Arizium

Chapter 33

Arden laid on her bed in the inn, not willing to get up nor wanting to. Occasionally she heard Wolf mumbling in the other room, still unconscious from the Arizium withdrawls. When she told them that she wasn't going to get up all day, they told her to at least keep an eye on Wolf. She had nodded just to please them, but had no intention of following through with it.

Guertena shifted slightly on her stomach to get more comfortable as she slept and raked a paw against Arden's ribs. The assassin petted the grey fox fondly and studied the ceiling. She didn't know wood types, but it did seem sturdy enough. Maybe birch? she mused and smiled Who knows wood types anyway?

The animals weren't allowed in the inn, but Arden figured that if Wolf got Resa, she could have Guertena. It was only fair, after all. Besides, she could care less whether or not it was "rude". They would have to tear Guertena from her cold dead hands if it came down to it.

She felt her stomach growl and winced from the emptiness she suddenly felt, she could not remember the last time she ate. "Maybe we should get up and scavenge, eh Guerta?" She muttered and poked her best friend to wake her up.

The fox opened her eyes wearily and with a yawn hopped off of the bed. Arden sat up with a groan and ran her hand through her hair, only to pull it back hastily once she found the amount of grease that had accumulated there. "Maybe a bath would be better," she observed and fixed her hair to what she assumed was somewhat presentable before travelling up the stairs and out of the inn, avoiding any eye contact by any means possible in the process.

Her mouth twisted in a snarl when she noticed how many people were bustling about. She hated that she had left her bow in her room, she would have been overjoyed to empty her quiver on this town. It's no fun killing people in the rain, she thought dully and looked up at the ever darkening clouds, wishing it would just storm already.

With a sigh and a small bark from Guertena, the duo walked down the street towards the bath-house with confident strides. The stone building smelled of steam and sweat and made Arden wrinkle her nose, none-the-less she still swung the door open and found an empty room to wash in.

Guertena politely averted her eyes while the assassin peeled off her dirty clothes and with a sneer of disgust at the smell of them, stepped into the water cavity. The plate of metal that covered the water flow was rusted and hard to lift, but once she got it up clean water flew out to fill up the bath accompanied with the sound of water slapping on stone.

Once it was filled up enough, Arden slammed the metal plate back down and eased herself into the water. Even though it was scalding hot, she felt cold.

The girl found her eyes straying anywhere but down to avoid gazing at her deformities. You have the right parts, you are female, you were born female, you're a daughter, you have always been Arden. She reassured herself and squeezed her eyes shut as she washed all the grime off of her body before opening a drainage plate to get rid of the nasty water and snatching a towel off of a metal rod to dry off.

She regretted not stealing cleaner clothes when she smelled the stench of sweat that had accumulated on her own attire. I suppose looting first would have been better, she thought with a soft sigh before pulling them one, replacing her newly obtained clean aroma with the old gross one.

"Next time, tell me when I'm making a dumb decision," she scolded Guertena, who smiled up at her with a grin only a fox could pull off. With a roll of her eyes, Arden pushed open the door and exited the bath house, the colder air immediately giving her goose prickles.

Brush, she decided was her next mission and set off towards the inn. She felt as if eyes were boring into the back of her head as she walked, but every time she turned around, she couldn't find anything. With narrowed eyes, she entered the inn and ran down the stairs before anyone could have a chance to elect conversation with her. She wasn't paying attention though, and nearly careened right into Wolf in the hallway, "What the fuck are you doing awake?" She sneered at the sickly boy. Wolf simply gazed back at her blankly and swayed on his feet.

With a sigh, Arden grabbed his arm and dragged him back to his room, "Come on you sickly bastard, go back to bed." she ordered and closed the door behind him once he was in. Shaking her head, she entered her own room and searched around until she found the horse hair brush that she was looking for and promptly untangled her wet hair from it's knots.

Once she was satisfied with the state of her hair, she ascended the steps once again and stopped at the top when she realized that she was unsure of what to do next. Maybe loot? she wondered, and with a shrug decided that she might as well.

She never got to it though, since right outside the inn was a crowd of people facing Phoenix and Madelina.

(A/N: I'M SO SORRY THAT THIS IS SO LATE I'VE BEEN SO INCREDIBLY BUSY ;-;)