[hider=Flashback: Night Sola 23, 1739][center][h1][b][color=00F8FE]Callum[/color] & [color=DAF6C7]Riona[/color] Part 2[/b][/h1][/center]
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Gathering her notes, she returned to Callum’s side. [color=DAF6C7]“... Look, don’t forget that you’re welcome here, Cal. The house doesn’t hate you and I don’t hate you being here either.”[/color] She searched his face, wondering how many safe havens remained for him on the castle grounds. [color=DAF6C7]“It’d make me sad if you don’t like being here anymore.”[/color]

[color=00F8FE]“Never said [i]you[/i] were unwelcoming. I go places I’m not wanted all the time. I'd still visit if you lived in a cave full of very angry vipers.”[/color] The feeling was gone now but that didn’t make him feel better about it. He’d never felt such intense malice before, not even from Edin. [color=00F8FE]You’re right. I am jumpy, but hey, harder to sneak up on me, right?”[/color] It was better to change the subject. 

Riona pressed the cup into his hands with a gentle insistence. [color=DAF6C7]“Drink this. It might help.”[/color] Then she offered a sheaf of notes. [color=DAF6C7]“And this is for you. Kalliope helped me infiltrate a masquerade party today. I gathered some information that could get you off to a good start with the Thornbreakers.”[/color]

He looked down at the cup Riona placed in his hands. He lifted it close enough to smell, which was a mistake. [color=00F8FE]“I already had tea.”[/color] Callum whispered to the cup. [color=00F8FE]“[i]Better tea.[/i]”[/color] This a nearly inaudible whisper was sighed into the cup before he brought it to his lips and downed it like a shot. Even trying to avoid tasting it, he still made a face reminiscent of a child tasting alcohol for the first time. 

[color=DAF6C7]“Oh stop being melodramatic, Cal. It’s just water. Lukewarm water sure, but it can’t be that bad.”[/color] Riona shook her head. [color=DAF6C7]“Seriously, what kind of tea were you guys drinking?”[/color]

[color=00F8FE]“Roman’s shaman friend made it, it was tea for people who wish to see.”[/color] He whispered with a sense of reverence, describing it just as Roman had. Cal eyed the now empty cup. [color=00F8FE]“Water? I try not to touch that stuff.”[/color] He was certain that it had tasted bad; maybe it was the cup. He licked the side cup which didn’t taste any weirder than expected. [color=00F8FE]“Why would I tell them what you found? And why do you sometimes work with Quack, but not officially work with Quack? Never thought you were much of a Thorn-saver.”[/color]

[color=DAF6C7]“Because I’ve got your back, not the Thornbreakers. I’ve never really been on board with their cause, and I don’t think I ever will be. I’ve been helping out Quack with the effort to help folks in need, but that’s it… He just happened to get himself mixed up with anarchists,”[/color] she said, letting her arm drop.

[color=DAF6C7]“I don’t know why people think I have a problem with nobility, but I don’t. I have nothing against aristocracy itself. Some of the people I care about most happened to be of noble birth.”[/color] Annoyance flashed crossed her face. [color=DAF6C7]“What I can’t stand are those arrogant pricks who think their precious titles and bloodlines give them the right to abuse their power and treat others like something they’ve scraped off the bottom of their boots.”[/color] A weary sigh dissipated her irritation. [color=DAF6C7]“There are plenty of decent sorts among the highborn, people who show basic human decency to commoners. But some members of the Thornbreakers are hells-bent on punishing every last noble, regardless of their actions or character. All because they were born into a family with a fancy title… How is that any better?”[/color] 

[color=00F8FE]“It’s a depressingly low standard; basic decency and not abusing power, and so many fail at even that. Tells me everything I need to know about the aristocracy here.”[/color] Callum shrugged, he wasn’t sure if things were better in other places, but he was sure the rot in Caesonia extended far beyond his own house. 

[color=DAF6C7]“Gods, don’t remind me,”[/color] Riona said, massaging the bridge of her nose.
 
[color=00F8FE]“Thanks for helping.”[/color] 

She looked up at him and nodded in acknowledgment. [color=DAF6C7]“I might not give a damn about the Thornbreakers, but I worry about you. I want you to thrive and bring change. But you can’t do that if there’s members who think you’re more of a liability than an asset and decide to off you.”[/color] Riona lifted the notes back up. [color=DAF6C7]“This might help you survive in their group long enough to gain their trust. It has to be an offering from you. Don’t you dare mention me.”[/color] 

He stared at the carefully gathered notes, he couldn’t exactly read them - words kept shifting and forming patterns on the pages. They weren’t his notes, it wasn’t his work. [color=00F8FE]“That’s what Danroses’ do right; underhanded moves, manipulation, building trust on lies.”[/color] He watched the flowing movements of ink, an easy way to get what he wanted dancing before him. He looked Riona in the eye. [color=00F8FE]“I won’t lie to them. They’ll trust me because I’m worth it or they won’t.”[/color] There was no waver in his voice.  

[color=00F8FE]“Making friends with people who try to kill me, has worked out before. I’ll keep your name out of it if that’s what you want.”[/color] He offered.

