⌜ chapter twelve ⌟

"Enjoy the next three days." Jesper winks as he looks down at Arya, and she shakes her head at him.

"You're a child."

"You can't lie to me, Arya. I know what I see."

"Well, at least you've never seen me making kissy faces at myself in a mirror." She says, and his eyes narrow. "Never seen me kiss my gun."

"I was putting on a performance." He argues, and she nods. "Shut up."

"I'm sorry, Inej." Arya says as she and Kaz walk over to the two of them.

"Why?" The Suli girl's eyebrows furrow.

"Because you're stuck with him for the next few days." She nudges Jesper when he wraps his arm around her shoulders.

"When did you get so mean?" He questions, and Inej chuckles at the amused look on Arya's face.

"You're sure you'll be alright without me?" Inej asks, and she nods.

"Yeah, it isn't as bad anymore. Mostly healed; it's more sore than anything, I think." Arya tells her, and she seems more willing to let her stay behind while she, Jesper, and Arken travel with the performers for the fete.

It's not long before they're gone, and Arya turns to look at Kaz. "And then there were two." She says, and he looks down at her. "Any ideas for how we're getting there?"

"I'll come up with something." He says, and she nods as she looks past him, back toward the pub.

She smiles when something catches her eye, and then she looks back up at Kaz. "Hold that thought." The brunette then moves past him, walking over to a man that just exited the pub.

Kaz turns and watches her as she walks away from him, having no idea where she's going or what she's doing. He sees her stop in front of a man who appears old enough to be her father, and she smiles as she talks to him. Kaz's grip on his cane tightens when Arya reaches out and touches the man's arm as she nods, still smiling. He knows that she's flirting with the man, trying to get something from him, and the sight makes him angry.

A few minutes later, Arya leads the man back over to Kaz. "This is my friend that I was telling you about." She motions to the man dressed in all black before turning her full attention to Kaz. "This is Maxim. He's on his way to Os Alta as well; I told him how I made us miss our transport, and he says that he's happy to help." She tells him, a small smile on her face.

"That's very kind." Kaz says as he looks back at Maxim, doing his best to hide his irritation.

"Shall we then?" Maxim smiles as he turns his gaze to Arya. "We have a long ride ahead of us."

The brunette smiles as she looks up at him, and he turns to walk toward his carriage. Her smile falls as she turns away from Kaz, but he can see her discomfort before she follows after Maxim.

That night, they're stopped at an inn, and Kaz gets a room for him and Arya. She walks out of the bathroom after checking her side, and Kaz looks over at her.

"I told you I'd get us to the Little Palace." He starts, and she looks over at him. "You didn't have to ask the man who clearly makes you uncomfortable."

"It's not a big deal." She shrugs. "I didn't trust Arken to find something, so it was already something I had kinda been setting up. Seemed like wasted effort if we didn't take him up on his offer, especially since we didn't have a different plan already."

"I don't like the way he looks at you." He says, and a small smile tugs at her lips. "I don't trust him."

"I'll be alright."

"Where are you going?" He asks when she starts for the door.

"I like to look out at the moon and the stars when I have a free minute." She tells him, and he nods. "Do you want to come with me?"

Kaz pauses as he looks at her. He wants to go, but he knows that feeling the way he does for her won't end well, so he shouldn't keep feeding into it. "I should work on the plan for once we're inside, and how you and I are going to get in." He finally answers, and she nods.

"Well, you know where I'll be, if you change your mind." She turns for the door, and he watches her leave.

Arya leans against the iron railing outside the rooms as she looks up at the night sky. There aren't many lights around them to make seeing the stars difficult, so she can see the millions of tiny dots without hindrance.

Her green eyes turn to the full moon and a small smile tugs at her lips as she remembers the nights that she'd lay on the grass outside her childhood home. She could spend hours staring up at the moon and stars, but of course, Damon would never let her stay that long. He'd call her in, claiming that she'd get frostbite or the wild animals would find her.

Footsteps approaching catch her attention, pulling her from her thoughts, and her body tenses as her jaw tightens. She knows that it isn't Kaz because the footfalls are too heavy, and there's no sound of his cane; it's Maxim.

He walks behind her, stopping a moment, and it makes her uneasy as he lingers there. Finally, he moves to her other side before resting a large hand on the railing as he turns his chin up, following her gaze.

"What are you doing out here all alone?" He asks, his voice sounding a bit off.

