The Rogue Guardian

Chapter 10: Caution

The fighting hall of the caverns didn't offer any answers, but she was happy to have found another place she could navigate like she was back at the capital. And maybe if she made herself a regular here she would stumble into the answer of who Jaden's friend was. She spent a good hour lounging in a seat near the stage, watching the fights with enjoyment. They were mostly casual, less violent scuffles that were more fun and practice than real duels. The best fighters would probably come at night, and she was eager to see what it would be like when they did.

It was tempting to try fighting there, in the earthy-smelling hall tucked deep into the thieves' dens-- it had a kind of safe feeling to it, of laughter and shared experience, despite the blood that must be spilled on that stage, and it was a little bit of home-- but something held her back. Jaden had always been the one to warn her to be careful and hold her back when it might be dangerous. And without him, she wondered if her natural tendency to dive in headfirst would get her in more trouble than she could handle. Outside her home for the first time in her life, she knew this was the worst possible time for broken limbs or the like. She had to be cautious, something she had little practice in.

Still, she decided it was worth considering. The jewelry she had taken with her from the stealing box to pawn would only last her so long, and earning money from fights might be easier than stealing it. And couldn't she handle herself in a duel? She'd beaten Joshua without a weapon and faced down three men in the city with barely any help, not to mention regularly beating Luca.

But thinking about Luca-- no. This wasn't the time to question herself the way she knew she would when she finally let herself think about him. Right now, she had to think about him just the same way she did Joshua and Tobias and Iso and the rebels-- just another suspect.

The fact that she had been close to him, trusted him the way she'd never trusted the others, even considered a future she rarely bothered thinking about, couldn't mean anything. She wouldn't allow herself to begin questioning how she could have been so blind because if she did, she might never trust herself again.

Around lunchtime she began searching for another way out, assuming the chimney of one tavern couldn't be a reliable exit for the all the crowds flooding the caverns. She found a quite a few of them simply by watching people coming in and out. The caverns were extensive, much more so than her map showed, and many of the rooms had their own entrances. Stairs led up to the dusty back rooms of pawnshops or the dead-end of dark alleys, anywhere inconspicuous enough to host a shaft concealed by heavy crates or a wooden door set into the ground.

The farther she wandered, the more she was amazed. It seemed like someone could live down here, never needing to go aboveground again. You could earn a living fighting or betting and eat and drink in one of the rooms set up like taverns. Some tunnels were lined with locked doors and she suspected some people might sleep in the rooms beyond. It was a city beneath a city, inhabited with and built and ruled by thieves.

She finally emerged aboveground hours after she'd climbed down the chimney, and decided to head back to the Fire Bird for lunch. It felt like lunchtime, though it had been hard to tell time belowground. Maybe after eating she'd look for a timepiece. She might need it if she was going to be spending any more time down there.

It was only after she was seated at a table in the corner that she saw the boy again. The one with the longish brown hair, the first to mistake her for Therese. He was sitting at a table towards the middle of the room, with a girl across from him. She had long, nearly black hair and sharp brown eyes, and if someone had written a description of her it might not be odd to think it would fit Morane.

The girl-- Therese, Morie was assuming for now-- looked constantly around the room, without moving in her seat but clearly wary of the few other people hanging around the tavern. It was hard to tell if she was a noble or not. Her loose white shirt and brown leggings fit in with most of Maenar, and she wasn't wearing any jewelry, but she had the kind of posture Morane had only seen in people like Magali and Luca. Good posture may not have been a definitive trait, but after watching them surreptitiously for a while, she was nearly positive.