She was alive.
Keana had learned that much from the healer when he had caught up to the woman as she had been leaving the inn. The healer had refused his bribe and only shook her head and saying that her patient was fixed up as best she could do and would sleep for a while. Time would tell if she had lost too much blood or spent too long out in the cold for her body to recover fully.
Keana would have liked to call the healer useless and to bring in one of his own, but they were all back in Ilumnia and the time to travel here would be the deciding factor in Vix's survival. He had decided to let the healers stay in the free-port city with the rest of his less mobile company. Though, Keana cursed himself for having not foreseen the need to have healing on a search and report contract he had initially intended to cancel. He had sent for a couple, but they would take days to arrive in this town that was clear across Aupana. If Vix was going to live, it were these first few days that mattered.
Keana had looked for the other man, the Lansend Guard who had disappeared from the tavern that night, and found both him and his mount missing. The stable boy had been cooperative but only able to say that he had barely stayed long enough to find "Lina" a healer before heading south.
His contacts in Sytheville told him that the man had only switched horses before continuing on his journey. Keana had to be satisfied that the man had made it through the forest at least, and appeared to be making his way towards the Capitol, though the remaining Lansend Guards had arrived in Sythe. Despite his best efforts, Keana could not say for sure if they had managed to meet with Vix, or Lina, or whatever her name was.
He still couldn't understand the odd twist of luck that had sent him and his team past her in the woods that night. After seeing the scene of the fight, they had picked up her trail easily enough on the way back and at some points it seemed chillingly close to where they had been riding through the dark forest. They could have been passing within meters of one another oblivious to each other's presence despite the fact that they had been looking for her. Keana shivered at the thought that she could have been dying in the snow a few feet from where they were, and may have if she had not somehow made it to her horse and the Lansend Guard.
He would have liked to know how the man had tracked her so efficiently in the woods. Though he had to admit to himself that his company was trained for cities, not wilderness. Some concepts were similar but the dark woods were a far cry from the populated streets of Ilumnia or the Capitol.
After three days of waiting for a sign from Vix, Keana's patience had reached its limit. He had given her the space he could manage and only restrained himself to wait until the day was done. As he approached around supper time, Keana watched the healers leave the inn, letting the sun continue set completely before he scaled the wall, opening the window and slipping into the room as silently as the breeze outside.
The room was large, probably the biggest in the inn, and warm with a fire blazing in the hearth, several candles flickering in the sudden breeze until he closed the window behind him. He glanced towards a low table where the lantern burned, and felt the room still, knowing she had sensed his presence.
"It's only me." He offered, smiling as he heard a curse and the movement of someone standing up out of a tub of water from behind the bathing screen in the corner of the room.
Keana glanced around the room once more, his eyes falling on the locket that was resting beside the lantern, his brows raising in curiosity. He recognized the magical signature on it, even when it wasn't creating the aura of disguise around its wearer. Whoever Vix was, she was no longer wearing the magical device that cloaked her appearance from him, and that thought made his breath catch.
She was silent for a moment more, though he could hear the suffering of clothing and then she walked out from behind the screen. A towel was wrapped around her body, covering her from collarbone to mid-thigh, though most of her stitched up wounds, bruises and scars were in full view.
Keana frowned, looking up to her face, taking in her angry green eyes and cascading, red hair that was still wet from the bath he had interrupted. "So this is who you really are."
"A normal person would knock on the door, or wait in the tavern, as opposed to crawling through the window." She said dryly, her eyes narrowed, ignoring his comment or perhaps not hearing it in her anger.
Her expressions were the same, as was her voice. He recognized her now that he saw her without the glamour. Keana marvelled at the fact that she was someone he had never seen before and yet someone he was familiar with.
As always, Vix was a contradiction in terms.
Keana shrugged in response, moving to lean against the mantle of the fireplace to put more distance in between them. "I've never been accused of being a normal person. You're even more beautiful than I thought you were, you know."
"You can see through magic. You've never actually seen me?" She appeared surprise at his words, her expression full of distrust.
"No." Keana's voice was earnest, his expression turning serious and open for a moment. It was only fair. "I figured you'd show me when you were ready. Though I've recently put more thought into you, and how we met... was it all on purpose, did you play me from the beginning?"
She blinked at him in a manner that showed even more surprise, before sighing and shaking her head. She moved back behind the screen, her arms toying with her hair as she disappeared from view while speaking. "No, Kea. It was dumb luck. I was hoping to figure it all out on my own, and landed in your lap, really. I wasn't even planning ongoing back to all this. I had left after my father had died and my family started to fall apart. I didn't think I had a home to go back to anyway, but then you started talking about a future, planning things out. And then I was needed, I had found something that I couldn't not act on, something I had been searching for, that would save the lives of the people I still loved. So, I left. Figured you'd hunt me down and I'd have to stop you from killing me, eventually."
