In the Shadows~zayn au~Completed ✅EDITING

~Chapter 23: Ignorance and Beggars~

A/N: Here's the next part! It's dedicated to shalini-bhattacharya because she put ~ItS~ to over 300 votes!! Woooooooo!

Also, more of the other nations are mentioned and discussed in this chapter, so I hope it gives you all a better understanding as needed.

Reminder: Wolvecaster is where Louis and Liam are from (hence the mixture of Wolverhampton and Doncaster=Wolvecaster). The other boys will be introduced further into the book.

Reminder #2: The lads' personalities in these are supposed to be nowhere close to the ones seen in public. There's no way to accurately depict how they would react in normal situations, neither will I attempt to guess their thoughts and motivations based on real life. The human character is too complex for that. Because of this, I've taken some of their aspects and given them wildly the opposite. EVERYONE has faults and book characters shouldn't be any different. You've been warned and I REALLY would rather avoid getting bitchy comments from someone about "Harry would never do that" or "How could you portray Niall that way?" You've been warned.

Many apologies for the rant! Just covering my ass. Lolz

Farms came into view, marking the beginning of the return to civilization. They slowed their speed accordingly. Louis slackened enough that he could walk Black next to Starling.

"It would probably be best if you put your hair up into a cap or something," he commented. "No matter how idealistic you are, I can tell you that the common people will still look at you with horror and disdain if they see a woman in trousers. It's better if we can disguise you as a young boy or something."

"I don't believe I have a cap, sir," she commented, choosing to ignore the fact that he'd essentially said all that kept her from looking like a boy was long hair and a skirt.

Louis grumbled for a moment before saying, "I'll buy one from a farmer before we get too much farther."

As promised, he made her stay in a grove of trees while he bartered with a farmer. She watched as he talked. Oddly, the farmer did not seem threatened by Louis' foreign appearance and speech. Louis said something and the farmer actually laughed! They bantered for a moment before Louis patted the man's arm and shook his hand. He then waved over his shoulder as he headed back toward the grove she was hidden in.

"Did you know him?" she asked as he approached.

"Of course not," he replied. "Never met the bloke."

"How did you get on so well then?"

"Told him my woman was hiding in this grove because she'd had a bad coloring job done on her hair and didn't want to be seen," he said, smirking at her. "So I asked if he had a cap you could borrow until you get it fixed. He said his wife had the same problem the first time she used willow bark on her hair and we had a good chuckle about it."

She rolled her eyes. "So you got the cap?"

"Of course," he scoffed. "What do you take me for?" He pulled a worn brown one from his coat and handed it to her.

It was going to be tough getting all of her hair up into the hat as it was a young boy's small one, but she'd have to try. Using the sinew band she wrapped her curls up on top of her head as best she could before pulling the cap over them.

Louis looked at her for a second.

"Well, it's definitely not going to be a great disguise, but we'll just hope no one looks at you closely."

"Marvelous." She took a little bit of hope in his words.

As they rode and the day wore on, the farms and buildings became more prominent, signifying their approach upon Westtown. Kalysta was struck by the number of buildings that seems to be abandoned or burned. Almost every other building they came upon was afflicted.