Shady

“Um…” Pratik hesitated, glancing back at the others. He would like some privacy. He didn’t know what clothes she might or might not want him to remove, and he wasn’t ...

So, a Guinea pig. Oh well. He shrugged. “Very well.” He turned back to Sera. “I’ll go first.”

(Night!) "She's the apothecary," Pratik explained. "She's going to examine us and wants to know who wants to go first... what would you prefer?"

Pratik hesitated, then nodded with a sigh. “You’re probably right.” He sat down on the empty cot and shrugged his coat off, figuring Sera was probably about to demand it ...

“… I could maybe go,” Pratik said, stepping into the infirmary. He wasn’t particularly thrilled at the idea of being off in the cold again. Or of intentionally going up ...

"I don't know," Pratik admitted. "Aleth was a paranoid bastard. I wouldn't be surprised if he had a failsafe in place -- probably could afford two assassins if Isya and ...

Pratik hesitated a moment. Loquitur did have a lot of resources at his disposal. If he really did care about Ky, then being with him was probably the safest place ...

Pratik cringed. That timing wasn't good. There wasn't anything he'd be able to do about it, at this point. He had no doubt the word had already spread to the ...

"Huh..." Pratik thought another moment. Ky certainly deserved to get a break -- which he hoped Loquitur would be decent enough to give her. If nothing else, he had to ...

"Yeah," Pratik agreed, contemplative. Well, that was a plot twist he never would have guessed in a thousand years. Ky was a girl. Loquitur saved her from Aleth. Aleth was ...

"No shit?" Pratik scratched his chin. "Huh... and Loquitur killed Aleth?"

"Yeah," Pratik said, brow also furrowed as he forced himself to keep walking, mind spinning. "I guess so. But his assistant was a lad. Kyber Ruiarc."

"Aleth?" Pratik stopped short, brain screeching to a halt. So it was the same Ky? And... he -- she? -- was a girl? And Aleth was getting his hands dirty ...

"Wait, how'd Loquitur get his hands on the girl if her master was here?" Pratik asked.

"Ky, huh?" Pratik rubbed his face, frowning as his fingers were even colder against his face than it was itself. "I knew a Ky once." He blew into his hands, ...