The Moon Inn

Voa wakes painless but confused. Warm in a bed and surrounded by the sound of songbirds and the cold air of the morning.

She groans and opens her eyes, her eyes finding an unknown room, with paper and wood panels that work as walls and a set of this panels open to show a stone garden.

The bed she's laying on is close to the ground, more of a thick blanket on the ground than a real bed. Voa sits up and stares at the garden.

There's a small wooden deck and a set of stairs that take to the garden, a small pond and rock piles and formations decorate the garden. She stares blankly at everything, at the peacefulness of it all, and wonders if she's dreaming.

She feels strange and when she goes to wake up she realizes what's wrong.

Her left arm is halfway gone, right at the elbow, the stump bandaged up. Voa stares at it for a while and it's when another panel opens on the other side of the room and Arsu enters.

"Voa!" He shouts as he falls to his knees at her side, he looks unsure for a second and then pats her shoulder with a wobbly smile "You're okay"

"I…guess?" Mumbles Voa confused, she stares at her arm "What happened?"

"The rattler bit you, don't you remember? We had to cut the wounded part before it extended the venom to your heart" explains Arsu and Voa nods, yes…that makes sense, she remembers the bite, if one could call it that, more of a stab.

"Where are we?" Asks Voa, then "Help me up"

Arsu does, grabbing her arm and helping her up, together they approach the garden and go down the steps of the wooden deck. It's a square shaped garden, with the deck going alongside it and with more panels on the other side, indicating more rooms.

"We were very close to the border when we got attacked, Nu-the assassin took us to an inn in a village right by the border" explains Arsu "We got here just a few hours ago"

Voa nods and breathes in the cold air and tries to ignore the itchy feeling that has started to climb up her stump.

"Where are the others?" She asks.

"The princess was still sleeping when I left to see you, the outlaw found some…fun and disappeared almost the moment we got here, the assassin is talking with the owners about something he didn't want to share" says Arsu after a heavy sigh and Voa huffs a short laugh.

"Do you…" Voa takes a breath as she stares at her stump "Do you know how long it takes to grow back?"

Arsu blinks at her in surprise before frowning and staring at her arm with carefulness.

"It's difficult to say…a week, maybe two? We should get a healer from the village to take a look at it before we continue" hums Arsu "Does it hurt? We gave you some pain ointment"

"It itches" mumbles Voa and Arsu makes a commiserating noise.

"That's worse, huh?"

"Totally" chuckles Voa and tries to stop thinking about everything. Then, she realizes something, she turns to Arsu and gapes at him "We are in Yaon!?"

Arsu chuckles and messes up her hair. Then, he pats her shoulder and walks forward into the garden, dodging some of the carefully created rock piles as he crosses it and enters another room. Voa pouts and rushes to follow him.

The rest of the inn is a pretty as the rest, quaint but nice. Voa follows Arsu through the inn and she notices he has changed from the fancy white clothing to Yaonite looking robes, probably given to him by the inn workers, a crimson upper robe and white pants, his feet bare. Voa still wears her servant peplos from Olympea and ponders about getting some clothing also as Arsu had done. They look warm, but the weather at the moment is colder that had been at the desert, Voa would take whatever.

They enter a wider room were the princess sits and drinks from a clay cup slowly. She is also wearing robes, as crimson as Arsu's but with some changes, a skirt instead of pants and both the upper and lower clothes all red. Her pink hair in a braided high bun and face clean.

The princess lowers the cup and stares blankly at Voa for a second, then she gasps and rises to her feet, hugging Voa to herself like they were old friends.

"Voa! You're okay!" Exclaims the princess, her violet eyes wide and a trembling smile.

"Y-yes" stammers out Voa, sharing a confused look with an amused Arsu.

Withania pulls back, clears her throat and sits down again, her cheeks flushed and taking a lady-like sip from her cup.

Arsu sighs and sits at the princess' side, patting his side for Voa to follow suit. She does and just watches as Arsu serves himself from a flat tea kettle that rests on the table next to another clay cup. The steaming liquid is a reddish color and smells somewhat herbal, with something else Voa can't describe.

Arsu must have noticed her look, as he offers her his cup and she takes it with her remaining hand, taking a slow sip and giving the cup back afterwards.

It was hot and tasted a strange mix of heated water and leaves, not as nice as sweet water was, but she guessed that this early in the morning it would serve the purpose of warming the body. It must the tea Yaon is famous for and Voa decides she hasn't got the cultured tongue for it.

The quiet they become submersed in is a calm lullaby to Voa's nerves. It's a pity that she didn't even see herself cross the border into another nation, but at least they're closer to their objective. It helps not to think about the itch and strange numb pain that radiates from her half arm.

Is while she's thinking about how they should go about stealing the next key fragment when a wall panel opens and Nue enters followed by two Yaonites, a man and a woman old enough to have their impeccable black hair slightly tinted with grey. They both bow and Voa nervously bows her head, not knowing what else to do.

