the cell door, before they sent him stumbling into the cell beside hers, where the drunk Captain slept.

Kethan gave the other man a hard look, before moving to sit down on the cot closest to the wall of bars separating his cell from hers, his eyes on the City Guard as they moved around the outer room, idly for nearly an hour.

Kethan was patient, she knew that; she knew he could sit like this for hours if he needed to, playing the part of the beaten, sullen prisoner. And she had explained this in the planning stages, that he wouldn't approach her with anyone around. She wasn't even sure she would approach him with the drunk that was sharing the cell with him, but the man hadn't moved for hours, barely seemed alive except that she could sense his life force in him. One guard left, and the other one took a seat in the far corner of the room, turning his back to the cells as he started doing some form of paperwork.

Treasa knew their words could be heard, but she didn't think Kethan knew as much about the Rulin as he thought he did. He glanced in that direction and smirked as he glanced back at her.

"Little weasel... what a small world we seem to have." He murmured softly, barely above a whisper, and Treasa wondered if he thought that was quiet enough to defeat the Rulin's hearing abilities. "Bit off more than you can chew this time, did you?"

She shook her head and stared stubbornly ahead of her, blinking away the tears she didn't have to fake, merely from his presences, his voice, so close to her. "At least you're not going to be able to do anything about it."

"C'mon, Tra-ysa..." he drawled her name, extending it in the wrong places, making it sound so alien, so much worse than it really was. "Come closer. You know I don't like talking too loudly."

"You know what I realised, about the prospect of probably spending the rest of my life in a Rulin prison, even if that's until the next round of executions?" She turned and looked at him then, gritting her teeth and glaring at him as hard as she could, forcing her expression to be angry, not hurt. "You have nothing on me anymore. I don't need to listen to you ever again."

"Where's your loyalty?" He growled at her. "I took you in, gave you a roof, food, protection."

"You sold me out!" She yelled, wincing as the Rulin guard stood and stalked to the cells, growling at her.

"I told you, you little brat, you shut your mouth, or we'll put you in solitary again." The guard growled at her in old speak, nodding towards the back hallway.

There was an office there, a safe place she could go if she needed to end this immediately. Despite the menace of severity in the guard's expression, they were there for her safety. She reminded herself of that.

Solitary was an escape, not a punishment, but she shook her head, shifting away from the edge of the cot. "No, sir. I'll be quiet. I'm sorry. I don't need that again, I promise."

"Just stay quiet." He growled, before looking at Kethan. "And you, I don't want to hear another word between you two."

He turned and stalked away from the cell, pacing for several minutes, daring them to challenge him, before sitting down and returning to work. Kethan watched him for a long moment, and Treasa recognised that expression, knowing Kethan thought he would be free and able to end that man's existence soon. Kethan didn't suffer disrespect, even from his jailers, it would seem.