The Death Market *Obi x OC* (COMPLETE)

Only The Young

Song: Only The Young - Journey

Harlowe still won't answer me on what she meant by calling Iladriel her daughter. It could be something as simple as she considers their bond to be similar to a parent-child bond or just a lie to the man, but I'm curious to know for sure. Its been harder to ask whenever Iladriel is awake because if it does happen to be something more than a lie, then I don't want to upset her further. If it is something further though, why didn't she say anything before, who was with Iladriel enough to make her consider them her parents, and why did Harlowe attack her back then? And if Harlowe were actually her mother, why is she coming back to The Market with us to look for Torin to take Iladriel in instead of her? There are too many questions for her not to answer the most important one. I stop walking and Harlowe turns back to face me with Iladriel sleeping on her back.

"What is it?"

"Tell me what you meant by daughter. You said it was a long story but we have time."

"Obi, I do not wish to speak of it until after we find the one called Torin."

"Why?"

"Because I want what is best for little blonde girl. Finding Torin is important to her."

"But if you are her mother or know something that we don't know, then you're letting her be hurt by thinking the people who might have been her parents are dead." I retort and her eyes narrow slightly.

"It is best thing for her whether you see or not. We are near secret entrance now."

Harlowe leads me through a stretch of trees on the outskirts of the regular market and stops in front of a rather large evergreen. I arch a brow as she ducks into the foliage and tells me to follow. When I straighten, Harlowe is gone but there's a rather large hole cut into the trunk that leads into the ground. There are small handholds dug into the tree as well.

"Hurry Obi." Her hushed voice calls from below.

I start to climb down the hole into the ground. Not completely unlike the tent's entrance, it ends in a slope leading further into the ground before flattening out into a tunnel.

"This will lead to Death Market near cottage. We cannot be caught by new leader. Where do we go next?"

"We will go to the tunnel first. If he didn't make it out, he should still be there. If he made it, we will search The Market for him."

The Market hasn't changed much since we left it but there does seem to be more blood stains on the awnings and booths. That's nothing out of the realm of the ordinary in a place like this though. The Market is bustling as usual but so far there's no signs of Torin in the crowds. I follow Harlowe and Iladriel through the aisles toward the exit tent. I'm going to have Iladriel stay hidden outside of the tunnel just in case Torin didn't make it out. I'd rather her not see what could be waiting for us. There are no guards in front of the tent or inside but I don't trust us to be safe here.

"Harlowe, stay with Iladriel just in case someone shows up. I'm going into the tunnel."

"Obi, why are we here if you said Torin made it out?" Iladriel asks.

"I'm sure he did but I want to make sure he isn't down there to see if we came back or if any of us got stuck."

"You're lying." She huffs. "You think he might be dead."

"I just want to rule out the possibility."

"If he's dead you better tell me. I'm not a little kid."

I ruffle her hair before heading down into the tunnel.

The tunnel turned up empty even after I dug around through the rubble to make sure he wasn't buried. The only thing my search earned me was being covered in mud and soaking wet. Our next stop is Iladriel's booth then on to Torin's house. They're the only places we could think of for him to be unless he was killed elsewhere. As we move through the rows again Iladriel stops on occasion and asks some of the merchants who knew her or knew Torin if they had seen him. No one has since the day after the tunnel flooded. He made it out of there at least, but according to one woman, the Sir that took over after Harlowe left was out for our heads. He could have been captured and taken down by whoever the man is.

It's now midnight and none of our searches turned up any recent sighting of Torin. Iladriel's acquaintances were nice enough to start up the gossip chains throughout the market to see if anyone, friend or foe had seen or heard of Torin. Those came up empty as well. Despite how upset she is, Iladriel's body couldn't keep up the energy to continue on so we are staying in her booth for the night before heading back to Molina's. Once I have her settled in, I give Harlowe a pointed look and she sighs before leaving the room, I follow her up and gently close the door.

"Torin is gone and she is asleep, so now is as good a time as any. Now what's going on?"

"Little blo- Iladriel- is daughter. I had her young when I was in old country. If I kept her with me she would have been killed. Portia and Merdrin were friends, they took her to raise as own. They found me when I moved into Death Market but I couldn't bear to tell her truth. She knew them, not me. I thought it safer she stay with them since I was in charge but the royals took them. I cannot be mother to her."