Lieutenant Abdal of the Noble Bethania’s guard cursed under eir breath when ey saw who was approaching. For reasons they had not explained to em — not that Abdal needed any — the Noble Bethania and eir new pledged, Lilah, had chosen to stop for several days just over the border of Balule and a short distance from home. This had given Lilah’s siblings too much time to demand answers that Abdal had no business giving them.

One sibling in particular was being annoyingly persistent.

“Lieutenant!” ey called now, leaving Abdal no chance to duck away and pretend ey hadn’t seen em. “Lieutenant, where is my sibling?”

Dalma had been patient. Dalma had been more than patient. In one week, ey had been kidnapped from eir home by the local guard, left, with eir siblings, to die in torturous fashion, rescued by a foreign noble, seen eir youngest sibling enslaved by that noble (no matter what fancy words these people used) and been dragged across the country to a foreign land where ey and eir siblings were expected to build a new life among strangers.

And in all of this, no one had explained or answered anything but the most perfunctory questions. Lieutenant Abdal, who was supposed to be in charge of the siblings’ well-being, was particularly good at avoiding or shutting down conversations. Nearly as good as Lilah had suddenly become!

“Last I saw, the pledged is visiting with the- with some of the new friends ey has made.” Visiting with The Pack, Abdal meant, with the two-natured of Balule who Hazorians believed to be monsters.

“Last you saw,” Dalma demanded, hands on hips, “I thought you were responsible for us, shouldn’t you know?”

Abdal sighed, “I am responsible for your and your sibling Sherzod’s safety and well-being. I am not and have never been responsible for Lilah.”

“Fine. Where is Sherzod, then?”

“At the inn, having lunch.”

Sherzod had taken to eating later than the rest of the convoy. Dalma had known ey was likely still at lunch but was angry with the world. Ey wanted to yell at someone about something. And Abdal was a convenient target if ey’d just give Dalma something to justify eir anger.

Since Abdal wouldn’t, Dalma growled and stomped away back toward the inn.

The inn in question was a nice enough place and used to hosting wealthy merchants traveling the trade routes. The common area was well-lit, and it had two private dining rooms and several rooms for rent on the second floor. Noble Bethania had hired a private dining room for the entirety of their stay and rented two bedrooms — one for emself and one for the siblings. The rest of eir people continued to sleep under canvas.

So far, Lilah had stayed with eir siblings at night. But Dalma feared it was only a matter of time before Noble Bethania demanded Lilah attend em at night, too.

The thought sent a shudder through em. Why, Dalma wondered, not for the first (or tenth) time, why had Lilah agreed to this ‘pledge’? What secrets was ey keeping and why hadn’t ey trusted Dalma and Sherzod with them? As they had always trusted each other with everything.

Even as Dalma thought this, ey strode through the doorway of the private dining room and stopped in surprise. Sherzod was there — and so was someone else. A young person from the Noble Bethania’s train. The two had been talking, but as soon as Dalma entered the room they stopped.

Sherzod tried to cover their sudden silence by greeting Dalma enthusiastically, but Dalma wasn’t a fool. Lilah wasn’t the only one keeping secrets.

Angry, hurt, and feeling suddenly very alone, Dalma turned without a word and walked out.

---

Abdal had watched Dalma walk away and followed slowly. Ey was not happy with the way matters were being handled. While it was true Lilah had a right to eir privacy, ey had agreed to tell eir siblings the truth — and now was avoiding doing so. It put Abdal in an awkward and uncomfortable position. Ey could not–

Abdal’s thoughts were cut off as Dalma came rushing out of the inn and ran right into em. Abdal kept his feet, barely, but before he could say anything — before he had time to more than notice the tears gathered in Dalma’s eyes — Dalma had muttered an apology and hurried into the woods that lined the road.

Sighing Abdal turned to follow em, only to have Sherzod, also racing from the inn, run into their back and knock them down. “Dalma!” Sherzod called, not even noticing Abdal.

Grumbling Abdal grabbed Sherzod’s ankle, pulling them up short. Ey pushed to eir feet, spitting out dirt. Only when ey was standing did Abdal realize they had instinctively transformed as they fell, ready to fight off an attacker.

Wonderful, ey thought and braced to deal with Sherzod’s reaction to learning that their guard was one of the terrifying monsters of myth and legend.

But Sherzod didn’t look surprised. Or horrified. Ey looked embarrassed. Abdal was trying to wrap eir head around what that meant when Dalma screamed.

“Stay here,” Abdal growled and forced emself back into human skin even as ey took off running. Ey crashed through the undergrowth and into the forest proper, then followed the sound of the screams downhill toward the stream the inn used for water.

He was almost there when a /third/ person ran into him. This one was a child, who barely came to Abdal’s stomach. Ey grabbed the child, noticed in passing that the child was Pack and in wolf skin, and reflexively checked them for injuries.

A moment later Dalma came barreling up from the stream, just in time to see Abdal push the child behind em.

Dalma stared, wide-eyed with shock and horror. Abdal groaned and held out a hand pacifyingly. “I can explain.”

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