"Voa, I'm very glad you are awake" smiles gently Nue and Voa smiles back at him, then he motions towards the man and the woman "These are the owners of this inn, they have agreed to take care of Kimara until the end of our…journey"

Voa blinks at that in confusion but nods and smiles at the couple, that smile back and disappear soon after. Voa losses her smile the moment they do and stares at Nue in deep confusion.

"We're leaving Kimara…here?" She asks and Nue nods at her.

"Diyu is no place for a lizard, but do not worry, Kimara will be here when we're done, I promise you" says Nue, some guilt coloring his words.

"Bu-" starts Voa but before she can go further, Bowdre enters the room, shouldering Nue to the side and flopping to the floor next to Withania.

"I'm beat! Does this place have something to eat or just shitty tea?" She exclaims as pouts exaggeratedly at Nue "Oi, Shadow? I'm hungry, feed me a delicacy from your country!"

She smirks as sharply as a rattler—and Voa shivers at the thought of the beast—and wiggles her eyebrows at Nue that just raises a single eyebrow and huffs before leaving the way he came.

Voa is distracted by this. She has never seen a Nashoban eat, she knows about it, of course. But she has never seen it. Her curious stare gains the attention of Bowdre that stares back coldly enough to make Voa lower her eyes somewhat ashamed.

It doesn't take Nue long to return carrying a tray with him this time. He leaves it on the low table in between their group and takes a clay teacup from it to offer it to Voa.

"Try this, it's sweeter than that other one" he says and Voa takes the offered cup with a smile. Meanwhile, Bowdre takes the rest of the tray that carries a ceramic bowl with something steaming inside.

"Uh? What is it?" Asks Bowdre as she takes a deep breath of the steam.

"The Moon Inn gets enough Nahobans passing by to have food in their reserves. This is meat with vegetables and rice" explains Nue as Bowdre takes the spoon on the tray and starts to shovel the meal in her mouth.

Bowdre must notice that every eye is on her as she slows her devouring to glare at all of them.

"What? Never seen a Nashoban enjoy some food?" She mumbles with her mouth still full.

"What does it taste like?" Immediately asks Voa with glimmering eyes and leaning forward in curiosity, tea forgotten in favor of new entertainment.

She could see out of the corner of her eye that Arsu was staring at his cup with a weird look on his face and Withania was trying to hide a disgusted grimace. Bowdre looks around for a second before returning her eyes to Voa that hadn't wavered in her attention.

"Like…meat?" Answers Bowdre in a questioning tone and Voa hums in interest, hoping for more information "And vegetables, I guess?"

"Is it good?" Asks Voa and Bowdre confusedly nods before putting the bowl at her mouth and shoveling the rest of the food in her mouth.

With all her leaning forward, Voa stumbles just a bit, but that bit becomes a lot when she tries to catch herself and misses thanks to her half-missing arm, almost hitting her chin on the carpeted floor if it wasn't for Nue's arm, that stops her fall.

"Careful" tuts Nue as he helps her back to her sitting position, his eyes linger on the bandages "It should be back by the time we reach Diyu, it's not as much as we feared when Bowdre cut it off"

Voa nods and looks away, she still feels his dark eyes on her.

"You know…my father lost an eye once" says Nue suddenly, making Voa turn to look at him again with curiosity, the rest of the conversations have stopped and the only noise is Bowdre finishing her meal.

"He did?" Asks Voa, she had heard of people losing limbs, but never something like an eye.

"It took so long to grow back we all worried it wouldn't at all" chuckles Nue "He got so used to wearing an eyepatch that he wore it even afterwards, the eyesight on that eye was never as clear as it was on his good eye"

Voa frowns. She remembers her dad and his leg, he never did walk the same after the accident, and that was a leg, a hand…a hand was much more essential to scavenger life, she could lose some fine movement in her fingers, it would be difficult to draw or write, to grab things without trembling.

Life wouldn't be the same, of that she was absolutely sure.

"A hand is a delicate structure, but one can learn to use it again, an eye…we have little control of that part of us" says Nue and Voa nods gratefully as him trying to be nice.

"You have never lost anything?" Asks Voa. He's an assassin, isn't he? It shouldn't be too weird to get injured.

Nue smiles and takes off the glove of his left hand, there Voa clearly sees it when he extends his fingers, his little finger looks paler at the top of it than the rest of the finger and hand, like someone had cut the first segment of his finger. He leans forward, mischief clear in his eyes as he whispers to her.

"A dragon bit it off"

Voa gasps, recognizing the joke but going along with it. Anything to not think about how she lost her arm or even how Nue lost the tip of his finger, a strange finger to lose.

"It will be a good story to tell when we finish our journey" continues Nue and Voa smiles and nods. It will be, she will deal with some weird feelings and itching in her arm, it will grow back after all, she just needs to be patient.

"You should probably go to a healer anyway" says Arsu as Voa thinks and she turns to him with curiosity "Does this inn have one?"

"The village does" nods Nue, he turns to look at Voa "We can go now if you want, I can show you the village too"

Voa nods excitedly, she wishes to see a Yaonite village, she has only seen drawings of them and she hopes the village can live up to her expectations.

