The room before them was disgusting. Lilia suppressed shudders as she took it all in.
There were two twin beds. Each of them had sheets that Lilia knew from the look of them would feel stiff and scratchy. One of the headboards had a suspicious red stain and the other bed's blankets had all sorts of foul marks. The walls were bumpy and rough, and several oddly placed hangings made Lilia suspect either water damage, holes, or other blemishes were hidden behind them. The floor was sticky and rough, even though the wood looked like it had once been smooth. Lilia's shoes stuck to it slightly as she walked a few steps into the room to allow Connor to enter. The ceiling was heavily water damaged and the one window in the room, opposite the door and showing the wall of the building next door, was covered with grime and cobwebs.
This is a half star room at best, Lilia thought, and a disease-infested rat hole at worst.
Connor did not seem at all put out by any of the room's issues as he dropped his bag onto the bed farthest from the window, the one with all of the strange stains on the sheets. Lilia uneasily followed his lead.
"Gross," she muttered as she saw a bit of dried food stuck to one of the pillowcases.
"This is fine," Connor said dismissively. "I've stayed in worse."
Lilia's eyes widened as she turned to stare at him disbelievingly.
"No, it's the truth. One room I was in was infested with bugs. So badly the other rebels and I couldn't sleep in it. We stayed up the entire night in the bar, drinking to forget our exhaustion."
Lilia shivered at the thought. "Ew, ew, ew."
Connor shot her a look as he rifled through his duffel bag. "You're really going to have to toughen up if you want to survive this trip."
"Are you suggesting that we might have to stay in a bug-infested room?" Lilia demanded in horror.
"We'll try to avoid those," Connor assured her, smiling gently. "I know that a bad way to condition someone is to just throw them into uncomfortable situations."
Lilia imagined that type of therapy - overcoming her fear of insects by being trapped in a room swarming with them. The thought was chilling. She shuddered yet again.
"What do you say about going down to the bar, grabbing a drink?" Connor asked.
It sounds awful. Did you see the people down there? Deciding to try and remain non judgemental - after all, the patrons downstairs were going through a war - Lilia simply said, "I don't drink."
"You drank pretty heavily back at my house," Connor pointed out.
"I don't drink alcohol."
"That was alcohol, a special kind of it. How do you think it worked so well?"
This paused Lilia. "Well," she said finally, "that was different."
Connor shrugged after a moment, giving up. "Suit yourself." He started toward the still-open door.
"Wait," Lilia blurted. She didn't want to be left alone in this disgusting inn room, especially not with all of the shifty patrons downstairs and possibly sharing walls with them. "I'll come with you. I just won't drink."
"You'll be out of place without a beer," Connor warned her.
Lilia took a deep breath. "You know what, if you want to waste your money getting me alcohol I won't drink, so be it. I'm coming with you either way."
Connor raised his eyebrows and gestured toward the door. "You're more spirited than I thought. You're welcome to join me, of course."
"Thank you." Lilia led the way out of the door but then waited for Connor to start descending the stairs out of pure nervousness.
The bar's attitude was just as uncomfortable, but now that they had established their innocent purpose in the establishment, nobody seemed to care about them as much. Nobody, that is, save that strange man in the corner. Lilia shot him a dark look and stayed close to Connor, sitting on the stool next to his and scooting so close that their legs brushed.
Connor reached into his pocket and slapped some coins down on the counter in front of him. "A beer. Whatever you've got."
"And for her?" the bartender asked, reaching under the counter for a large mug.
Connor shot a cheeky look at Lilia and answered dryly, "Water."
The bartender chuckled but fulfilled the order without another word. Lilia blushed, almost wishing that she had agreed to the alcohol, or at least something stronger. No, a small voice in her head said firmly. Just because you're in a different world doesn't mean you can start going against your values.
Lilia opened her mouth to say something to Connor. His eyes widened in alarm and he handed her the drink, saying loudly, "Here! Taste this! It's good!"
