Songbird: What it Means to be the Hero

{-Rennyn-}

He might’ve tried to get more sleep, if he wasn’t now worried something might happen to Kaylin while he wasn’t looking, and if he was sure he wouldn’t have nightmares. So he stayed downstairs, scanning each person that came in and out of the inn, occasionally slipping into old memories before forcing himself back out again. He’d already failed once; he hadn’t even realized what happened until Kaylin asked if he was alright, citing his paling face and quickening breaths. He brushed it off and, soon enough, they’d returned to their own thing.

“How long do you think it’s going to take them?” Rennyn asked, mostly from wondering aloud.

“Probably a couple of hours,” was Kaylin’s simple answer. She pushed her chair back to get up, gently pulling a coat off the table. “Could you try this on for a minute? I want to make sure everything looks alright.”

He nodded, stood up, gently took the coat from her, and tried it on. It was… surprisingly warm and comfortable. It reminded him of being bundled up in the winters back home, actually…

“Does it fit?” she asked, drawing him out of his thoughts.

“Yeah.”

“I can do the finishing touches later, then. You can keep the coat, but I need your shirt. I can quickly wash and patch it up now.”

He did as she asked without question and, after a moment, she left with it. He tried not to overthink about her too much, instead trying to focus on the comfortable coat. Even if that came with its own set of no-longer-as-happy memories.

He wanted to go home; talk with his parents and Allyna; learn the merchant’s trade without thinking about being the hero.

But no one would save the world for him. And none of those things—his home, his family, their futures—would exist if he didn’t do this.

They might not even happen if he did do this but, well, at least he had the terrible excuse of “I tried.”

Rennyn actually thought he might’ve been getting comfortable—enough to take a quick nap, even, since Kaylin returned—when he noticed that Seldir, Lyrei, and Noa came back to the inn. Given the hushed conversation they were having and the slip of paper Seldir was holding, Rennyn found he was no longer tired.

“Did something happen?” he prompted nearly as soon as they reached the table. “What’s that paper say? Did you come across it while you were out?”

He looked between all three of them, only somewhat assured that none of them looked hurt. Still, he couldn’t shake the fear that they’d been cornered, or threatened, by one of Dhymos’s minions—or, just because it didn’t happen this time, didn’t mean it would happen later.

“I’ll let you read it for yourself.” Seldir cautiously handed Rennyn the slip.

Kaylin stopped what she was doing and looked over her shoulder, too, in order to read it.

‘My work never ceases, dear Songbird, and neither should yours. If you’ve got the time, why not pay the others a visit? They’ve got quite the surprise for you… and a much bigger one for everyone else, if the others get bored. Best not keep them waiting.’

He’d barely read through all of it before he was able to confidently announce, “We need to see what Dhymos is planning. Whatever it is, it’s nothing good, and we need to stop it as soon as possible.”

“We don’t know where they are,” Kaylin pointed out gently. “We don’t even know for sure if this was from Dhymos…”

“I know his handwriting when I see it. Besides, there’s only a few people that know to call me Songbird…”

“Doesn’t that just make it more suspicious to you? You know how he’ll use anything he can to trick us. What if this is just another one of those tricks?”

“What if he means everything he says, and people are going to get hurt if we don’t take this seriously?”

“Just this morning you were throwing yourself into danger to protect others who could’ve helped themselves. We have no idea if this is even a real threat. Can’t you just relax for a day?”

“You really want me to risk letting others get hurt?”

“I don’t want to see you get hurt.”

“Well, last I checked, being the big damn hero has been my defining trait for fourteen other lives. I’m only here to save others. And if that’s what my purpose is, if that’s what gets this thing over with, then I’ll do it. With or without you.”

He was completely ready to end the conversation here and there; he stood up and took off the coat, taking his shirt from her. He didn’t want to get the coat ruined, if there was going to be a fight—she’d put too much work into it for it to need stitching so soon.

But Kaylin grabbed his arm and said, “You don’t even know where they are.”

A familiar voice, heralding the arrival of a familiar face, remarked, “I can help with that.”

Rennyn couldn’t muster a smile, but still felt relieved to see her. “It’s good to see you found where we were, Allyna. You didn’t run into a lot of trouble, did you? Did someone from Queen Vaeri tell you where to find us?”

She shrugged. “Yeah, I guess you can say that. You guys travel quick, though. It took some other sources to get your exact location.”

“Oh, so you’re Rennyn’s sister?” Lyrei smiled, holding her hand out. “I’m Lyrei! And that’s Seldir. I think you met Noa?”

Allyna seemed surprised. “Wait, you recognize me?”

“Rennyn told us about you. That’s how we know. I wish I could say I actually remembered you, though. It’s really weird that I remember all the others but not someone as important as Rennyn’s sister…”

“Yeah. Guess it is, huh..?” Allyna laughed nervously, then shook her head. “But that’s not really why I’m here. You guys found a note from Dhymos, right?”

Rennyn didn’t think anything else of it, handing Allyna the note. “Do you know something about it?”

She nodded. “As long as it’s what I think it is, anyway.” She looked it over. “Yep, the same thing. This is meant to be a trap—but not because Dhymos intends on attacking anyone here. He just wants to make you feel like you’ve bitten off more than you can chew, or to distract you for a little bit. I think he intends to keep his ‘promise’ about what’ll happen if you don’t come.”

He couldn’t help but to glare at Kaylin. “See? I was right about what was going on.”

“You know that now, but none of us did when you first said it,” she pointed out. She turned her attention back to Allyna. “Where did you learn about this? Do you think it was a reliable source?”

“I was wondering the same thing,” Seldir remarked. “We shouldn’t just trust something without knowing where the information came from…”

“What, so you don’t remember or trust me? Damn, you really have no confidence that I’m capable of doing anything, aren’t you?” Allyna sighed, shook her head, and actually answered the questions by saying, “Believe me, this guy was reliable. He was one of Queen Vaeri’s knights and trusted on by everyone he worked with. I did my research before blindly trusting the guy, I know that what he said was true.”

“Do you know what we’re going to encounter?” Rennyn asked.

“A lot of those wolves and maybe something else,” she answered after a moment’s consideration. “I think he planned for you to go alone. But I’ve heard that Seldir’s a merc, so between you, me, and him, we shouldn’t have as much of a problem.”

He nodded. “Then let’s get going. I don’t want to risk someone unrelated getting hurt.”