Chapter 271 - 269: Definite .

Chapter 271: Chapter 269: Definite .

​"It’s decided, then!" Rogard chirps brightly, breaking the silence and immediately getting shushed in case someone overhears literal castle guards conspiring to sneak someone beyond the castle walls who really isn’t supposed to be venturing out beyond the castle walls,

"What? We’ve come to an agreement on where we’re going, right?"

​"Rogard, we’re not going to your prissy inn; I don’t care how ’sophisticated’ their mineral water is," Gandy sniffs, because that was honest to gods one of his pitches.

"It’s Montrel’s party, he should decide." Montrel immediately vetoes Rogard’s suggestion, like any normal human would, then slings an arm around Khobi and lowers his voice conspiratorially.

​"What do you reckon, Khobi?" he grins, even though he’s pretty sure he already knows just which tavern had piqued Khobi’s interest.

​And he’s right.

​"...Those pies did sound pretty good."

​"You heard the man," Montrel shrugs, "Looks like we’re gettin’ some pies!"

​As if deliberately trying to ruin their fun, thunder cracks across the sky.

​Now all they had to do was wait for the weather to clear.

​...

​"Hey, Loac?" Khobi ventures, later that night when the candles have been snuffed and they’ve been swallowed up by darkness. Outside the rain has finally stopped, but the wind has picked up where it’s left off and is howling something terrible.

It’s probably going to snow some more before the night’s through, too.

​Loac makes a noncommittal noise at the sound of his name.

​"...You awake?" It feels weird, speaking out to him through the darkness like this, but Loac did it first.

​"Well I am now ."

​Khobi takes a moment to roll his eyes, then blurts out what’s been playing on his mind since earlier.

Because he’s got to know, and now; before the plans get properly laid and he gets his hopes up.

Because if the time came and Loac revealed that he’d just played him for a fool –that him extending a hand was some sort of sick joke...well, he doesn’t want to think about that.

​"...Were you serious, when you said you’d sneak me out?"

​It’s not like it had felt like an empty offer, it’s just that why would such a thing have ever occurred to him in the first place?

​"Why wouldn’t I be?" comes Loac’s flat response.

Khobi’s brow creases, because that’s not an answer at all. If anything, it raises more questions. ":What, you changed your mind or somethin’?"

​"What? Not a chance," Khobi assures him, because if Loac’s serious --and gods, he hopes he’s serious --then this is something he wouldn’t miss for the entire world, "It’s just...Won’t you get in trouble?"

​"Only if we get caught," Loac snorts, and must somehow sense the gloomy shift in Khobi’s mood as he contemplates that reality, because he adds, "...We won’t get caught. Trust me."

​It’s weird, but Khobi kind of does . Trust him, that is.

About this, at least. It’s a very strange feeling. He’s not sure he likes it, but it’s not terrible.

​"...Thanks."

​He hadn’t let himself get excited before, just in case Loac had been offering him empty words, but now that he’s said what he’s said, that excited, bubbly feeling Khobi got the first time Montrel had told him he was allowed to leave the castle with them starts to build again.

Because as long as the weather clears, he’s actually gonna get to go out drinking in the town.

At a tavern. With his friends.

​He’s never done that before.

​In the darkness, his face splits into a grin.

​(He’s really looking forward to it.)

​The blankets shift as Loac rolls over just enough to give him a withering look.

​"Did you seriously wake me up for that?" he complains.

​"You weren’t even asleep," Khobi scoffs, but there’s a lightheartedness to the way he rolls his eyes and the grin playing around his lips doesn’t entirely drop away from his face.

​"Was too."

​"Were not." It’s so childish, but for some reason it just slips out.

​"How would you even know?" he snorts back.

​"You snore. Bad."

​Loac looks affronted.

​"I don’t," he states, which is a barefaced lie if Khobi’s ever heard one.

Like he would even know; Khobi’s the one that’s sleeping next to him. "Start spreading lies and I’ll change my mind about helping you."

The words sound a lot like a threat, but for some reason the tone doesn’t at all. Khobi’s eyes narrow anyways.

​"You promised," he reminds him flatly.

​"I don’t remember doin’ that," is what Loac says, but when he cracks a gleaming blue eye at him, there’s definitely a playful little glint there that gives away that he’s messing with him.

This sort of thing is still so fresh and new that it unsettles Khobi a little; he doesn’t quite know what to make of it, or of the way it makes his stomach lurch.

​So Khobi smacks him with a pillow. And then again, with a different one.

There feels like there’s about eight thousand of the damned things on this bed.

​"Hey, what happened to owing me –" he demands, and is about to go in for a third swat but Loac reads his intentions and snatches away the pillow he’d been reaching for just before he can grab it.

​"I’m kidding, jeez," Loac grumbles, eyes rolling like Khobi’s being dramatic. Which he is. On purpose.

​"I know that," Khobi states. It’s early days, but he thinks he’s getting the hang of it.

Loac immediately gives him a disgruntled look.

​"So why’d you hit me?" he grizzles, and Khobi offers him a shrug.

​"Felt like it."

​Loac considers this answer for a moment, and then smacks him with a pillow right back.

...

Miraculously, the weather clears only a few days later.

The air is still frigid all through the day and there are still thick looking clouds looming overhead –apparently they’ll be there until practically spring –but at the very least the snow’s given up for the time being and it’s stopped raining long enough for the city walls to dry and the mud freeze over.

​And that’s good enough for the soldiers.