Lilia suddenly remembered she was supposed to be mute and snapped her mouth shut, tilting the glass so the lukewarm liquid sloshed against her closed lips. She handed the glass back to Connor, making an apologetic face and wiping the alcohol from around her mouth.
Connor shook his head slightly at her in disappointment and continued drinking his beer. Lilia was soon very, very bored.
Since she wasn't supposed to be able to talk, she couldn't hold a conversation with Connor or the bartender, who shot her several curious looks. All she could do was sip her tepid water and try not to look too out of place.
The room would almost be preferable to this, she thought, and decided to return to it. She mimed walking up the stairs to Connor. It took several tries, many of which were ruined by Lilia and Connor's attempts to keep from laughing, but finally, she got her point across.
"Sure thing," he told her, handing her the key as the bartender watched with a bemused look on his face. As she walked away, Lilia heard Connor starting to explain her false persona as his mute cousin. She rolled her eyes, grinning, and bounded up the stairs.
She was fiddling with the lock on the door to their room when an arm roughly grabbed her shoulder, spun her around, and pressed her against the wall. She screamed on instinct, but another hand covered her mouth while the previous one landed in a heavy bar across her chest so she couldn't move. Her eyes widened as rank breath washed over her and the man from the corner of the bar leered at her, pressing himself against her. "Hello, love."
Lilia struggled with all of her might, but the man had the upper hand in strength and position - he merely pressed closer to her. She felt tears rising to her eyes as she tried to scream once more, that sound also cut off by his rough palm.
She finally remembered what she had been taught by her mother and drove her knee into the man's groin. He sucked in a breath and fell off of her. She scrambled for the stairs, but the man recovered and grabbed her ankle. She instinctively looked back at him.
His face was twisted with pain, making him even uglier. He gasped for breath, bending over at the midsection as he tried to stand. Lilia used her free foot to kick him squarely in the face and he finally fell away for good, clutching his nose and groin.
Lilia clattered down the stairs and opened her mouth to shout for Connor, remembering just in time that she was supposed to be playing a mute.
She dashed across the bar to Connor and tugged at his sleeve urgently.
"What's the matter?" he asked. His confused, handsome face staring kindly up at her broke the dam.
Lilia started to cry. Fat tears rolled down her face and she covered her mouth with her hand to keep from making any noise.
"Woah, woah, woah," Connor said, surprised. He placed his beer on the counter, shot an apologetic smile at the bartender, and guided Lilia quickly toward the stairs. She cowered behind him, refusing to walk up them first.
When they turned into their hallway, Connor saw the man writhing on the ground, just starting to recover from the injuries he had sustained courtesy of Lilia's Converse.
Connor placed two and two together very quickly. He lifted the man up by his collar, choking him. Then, he punched him solidly in the cheek and dragged him toward the stairs, still with only a grip around his collar. Lilia let herself into the room as he did so, only feeling safe once the door was closed and locked behind her.
After another minute or so, a knock sounded on the door. Lilia answered it carefully, fearing the worst - but of course, it was only Connor. She opened the door wider to let him in.
"What did you do to him?" she whispered.
"I shouted that he had attacked a young girl and the crowd just lit on him." Connor grinned. "I know most of the people in that bar. Saved a good number of them and their families from starvation or poverty. They kind of owe me, and they sure as hell trust me."
Lilia smiled gratefully at him, the smile soon wavering and dissipating as she started to cry again. She sat down on the bed with the duffel bags and sobbed into her hands.
The bed shifted as Connor sat next to her. He hesitantly stroked her hair and then slung an arm around her, holding her close. She leaned into him, continuing to cry.
Finally, she started to calm down. "I'm sorry," she gasped as her shoulders continued to shake. "I'm sorry."
"What are you sorry for?" Connor asked. "You have nothing to be sorry for. That scumbag is the one who should be sorry. He might be dead right now, though, so he might not have the capacity to apologize." He scooted away from Lilia. She was instantly colder without the heat of his body next to hers. "Did he seriously hurt you?"