Riona blinked at Callum, her brow furrowing as confusion and even hurt flickered across her features. Realization dawned, her mouth parted to form a silent ‘oh.’ [color=DAF6C7]“Wait. You think I want you to claim you gathered all this yourself?”[/color] She shook her head, dark curls swaying, before she forced the notes onto him. [color=DAF6C7]“The Thornbreakers wouldn’t believe you even if you did do it by yourself. Just say your secret coterie of informants collected it. The important thing is you deliver it to them yourself. And that you don’t mention me.”[/color] Pivoting on her heel, orange skirts swirled around her legs as Riona started toward the back of the house. [color=DAF6C7]“If that’s too much for your pride to swallow, then burn those notes.”[/color] 

[color=00F8FE]“Burn them? Obviously, you worked hard to get this, I’m not going to burn it. Just wanted to make sure we were on the same page, and guess we weren’t, but only because I think of the least honest ways to do things first.”[/color] He fidgeted with the empty cup. [color=00F8FE]“[i]Secret coterie of informants.[/i] You make sound all fancy and official.”[/color] He grinned and wondered if Wulfric had a secret coterie of informants. Probably. 

Riona halted at the hallway’s mouth, one hand braced on the doorframe as she half-turned, loose locks framing her face. [color=DAF6C7]“Callum.”[/color] His name carried the weight of a challenge on her lips.

[color=DAF6C7]“If you can’t stomach underhanded tactics, manipulation, lying… Then the Thornbreakers isn’t for you. Because that’s exactly what you’re going to have to do for them. They don’t have the luxury of playing it straight, not against opponents with infinite power, wealth, and influence to grind them into the dust.”[/color]

[color=00F8FE]“I said I wouldn’t lie to Quack or the other Thornbreakers, and I won’t lie to you either, by the way. I didn’t say I wouldn’t lie at all, just not to allies, or friends?”[/color] He said it like a question, a standard he hoped he could keep but wasn’t sure how possible that was. [color=00F8FE]“Guess I’ll see how well I can keep to that.”[/color] He wished he had something else to say because as soon as Riona disappeared from his line of sight he worried he’d feel eyes watching him again. He wanted to wait outside, but instead, he pulled a chair close to the wall so he could sit and still feel confident nothing lurked behind him. 

[color=DAF6C7]“Come on,”[/color] Riona called out from the other room, [color=DAF6C7]“try to sound a little bit more convincing than that! Are you really going to go with…”[/color] She put on an exaggerated impersonation of Callum, [color=DAF6C7]“‘Guess we’ll see how well I won’t lie to you guys.’”[/color] Switching to a deeper voice, she continued, [color=DAF6C7]“When they ask, ‘How can we trust you?’”[/color]

[color=00F8FE]“I don’t sound like that!”[/color]  He shouted back, there was a long pause before he added, [color=00F8FE]“Do I?”[/color] 

[color=DAF6C7]“When you’re drunk.”[/color] She said lightly at first and then, [color=DAF6C7]“... And when you doubt yourself.”[/color] Though she doubted he heard that.

[color=00F8FE]“Good thing I’m not drunk then. That guy sounds annoying.”[/color] He mumbled to himself and waited until Riona was well out of earshot before whispering to the quiet room. [color=00F8FE][i]“This is Riona’s home, she says I’m welcome here.”[/i][/color]  Maybe it was just to calm his nerves but whatever he’d sensed earlier did not return. The hut felt just as it always had, maybe it was all in his head. 

A few minutes later, Riona emerged from the room, dressed in the standard uniform. It was the least conspicuous outfit to be in. Even more so with the Prince by her side. 

On the table, she unrolled four thick sheets of paper, smoothing them flat with practiced hands. Layouts of the castle, one for each level, painstakingly drawn from earlier surveys. With a hint of pride, Riona confessed, [color=DAF6C7]“I’ve been measuring and mapping the castle. I narrowed down potential locations for hidden rooms… not that I’m sure how to get inside all of them, but it’s a start.”[/color] Her fingers traced along the paper, indicating sections still blank. [color=DAF6C7]“I haven’t explored these yet.”[/color] She looked up at Callum then, a glimmer of excitement in her eyes. For the first time, in a long time, she didn’t feel like she was on her own. To have someone by her side gave her immeasurable strength. [color=DAF6C7]“So, partner, where to first?”[/color] 

[color=00F8FE]“You made these!”[/color]  He looked through the detailed schematics; all four castle floors were laid out perfectly. Or it would look perfect if the lines on the paper would just hold still for a second. [color=00F8FE]“Hey, that’s my room!”[/color]  He pointed it out as if Riona didn’t already know the castle’s layout better than he did. [color=00F8FE]“Wow! Now it really feels like we're two rebel spies at the start of a master plan!”[/color] There was no containing the enthusiasm, it spread infectiously across his face like the grin of a child. 

Beside him, Riona felt her lips curve upwards in an answering smile, caught in the gravitational pull of his enthusiasm. 

[color=00F8FE]“We know about the secret room in the library, so I guess we can count the first floor solved for now. Second floor, I think that can wait, not like it’ll be hard for either of us to explain poking around in the tea room. So, third floor.”[/color]  He placed that page on top of the others and pointed to the unknown room. [color=00F8FE]“Seems like a good start, work our way down.”[/color]  Cal didn’t mention the basement, he didn’t want to go down there, even fully sober that place was unsettling. 

Nodding, she rolled up the papers. [color=DAF6C7]“Let’s get going.”[/color]



[color=DAF6C7]“Cal... Where’s your shoes?”[/color] Cal only shrugged in response.[/color][/hider]