Eight Intertwined

182 - Lantern

Night was rushing in fully across the streets of Goldshore. The hours were shuffling by at a snail's pace, never quite fast enough for Therion's tastes. He understood now more than ever why Ophilia had wanted to rush off after Lianna and the Savior immediately. The waiting was just as agonizing as a battle would have been, and Therion didn't know how he was supposed to sit there with his dread for an entire night. Even if he slept his way through most of it, the pit in his stomach refused to be satisfied by anything but the complete destruction of the Savior. 

Therion had lingered out in the streets for long enough though. He had finished his other errand ages ago, and he no longer had that reason to stay out as he had been for hours already. Sooner or later, he would need to make his way back to the inn. Therion only hoped that he would be ready for it when the moment came. He was on his way toward the inn again, but his emotions didn't seem to want to catch up with his feet. 

Therion pushed the door to the inn open slowly, balancing his findings from the day in a bag. He didn't need anyone to ask why he had such a strange ensemble of goods, especially with the day the travelers had already endured. All that mattered now was finding Ophilia and talking to her. Therion couldn't say he was confident in what he was going to say to her, but he also knew she wasn't going to care. At this point, she would take any comfort regardless of how poorly executed it was. 

Therion stopped just outside of Ophilia and Tressa's inn room, rapping his knuckles on the door. "It's me," Therion said bluntly. He immediately wished he had at least tried to seem composed instead of letting his fears run wild and rip him to shreds. Ophilia needed him to be strong, and Therion couldn't fail her now. 

"Come in."

As soon as he heard Ophilia's voice from within the room, Therion pushed the door open and walked inside. Ophilia was sitting on her bed and staring down at the floor in front of her feet. Therion didn't know how long she had been alone, but he was certain that he probably wasn't going to like the answer. Therion sat down beside her, and Ophilia moved over enough to make room for him on the mattress. "Do you need something?" Ophilia asked softly. Even when her life had been ruined a few short hours ago, she found the power to help others. It was as admirable as it was terrifying, and Therion almost wished she wasn't trying to help him of all people right now. She should have been looking out for herself, but Ophilia could never only think of herself. She always needed to help others no matter how trying the situation became. 

"I got you a few things," Therion replied. He dug his hand into his bag before producing the dagger he had stolen from Vanessa's belongings. "I thought you would need this." He didn't explain the origin of the knife, but he didn't have to. Ophilia just needed to know that it was a nice dagger, the perfect weapon with which to cut her sister free of the chains that had come to bind her. 

"Therion, this looks so expensive!" Ophilia gasped, staring down at the dagger's hilt. She refused to pull it out of its sheath, and Therion knew it was because she was trying to shove down the disgust with herself at what she would have to do. She would need to kill the Savior to save Lianna, and she didn't regret it at all. "Where did you find this?"

Therion shrugged. "She deserved to lose it," he said simply, and recognition dawned on Ophilia's face. Vanessa's dagger had been bought with the money she had gained from exploiting people, and the travelers probably wouldn't have been able to afford it even if they pooled their finds... But Vanessa had no use for the knife anymore. She had given up the knife when she gave up her integrity, and in that way, Therion would argue that it was never hers in the first place. Ophilia was a much better dagger wielder in his opinion anyway. 

Ophilia examined the knife for a few seconds longer before she set it on the table beside her bed. "Thank you, Therion." Her gaze settled on the bag on Therion's lap. "Wait... You said you had multiple things to give me, didn't you?"