With Estia still floating between sleep and wakefulness, and the rest of them fending off their own exhaustion, the ride back to the village was a silent one. Takayoshi was grateful for it. It gave him time to think, and assess, what had happened to them in that manor. To him, more specifically. To process... whatever that had been with Cricket.
A dream. A hallucination. An overactive imagination.
Cricket had not been there. It had been Takayoshi's own subconscious tying the threads of their circumstance together and trying to warn him. Just as Claudia had suggested. Nothing more.
There was no way Cricket could have been there. No way Takayoshi could have actually been talking to him. And if there were a way, why would Cricket have bothered? They were not friends. They had not spoken in over a year. Perhaps if Takayoshi had sent a letter to apologize for what had happened things may have been different, but it was too late now. Too much time had passed. Cricket had surely moved on, and once the spell that bound them together was broken, he may not even remember Takayoshi. That, Takayoshi decided, would be a blessing.
"I'll get us some rooms," Claudia announced as they rode into town. "Why don't you help Leo with Estia and the horses?"
Takayoshi nodded, branching off toward the stables. He slid from Lily's back, leading her into the stable alongside Claudia's horse. Once they were each settled, he turned to help Estia off Leo's horse.
"How did you find us?" he asked, his arms looping around Estia's middle to keep zir from slumping to the ground.
Leo's boots landed hard beside them, a frown marring his dark face. "That's a little rude, don't you think? No, thank you. No, Leo, you really saved my bacon back there. Just how did you find us?"
Takayoshi blinked at him blandly. He was too tired to attempt politeness.
"Fine. Fine." Leo huffed out a breath, leading his and Estia's horses to their own stalls, and reaching for the pitchfork. "I was in the inn when you lot came through the first time. I heard you talking. And when you didn't come back..."
"You came after us."
"Right."
"Why?" Takayoshi was still not sure if they could trust Leo. The man had been there when they needed him, yes, but what were his motivations? Was he also looking for the map to the library? Or was he after one of them? Takayoshi did not recognize Leo, but that did not mean that neither Claudia nor Estia had. Perhaps Leo had been sent by one of their families, or one of their enemies, if they had them. Most people did.
Leo huffed out a breath, his face still turned to where he was loading the stall with almost too much hay so that Takayoshi could not read his expression. "You lot were in trouble."
"No one else from the village came to our aid. Many were in the room that evening, and knew what we planned to do, they did not come."
"What do you want me to say?"
"I want you to tell me the truth. Why did you come to save us when we did not return to the inn?"
"You were in—"
"Tell me the truth." Takayoshi's voice went hard, and commanding, the kind of tone he only used on wayward knights of the court who were making trouble.
Leo turned, the pitchfork standing up beside him for him to lean on like a staff as he met Takayoshi's hardened gaze. "The truth is, I'm not from the village. I was just passing through, just like you were. But I had heard enough stories about that manor, and then I saw your group come through and not come back, and I decided you needed help. That's the truth."
There was no hint of a lie in his expression. His eyes were open, and honest, his posture relaxed. But there was something... something in the press of his lips that was not quite honest. Not a lie, just not honest. Like there was something he was not saying. Cricket would have been able to wheedle it out, or even Claudia perhaps. But Takayoshi could not. All he could do was take Leo at face value. "Do you expect payment for your help?"
Leo's lips twitched in a derisive snort, and he rolled his dark eyes. "No. No payment necessary."
Takayoshi did not quite believe that, but he nodded. No one did anything out of the kindness of their hearts. Not even noble knights. "Then, I thank you for your aid. We would have been in severe danger if you had not arrived when you had."
"I'll say!" Leo grunted, shaking his head.
"We will pay for your room and board for however long you wish to stay in the village, even after we have left. It will in no way pay you back for what you have done, but I hope you will accept it." If he were at home in Helio, Takayoshi could do more. He could provide Leo with accommodations, and maybe even a place amongst the ranks of his own knights. But he doubted Uncle would approve of any new knight appointments he made after how they had left things. Not that he could blame Uncle.
"What? You're planning to leave me behind?"
"You had not expressed interest in coming with us until now." Takayoshi shifted, lifting Estia further up by zir shoulders. Ze was getting heavy, he wished Leo would get to the point of whatever it was he wanted so they could all go to bed finally.
"Consider this me expressing interest," Leo said flatly.
"Very well. I will discuss it with my companions after we have had some rest. Now, can we please return to the inn for some sleep?"
"Of course." Leo bowed, gesturing to the door. Takayoshi was certain the bow was a mocking one, but he did not have it within himself to care at the current moment. He was too tired. So, he just hefted Estia up further, and started walking.
"Should he really be in on this meeting?" Claudia asked. Her eyes were narrowed on Leo from behind her glasses. She still looked absolutely exhausted, in spite of sleeping much of the day. Probably a byproduct of whatever energy the spirits had managed to drain from them.
Takayoshi was feeling similarly, but he managed to clench his teeth around a yawn.