Nue guides her outside the room and around the inn and in their wandering the find the man Nue had referred as one of the owners.

"Master Bulgae" bows Nue and the man stops and bows back, a slightly trembling smile that makes Voa frown, Nue continues before Voa can wonder further about that "We wished to visit the village healer, do you know their location?"

"Of course!, of course…My daughter can guide you" smiles the inn owner, then he turns to the side and claps once "Bibi! Accompany our esteemed guests to visit Seok"

A girl Voa's age appears from behind one of the panels of the hallway they had been occupying, she was pretty, with a button nose and hair tied in a high bun, her robes a soft pink and purple. She bows to her father and smiles at Nue and Voa.

"Please, esteemed guests….follow me" she says and bows shortly before starting to walk, Nue immediately following her and Voa taking a second longer to do so.

It doesn't take long to exit the inn and when they do, Voa is breathless at the sight. The Village is somehow attached to the rock surface of the mountain, the houses hanging off it with bridges attached to it, some buildings more inside the rock while other are almost completely out, like the case of the inn.

"This is the village of Gamangnara, right at the border with Ethe" explains Nue as they follow nimble Bibi as they cross creaking bridges that make Voa's leg tremble. She keeps her eyes up, staring at the people all around instead of the drop under her.

"It's so pretty…like it's floating…" murmurs Voa.

"If you like this, you will love Aum!" Interrupts Bibi as she walks backwards to stare at them as they move through the village "Gamangnara is too small and has worse weather than Aum, they're have a perfect view of the Kunlun mountains and the rainforests!"

Aum…Voa ponders about that, the name is familiar, but then again Yaon has more settlement than any other nation in Tlao, mostly because of their conquering past, they're an empire for a reason, she supposes.

The rest of the way is quiet, Voa appreciating the view as they enter a part of the village that hides under a rock formation that works as a roof. They follow Bibi as she enters inside a small building with curling roofs and stone statues piled at the door, the statues looked like a woman's face carved into a vaguely person's form, the statues came in many sizes, some really small and others the size of the door.

"Seok!" Shouts Bibi and then bows to Nue "Thank you for your patronage, esteemed guest"

She rushes out after Nue bows his head in response. Voa wonders if they always have to refer to their clients at the inn like that, it must get tiring after a while.

The healer appears soon after, a frazzled looking woman with a pair of glasses hanging on the tip of her nose and both hair and clothes an absolute mess. She is the least put together Yaonite Voa has ever met.

"Yes! I am here…how may I help?" She asks, pushing her glasses to a less precarious position and smiling widely.

Nue motions at Voa with a hand and Voa shows off her missing arm. The healer—Seok, if Voa had heard correctly—hums and rushes forward, carefully handling Voa's arm and slowly unraveling the bandages.

"How did this happen?" Murmurs healer Seok and her eyes—a pretty brown—find Voa's.

"A rattler stabbed me, they cut it off" she motions vaguely towards Nue when she says that and the healer pins her eyes on Nue for a second before lowering them, like she was ashamed or something.

"W-well…good call, I'll check to make sure no venom extended and give you some ointment for a better regeneration" says the healer after clearing her throat. The bandages come off easily and Voa's feels worse the moment they're completely off.

"Ow…" she mumbles to herself and the healer chuckles.

"That's normal, the pressure the bandages were doing helps with the pain" explains Seok at Voa's pained stare, then she hums at the state of the wound "It looks clean, no sign of venom, the regeneration process should start soon"

Voa refuses to look at the wound. The feeling of needles stabbing at it are enough to dissuade her, she already feels terrible, she doesn't want to also puke on top of this nice healer lady.

"How long would it take?" Asks Nue softly and Seok turns to him, eyes nervous.

"The merith is a wonderful organ gifted by the gods themselves, and as such the regrowth process depends exclusively on the person. I once saw a man regrowing a single toe for an entire year. It's based on will and health" explains Seok, then switches her gaze towards Voa, far more gentler than the look Nue had been receiving "Your health is good, now you need faith in the gods and yourself, it won't be long after that, for you girl, judging by just your health, I suspect two weeks"

Voa nods, hand twitching with temptation to touch the back of her head, where she knows the merith resides, nestled right under the brain. A gift from the gods.

Seok leaves the main room to enter an inner room and Voa and Nue wait for her return with the ointment and new bandages.

"We'll leave after this" says Nue suddenly "Diyu is a week and a half away, the sooner we leave the sooner we arrive"

Voa nods but internally frowns. It must be the first time she hears Nue sound so tense, he had always been gentle and patient, not only with her but with Arsu too. But since they got to Yaon Voa keeps feeling his tenseness, even the one that hides behind smiles and nice words. Nue is stressed and Voa has not forgotten that Nue had expressed fear to go home not that long ago.

"How are we traveling to Diyu?" Asks Voa, trying to ignore Nue's too straight back and tired eyes "You didn't get to explain what path we would take"

Nue stares at her and then something like realization breaks the stress off his face.

"We should get you something warmer to wear" he mumbles, almost to himself and Voa tilts her head.

"Eh?"