Farryn

Chapter 5- Part 2

Farryn didn't know why she was following Claud. She couldn't unravel any of it in her head. The more she tried to understand, the more confused she got.

It took two hours to walk to the town, and she had to do it with Luli in her arms because she was shivering so badly she couldn't walk. Luli wouldn't speak to her or look at her.

Claud didn't speak or look back either, only occasionally stopping for them to take a break. Farryn didn't speak to him. She felt that the only thing that would come out of her mouth was hatred. She didn't want to lose it again.

But when they reached the town, in the early hours of the morning, she had no choice. "You know where Liviana is," she said. "Why did you try to get me to look for her? The whole lie with the M name. Dragging me out last week-" she choked "To look for Edward. Did you just enjoy wasting my time?"

"She told me where she was going. But then I..." he trailed off. 

"You hurt her?" 

"I didn't. I tried to. It wasn't my best moment." In the dim light of the rising sun, he looked a decade older.

Farryn scoffed. "Seems you didn't learn much from it, did you? Seeing as you're trying to kill her now."

"You don't understand," he said as they entered the market square. Very few people were setting up for a day of business. "I don't have a choice. Nevan... he haunts me. Whispers in my ears when I sleep to avenge him. I can't go anywhere without hearing his voice."

Farryn knew what that was like. Even now she could feel Serval's cold, dead eyes on her. And Rin... Rin had haunted her for years. Following her to the kitchen. Pressing sweets into her hand when she tried to fall sleep on the cold kitchen floor. Begging her to come visit in her room sometime. It didn't help that she haunted Serval too. Even when the old woman was running low on money, she'd get new dresses and hats and accessories made for her daughter, in the size she would be if she'd ever gotten the chance to grow up. Farryn remembered the grey dress she had stolen from Rin's wardrobe and forced herself to swallow.

"Killing her won't fix it," Farryn said, mostly to herself. She didn't see Rin much anymore. But she knew she was waiting. Waiting for the moment she broke. Serval too, and her mother. They were waiting to comfort her, to hurt her... to drag her to join them.

"I can't get close to her anyway," Claud admitted. "She works in a big house, down in Sernaxa." Sernaxa. Two weeks away, with no train. By train... she didn't know. "I only made the journey once. Almost lost my job. But now I don't care. I've probably lost it already."

"So why approach me at all? You knew where she was all along." I shouldn't be talking to him. I shouldn't be asking him questions. She couldn't help it, though. It had been a long, long time since Farryn had dared to make any friends. And the thought that he'd just been using her...

"She'll let you get close," Claud said simply. I guess it was always that simple. I was just too blind to see. "Come on, I'm hungry."

He led them to the tavern that Farryn and Luli had been to that first day. A tall, broad-shouldered man stood at the counter instead of the woman. He raised an eyebrow as they entered. It was fairly empty but for the drunk man slumped over a table and two maids hurrying through a simple breakfast.

"Claud?" the man called. "What are you doing here? Visiting Ma?" 

Claud shook his head. "I have somewhere to go," he said, pulling out money from his pocket. "Food for all of us?" The man nodded.

"You must think I'm a fool." Farryn hissed to him. "I'm not leading you to my sister." 

"You will. I'll follow you, and you're desperate to find her. It'll happen eventually."