The Whisper of the Nightingale

Chapter 50: Confrontations

The evening training eventually came to an end, and Raven left her Pressure Room feeling more tired than usual. It would soon be three full days since Raven had gotten any sleep and it was clearly starting to take a toll on her.

Spreading her senses, Raven couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief; it would seem like Dunlin and company were still in their rooms, no doubt getting punished by Elder Wyrmouth for skipping class the day before. Someone who was out of his room, however, was Javelin. He was already on his way out of the building so Raven increased her pace to catch up with him. She did so just as they left the building.

"How did today's lessons go, Javelin?" she asked.

Javelin barely looked up from the ground as he answered, "fine," and continued to walk towards the academy garden with brisk steps. Raven frowned.

"Um, Javelin?" She grabbed his robes and tugged him to a stop. Finally, Javelin looked at Raven, but he seemed a bit . . . distant, or perhaps even annoyed. Despite herself, Raven felt her frown deepen with worry. "I'm sorry for yesterday," she said sincerely, "I too have things I'd rather not talk about, so I should have known better."

For a moment, Javelin's gaze softened but it didn't last long. "Don't worry about it," he said, "I brought it up first." He was about to turn around and leave when he paused and instead asked, "Night, how did you know that I was eight when Rav- . . . when it happened?" His stare grew intense as he waited for Raven's reply.

'Shit,' thought Raven to herself but instantly answered, "Lark told me about it after the tower thing." She looked confused, as if Javelin was asking an obvious question he already knew the answer to.

Javelin breathed a dejected sigh. "I see," he said and actually turned to walk away.

"Hey, Javelin, I wanted to talk with you about Lark," called Raven after him, but he shook his head. "Another time," he called back without turning around.

Raven grunted as she watched her roommate leave. 'What's gotten him all wound up?' she wondered as she headed off in the same direction as Javelin, only at a slower pace. For a moment Raven felt oddly compelled to follow Javelin and see what he was up to, but she had things she needed to do herself, so it would have to wait.

"Big brother?" Raven probed mentally, "how is Bill doing?"

A moments silence, and then "he's fine." Hoatzin's voice sounded agitated.

'Not you too,' thought Raven but instead asked, with obvious concern, "Is something wrong, big brother?"

"Oh, no, nothing is wrong," answered a clearly annoyed Hoatzin, "it's just that my little sister left to join an assassins' guild nearly eighteen hours ago and I haven't heard anything from her. . ."

"Oops. . . . Hoatzin, I'm sorry! It slipped my mind. . . ." Not that he could see it, but Raven actually looked quite ashamed at the moment. She was too accustomed to acting alone when it came to assassin work and it had been so simple to fall back in old habits.

"Slipped your mind? Do you have any idea how worried I was? I couldn't even speak to you in case I might distract you! That's it, next time I'm coming with you!"

Raven didn't argue. She had no intentions of introducing her brother to her assassin ways, but there was no point in arguing about it now. Instead, Raven apologized a few more times, until her brother seemed to accept it, before inquiring about Bill yet again.

"I told you he is fine," answered Hoatzin, "and in general that is true. When Bill surfaced, after you had left, he read your note and decided to stay for at least a couple of days - he talks quite a lot to himself, this one. Not long after that, he tried to get some sleep, but he kept breaking out in cold sweats and waking himself screaming. . . ." Hoatzin made a deliberate pause. "A few hours ago, he gave up and finally mixed the herbs you had mentioned - he is out like a light now."