Under Pressure

“...Do you guys really not own any pajamas?”
Lani sat on the edge of her bed, arms folded in front of her as she gazed at the two boys unpacking their very few things in the corner of the inn room. It had been a long day - they’d been traveling through the Northern portion of Aitaran for hours, and what with the bitter winds and awful cold, it quickly became clear that unless you had some manner of keeping yourself warm, you wouldn’t last long. So, this quaint inn in the middle of nowhere had been a welcome sight. Num worked on taking out provisions from his backpack, not giving Lani any signs that he’d heard her, while Ísja turned to look at her, crosslegged.
“That’s just extra luggage we’d have to carry! And besides, we’ve never had a ton of money in the first place. It’s not like… we can really do much by way of changing clothes, anyway.” His expression flickered into sadness briefly with those last words, and Lani couldn’t help but feel a little concerned.
She thought to herself briefly before responding. “Does it have to do with that scarf?”
Ísja’s mouth flew open at her guess before he smiled half-heartedly. “Is it that obvious?”
“I mean, you do look all sad every time you look at it. It’s not exactly rocket science.”

“Ah.”
The two were quiet for a moment. Outside, it appeared to be snowing pretty hard, wind whipping past the inn at high speeds. Lani wouldn’t have been surprised if damage was done to the building, but then again, they were probably well equipped for this kind of stuff. At that moment, things clicked a little in Lani’s head. She looked at Ísja with scrunched eyebrows.
“Wait. Are you telling me that you guys don’t even change clothes?”
He blinked up at the older girl. “No. Why should we?”
“It’s a hassle, anyway…” Num grumbled in agreement as he settled into the corner to, what Lani assumed, take a nap.
Her hands went to her cheeks, ready to bury her face at any moment. “Not even… to take baths?”
At this point, Ísja was starting to shift a little uncomfortably in his spot. He took a moment to respond, as if weighing his options. There was the clearly correct answer, that yes, they did in fact take off their clothes to take baths. And then there was the truth.
“We don’t really… take baths?”
Lani put her head in her hands. From the bed behind her, Lonan muttered something along the lines of “no wonder they stink a little”.
“We…!!!! We do rinse off in lakes and stuff sometimes!! So we don’t smell completely terrible!” Ísja clarified frantically.
“That’s not the same…” Lani’s voice came out muffled from behind her hands. “You need soap, and water, and stuff like that…”
“Who has time for shit like that when they’re on the run half the time?” Num muttered, opening his eyes to glare at Lani balefully. “And, besides, if you’re going to rag on us for not bathing, then why not rag on Count Devilry over there for it too while you’re at it?”
“Lonan is an amalgamate of magic and probably ghosts or something! They don’t need to bathe!” Lani shouted in exasperation.
Lonan nodded as they drifted to Lani’s side. “It’s true. I’m doomed to smell like nice incense for as long as I live.”
Num’s eyes somehow narrowed even more at the Lost Soul until they were thin slits. “That’s a pretty pathetic excuse if you ask me…”
“And you’re a pretty pathetic excuse for a thief, getting caught by the likes of us. But you don’t see me bringing that up very often.”
Before anyone could say another word, a knife whipped through the air, hurtling towards Lonan. A few seconds before it reached them, however, it clattered to the ground uselessly. In the corner of the room, Num was now standing, bristling with animosity. Ísja looked up at him, eyes wide with shock.
“Don’t you dare talk to me like that.”
The room was dead silent, as if any movement or word would shatter whatever small amount of peace remained. Ísja got to his feet as well, tugging at his brothers sleeve to gently try to get his attention.
“C’mon, Num… Just leave it…” He whispered. But Num didn’t even look at him. Instead, he stayed focused on Lonan.
“I may be a thief, but I have my pride. You’d do well to remember that, Lonan… If that really is your name,” he growled. He began moving towards the door, dragging Ísja behind him. “C’mon, Ísja.” As the door began to close behind the two, Ísja mouthed an apology. Soon enough, Lani and Lonan were the only ones left in the room.
“...I told you we should never have brought them with us,” Lonan muttered, causing Lani to look at them with wide eyes, then narrow ones.
“They’re just kids, Lonan. They would’ve died if we hadn’t taken them with us, and, besides - they’ve helped us so much on our journey already, right?”
Lonan snorted, hovering over the edge of the bed briefly before sitting down, crosslegged. Despite all their inhuman mannerisms, at times, Lani couldn’t help but notice how human they seemed. Although she’d been told that they were created from nothing, she couldn’t help but doubt it at times.
“Their deaths are inconsequential. They’ve done countless wrongs. Any punishment they get is well-deserved.”
“This again?!?” Lani exclaimed, waving her hands in front of her in disbelief. “They’re KIDS. They make mistakes, some of them bigger than others! I mean, who hasn’t stolen something from a store before?”
“Most well-adjusted people. Lani, you’re forgetting that they are, in essence, war criminals,” they replied, looking her dead in the eyes. Their gaze was so impenetrable, Lani couldn’t help but fidget uncomfortably. “To let them live is to endanger the life of our ruler, which is particularly awful given how much they need to be protected right now as is.”
Lani finally flopped backwards onto the bed next to Lonan with a weary sigh, pinching the bridge of her nose. “I forgot about that… What kind of person attacked Lord Murcco, again?”
“Some Euvimanite woman. It’s incredible that she’s even alive, given the fact that the rest of her race died out around 20 years ago with Yunvei’s actions.”
The two were silent for a moment, Lani carefully considering her next words while Lonan sat, firm and calculating as usual. She couldn’t stop thinking about the pair of boys. About how they were only children. About how they likely never had a role model. About how maybe, just maybe, they’d been tricked into helping Yunvei. Words caught in her throat as she tried to sort through her thoughts, but Lonan began speaking before she had a chance to articulate them.
“We don’t have a right to decide what’s good and what’s evil,” they said. There was a twinge of sadness in their voice as they spoke, something extremely uncharacteristic of them. They weren’t one to show their emotions. “Nothing’s as black and white as it may seem, Lani. It’s true that we can make our own choices, but whether they’re good or bad… That’s for the gods to decide.”
“That can’t be true, though…” Lani stared up at the ceiling, her voice quiet. “If life isn’t black and white, then why follow the orders of someone without being given a detailed reason? I’m… starting to believe that there’s more to all of this than you’ve been letting on.”
Lonan gazed down at her. She could feel how their eyes were narrowed with animosity below their mask, but couldn’t see them. There was a pressure in the room, and, as soon as it appeared, it disappeared, Lonan getting to their feet.
“...Now’s not the time for a conversation like this. I’m not in the mood,” they muttered, dark energy crackling below them. “I’m heading out. I’ll be back by tomorrow.”
Before Lani could say anything, the darkness swallowed them, leaving her to think over everything that had happened. If now wasn’t the time to ask questions, then when? Would she be stuck wondering forever?