After the fall

Chapter 15

"What are you doing here?" Theron said in a monotone voice directed at Lapisa, there was an apparent look of puzzlement on his face. "What are you doing here?" Lapisa spits back at Theron making him roll his eyes at her behavior but he stays quiet. After clearing her throat to break the awkwardness that had been created by Theron's lack of response, Lapisa once again opened her mouth "so... um... you come here often?". The question came out somewhat awkwardly causing Lapisa to scratch her neck a bit, "why do you care?" was the response she got from Theron. "I don't. I just need to find my way out of here" Lapisa quickly spat out, "well solve it yourself, it's not my problem that a newbie like you came here by yourself".

Due to the attitude in his voice together with his facial expressions, Lapisa frowned as her patience started running out, "well excuse you!" she said, turning around, stomping away. Theron just shrugged his shoulders and looked at Lapisa's stomping silhouette, "well... good luck" he said loud enough for her to hear before he turned away. At that response Lapisa made a quick u-turn, realizing that she had no clue how to get back to the inn, despite her frustration at Theron she yelled after him "are you going back to the inn?". He stops in his tracks and slightly looks over his shoulder towards Lapisa ''what do you think?"

Pushing her pride and frustration aside, "okay then you won't mind me tagging along?" she asked. Still not turning around to properly look at her, Theron only shrugged his shoulders, started walking again and said "as long as you don't bother me, do what you want.". As Theron was a few meters ahead of herself, Lapisa slightly jogged to catch up with him, hearing her jog up to him, Theron couldn't help but roll his eyes at this woman's odd behavior, but as she caught up to him he quickly changed his facial expression back to his usual cold one. Walking next to him with her hands behind her back, Lapisa tried her best to not look at him due to the awkwardness she felt, however that was harder than she first had thought. In the corner of her eye she caught Theron wiping his hands on his pants, what exactly he was wiping off was unclear to her however his hands seemed to get cleaner from it.

As his hands got cleaner, Lapisa noticed slightly dark spots and lines on them, at first she tilted her head in confusion before she realized that those spots and lines were scars covering his hands, by the different shades of them she drew the conclusion that some were very old but some a bit newer. Wanting to somehow break the awkward silence between the two, Lapisa decided to ask him about it, "so... Theron?...", he didn't look at her but the sudden mention of his name caught his attention "hmm?" he said, Lapisa suddenly calling his name caught him off guard and slightly surprised him, "um... those scars... um... on your hands... how did you get them?". His cold facial expression grew even colder if possible, "it comes with the job" he said in a monotone and almost stern voice. Theron's response and sudden sternness caught Lapisa off guard and she couldn't come up with nor dared to say anything. Once again silence grew between them, however this time there was something more than just silence, there was something daunting in the air too. Theron picked up his pace, no longer caring if Lapisa was with him or not, due to the sudden shift of mood between them, Lapisa also kept her distance.

Soon enough Lapisa could see the inn appear in front of her, before even giving her the chance to thank him, Theron just headed into the inn and up to his room. She looked at his disappearing silhouette, not understanding what caused him to suddenly change his mood. Simply shaking her head, Lapisa walked up the stairs outside the inn to her room, finally letting out a sigh as the door closed behind her. After getting ready for bed, she laid down trying to sleep, however there was too much going on in her head, too many thoughts, no matter how much she tried her head wouldn't stop spinning with thoughts. In the end she fell asleep as her eyes could no longer stand being open, forcing her spinning head to calm down. When she opened her eyes the next morning she could feel the lack of sleep affecting her, for a split second she was contemplating going back to sleep however she knew that she had work to do so she forced her way out of bed. As Lapisa entered the inn, she found Matilda standing behind the counter, "Good morning sweetheart. Did you get home okay last night?", "Good morning. I got home okay, thank you. What should I do first?" she answered the brightly smiling women behind the counter. "Well... serving the customers would be of help" Matilda said as she motioned towards the dining hall where most tables were filled with people. Lapisa gave Matilda a nod, took a deep breath, put on a smile and started serving the customers.