"Thinking of home."

"And where is home?" He asks. His s slurs, and her teeth grind. "You have a strange accent."

"It's a...very small town." She tells him. "Across the ocean quite a ways."

"And what are you doing so far from home?" He steps closer to her.

"Traveling, meeting new friends."

"Like me." He smiles as he bows his head, and she can smell the alcohol on his breath.

"I've made a few, yes." She looks down before beginning to turn. "I should be getting back to-"

He grabs her arm, and she reluctantly stops. "You should come back to my room instead."

"It's late." She says as she looks up at him. "And my friend is expecting me back."

"He can wait a little longer." His grip tightens when she tries to pull her hand back.

"I really should be going. We have an early start tomorrow."

"I'm giving you and your friend a ride for free." He moves closer to her. "Coming back to my room is the least you could do."

"It wouldn't be free then, would it?" She jerks her arm away. "You want money? We'll pay you."

"It's not the payment I'm looking for."

"You're older than my father; much too old for-"

He backhands her across the face, and her head jerks to the side as a gasp escapes her lips. She looks back up at him as her hand moves to cover the reddening skin of her cheek.

A dark blur suddenly moves past her, and it takes a moment for her to pull herself from her shock to realize that Kaz now has Maxim pinned against the wall with his cane across his throat as he glares down at the older man. In an instant, Arya launches forward and grabs at Kaz's coat.

"I should kill you." He snarls, and she pulls on his arm.

"I'm fine. Let's go." Arya begs. "Let's just leave. Please."

Kaz looks down at her, his blue eyes hard with anger. "Get your things. Go." He tells her, and she takes a hesitant step back before turning for their room and quickly heading inside.

Less than a minute later, Kaz walks back into the room, and Arya looks over as he crosses the small space to get to her. She starts to speak, but her words trail off as he gets her to turn; he's gentle as he uses his gloved fingers to turn her head slightly. She can still feel the sting, and she hisses when his thumb lightly brushes the reddened skin. Her own fingers curl around his, and she pulls his hand from her face as she looks up at him.

"I'm okay, Kaz, really." The brunette says as her gaze finds his. "It surprised me more than anything."

"We're leaving." He tells her as he pulls away. "Get your things together so we can go."

A couple minutes later, they're walking out of their room. Arya can't help herself as she looks back to where she and Maxim had been standing; he's laying unmoving on the ground.

"You didn't kill him, did you?"

"No." Kaz says as he walks past her after shutting the door behind them. "But I still might if we don't leave right now."

She quickly follows after him, wanting to put as much space between them and him as possible as quickly as possible, and he steals one of the horses that Maxim has for his carriage. Neither of them have much in the way of belongings, and it's easy enough to carry on horseback. Arya's more concerned with Kaz's leg, but he seems fine as she holds onto him with one hand, keeping his cane in her other.

He finds an abandoned barn and stops the horse there. Once they're off, he puts the horse inside the barn and leaves their things just inside the door. It's not long before Kaz is walking out to where Arya's standing in the grassy field, staring up at the stars.

"Are you sure you're alright?" He asks, and she looks at him as he stops beside her.

"I'm fine." She nods. "I think I prefer how it is in my world, where men avoid me, but I'm okay."

"Why did he hit you?"

She smirks. "I told him I wouldn't go to his room with him because he's older than my father."

"And that's funny to you?" He's entirely unamused.

"A sensitivity of a proud man's ego — yeah, I can find humor in it when he gets it cut down to size." She shrugs. "He caught me by surprise, that's all. I really don't rattle that easily. You can piss me off that easily, but that's about it."

"I've noticed." He nods.

"How did you know what he'd done?" She asks. "Why had you come outside?"

Kaz pauses for a moment as he looks down at her. "I'd changed my mind." He tells her, and a smile tugs at her lips.

"We can still look at the stars." She turns her gaze to the sky. "Have you ever slept under them before?"

"Have you?"

"More times than I can count...much to my brother's dismay." Arya lays down on her back, then she looks up at him. "Are you just gonna stand there?"

The two lay under the stars together, and Kaz listens to her stories until she falls asleep. He likes hearing the stories that make her smile, even more when they make her laugh. A part of him is a little disappointed when she eventually drifts off, but they have a long day ahead of them, and they both need the rest.

