World of Io

26. Provisions and Visions

"Are you ready?"

Vito woke up, confused as always. In his dreams he was never blind, so waking up to a strange new world still made him slightly frightened until he remembered. He felt a hand touch his, and he relaxed. Necia was still there, it was her voice that had brought him out of the memory of a colorful world into this. He took a deep breath, forcing down unwanted feelings.

"Human, we have a long way to travel today and we need to get provisions. Are you ready to enter a village? I think it would be wise to do so during daytime. You will arouse less suspicion then, am I right?"

A smile tugged at him, her innocent question made him feel useful. She needed him just as he needed her.

"Well Miss, I believe you will be less conspicuous too."

"Me? I'm not... I'm very calm and nice," she answered, and he could sense that she really believed it.

He laughed, "...well, Sigyns in general aren't calm and nice in the eyes of Humans, I think you'll be judged by prejudices and rumor rather than by your pleasant red eyes."

"You're mocking me Human, I like that."

He was surprised to hear her sentiment, and couldn't help but laugh again.

After a rather scant breakfast consisting of stale bread and their last bits of dried meat they rode into the village. Vito's limited vision prevented him from assessing the state of the village, but somehow he sensed that it was a rather peaceful place. The sounds that reached him were those of an ordinary middle sized village with clangs from the smithy, squeaks from wagon wheels, and raised voices. The only thing lacking was children's laughter. The thought reached him before he had time to stop it and it left a very sour taste in his mouth. He hated to think about the lack of children, it gave such finality to it all.

He looked around, trying to understand what he was seeing, and after a while he thought that he could see corners and doorposts, something about the angles made it possible to distinguish them from the background.

"It looks like you've never been in a village before: staring in awe at everything," Necia said and chuckled.

He realized that she was right and smiled with her. "I'll try to be less obvious with my strange wonderment of this new world I'm in, but I can't promise anything."

"If you're the reason we get unnecessary attention I'll blindfold you for the rest of our journey. That would solve the issue of your white eyes as well..."

He only huffed in response, knowing that he wouldn't get the last word in this, nor was he likely to ever have it in a conversation with this particular redhead. Nonetheless, he did try to keep his eyes a bit steadier after her comment.

They stopped in front of one of the many doorways he could distinguish and Necia dismounted. "Perhaps you should come with me, I don't know how to bargain in this country," she said as he got off his horse. 

"Well, I'm not known for being a good haggler, but I guess I could give it a try."

They entered and he felt the peaceful atmosphere dissipate instantly. He didn't like the feel of this place. It was like something crept upon his skin, sending small warnings that he shouldn't relax. It smelled wrong too, almost as if they had entered a cellar or gone underground.

"Close your eyes!" Necia said in a hurried but quiet voice.

"Huh?"

"Just do it already!" she growled towards him, and that's when he picked up the seriousness of their situation. He heard fear in her voice, and his uneasiness increased. Necia took hold of his arm and steered him forwards, leading him like a blind man for the first time. He realized that he hated it. Hated how it made him feel like a burden.