“Well,” Kitalia remarked drily. “Only one of you is right. As a man cannot die twice.”
“He could if he faked his death,” Kre said, thinking hard about the topic. “Maybe you only thought you saw Ser Terync die and he really fled to Mintas to live out the rest of his days in hiding. That would explain his name change and his reluctance to talk to anyone about his past.”
Red sat back and rubbed at her ear for a moment. “Terync did have a squire… a younger Dragon Knight that served as his attendant for official functions. We never learned what happened to him.” It seemed as if she were talking to herself more than to the other two occupants of the room. “If Azie… but no, why would she?”
Kitalia cleared her throat politely. “Red, it is late. We can discuss this in the morning after we have slept and when you have had time to think more on this.”
At the mention of sleep, Kre stifled a yawn. “I agree. There are a few things I need to think about too, given the new information.”
Red was still staring off distantly towards the wall. It took her a moment to snap back to the current moment and she waved her hand dismissively. “Of course. You are welcome in the guest quarters, as usual.”
Kitalia nodded and stood, brushing crumbs from her outfit. “Then I shall take my leave.” She nodded to each in turn, “Red. Kre.” She swept past both of them towards the door to the left of the fireplace. She was gone before either of them could offer more than half of a goodnight wish.
Kre stood as well, unsure of what to say or where he was supposed to go. Thankfully, Red saved him from a potentially embarrassing situation when she gestured to the other door. “You’ll find a full bathtub in there,” she said, gesturing to the other, right-hand door. “I know it’s late, but a wash will do wonders to help you sleep better. Towels and such are there as well.”
Red clambered to her feet and gave him a curt nod. “I shall see you at breakfast. We can take our meal here in private, away from the common room upstairs, and continue our discussion.” She gave Kre a quizzical look and nodded again. “First though…”
Her hand snapped out quickly and she grabbed the clasp of Kre’s cloak with a surprisingly strong grip. He tried to wriggle free, but she released her hold almost as quickly, leaving him slightly off balance. When he did finally regain his composure, he noticed that she was whirling his ugly orange cloak off of his shoulder and tossing it into the corner.
“That stays there until you leave this place. It stinks and I won’t have it worn inside this sanctuary of mine.”
She turned and went out the main door, which allowed Kre a quick glance to see that someone had already cleaned up the mess he had made earlier. He made a mental note to thank the staff for having to deal with that. He glanced briefly at the cloak sitting in a dirty pile in the corner and thought about putting it back on as he was sworn to do, but he also appreciated the fact that it was no longer a weight around his neck. He decided to leave it for the night at least and put it back on in the morning.
Now that he was alone in the room, without either of the ladies to throw out a distracting question or to make a statement that confused him more often than informing him, Kre finally had a moment to really sit and think about the past couple of days. About the past week really.
Had it really been just a week since this craziness began? He tried counting out the days, but his mind had trouble with the first few, mixing them together in a flurry of legal talk, incessant chatter, and ill-comforting condolences.
Kre blew a hard puff of air out through his mouth, trying to clear his mind a bit. He recalled then that Red had mentioned a bath. As tired as he was, the idea of a warm bath was more comforting to him than crawling under the sheets of a bed.
He walked over to the door that Red had indicated, pausing with his hand on the knob. He cocked his head slightly and glanced over at Kitalia’s door, wondering… well, something. His brain was so fuzzy at this point that he couldn’t even think about what he wanted to think about. He let his head roll forward until it thunked softly against the door and only then did he turn the knob to let himself in the room.