Kaz sits up and shrugs out of his jacket so that he can then lay it over Arya like a blanket. He props himself up on his elbow as he looks down at her, then he reaches over and gently brushes her bangs away from her eyes with a gloved finger. She seems so peaceful as she sleeps, and he can't stop the thought that it's going to be hell when she leaves from crossing his mind.

» » » « « «

Arya wakes up with the early morning sun shining down on her, and she instinctively uses the coat over her shoulder to shield her eyes as she buries her face in the firm object beside her. Her movements cause Kaz to stir, and it's then that she realizes it's a person laying beside her and a shoulder she's using to hide from the morning light.

The brunette lifts her head as squinted eyes try to make sense of what her foggy mind isn't putting together quickly enough. She finds groggy blue eyes, and after a moment longer, they both realize that they're laying closer than they were last night, and her head has been resting on his shoulder.

Remembering how touch makes him uncomfortable, and not wanting to cross any lines, Arya moves back an inch as she starts to sit up. "Sorry." She mutters as her fingers curl around the coat that he placed over her, and she looks down at it in her lap.

Kaz takes a deep breath as he then gets to his feet. "It's alright." He says as he stretches, leaning down to pick up his cane.

She stands as well, then she feels a light pull on her hair. Looking up, Arya finds Kaz smirking as he pulls grass and twigs from her dark, matted hair. She chuckles as his gaze meets hers.

"Yeah, that happens." She muses. "Pulling out blades of grass in the mirror the next morning was always a minor downfall of sleeping in the yard...and usually prompted a lecture."

"Your brothers didn't like you sleeping outside?"

"No." She shakes her head, then she sees that he's using his bare hands as he pulls another small blade of grass. Arya looks down and sees his gloves near where he was laying, and she leans down to pick them up; she's careful not to touch his skin as she hands them to him. "I should have a brush in my bag. It'll get most of the grass out." She offers him a small smile before they both start for the barn.

The horse neighs as they open the door, and Arya walks over to pet his snout. "Hey, boy." She smiles before looking over at Kaz. "Can we get an apple for him later? I always used to give our horses at least a piece. I liked that it irritated my dad when I gave them treats." She tells him, and he smirks as he looks over at her.

"Yeah, we can get him an apple."

They find a town not too far from where they slept, and Kaz finds a place where the two of them can eat. After they've eaten, they briefly go their separate ways, both needing to get different things before they arrive in Os Alta and sneak into the Little Palace.

When Kaz finds Arya back where they left the horse, he sees her feeding him apple slices. She's wearing a white dress that starts out form-fitting around her torso, but falls much more loosely as it flows down to the ground; this means she can fight should she need to. After feeding the last slice to the horse, she turns to look around, and she spots Kaz as he starts walking again.

Her bangs are braided into the rest of her hair, keeping it off of her face. She smiles as she waves at him, and the corner of his lips tug upward as he nears her.

"I like what you've done with your hair." Kaz says, wanting to see that same smile she always gets when Jesper compliments her, but it seems brighter now.

"Thank you." She says as her green eyes meet his blue ones. "But don't get used to it. It's been like this for an hour, and it's already giving me a headache."

"The dress is nice, but it won't be good for riding a horse."

"Oh, I know." She nods as she looks down at her outfit. "It's for the fete. I just haven't found somewhere that I could change yet."

"Where did you get it?" He asks, and she smiles as she looks up at him again.

"I stole it." She tells him, and he smirks as he looks down at her. "So I should probably change soon. You aren't ready to go yet, are you?"

"Not just yet. I have one more thing I have to get."

"You do that, and I'll meet you back here after I change." She says, and he nods.

It isn't long before Arya's riding back to where she left Kaz earlier, and he looks up at her as she gets the horse to stop. "You look comfortable on a horse." He says, and she smiles.

"I used to love riding. It was always my favorite part of the day...before everything changed, that is." Her smile falls as she looks down, but then she meets his eyes again. "I think you should ride on the back today."

He shakes his head. "That's not going to happen." He tells her, and she chuckles before moving to get off of the horse.

Arya lands on her feet in front of Kaz, and she smiles as she drops the hood of the cloak that she's once again wearing. Green eyes stare up into his blue ones, and he takes a deep breath before letting his head hang, knowing that he may never be able to act on the thought that crosses his mind when she stands so close.

"We should be going." Kaz says as he lifts his head, meeting her gaze again. "We still have a long way to the palace."