Kingdoms (kaimaki fantasy AU)

Chapter 17: The Inn

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Kaito felt like his head was finally cleared, and his body felt less like the weight of a sack of rocks. He was given some tea to help with his headache, which gave him a lot of relief. The inn was fairly busy, apparently the place was quite popular with locals and travellers. All around him, people were seemingly happy, commenting about how great the food was, how comfortable the rooms were and how polite the staff were, especially the innkeeper. The rooms were surprisingly affordable as well. It barely cost Kaito and Maki much for one night with food included.

Kaito was impressed, but he had something on his mind that clouded everything else. Something that he hadn't discussed with Maki yet. He wasn't sure if she would be willing to talk about this subject, but he needed to know something. It felt important to him. Just as Kaito swallowed the last of the tea he was given, Maki approached the table. She was carrying two plates that was filled with cooked vegetables and pies that had a steak filling (Kaito could easily smell the meat from where he was sitting).

"Here. Eat up." Maki said as she gently placed a plate in front of Kaito.

"Thanks." He smiled, almost drooling at the sight of the food in front of him. He didn't realise how hungry he was until he started to dig in. The meat in the pie was just as juicy and tender as he had hoped, causing him to let out a quiet, involuntary hum of satisfaction.

"How's your head doing?" Maki asked after seeing that his tea was finished.

"Better now. Thanks for asking." Kaito muttered after swallowing a mouthful of food. Maki seemed satisfied with that answer and started to eat her dinner, taking smaller mouthfuls compared to Kaito's. Both sat in silence, somewhat content as they filled their stomachs with the first decent meal that they had all day. They didn't need to speak to know that they felt glad that they finally found somewhere suitable to sleep and eat for the night. No having to sleep rough in a tent or be woken up at random times in the night to keep an eye on an air ship. They would sleep properly for the night. After he finished his meal, Kaito looked up at Maki, seeing that she had finished eating as well. She had put her empty plate aside and laid the map out in front of her. Kaito watched her for a moment, his previous thoughts once again coming back to him.

"Was all that you said in the caravan true?" He finally asked, wanting to get it off of his chest. He felt like if he didn't ask now, he might not be able to sleep at all tonight. Maki looked up at him sharply, taken a little by surprise. She stuttered a little as her mind processed what he had just said. So Kaito remembered everything that was heard in the caravan.

"You were a mouse! You wanted cheese!" She hissed before she gave Kaito a punch on his shoulder. It wasn't too hard, but it did cause him to sway back a little. "I asked you to give me a sign, idiot!"

"Sorry. Couldn't exactly do much. Unless you wanted me to squeak to the point where your ears burst." Kaito shrugged, not quite seeing how irritated Maki had become. Maki only rolled her eyes, and let out a sigh. "Especially after you calling me an idiot."

"Let's just focus on this for now." Maki immediately dismissed, looking down at the map again. Kaito wasn't happy about this sudden change of subject, but he figured that Maki didn't want to discuss this matter out in the open. He couldn't blame her. If he went through what happened to her, he'd probably not feel open to talk about it too. Kaito placed his plate to one side and looked over the map with Maki. He had to tilt his head a little until Maki turned it so he could have a better look at it.

"So, we should be here. The closet town is here. That should be a two or three day trek at most." Maki muttered loud enough for only Kaito to hear. Kaito studied where she pointed. Seems easy enough. It was also close to the border, at least a couple miles away from it. They were so close to getting Maki home. However, Kaito's face creased with concern as he looked at one particular area on the map.

"Well, what's that black area? That can't be a lake surely." Kaito pondered, pointing at what he was looking at. Maki looked concerned too. There was a big black area on the map that wasn't marked as an area. It was almost like someone had taken a big cup of ink and deliberately covered the area. Now that Maki thought about it, the map Miu had on her air ship had the same thing. If both maps had this problem, there is a possibility that no matter how many maps they look at, they might find the same problem.

"No. I don't know what that is." Maki muttered, wishing that she did. The problem was is that she was smuggled to the capital via a goods carriage. She hadn't had a chance to see everything on foot. Now she wished that she had so then she would have a better answer. This was starting to prove frustrating.

Seeing that Maki was struggling herself, Kaito glanced around, hoping to see who he was looking for. His eyes landed on the woman who he thought was the innkeeper. She was currently serving some tables after having checked a couple more guests in. She had short sandy blonde hair that had a green tint, with long bangs almost completely obscuring her left warm green eye. She wore a long sleeved white dress with a black apron that had spider webs embroidered on it and black shoes. Her hands were covered by black gloves with silver rings on them. She seemed to be the only one serving tables and checking guests in. How was she doing all of this by herself? She didn't even seem tired from all her running around. If anything she seemed more wide awake than exhausted.

"Excuse me. Sorry, I know you're busy, but could you possibly help us?" Kaito quickly waved the innkeeper over as she was walking towards the table.

"Of course. How may I help you?" Th innkeeper asked, balancing a tray of food perfectly on her hand.

"My friend and I are overlooking our map, but there's this area that we don't know anything about. Do you know what it is?" Kaito asked, pointing at the blacked out area. The innkeeper looked at it, studying it carefully. Her silence wasn't proving useful, but Kaito and Maki didn't say anything to get her to hurry up.

"I'm afraid I don't. But I know someone who might. He's a traveller that frequently comes here. As soon as I'm done with a couple of tables, I'll go grab him for you." The innkeeper finally said, sighing a little in disappointment. However, what she said last helped lift the pair's spirits a little bit. A traveller would definitely have a lot more knowledge on this than anybody else, especially if they got around very easily and frequently.

"Thank you. We much appreciate it." Kaito smiled. The innkeeper didn't respond back but she promptly went back to work. Kaito turned to speak to Maki but stopped short. Maki's eyes were still focused on the map. She seemed to be looking at the blacked out area, somewhat glaring at it. However, her hand was twitching, as if she suddenly got a nervous tick or something like that. Was Maki worried about something dangerous being there? Wanting to try to reassure her, Kaito gently grabbed her hand. Maki looked at him dazed, as if she had forgotten that he was still there. Kaito gave her a reassuring smile. He wasn't sure but he thought that that he saw her smiling too. The problem was that it was so small that it could've been a trick of the light. Maki pulled her hand away from Kaito, hiding it under the table. She went back to looking at the map. Kaito took a deep breath. He tried not to seem worried himself, but if there was something that made even Maki worried, he couldn't stop it from lingering. Hopefully, this situation about this area, won't be as bad as they think it is.