After Nicolai and Kaeda had bathed and scrounged up a meal for themselves in Moira’s kitchen, they settled themselves in the beautiful guest room. It’s lavish compared to anywhere else Kaeda has ever stayed. A large, round, plush, cream colored rug takes up the middle of the floor at the foot of the bed and it feels soft enough to sleep on, but it can’t compete with the bed. She’s never encountered a bed more comfortable than this one. It’s just the right size for two people, draped with a thick sapphire blanket over cream sheets and fluffy pillows. It makes her want to stay in it and sleep for days.

     “Where’s Marley?” she asks. “I thought I’d be meeting him today.”

     “He’s here, I think, asleep. He was out in the market, and then we missed dinner.”

     Kaeda’s skin warms at the memory of why they missed dinner. They were tangled up in each other on the beach,  and she’d happily miss any meal for that. 

     “I guess I’ll meet him tomorrow.” she yawns, sprawled across the bed in a plain white nightgown that Moira had gifted her since she didn’t have any sleepwear. 

     “Yeah, I’m sure we’ll see him at breakfast.” Nico says, settling on the bed next to her. “This white fabric makes your skin look incredible.” he adds, running a hand up her thigh, under the cotton, to grip her hip and pull her closer to him.

     She groans, already sore from their beach activities, but she grins at him. “If you’re looking for round two, mister, you’re gonna have to give me some more recovery time.”

     He laughs and drops a kiss on the end of her nose. “You and me both, but I can’t keep my hands off you.” he admits, as he creeps his fingers from her hip up to her ribs and gently tickles her.

     She stifles a shriek at the overwhelming sensation, trying not to disturb Moira and Marley. Twisting away, she kicks and shoves at him as he buries his face in the bed to muffle his childish guffawing.

     She glares daggers at him, vowing, “I’ll get you back for that, Nicolai, when you least expect it.”

     That only makes him laugh more, and it takes him a few minutes to regain control of himself before he says, “Sorry, I couldn't help it. The opportunity presented itself, and it’s been a long time since I’ve had occasion to laugh like that.”

     She smirks at him. “I hope you still feel like laughing when I get you back.”

     “Yeah, we’ll see.” he says, still amused as he grabs her and pulls her back towards him. “So, what did you and Draik do the next day, after you first started learning to control your magic?” he laughs again, a softer laugh. “Gods, Kae… your magic. I still can barely believe it.”

     “I’m still not even used to it. I don’t know if it will ever feel like a normal thing.” She shakes her head, thinking about it. “The rest of my story is pretty predictable. Draik and I tried to settle here and there, but everywhere we stopped for too long, Queen Nola’s minions would show up. They were never a match for Draik, or me, as I became a better fighter and learned to wield my magic. She stopped sending them one at a time, but still we managed to kill or evade them all, and we never let anyone else get hurt. We would go from town to town, through heavily wooded areas, trying to be unpredictable with where we’d turn up next. They always found us. It became very clear to me that she would never give up.” she sighed heavily. 

     “I tried to convince Draik to go back to Arbold and let me handle it on my own. Why should he have to live his life on the run when it was only me who Queen Nola wanted? But he wouldn’t go. So, one day when he was sleeping across the hall at an inn, I snuck off. I haven’t heard from him since, and I pray to the Gods he made it back to Arbold safely.” Her breath shudders through her heavy chest as she finishes speaking, haunted by the guilt she’s felt ever since she’d left Draik at that inn, hoping she’d made the right choice, hoping he’d understood. 

     “How long before Felway was that?” Nico asks.

     “Not long. Without another person to protect, and feeling more confident with my power, I stopped being so discreet and started trying to live my life. I was at a party that dimming, before I was attacked, before you found me in the street. That was the biggest group she’d ever sent after me. Nobody else knew why they were there, and the party turned into a warzone, spreading out into the streets as more and more people jumped into the confusion. All those bodies we saw in the streets, they all died because of me.”

     “No, Kaeda. They died because of Queen Nola.”

     “No. They’d still be alive if I had gone quietly.”

     “I don’t think most people would blame you for just wanting to be free, Kae.”

     “I did try. I tried to end as many of them as I could before more people got hurt, but… I don’t know what happened. One minute I was fighting with my daggers, and the next I was waking up to your voice.”

     Nicolai rubs her back. “I came into the city to get some food and ask around about you. When I heard the commotion in the distance. I ran towards it, but found you first. I think it was almost over, and the last of the queen’s men were trying to flee.”

     “Hopefully none of them survived or saw us leaving to report our direction. Hopefully she thinks I continued moving south, like we were thinking.” she says.

     “If any of them had seen us disappear into the woods, there’s a good chance they would have found us while we were sleeping.” 

     Kaeda shudders at the thought. “I’m really glad we made it here to see your mom, but do you really think we should stay here? I don’t want her or her husband to get hurt.”

     “I don’t either. We’ll just stay here until we have a better plan. You can’t keep running forever. I have an idea, but I want to discuss it with Marley after breakfast. Let’s get some sleep, love.”

     She wonders what his idea is, but she’s too tired to push for an explanation right now, so she tucks her head under his chin and closes her eyes.