The next morning Sara exited her room and nearly ran into Stanley who was leaving his own. The two stared at each other for a few seconds in silence before Stanley offered for her to go first. Sara wordlessly took the offer and continued down the stairs to the tavern below. The two chose seats far from each other and sat down to enjoy a decent breakfast.
Sara looked up from her plate that had just arrived at the sound of the chair across from her shifting. Skittish climbed up and sat across from Sara, bringing her own plate. "Hey, how're you feeling," Sara asked and bit off a piece of bacon.
The halfling thought for a moment before nodding her head and smiled.
"Sorry I can't understand your hand language. Can you not speak?"
The halfling shook her head and pointed at her mouth. Seeing Sara's confusion, swallowed her food and opened up to reveal the absence of a tongue. Sara visibly shivered. "I'm sorry." Skittish shrugged and ate an egg, waving off Sara's apology as though her reaction didn't bother her.
"Thanks for the potion last night," Sara said between bites, somewhat eager to get back on her travel. Again Skittish waved her away, which Sara interpreted it as her trying to say 'it was nothing'. "Can a healer not fix that." The reply was a simple head shake.
Skittish pointed at Sara and then pointed across the way toward Stanley sitting alone by the window, then back at Sara with an exaggerated look of questioning.
"Uh...oh! You wanna know about us," Sara sighed, "he's my brother, well stepbrother I think that's the right word," in response to Skittish's surprised look. "I didn't always look all hellfire and evil when I was little. We kinda grew a little distant when we both joined the Paragon Training. Okay, a little is an understatement," she corrects herself when Skittish raises her eyebrow, "and he's been like this cold, high and mighty, holyer-than-thou, person. I wish I knew why he hates me or what I did to him."
Skittish made a motion of pointing to her throat and moving her finger up her neck, to her mouth, and out towards Sara repeating the motion and pointing from Sara to Stanley. After the forth repetition, Sara finally realized what she was trying to say.
"Are you serious," Sara hissed. "I can't just go talk to him, I've tried that. He doesn't want anything to do with me."
Skittish repeated her gesture to speak with Stanley, then got up suddenly and walked over to him. "No, wait come back," Sara pleaded before cradling her face in her hands as the halfling tugged on Stanley's tunic sleeve. Through her fingers, Sara saw Skittish make several hand gestures to Stanley who surprisingly responded with similar gestures. From what Sara could guess, they were having some sort of debate before reaching some kind of agreement. Skittish spun around and returned to the table with a huge grin on her face.
"I'd ask what you just did, but seeing as I can't understand your hand language I'll just have to wait and see won't I?" The only response given was a toothy grin.
"Thank you for the company, sorry I couldn't find out much about you," Sara got up, their meal finished. Skittish nodded happily and got up as well. "Take care Skittish, maybe we'll see each other again," Sara reached for the door and her hand bumped into someone else's. Sara jerked her hand back when she saw Stanley also reaching for the doorway as though he were a poisonous animal about to strike. The trainee paladin opened the door and offered for Sara to go first wordlessly. As Sara walked past him she squeezed out a 'thank you'.
The low sun felt good on Sara's body and she allowed herself to stretch out. Setting her bag on the ground, Sara unfurled her wings and loosened up her joints, wincing slightly when she stretched the membrane that had been cut through the previous day.
"The beds weren't very comfortable for you either," Stanley spoke up, causing Sara to jolt.
"What?"
Stanley rolled his shoulders and Sara heard the soft cracking of his joints. "Like sleeping on rocks," he said flatly.
Sara was having a difficult time understanding why Stanley was talking to her. "Uh, yeah...we should probably get going if were gonna get to Granton before nightfall," Sara started forward, Stanley walking several feet to her left.
The pair walked in silence for an hour before Sara's curiosity got the better of her.
"Why are you talking to me? I'm not ungrateful for it, but you made it very clear in the capital you hated me."
Stanley took his time answering, as though searching for the right words. Finally he simply said, "orders."