"No. He - " Lilia took a deep, calming breath. "He grabbed my shoulder as I was messing with the key and he - he spun me around and pinned me against the wall and covered my mouth so I wouldn't scream." More tears leaked out of her eyes, but at least the sobs had stopped.
Connor took a deep breath, running a hand through his hair. "Welcome to Dwirinel," he said ruefully.
Lilia wasn't sure how to respond. Star of Winter had made Dwirinel off to be a rather awful country, of course - but was this kind of thing truly such a common occurrence? Did she have to fear this happening again? The thought made her feel physically sick and she knew that she could not let that happen.
"How do I protect myself from this?" she asked Connor.
Connor thought for a long moment before responding, "From now on, don't go anywhere alone. I'll always be with you, or near you, at least."
Lilia nodded. That was a comforting thought.
"Also, you should probably be armed at all times."
"Theresa was," they said at the same time, exchanging surprised glances. Connor chuckled, for once taking the situation well, and opened his duffel bag, digging around in it until he pulled out a plain, sheathed dagger.
"It's not fancy, but it'll do," he said modestly, handing it to her.
Lilia didn't have a belt to hang it on, so she just held the sheathed blade awkwardly. "Thank you," she said.
Connor nodded toward her bag. "There's a belt in there."
Lilia pulled it out, slipped the dagger sheath onto it, and fastened it around her waist. Then, she practiced unsheathing and sheathing the dagger. "This is harder than the book made it out to be," she said, annoyed, as she miscalculated and pulled the handle of the dagger too hard, sending it clattering to the floor.
"You're doing fine," Connor told her kindly. "It just takes practice, is all."
Lilia nodded. "Practice makes perfect, that's what we say on Earth," she commented, focusing on the dagger.
"Is that true?" Connor asked in awe. "If you practice enough, do you become perfect at it in your world?"
This stopped Lilia. "Well, no," she replied slowly. "Nobody can be absolutely perfect at anything. I've been reading since I was four and I still mispronounce words all the time and am absolutely awful at spelling. My mother's been cooking for a large family since she was a young girl and she still burns the food sometimes. I guess it's more like...practice makes nearly perfect."
"Not as catchy, though," Connor said jokingly.
"No, not really," Lilia agreed, smiling at him. She sheathed the dagger one last time and yawned, her mouth opening wide.
"Want to rest?" Connor asked.
"Kind of more than anything," Lilia said truthfully. Connor chuckled and sat on the bed, pulling out his own daggers and a stone.
"I'll stay right here," he promised her as she removed her belt, placing it on the floor next to her bed. "I'll protect you."
Lilia smiled fondly at him, feeling a swell of admiration for this boy, so quick to do anything he could to make her feel safer and comfortable. Yawning once more, she lay on her back underneath the disgusting covers and was still able to slip quickly into the world of dreams.
*
"Happy birthday!" Kasey exclaimed, handing her a present wrapped in plain brown paper.
"I already know what this is," Lilia tried to tell her younger sister. "It's the book, the plain book."
"No, it isn't," Kasey countered, shaking her head.
"Yes, it is. I opened it this morning. The book that leads to Dwirinel," Lilia insisted.
"No, it isn't," Kasey repeated in the exact same tone.
Sighing, Lilia ripped at the paper. Sure enough, the small, plain book lay underneath it.
"Fooled you!" Kasey exclaimed gleefully, jumping up and down and clapping her hands.
"I guess you did," Lilia said, suddenly surprised that the present was the plain book. "I guess you did, Kasey."
Suddenly, Kasey stopped in her merriment. "We miss you, Lilia," she told her big sister sadly. "We really miss you."
"I miss you, too, Kasey," Lilia assured her, tears rising to her eyes, "and I'm trying to get home. It's just really hard."
"Good luck!" Kasey said, happy once more. "Good luck, Lilia!"
*
Lilia woke slowly, her little sister's voice still ringing in her ears. She closed her eyes as a tear slipped down her cheek and into her hair.
I miss you, Kasey. I want to go home.