Estia was not fairing much better, ze had slumped forward to bury zir face in zir crossed arms on the table. "Do we have to argue about this? Just let him come along."
"No I will not just let him come along, we don't know anything about him." Claudia was practically snarling, a feat that seemed particularly impressive when Takayoshi could barely manage enough energy to keep his posture upright.
"Perhaps we should ask him about himself," Takayoshi said, hoping to be the reasonable one of the lot.
"We know he's handsome," Estia said, ignoring Takayoshi's request for reasonability entirely. Ze turned zir head to look up at Leo through fluttering lashes.
Leo clicked his tongue, rolling his eyes to meet Claudia's stare head on. "If it weren't for me, the three of you idiots would have died back there."
"How does him being handsome have anything to do with anything?" Claudia leaned forward to poke at the crown of Estia's head until ze swatted her away with a grumble. "It doesn't tell us if we can trust him. It doesn't tell us if he's working for one of our enemies. It doesn't tell us anything."
"What enemies?" Estia blinked wide, innocent eyes at Claudia.
Claudia just stared back at zir, disbelieving.
Takayoshi was sure Estia knew that it would be better if Cricket's uncle did not find out what they were doing, but he had never explicitly told zir so. In fact, he had never explicitly told Claudia so either. She had merely made correct assumptions.
"If I may, I believe I've—"
"No you may not," Claudia snapped at Leo, but did not bother to remove her glare from where it was currently trying to burn a hole into Esta's face. Estia continued to flutter zir lashes innocently. "Why do you think he should come with us?"
"I told you, he's pretty."
"Pretty is not a metric by which we should measure trustworthiness. There are wagon loads full of people in this world who are attractive, Estia. Are we supposed to trust every good-looking face who pops up while on this journey?" Claud leaned back in her chair, her arms crossed over her chest, brows raised.
"No. Just the ones who save us from hungry spirits in the middle of the night when we're all under a sleeping spell, and can't protect ourselves. Just those good-looking faces. Right Leo?" Estia turned zir head to look up at Leo again, a wide smile splitting zir face.
Leo rolled his eyes.
"He doesn't even like you." Claudia scoffed.
"What?! Of course he likes me! You like me, don't you Leo?"
Leo opened his mouth to reply, and Takayoshi let out a short breath that might have been a sigh, if he were in the habit of doing such things.
"Enough," Takayoshi said before the conversation could take another turn. He sat forward in his chair, pressing his hands into the surface of the table, drawing their attention away from one another to him. "We will not be allowing Leo to come with us simply because Estia thinks he is attractive."
"So I'm not allowed to accompany you on your mission?" Leo asked.
"You aren't letting him come?!" Estia cried at the exact same time.
"That's what I thought," Claudia said, pleased with herself.
Takayoshi held up his hand to silence them all again. "However, I do believe that it may be beneficial to have another fighter amongst our ranks. Especially one who has been traveling, where we have not. This is unlikely to be the last time that we encounter something that means to do us harm. Leo has proven that he is capable of acting when it is necessary, and while I do not know his true motivations yet, I do trust that he will act in the best interest of the group."
"Yoshi. We can't trust him—"
Takayoshi shook his head, taking a deep breath. He had never spoken so much all at once before, and it left his throat tight. Why had they not ordered tea before they began this discussion? "I understand your concerns, Claudia. But we do not know what the rest of this journey will hold, and I would feel better knowing that we have another skilled swordsman amongst us."
"And who will be responsible if he turns on us?"
"I will take responsibility if that is to happen." Takayoshi raised his eyes to meet Leo's. "I am sure he understands the consequences of going against an heir to the throne of Helio."
Leo's face hardened, and he nodded once, sharply. "Yes, Your Highness."
"And the prin of Cytherea." Estia sat up, lifting zir chin with a regality that Takayoshi had not seen on zir since they had left zir palace.
Leo's eyes flicked to Estia, but there was no hint of surprise there, just another short nod. Then he looked at Claudia, raising a brow expectantly.
"I don't have a title." Claudia shrugged. "I'll just stab you."
"Good to know."
"Delightful." Claudia stood from her chair. "I'm going to grab us a waitress. Need anything right away?"
"Tea please," Takayoshi said, before clearing his throat again.
"Right." Claudia pulled a map from her bag and flopped it down in front of them. "You three figure out our route while I get this settled."
"Will you not be..." Takayoshi turned his head to follow Claudia's gaze which had settled on a red-haired waitress, leaning against the serving window at the back of the room with her hip popped to one side. "Claudia."
Claudia snorted, rolling her eyes. "We can't all be saints waiting for our one true love, Yoshi. And as Estia is going to spend the entire time drooling over our new friend here, I deserve a little fun before we're on the road again. Don't I?"
Estia did not bother to respond to the jab, ze was too busy watching Leo's hands unfurl the map in the middle of the table.
Takayoshi let out a breath. "Just do not forget my tea."
"Yes, Your Highness." Claudia teased, with a bow. Then she winked and spun to head after the waitress.
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