[Continuing from Chapter 84]

"...So I told him to mind his own business!" Ben exclaimed and everyone burst out laughing. He had been telling everyone about a hilarious experience he had a couple weeks ago regarding some guy he had been gambling with. I didn't know the first thing about gambling, and I was much too nervous to laugh anyways, so I kept smiling, trying not to seem suspicious.

"I can't see Mama anywhere," Sven muttered mid-conversation. "Has she gone out to use the lavatories?"

Everyone shrugged.

"She's an admirable woman, Mama is," Sidmund said as he chewed on a biscuit. "Even though her husband and daughter died before her, she's never once shown any signs of giving up, never, I say."

Everyone nodded in agreement, even me. She really was admirable, considering everything she went through.

"And the fact that she never shut down shop and moved away when one tragedy hit her after another," Ben muttered as he traced a shape on the wooden table. "Until recently, though. But that's just because she's gotten too old."

Everyone muttered in agreement. Then everything went silent. Not a word was spoken for a few minutes, yet I knew there was something on everyone's mind.

"Shall we go to sleep, then?" Sven suggested as he stood up.

"Yeah, you're right," Sidmund groaned, as he pushed back his crate and got to his feet. "It's gotten really late. We need to head out early in the morning, so..." The exchange of glances between the black-clothed men did not go unnoticed by me. "Let's head to bed."

Sven and I went up first so we could move his things to my room.

"It's cold tonight, so let's leave the sheets for them," he muttered. Then he reached under his bed and pulled out a white bedsheet. "I'll use this to sleep on. Can you check if I have anything in my drawer?"

I nodded and bent to open his drawer. It was empty, except for a couple candle sticks and a flannel.

"Just a handkerchief, and a few candles."

He shrugged. "I won't be using them, but just take a candle in case someone needs it in the middle of the night." I nodded and grabbed one. Then I went back to my room while Sven called for the men over the banister. A second later, I heard a heavy thudding of feet and then voices as everyone chose their rooms. The doors shut and the beds and floorboards creaked as everyone lay down for the rest of the night.

"I'm exhausted," Sven muttered as he came back to my room. "Erm… I'm gonna go to sleep first." I watched him as he lay down a single white sheet next to the wall. He then threw a pillow over to one side and with hesitant, awkward movements, he laid down, facing the wall.

"Aren't you cold?" I asked worriedly, seeing him rub his feet against each other.

"I'll be fine," he murmured and then soon, he was asleep.

It took me a while to doze off, though. I kept worrying that Sven would be cold all night, even though he had told me he'd be alright. How had it suddenly gotten so cold? It was fine yesterday. Carefully, I turned my sheet to the left in a way so that the long side was parallel to my toes, and then I slid half the sheet down, over Sven. I know it wasn't long enough this way to cover Sven's whole body, but it was just enough to cover his legs and to stop him shivering.

Finally relaxed, I shut my eyes.

Then I remembered. We had decided to tell Mama about the assassins once everybody went to sleep. Since the walls were so thin, I could hear huge manly snores from all sides, so I knew most everyone was deep into their dreams.

"Sven," I shook him softly by the shoulder. "Hey, Sven!"

He murmured something in his sleep.

"Sven!"

"Mm… what..."

"Get up!" I hissed. "We need to tell Mama about the bad people."

"Bad...people…?"

"Yes. Sven!" I shook him again.

"What…?"

"We need to-"

"Morning," he mumbled.

"What?"

"Mm...in the mor...ning..."

"Oh, come on!"

I lay back down in bed, my head ticking. Why did I even need Sven for? I can just go and tell her by myself. I'm sure she was itching to know about the ball anyways.

Slowly, I stepped out of bed, trying not to step over Sven's legs and open the door. The door creaked louder than I had expected and I just stood in the doorway for a moment, still as a statue. I waited to hear the dreaded noise of the door opening and footsteps coming out, but the snores continued. I gave a sigh of relief and slowly threaded my way down, where the candle was still burning and the tea cups were still lying around.

At first I thought about picking the tea cups up and putting them in the kitchen, but I didn't, since it would cause a lot of clinking noises. I didn't knock on the door to her room, I went straight in.

"Mama," I whispered, looking around in the dark. I had expected for the room to be lit, but there was not a single candle in sight. I heard some shuffling from the other side and I prayed to God Whiskers wasn't up yet.

"Mama!" I called again. "I need to tell you something!"

"What?" said an unfamiliar voice.

Startled, I turned around with a jerk and came face to face with a torso. Curiously, my eyes trailer up and there stood the man with the mask. Klyn.

"What do you want to tell her?" he asked again, his thin black eyes staring down at me. His voice was low-pitched and husky. I struggled to understand.