"You thought I'd kill you?" Keana had been lost in her words until he came to realize what she had said at the end. For some reason, it caused a well of sadness in him to realize that she thought he would be so spiteful.
She stepped out from behind the screen, wearing a loose shirt and a pair of pants that now covered most of her wounds. Though he could tell she was injured and where, as she favoured the tender parts of her body while moving to sit down on the bed and pull on her boots. "No, I thought you might try to we would have to see who was more determined. Me at living or you at getting your revenge. You always made it quite clear that your loyalty was a horrible thing to break. I figured you'd never forgive me for leaving you, leaving your company."
"Ah." He nodded and watched her, realizing that she was getting ready to leave. "What are you doing?"
Vix finished with her boots and stood slowly, letting out a slow breath that belied the pain of her movements. He recognized the stubborn expression on her features as she said bluntly. "I'm starving, I need to go eat."
Keana knew that she could manage to hobble down the stairs and she would, though he also knew from experience that she would stubbornly overexert herself in order to do so. He wasn't one to coddle others, not even his former lovers, but he had seen the still healing wounds and the amount of spilled blood. He had seen the remains of the monster and what it had done to a horse and a boy.
"No. I'm not ready to let the rest of the world see you as you are, not when I am just meeting you. There's more talking, more questions I have. You owe me this." His tone was stubborn, as he moved to the door, holding up his hand to stall her as he opened it and let out a whistle.
When one of his runners shifted around the corner and into sight, he ordered a full meal for the two of them to be brought up, before turning back into the room and leaning against the door. He could see her ire at his presumption and felt an old well of emotion from the memories of how they used to push one another's buttons.
Vix frowned at him, crossing her arms over her chest. "You don't get to do that, Keana."
Keana smirked to her and walked over to a chair, taking a seat on it and forcing himself to idly stretch out his legs, maintaining his cocksure arrogance. "Do what?"
"Make all these decisions, I'm not working for you, I could walk out that door right now, and you couldn't do a damned thing about it." She was exasperated but judging by the way she reached out one hand to lean on the back of the other chair, she didn't have the energy to fight him.
Not that he would have pushed her into a fight, but he would do his best to ensure she gave herself the best opportunity to heal. She was a friend of his, after all. He looked after his friends, even if they were stubborn little enigmas like Vix.
"You always hated being bossed around, didn't you?" Keana smirked, though he shook his head in thought. "You're barely able to stand, woman. Even if I didn't stand in front of you and stop you, you probably wouldn't make it down the hallway. The healers thought you were going to die a couple days ago."
"You have your people in this inn now, don't you" She closed her eyes, though whether it was from pain or exhaustion, Keana couldn't quite tell.
All he knew was that her normal fire was guttering low. But he knew if he pushed her too hard, she would kill herself to prove him wrong.
So Keana shrugged and offered her a soft smile. "I figured you saved one of mine, and we're both after the same thing now, so we're kind of a team. So, I figured I'd extend my duties to watching over you, make sure you were given time to heal, in case whatever that was that you burnt, didn't have friends that wanted to come after you."
Keana wasn't fooling anyone, he could read her expression, though she smirked in amusement, then inclined her head in response.
They would play the game between the two of them, for now.
"The other kid made it back? I wondered if Cocoa dumped him or something." She sounded relieved as she opened her eyes to look at him, though she swayed a little where she stood, going pale with exertion.
Keana shook his head and smiled to her, restraining himself from forcing her to sit down. "Please, will you join me? No, Cocoa brought him back here, dumped him on that stable boy who's completely enamoured with you, by the way, and then that demon horse ran back into the woods to find you."
"Tom? He's just a good kid, in need of friends." Vix murmured, walking around the chair and sliding into it, wincing at the effort.
When he remained silent, watching her, Vix sighed and pushed. "So."
"So." Keana returned, letting out a slow breath leaning forwards, watching her curiously for a long moment as he tried to figure her expression out before continuing. "Let's talk about you, seeing as how you know everything there is to know about me. Here is what I know: you work for the Queen Regent, I figured that out, and I think you have this entire time. She's found some way to tap into your burning desire to right all the wrongs in this world, or kill yourself trying, and has employed you as one of her Foxes."
Her expression was blank, though Keana got the impression that he was missing something in his theory.
"So, you've figured me out." Vix shrugged, though the stubbornness her green eyes told him that she was still being difficult.
Now that she was sitting down, a little colour came back to her cheeks at least. And her eyes managed to focus a bit better on him.
"No, I didn't say that." Keana shrugged and crossed his arms over his chest. "I still don't know who you are, or where you've been these last four or so years."
Vix's expression was a rueful smile that told him that there were plenty of stories between the night she had left him and tonight.