World of Io

23. A lot of laughter

"You're not a very talkative one, are you?" Vito asked the silent Sigyn. She hadn't said a word since they parted with the others, not even to assure him, and he wanted to see if he would get a reaction. She seemed to turn towards him, but he couldn't be certain as he only saw that fiery shiny form of her. She didn't respond. However, she did have an air of curiosity about her, but perhaps that was a result of his wishful thinking.

"Well, I guess that answers it," he continued, refusing to let it affect his spirit. He had received some training while traveling with Vigilante, so silence wasn't all that bad. Those two definitely had some common traits. He smiled to himself, thinking about the assassin, he would miss her. Who would have thought?  

They had traveled about an hour away from the border when he somehow sensed that they were approaching a village. It was like a small buzz around him, announcing several people in close proximity to each other. He wondered if they should stop or not. It was getting awfully late, or early depending on how you saw it, and they weren't likely to find the inn open. They might as well go around it instead of through it to avoid attention, not that it was likely that anyone would see them at this hour.  

"We should go around it," Necia said, plain and simple, not even telling him of the village. He chose to ignore her lack of information, he didn't want to start a fight over nothing. 

"So you do talk after all," he said cheerily.

He could have sworn that she smirked in response to that, but he couldn't be certain. Perhaps it wasn't so bad being blind, he saw what she felt anyway without having to decipher her facial expression.

"I do talk, silly boy." 

Her tone wasn't offensive, rather it was filled with some kind of undercurrent, and he found that it matched the temper she gave off to his new weird vision.

"I don't know if I agree with your last statement. However, I'm much in favor of going around this little village."

She didn't answer this time, but they moved off the track and rode into the forest. After a couple of meters he got scratched on his chin by a twig and he swore under his breath.

"Why can't horses understand that there's a rider on top of them? They always seem to care only for themselves: happily stepping forwards as long as they can avoid branches," he said, mildly agitated. 

Necia chuckled in front of him, and that managed to take away a bit of the sting from the scratch. After a second one, however, he decided that it was best if he simply leaned down over the horse's neck all the time, which of course had the Sigyn laughing all the harder.

"You are a most interesting Human," she stated as her laughing calmed down, making him harrumph in response. He was used to being made fun off, but not so much from strangers. He looked at her, and the small burst of irritation died immediately. She was amused, but in a very warm way. He couldn't find anything witty to return so he just sat up, shrugged and smiled wryly. He shouldn't have...he was immediately knocked over by an unyielding bough. The pressure of his back against the horse's had the horse fleeing, which ended up with him on the ground and out of breath. All accompanied by a peeling laughter.

"This is not funny," he said.

That didn't make her stop laughing, but she did sober up a bit. "...then I don't know what is," she replied eventually. "I'll get the horse back, stay where you are, I'll find you."

"I'm fine by the way, thanks for asking..." he huffed, but she was no longer there to hear it. He let out a sigh and suddenly felt very vulnerable. Everything that had happened to him came crashing back now when he was left alone. There was no one there to see his smile falter or his posture sag in defeat. The pain he felt from the fall also helped to bring the feeling of inadequacy. His stomach writhed, as if the rest wasn't enough, he was now hungry on top of it. Why in the Destroyer's name had he started this quest?Going off alone without the others. It was beyond foolish.