Favors

"T-Then I'll take you up on your offer," said the boy reluctantly.

"I never said that you could stay at my house, I merely asked if you had a place to sleep," replied Cassandra, a mischievous smile on her face.

"T-Then?"

"You could sleep at his house, I'm sure they have room," continued Cassandra, pointing to Arya.

"Absolutely n-" Arya stopped himself mid-sentence as he noticed the wink that Cassandra gave him.

{Wait, how could I have been so stupid? He's the son of a noble, and we risked our lives to save him. If we give him accommodation as well, then the Count will have no choice but to repay the favor,} smiled Arya as he finally realized what Cassandra was on to.

"Although the situation at my house is pretty cramped as is, what can we do when someone is in need," said Arya, a greedy smile on his face.

Once Lillian returned and heard about the news, she nearly went into a fit. Even after the reason for doing it was explained to her she still wasn't having any of it.

"I don't want him anywhere near my kids, even if he were the King's son," she whispered sarcastically into Cassandra's ear.

"You have to understand Lillian, saving a noble's son is a big thing. Especially someone of the Count's caliber. Your family could live better lives if you played your cards right," persuaded Cassandra.

Cassandra wouldn't usually go out of her way like this, but after all the years of checking up on Arya, she had grown quite close to his family.

"O-Okay, I guess you could sleep in the same room as Arya," she said finally, after realizing that Cassandra and Arya had a point.

"You should probably send a letter to your father explaining what happened, you can use my Noctua," added Cassandra as Lillian put the unconscious Armin on her back.

"You have an Noctu- never mind. T-Thank you very much," replied Leon, still a bit shook by what had happened earlier.

***

"Arya!" shouted Streya once they arrived home, latching her arms around Arya before gripping him into a bear hug.

"I thought out of all of you, you would be the one against going into the forest. Why did you do something so-" Streya stopped her scolding once she noticed Leon standing at the door, looking into the house as if it were infected.

"Y-You guys live here?" he asked incredulously, as if he couldn't believe that this was an actual house.

"You're welcome to try your luck outside, though I'm sure the local thugs might take a liking to your clothing," smiled Arya, escaping from Streya's grip.

"Who's he?" asked Streya as Arya walked to his room.

"Some noble's kid."

Lillian carried Armin to her room, before laying him right next to Gray on her bed. She took a few handfuls of straw from her poorly made bed and made a mound so that she could sit beside them.

"Mom, where's the noble's kid going to sleep?" asked Streya, her face tinged red. Ever since she noticed Leon she seemed to feel uncomfortable in her own skin, constantly fiddling with her clothes or playing with her hair.

"He's going to sleep in Arya's room," she replied tiredly, she clearly wanted to sleep.

"O-Oh," replied Streya kind of disappointed.

{W-What did I think she would say? That he could sleep in my room?} she thought to herself embarrassingly.

"U-Uhm, you don't have to stand around you know. M-My mother said you could sleep in Arya's room," said Streya as she entered the kitchen where Leon was still standing around.

"I-It's okay, I don't think I can sleep anyway," he replied.

"I-Is that so? Would you like some water maybe?" she asked after.

"T-Thank you, I would like that."

She took an old-looking cup from the kitchen counter and filled it with water from one of the buckets.

"Here," she said, holding the cup out.

Leon looked at the cup hesitantly, as if contemplating whether it was safe or not.

"It's safe, look," said Streya, drinking a bit of it before moving closer to Leon with the cup held out.

"T-Thank you," he replied, reaching out for the cup.

As he tried grabbing the cup, the tips of their fingers met, prompting both of them to look away abashedly.

"W-What's your name?"

"Streya, and yours?"

"Leon," he said, before drinking from the cup.

"Not from there, that's where I..." her voice trailed off.

As Leon realized what he had just done he froze in embarrassment, for a moment it went silent, before the two burst out into laughter.

"What's going on here?" asked Arya lazily as he opened the door to see what the noise was about.

"Nothing, go to bed," scolded Streya.

"Huh? Since when were you concerned about my sleep?"

"And you, what are you still doing out there?" he asked, his eyes narrowed in suspicion.

"Just go to sleep, he'll come when he's ready," Streya continued.

"Try anything funny with her, and I'll end you in your sleep," threatened Arya before going back to his room.

"Your brother is kind of scary for a kid," commented Leon once Arya was gone.

"Pfft, he's just messing around," giggled Streya.

Sadly, that was quite far from the truth. With the only people who knew that Leon was here being close friends and relatives, Arya could easily kill him and escape without much effort.

"So what do you commone- I mean villagers do for fun here?"

"At night? We sleep at night, or are you nobles active during the night?" asked Streya innocently.

"Eh, that..." replied Leon abashedly.