Chapter 8- "Welcome"

Reina drifted out of her sleep to the sound of two voices. They seemed close by, perhaps on the opposite side of a wall, and their tones were argumentative. Letting her eyes rest shut, she listened to what they were saying. One of the two voices she could recognize as Kaie, and the other sounded like a woman, but one she didn’t know. Reina was able to pick out words as their argument grew heated.

“Why did you allow her to come here? She could give us all away!”

“What was I supposed to do! Leave her there?” Kaie’s voice retorted

“Yes. That’s what we did with the others, you didn’t seem to mind then!”

“But you had to crush her into a wall. And knock her out!”

“She fought back.”

“What did you expect her to do, grabbing her in a dark alley.....?”

Footsteps could be heard coming from nearby, and the two voices became inaudible. Curious as to where she was, Reina opened her eyes. It was the same darkness as earlier, but now it didn’t seem as dark. More like a twilight feeling then a dark of night one. Her hands felt over what she was resting on. It was a small cot of some kind, covered in a well worn patchwork quilt, and positioned against a wall. Underneath her head was a wad of what she presumed to be blankets, knotted up to keep it from moving. She reached her hand up to feel her forehead, almost afraid of what she would find. To her relief, a cotton bandage was covering her wound. The pain seemed to have subsided some from her last memory of waking up, and her headache had become merely a nuisance.

The door to the room she was in creaked open, letting in a wave of soft arguments, followed by a sharp shushing. Two pairs of feet entered. Reina’s eyes shifted up to see their faces, and recognized Kaie. The other woman with her was wearing all black, and carrying a face mask waded up in her hand. Reina’s eyes hardened, her trust of Kaie faltering. Unless she was mistaken, the woman she was with had been one of her attackers in the alley.

“She! She....” Kaie interrupted Reina before she could finish her thought.

“Reina, I’d like you to meet my sister, Marien.” she said carefully.

Reina blinked, taken aback by this change in events. She said nothing, just sat there, dumbfounded.

“Let us explain what happened” Kaie continued, but her sister interrupted.

“Aren’t you forgetting something??” she said urgently. “Reina,” Marien said, turning to address her, “You must promise to Never tell anyone else about this. Never. If you have any clue of the location you are at, or how to get here, forget about it. Never Ever tell anyone.”

“Marien, she was unconscious the whole way here, you saw her.”

“You can never be too safe..”

The two turned their attention back to Reina.

“Tell me Reina,” said Kaie, trying too hard to sound carefree, “Do you have any... qualms.. With the Cranaci ..empire..” she said, throwing distaste at the last word.

Reina didn’t respond. Her head was racing, and throbbing. She still didn’t completely trust Marien, after all, she had only recently given her the cut across her scalp, but Kaie seemed trustworthy. However, she had still only just met her. The wrong answer here could easily cost her her life.

-

“Yes.”

-

With that one word, the tension in the room broke. It was as if all three of them had taken in a breath, and exhaled simultaneously. Marien instantly seemed more relaxed, and Kaie was about to hug her with delight.

“In that case,” she began, “Welcome, Welcome, Welcome.”