Bound By Madness: Filling The Void

A Momentary Interruption

I hadn't been able to focus since I woke up, images and words from the dream -just a dream or something more?- haunting me as we prepared for the meeting that was to take place today. Cicero had been giving me odd looks for the past several minutes as he sat nearby, waiting for me to finish the last of my food, the eggs having grown cold some time ago even if I continued to take small bites.

"Does sweet Faith wish to speak with her Cicero about whatever is troubling her today?" He suddenly spoke, his fingers trailing through my hair before he tucked it behind my ear, leaning forward to peer at my face.

Looking into his eyes, I sat my spoon down and sighed, biting my lip before parting my lips, only to stop and sigh again. This happened several times before I finally managed to form my lips into the words that had been circling about my head all morning.

Cicero, my Cicero, I had a dream last night about the past... Actually, about the evening we first met, back on the road outside of Loreius' farm. Do you remember? The rain from the storm turning the road into mud and your wheel laying on the ground nearby?

"Of course Cicero remembers! Cicero had thought he was imagining things, seeing his pretty little thief again after so long! But Cicero is glad it wasn't his imagination tricking him again and he got to see her again. As he told his sweet Faith before, he would have waited for much longer to see her again, but he is glad that she returned to him when she did. Cicero needed his pretty Faith to keep him from falling further into the darkness and becoming lost," he said, wrapping his arms around me, even as I grew still from his words.

"Hey, you two! Are you ready to go yet? I don't think these guys are going to wait much longer for us before they leave for the meeting, with or without us!" Arnbjorn shouted from the doorway, his voice startling me as I jumped up from the chair, my Jester Assassin's eyes following me as his arms lowered to his side.

"Faith and his Cicero will be ready soon. Dearest Faith just needs to change into her leathers before we go, right sweetness?" He said softly, standing himself as he gathered the dishes from the small table.

Yes, yes, my leathers! I finished the repairs last night, so they should be okay to wear to the meeting today! I even managed to add something new to them!

I grabbed the pile of neatly folded leather and hurried behind the wooden privacy screen that had been moved into a corner of the room, hurriedly changing as I listened to the two men bicker playfully with each other. It was good to hear them getting along so much better than they had even a mere week ago, something I had for a time wondered if it would ever happen with these two.

Stepping out from behind the screen, I walked over and stuffed the clothing I'd been wearing into the basket to join the other clothing in need of washing. Turning, I grinned eagerly at the two men as they turned toward me, all of us more than ready to get this meeting out of the way. What I didn't expect was the way that Cicero froze in place for a moment before coming and turning me around to stare at my back, where a pattern was stitched out in a mix of faded gold and void black threads.

"Faith used the thread to do this?" He whispered softly, his hands trembling ever so faintly as they rested on my shoulders before I turned to look up into his eyes.

I... I'm sorry, Cicero. I thought you would like it, that we could put something similar on something of yours. I guess I should have asked before I-

"No, no, Cicero just didn't expect such a thing. He didn't even notice Faith working on this," he said as he moved behind me again and trailed his fingertips over the small flock of crows circling each other, their golden eyes staring out from the black stitchwork. "When did his darling heart have time to work on this? Cicero is sure she was far too busy to make so many stitches without him seeing her."

Feeling my lips slowly pull up into a smile, I turned my head to peek at him as Amicus gave a soft laugh from the shadows.

"Our Cicero might not care to hear that you were slipping out of bed while he slept so you could work on the patterns. It might be best not to tell him just yet, our sweet Faith," his whispered words came once the laughter had died down.

I'll tell you another time, my love. For now, we have a meeting to attend. After all, this is our chance to find out if this Maven knows where our Lost Sister is.