Page 1725 (Patreon)

“...Mm,” was all Hector could think to say. He’d tried give it an agreeing inflection.

“How ‘bout you?” said Leo. “You must have tons of stories like that one, too.”

Aw, shit. “...Of course,” said Hector.

“Oh, then, uh--c’mon, dude, ya gotta gimme some juicy deets.”

“Ah... maybe some other time.” Hector seized the initiative and stoodup. He needed to start moving things along before he tripped over one of these conversational landmines. “For now, we should leave beforeSai-hee shows up looking for you.”

“Eh, she prolly won’t be here for a couple more days, at least. We still got time.” Leo did decide to stand up as well, however.

“...Is she actually coming in person?” said Hector, starting toward the corridor from which he’d entered earlier.

Leo followed. “No idea. Hell, I barely ever knew her whereabouts back when I was in regular contact with her. She likes to keep her movements unpredictable. Security ‘n whatnot.”

“...If you don’t know her whereabouts, then why are you so confident that she won’t show up here for another couple days?”

“She’s always super slow to take action, dude. Always tryin’ to ‘play the game,’ y’know? Scared to make a wrong move, I think.”

That seemed to contradict the story that Axiolis had told everyone earlier. ‘We’re leaving together,’ warned Hector. ‘Keep your distance.’

‘Yeah, we can tell,’ came Garovel’s echoing voice. ‘What’s your plan?’

‘Uh. Still working that out. Hold on.’

“So c’mon,” said Leo, “tell me a story.”

Hector wasn’t sure he could bullshit up an entire story on the spot. “...Before that, we need to talk about where we’re going.”

“Oh. Yeah?”

“Yeah.” Hector supposed he should address the issue directly. “I can’t bring you with me, right now. The Rainlords are already waiting for me, and... if I show up with you, they might just attack you first and ask questions later.”

“What, you don’t think you can keep them under control?”

That was a problematic question. One which could not be ignored. Hector stopped walking in order to look the man in the eye. “...Well, there’s also the possibility that you’re lying to me and still intend to recapture them.”

“Ah. Right...”

Hector watched the man’s face for a moment more, trying to read his expression. It seemed regretful, but Hector didn’t know if he believed thator not. He started walking again. “Anyway... you need to lay low for awhile. Do you have a... safe house or something that you can use?”

Leo flicked at one of his dreadlocks. “Uh... not one that the old biddy wouldn’t know about.”

That was unfortunate.

‘Garovel?’ said Hector.

‘Yeah?’

‘Do you know of a place where we can hide Leo?’

‘...What? Why?’

‘He, uh... he wants to work for me, apparently.’

‘...He wants to WHAT?!’

‘Well, he wants protection from Sai-hee. And also a job.’