"Huh?" A shiver ran down my spine. Had I been caught?

He kept looking at me, but didn't say another word.

"I just..." My eyes darted from the left to the right. "I was just making sure she was okay."

"And you wanted to tell her something."

I looked up into a pair of deep, intimidating black eyes. "Huh?"

"You wanted to tell her something," he repeated patiently, his eyes not leaving mine for even a millisecond.

I inched to my right but so did he, blocking my way out. I inched to the left and he matched my pace, blocking my way from the other side as well. He was tall, probably in his mid-30's… So there was no way I could take him down.

"I wanted to tell her to drink water before bed. Hydration is important," I murmured as I tried to push past him, but to no avail. "What do you want?"

He chuckled, but didn't say anything to enlighten me. Then suddenly, he took a few steps back, allowing me to zoom past him. I took three stairs at a time as I ran upstairs and locked myself into my room.

I almost forgot Sven was sleeping on the floor because I almost stepped on his head.

"Oop, sorry," I whispered and then made my way to bed. Sven had somehow wrapped himself in my sheet, so I had nothing to cover myself with. I pulled out my slightly dirty black dress from the cabinet below the drawer and lay it on my legs.

Soon, I was asleep.

.

.

.

In the morning, all the rooms except ours were empty.

"They left earlier than I expected," I uttered as I pushed back the door to Room#5, taking in the warm flood of sunlight.

A yawning Sven emerged out of my room.

"They left?" he questioned when he caught sight of the room next to mine. "Strange. Nice of them to fold everything up, though. Have you had breakfast yet?"

I shook my head. "Just woke up 10 minutes ago. Shall we head down, then?"

He nodded and together, we made our way down the stairs. Mama stood against the edge of the table, clearing away last night's cups. She looked sleep-deprived and annoyed.

"Good morning, Mama," I said as I jumped off the last step. "Where were you last night?"

She looked up at my question. I noticed her bloodshot eyes and the eyebags under her lower eyelids. She looked horrible.

"Mama, are you alright?" I asked worriedly as I ran up to her. "Did you get any sleep last night?"

"Mm, yeah," she murmured. She gathered all the cups and took them to the kitchen, but her walk was lanky and unfocused.

"What happened?" I asked no one in particular. "She looks like she's been up all night!"

Sven looked worried, too. "I have no idea. She's never pulled an all-nighter before. But if she did, what even for?"

I shrugged and looked at the kitchen door, concerned. Did something happen last night? Had I missed it? Everyone seemed hearty and caring, so I doubt something strange was said to Mama. But then why else was she so…

"Um, I'll go help her in the kitchen," Sven muttered to me as he walked past. "You can do something else."

I waited for him to leave, then I opened all the windows and let some fresh air in. Today was slightly cold, but not irritatingly so. I sighed as I looked at the street outside. It was a nice day.

✿

[The Longing Table]

"Reynard," Uncle Franke muttered as he pulled long and hard on his cigarette. "How old are you?"

He was quick in his response. "21."

Uncle Franke exhaled, the smoke coming out of his mouth like a dragon breathing fire. "Would you like to drink with me, then?"

Reynard hesitated. "Erm, I haven't done so before, so I'm a bit-"

"It's gonna be okay!" Uncle Franke cut in as he tapped the cigarette butt over a makeshift ashtray in a jam jar. "It won't be enough to get you drunk." Then he proceeded to pull out a dark green glass bottle half full of a weird brown liquid from under his table. He placed it on his desk and reached down again, pulling out two small glasses.

He poured the drink in them and then pushed one glass over to Reynard's side.

"Take it," he said. "Let's cheer."

Eventually, Reynard gripped the glass and tapped it against his uncle's. "To family."

"To family," Uncle Franke responded.

They both downed their glasses and winced. Then a warm sigh.

"That was good," Reynard muttered as he inspected his glass. "What's it called?"

"Alms of Grief," Uncle Franke replied as he refilled their glasses. "Best served when grieved."

Reynard chuckled, but not happily so. They downed their glasses again and sighed. Soon, Reynard was as drunk as a skunk.

"You told me it'd be okay…!" Reynard cried groggily as Uncle Franke led him up to his room. "You said I can…!"

"I know, lad, but who would have known your liquor tolerance would be below the bar?" He hoisted Reynard up one step and groaned. "Did you gain weight? Or more muscle? Damn, son, you're gonna break this old man's back."

One step at a time, they made their way to Reynard's room while everybody laughed at the drunk cries coming from upstairs. It was a wild night, but the best Reynard had in a week. He fell asleep as soon as his head hit the covers.

Uncle Franke sighed at the sight of his good ol' friend's son and silently turned the lamp off to let him sleep in peace.

After what happened to him, the boy needed his rest.