Goldenheart || s.q.

4

"Eighteen stitches. Still haven't beat your record, Shi."

Shiloh scoffed. "That would require me to knock at death's door. Again, thanks for always stitching me up, Rin."

Kenneth had gone out to patrol, whilst Elyn was exploring Rin's huge two-storey home.

Rin was an old friend of Shiloh's who used to be a nurse. She had long since been fired due to her poor time management and now she lived as a medicine brewer and professional nurse. She had large, brown eyes, with perfectly curled lashes and thick hair dyed magenta.

Rin wrapped Shiloh's fresh new stitches, then passed him a cup of something herbal to rid his hangover and numb him for a while. He drank it reluctantly, then laid back and relaxed on her velvety couch.

Elyn picked up a picture frame from the coffee table. It looked as if it was originally a photo of a couple, but Rin had burned the other person out. She placed the picture frame back down, then sat next to Shiloh.

"So, Elyn, was it? How's life with the world's most annoying drunk dwarf?"

"I'm not that short!"

"You're shorter than everyone else here, Shiloh." Elyn said, chuckling as Shiloh smacked her over the head with a throw pillow.

"Well... honestly, he acts tough and all but he cares alot about those close to him."

Rin nodded. "He's the one who saved me when I was dying from starvation. Now I owe him one life-saving promise."

Elyn smiled. It seemed that they had a long history together, but neither wanted to dwell too deep into it.

"Honestly, Rin-rin. I thought you died already. I haven't heard from you in years."

Rin cringed at the nickname. "I just work in the shadows nowadays."

"Huh. Me too."

There was an eerie silence, before Kenneth popped in. "Hey, all done?"

Rin nodded and gestured towards Shiloh. "Your child is ready to be picked up, sir."

Everyone laughed, then Kenneth lifted Shiloh up, waved to Rin and went out the door. Elyn hurriedly grabbed all their weapons, stuffing Kenneth's daggers in her pockets and then walking out the door. She turned around to close the door, waving to Rin before she left.

Rin smiled, and as the door closed, her sclera faded to black.

-

The three of them gathered around the flickering campfire. This was Elyn's home for the time being, and she loved and treasured it. It was a small campsite close to a large kingdom, known to many as the Futuristic Kingdom. No one had actually seen the kingdom's ruler, who was supposed to be a mad scientist that invented something new every day of his life.

However, since their methods were so outrageously advanced, other kingdoms occasionally tried to conquer them - but all failed to even bypass their security system.

Elyn grabbed the cod off the charcoal and took a bite, spitting out the bones into the palm of her hand.

Kenneth was sitting right outside the dark gray tent that he'd put up, sharpening his daggers on some oak wood. He did it with careful precision, making sure nothing was left dull.

"What are our plans for tonight?"

Shiloh looked restless. He wanted to get his hands on somebody, something - anybody, anything. "I thought we were going for the bastard king."

"The last guy we killed was the bastard king, you know." Elyn said between bites of fish.

"Oh. Right."