We Fall Like Rain

Angel of Time

The Lords Houses where spread across villages. There were two close by, seeing as the castle was also near. And another in the next town along, about four miles down the road.

Tuck, John and Will took the farthest house. Marian, Charlie and Thalia took the middle, the Lords Estate closest to the countryside.
Leaving Robin, Niki, Kalen and Maggie to take the house closest to the castle. The village population was denser here, harder to get in and out of without people spotting something.

"Alright," Robin turned from peaking behind the wall of the Alley they were hiding in. The house was just ahead, large and gated off by a tall wooden fence, a large garden on the other side, leading up to the front door. "I think it's clear." He whispered.

Although it was still slightly busy in the village, almost everyone was at the fair.
This made sneaking in a lot easier.

They couldn't take the front gate for fear of being spotted by servants still potting about in the dwelling. So, much to Nikis delight, meant scaling the wooden fence near the back of the estate.

This took some time, with Maggie being the last over the fence. The way in was luckily unlocked, this due to servants bustling about taking drinks to the gardeners.

"Quickly, in here." Robin lead the way out of the servants domain and up to the wings of the house that the Lord would occupy.

"What now? We just wonder around until we stumble upon something?" Niki asked. Maggie frowned, looking about the study they had all crowded into, her maroon cloak flowing behind her as she weaved in and out of book cases towards the desk at the back of the room.

"Yes, actually. That's what searching means." Maggie spoke from where she was riffling through the Lords paperwork.

"Mags, he'll notice." Kalen whispered, positioning himself closer to the windows.

"Oh, I'll put it all back where I found it in a minute." She absent-mindedly responded, reading the sprawling handwriting that was almost illegible to Niki from where she was stood.

"What is it?" Robin asked, impatiently.

"Correspondence -between the Lord and his niece. She's visiting him now. I hope she's at the fair, would be an inconvenience to bump into her here." Maggie put the letters back how she had found them, strewn across his desk, in date order.
"We should split up, cover more ground." Maggie suggested.

"Absolutely not. Have you never seen a horror movie before?" Kalen muttered, walking closer to Maggie.

"A what?"

"Nothing" Maggie threw a wry glance at Robin. "Splitting up is the easiest option, Kalen. Look, Niki and I will take upstairs, you and Robin do the rest of this floor, then come find us when you're done." She smiled, giving his hand a light squeeze.

Reluctantly, Kalen agreed, following Robin out the door and down the hallway. Maggie left the study in haste, leaving Niki to catch up.

The awkward silence was torturous. Niki couldn't quite recall the last time they had been at a loss for words with each other.

". . . So. . . You still mad at me?" Maggie was cautious about this, and did not meet Niki's eyes.

". . . I thought you were mad at me." She whispered back.

"No. I just hate arguing with you, Niki."

"Well, me too. But we're you serious? About not wanting to change anything, even the bad stuff."

Maggie sighed; a deep, tired breath of air. "Yes. We don't know what we may change. Do you honestly want to risk going back home, and finding you have no home to go back to?"