"'Orders'?"
"Your friend from the Inn ordered me to be civil and try to have some sort of conversation for the road. Said you looked like you needed someone to talk to, so here we are."
"And do you usually follow orders given by random halflings at roadside Inns?"
Much to her continued surprise, Stanley actually smiled at her joke, but quickly recovered when he looked at her, "you really don't know who that was do you? That was Angela de la Fleur, the hero of Bolden Bridge."
"Now your joking. If she was able to hold off an entire demon horde, then why would she be here guarding a stretch of road against bandits and monsters?" 'And for that matter, take a beating like she did yesterday?'
"Retirement comes in many forms," was his only response. They continued on for a little while before Sara spoke up again.
"Well, seeing as you're under orders I can hopefully get an answer out of you."
"Answer to what?"
"Why do you hate me so?" Sara noted he had been acting more uneasy rather than angry toward her as they walked.
"...it's, I...damn."
"Well?"
After searching for how he should begin, Stanley began with a question. "Do you know what the Hollowing is?"
Sara shook her head.
"Its a condition all you infernals suffer from late in life. It begins when you reach ages like 400 years and up. You'll never age physically past your prime age, but it comes at a cost. The condition will begin small; you'll feel less fulfilled in things you used to enjoy, there will be an irresistible craving for new experiences, and from there it quickly becomes a downward spiral. Eventually all you do will never satisfy your desires so you'll turn to more extreme sensations no matter what or who you hurt, all the while your powers will continue to exponentially grow to try and satisfy your hunger. Torture, murder, experimentation, nothing is off limits. "
"But that's not me. You know me. I wouldn't do those things. And what does this have to do with me?"
"Did you know that part of paladin training involves going on short assignments under the supervision of older paladins?" Sara shook her head. "I've been on 6 such assignments. Usually just pest control kill some rats or giant spiders or get some experience mitigating disputes..." His voice trailed off and he inhaled deeply before he continued. "We were sent to investigate why a village had gone quiet. There were 7 of us in total including the senior paladin. We arrived near dusk on the outskirts and tried every house we passed not a soul in sight, but there was some signs of struggle in a few houses. By the time we'd reached the town centre it was nighttime and we found the residents mangled and reshaped into abominations. At the time we didn't know it but someone was watching us. One of the village residents was an infernal that had been using some powerful drugs to stave off the Hollowing, but her supplier had been caught and she crashed hard. She picked us off one by one, turning her victim's bodies into twisted parodies," he paused, clearly disturbed at recalling the incident. Sara debated if she should try to comfort him but felt it probably not a good time. "Only me and Dolph survived to kill the menace. Afterward we limped to the next village and swore to never let that happen to anyone else."
Sara searched for the right words to say, but found nothing would suffice.
"When I look at you, I see the sister I grew up with, the sister I love. But when I see you, i see the horrified faces of my friends as they were twisted and mutilated. I hear their screams sometimes as I dream." He leaned against a tree and looked at Sara over his shoulder and continued, his face a mixture of sorrow and anger. "A monster and a sister, hatred and love. I feel myself being torn apart when I look at you." He looked away and hit the tree in frustration.
Sara crossed over to him and lay a hand gently on his shoulder. "Stanley..." she turned him around to face her, his eyes were welling up with tears. "You were such a crybaby when we were kids," she joked. "But you were so kindhearted. Remember the blue bird you nursed back to health?"
"Yeah. Dammit look at me," he half smiled. "So much for the defender of good."
"I don't blame you Stanley. I understand what you're saying." She pulled him into an embrace.
"You make things so difficult for me sometimes."
"Come on," Stanley pulled away. "We've got a long way to go till we're back in Granton."
The pair resumed their journey along the road. Meanwhile, hidden in a tree was a halfling smiling to herself and the spell in her hand faded away. 'Sometimes people just need a little nudge to open up. Just another pair saved by the great Angela de la Fleur,' she congratulated herself before disappearing into the woods.