30 [30]Split Up

Cassie had a worried expression on her face, and it reminded Sunny of a lost child. He patted her head like she was one, and she flinched.

"Sunny, this is my fault. You should go to the castle with Nephis."

Sunny almost tripped over air. Before he could even say anything, Nephis reacted.

"Absolutely not. Me and Sunny can handle ourselves, but you're not like that."

Sunny chimed in, grimacing.

"Cassie, you can't see it, but several dudes have been looking at you like a piece of meat. You need to have one of us with you, to stop me or Nephis from killing random assholes who thought that they could lay hands on you while we weren't looking."

Cassie visibly paled, and Nephis put her hand on Cassie's shoulder. Sunny spoke again.

"I've said it once already, but I've been through much, much worse, Cassie. Keeping an eye on the castle from out here, coupled with finding a decent place to live? That's child's play."

Sunny spoke this partly to help convince Nephis. It worked, because she started to pull Cassie away from him and towards the castle.

Thinking of something, Sunny called out to the girls and ran up to them.

"Wait, Cassie! Nephis!"

They stopped and turned as he caught up to them.

"Do you think I could borrow the water producing bottle for the week? I'm more than happy to give it back as soon as I see you both again."

Nephis thought for a moment and nodded. Cassie though, plastered a beaming smile on her face.

"Yeah, of course! I'm just happy to help you, Sunny!"

Sunny almost turned away from the brightness of her smile. She was a good rival even to Kai when she was happy.

Sunny couldn't tell for sure, but he thought Nephis felt a little better about leaving him outside the castle. He watched through his shadow hiding under Neph's feet as they walked up to the guards.

They immediately hit on Nephis and Cassie, but Neph just played it silent and showed them the crystals.

They kept running their mouths, but they did let the girls in without any real trouble. When they finally got to the front desk, they were greeted by someone Sunny had once thought of a lot.

Seeing him still hurt Sunny a bit, and he silently apologized to him. Harper was as anxious and timid as ever, but Sunny paid it no mind. He listened as the girls took up a room in the west wing of the castle and walked off.

Finally, he shut off his sense sharing with the shadow.

Sunny started by wandering around until he found the quiet cottage Nephis stayed in originally. He cleaned some debris and laid down quietly.

***

Nephis POV:

Waking up, Nephis found Cassie wrapped around her, asleep. The blind girl had put up a brave front, but Nephis could tell she was quivering in her sleep, seemingly having either dreamed something bad or simply because fear had seeped into even her unconscious state.

Nephis was not used to this kind of thing. She felt awkward, but her chest was strangely warm. Acting on an unexpected impulse, she patted the blind girl's head a few times.

This had an immediate effect on the girl, calming her down and easing her, but Nephis still kept petting her for a while, and eventually Cassie woke up.

The girls bathed and Nephis helped Cassie roughly wash the dirt, blood and grime off. When the girls walked out together of the room, completely clean and put together, they were greeted by a familiar human shadow cast against the wall opposite the hall.

It looked them up and down, then it nodded in apparent approval and happily rushed and dove against her feet. She looked strange with two shadows, but she had realized yesterday that Sunny's shadow would seemingly disappear somewhere any time she was around other people.

Cassie noticed Nephis' prolonged stop, and spoke.

"What is it, Neph?"

"Nothing, Sunny's shadow is with us."

Nephis didn't seem to understand why Cassie looked so happy to know that.

. . . Come to think of it, she didn't know why she was either.

'Well, he's already shown me that it can make me stronger in a pinch, so I guess I'm just happy to have an extra battle advantage in this creepy place.'

The girls asked for directions from a nearby handmaiden, and walked to the breakfast hall.

The main hall of the mighty castle was grandiose and majestic in appearance.

At the far end of the hall, a set of stairs led to a dark alcove. The back wall of the alcove had numerous small holes cut through it, and with sunlight shining through them into the deep darkness, it seemed as though a fragment of the starlit night sky was somehow locked within the castle.

Beneath that light stood an empty white throne.

Long wooden tables were placed along the length of the grand hall, with a motley crowd of Sleepers sitting on crude benches behind them, busy consuming their food. There was some sort of hierarchy in how they were grouped, but Nephis did not care.

Currently, most of them were staring in the direction of the two girls.

Nephis was not afraid of an invisible hierarchy, so she calmly walked Cassie over to the nearby women who were rationing meals at an improvised counter.

She had not even stopped long enough for Cassie to realize what was wrong with these worthless bastards' stares.

Grabbing two plates of something resembling a steak platter with vegetables and a drink that seemed to be a basic tea, she guided Cassie to a relatively empty table at the end of the hall.

Soon, trouble came to find them.

Nephis was explaining what their meal looked like to Cassie, who listened to her intently. That's when she noticed two rough looking men had come up two them.

Looking at their ugly faces, they seemed to not have any rugged and deep charm, unlike Sunny. . .

Catching herself in a strange thought, she stared the two men into the eyes.

"May I help you?"

"Well, Missy, we were hoping to introduce ourselves to a couple of fine dames such as yourself. You know, it is a great honor to have the privilege to talk to castle guards such as us!"

Nephis looked at the man as if he were stupid. Her face was generally expressionless, but if you looked closely, you could recognize genuine confusion and tension in her eyes.

Cassie had a similar reaction, turning her face down to try and hide her disgust.

Nephis wanted to say something arrogant and rude back, when she suddenly felt a powerful flow of warm, invigorating power rush through her veins.

Strangely, feeling Sunny's shadow wrapped around her, she suddenly felt much calmer and more level headed.

"We don't appreciate the expression."

Tension rose throughout the hall. It was clear that the two men did not like being turned down so blatantly. It seemed as if they were going to say or try something stupid.

Just then, a voice came from a third party, behind the two men.

"Now, now, boys. You probably shouldn't be so forceful with girls you don't know, right?"

Nephis, Cassie and the two men all jumped. The two men visibly paled.

Standing behind them, was a beautiful woman dressed in a maid's uniform.

Seishan, leader of the handmaidens, was staring silently at the two low level guards from behind.

Almost nobody in the hall, not even Nephis, knew when she got there.