It had been a long mind-boggling day by the time the sun was setting low against the horizon of the lake, casting shadows and darkening corners in every nook and cranny. The Inn was a welcome respite after all the excitement. The fires had been lit by the Inn maid and the smell of something roasting was thickly wafting through the main common room from the kitchen at the back.
Nessya followed after Rick into the Inn with a small sigh, ignoring her faint aches and she slowed her pace towards the open hearth but watched him carrying the basket of goods without him voicing any complaint, he was already being overly careful after the news which was barely Twelve Hours old. "Long day, eh?" she'd muse.
Rick made for the stairs that led to their lodgings, "You are telling me. I'll take this lot up and see the lad settled, he's long due for sleep, you stay where it's warm, eh? I shouldn't be too long."
As Rick turned for the stairs, Nessya rubbed her hands together to enrich them with the warmth of the flames and lost herself in idle thoughts. Naturally the news was the most present matter.
She failed to notice the door of the Inn open and the man from the market hesitantly make his way to the counter of the Inn. Rick had been upstairs for at least ten minutes settling Averick down for sleep and no doubt, as Nessya surmised, sneaking some treats with him as a bribe for him to settle. She will have to check the basket, sneaky boys.
Aillstan argued with himself on the way to the Inn, dragging his feet with anxiousness. The closer he got the more his gut twisted and his breathing quickened. He knew he needed solid proof. What if his friend was right? It could be possible there was more than one Rickstan in the world, both syllables were names, it was possible someone out there thought to put both together to form a name. The idea of checking the Inn ledger sprung to mind. He knew it was risky, but he knew the owner and the staff who worked there. Maybe if he asked them, they'd let him look. Such things went completely against confidentiality, but maybe if he explained the circumstance, they would take pity?
The Inn was uncommonly quiet, the season was not quite ready yet for travelers and he could hear the barmaid bustling with pans out the back. Maybe if he was quick, he could reach over the counter for the book? The sight of Nessya by the fireplace changed that entirely. He understood from the conversation he overheard that this was Ricks partner and that she was having a child. Of course, if this wasn't Rick, he'd feel rather foolish for feeling hopeful. But with the lady in question stood only several feet away, his plans seemed fruitless. Damn it.
No, he had to know. He had to get this out of the way or forever sit in torment wondering. If he did not do this now he might not get another opportunity. With a quivering hand, he leaned over the counter and rummages his hand on the inside of the desk. He must have made a noise for Nessya turned around and saw him. To her, especially with her background of working for the Bree Watch, he must have looked a petty criminal scrounging for the coin box.
"Hey!"
Aillstan either failed to hear her or ignored it with determination. For the moment he had the book in his hand he had it on the flat surface, wafting the pages one by one to find the correct page for that weeks Tennant's.
"Hey!" she calls more sharply, not loud enough to yell and be heard upstairs, but more pointedly trying to catch the man's attention as her patience had worn thin, "I'm talkin' t'you."
Aillstan scanned down the names as he went, once he found that weeks page, unintentionally mutter more audibly the further he went, "...Gregalon...Muskerdon...Laine..." It's there he gasps and drops the ledger on the counter and stands up straighter in shock and only then does he look at the woman by the fire, shock painted on his expression and his hands shaking as they hovered before him.
Nessya, on the other hand, only seems less than pleased, her arms crossed as she stood firmly, eyeing the man's shocked demeanor with confusion, "Find wha' you were hopin' for?" she'd chides, yet her mind was working, having picked up on the name he spoke lastly before his shock. "Who are you?"
The barmaid returned to the front of the Inn hearing the voices flood through and her smiles of greetings drop to confusion. She instantly recognized Aillstan as someone who frequented the Inn from time to time and his unusual stance concerned her. "Aillstan, what is the matter?"
It is Nessya who is first to move. She shuffled away from the fireplace. She knew this mans name, now that the Barmaid had said it. And this man was shocked seeing the name Laine in the ledger. Nessya was usually quick to the mark, she instantly put two and two together. "Skies above..." she muttered in disbelief. She looked towards the stairs and then Aillstan again, "No way..."
Aillstan swallowed harshly, "Y..You know me?"
Nessya nodded slowly, trying to get her head around all of this. Rick told her he died, long ago when he was a boy. How is it that he is here now? It made no sense. "Aye, I do. Rick told me..about you."
With her saying this, Aillstan's heart sank and leapt at the same time, forcing him to stagger a step from the spot he stood and bring a hand to his forehand. "So..It is him? That's..." His hands were still shaking, "When I..I heard you say his name..I knew...I just knew."
Nessya ran a hand through her hair slowly, yet there was still a bit of mistrust in her eyes, her brows furrowed softly as she looked over the man. Sure, maybe Rick was wrong, yet his evidence surely wasn't so implausible either. "Migh' be," she answers cautiously. "Though, Rick though' his father dead. You could be anyone, far as I'm concerned."
The barmaid silently made herself scarce.
With a tear quickly dragged off his eyelash with his sleeve, Aillstan explained as best he could, adding some key facts, for he did not know how much she was acquainted with. "I fell sick, a very bad fever...I was taking him to Rohan with me when I fell. Erm..- His mother...she was.." he grimaces sadly, "She was murdered. She was called Ellanee..- When I fell ill..The healers Daughter said he panicked and ran away but by the time I was well enough he..he was gone. I searched..posters...I paid..people to...find him..sell swords even."
It did not take a lot for Nessya to confirm he was telling the truth, the names and facts he offered in his stammering proved to be correct. But this was terrible. She had no idea how Rick was going to react to this. He thought he was dead for years, alone. The only member of family he thought he had was Gythleth his half brother.
She listened slowly, corroborating the information with what she knew, albeit her face would remain blank, unrelenting in any sort of emotion or inclination of the truth. "Righ'.." she'd finally say, slowly, glancing towards the stairs as she slowly moves to tell Rick, "Hold on."
As she slipped off up the stairs towards the rooms above, Aillstan sank into a chair and put his face into his hands.
