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It had taken almost all of them to drag the mystery woman through the sewers and to this hideout. However much the others grumbled about how heavy the woman was, Molly could not find it in him to complain. He was exhausted but he recognized her scared voice pleading for help. He must have sounded similar when Gustav first found him and offered him a home.
He had not been able to save Gustav but he could help this woman, intimidating though she had been. He was not naive, she was skilled with that great sword, but he knew that a kindness sent out into the realm made the world a better place for future generations. He didn't know what he'd done before Gustav found him, but he suspected after his encounter with Vess that he had his own fair share of sins to atone for.
He watched as Nott and Beau exited the door where the unconscious woman was laying on a cot, Nott's hands were wringing a wet cloth.
Beau took up residence outside the door.
Caleb's voice floated out from down the hall as he approached. He asked Nott, "how is she?"
"She's out cold right now. No telling who she'll be when she wakes up." Nott replied.
Caleb turned to the monk and continued, "and you, Beauregard, you think you are going to keep her inside? The way she took down that Kryn warrior…"
Beau's shoulders stiffened, but she did not back down. "I'm not kidding myself, but if I'm right here, maybe I can shout and the rest of you can get away."
"Where is her sword?" Molly asked the group.
"We thought that would be better outside of her reach, it is hidden in the forest." Caleb answered. He then shifted uncomfortably, his shoulders hunched."I would like to study the beacon for a bit, since we have seen the effects of two nations warring over it. I feel like it should perhaps not be given to The Gentleman to be sent to the highest bidder. We have caused enough destruction tonight."
"And Trent wants it, which gives us an edge." Nott said.
"Ja, Nott. I, er, wanted to speak with you. In private." Caleb said, voice lowered.
"Is this about how you seemed to be seriously considering going back to that nut job?" Nott replied, face scrunched up and hands on her hips in an accusing posture.
"If it is, I think we all deserve to hear that conversation." Beau piped up, arms crossing and serious expression on her face.
"I would not have said that exactly. It was…I was…" Caleb looked between them, floundering.
Molly decided a change of subject was needed. "We'll still have to check in with The Gentleman, tell him the object was unattainable and see if he has any tips on—" Molly said, before being cut off by Nott.
"Blood-covered and giant-sword-wielding women who ask for our help?"
"I was going to say how to smuggle someone out of the city." Molly answered, deadpan.
"Oh. Right." Nott looked a bit chagrined.
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"How did it go, Caleb?" Nott came out of the house, eager for news or the wine in his hand, Molly wasn't sure.
"He was not impressed, but Molly was his most charming self. Lined up a new job for us that gets us out of Zadash."
"That sounds promising." Nott said.
"It's just…" Caleb trailed off.
"You'll do fine, darling." Molly heard himself saying as he moved an arm to drape over Caleb's shoulders.
"Fine at what?" Nott said, after a hefty swallow.
"The job is to swindle a rich lord outside the city at his ancestral manor. And I am the only one here who speaks Zemnian." Caleb said with a sigh.
"You'll make an eccentric nobleman. I'll be there as your companion. And the rest will be stationed nearby before heading to the vault." Molly explained as Jester and Fjord came to join them.
"Companion, huh? Mama went as Lord Sharpe's 'companion' a bunch of times to fancy things." Jester wiggled her eyebrows as she said this.
Molly winked at her. "I know, it is hard to believe that Caleb could attract someone as fantastic as me, but he will be playing someone wholly unlike himself."
Caleb frowned at that, so Molly elbowed him in the ribs, "I'm only teasing, of course." Then he straightened up as they all headed inside the cabin. "But we should practice a dance. Don't want you stepping on my toes as you try to lead us around the floor."
"The Gentleman did not mention dancing." Caleb said in a low grumble.
"Oh, Caleb, you have to! Dancing would be one of my most-est favourite-est things, I'm sure of it, if I just knew how." Jester came up, hands clasped to beg.
Molly felt himself smile. "It's not hard. We could all try together." He lowered his voice and bent his knees. "Nott, you've got the most important job of all, keeping the beat." He reached into his coat and pulled out some utensils with a flash. "You're going to clack these spoons together on your knee, just like this." He showed the goblin how to use the spoons as a musical instrument and watched as her face lit up as she studied the motions.
"I can do that!" She said, grabbing for the spoons deftly.
"Okay, find your partners, everyone."
Fjord bowed in front of Jester, "may I have this dance milady?"
Jester giggled and accepted his offered hand.
Molly watched them start haltingly but then fall into the rhythm.
Molly was a stranger to the set of people who frequented fancy parties, but he knew how to stand out in a crowd and the more people who were focused on him, the less people who would be focused on his new friends in the vault. Caleb eyed Molly warily as he approached, but Molly did not offer his hand. Instead, he stepped past Caleb until he was behind him and then he leaned down and started singing in his ear. Caleb turned toward the sound and found Molly's face very close. Molly could see details of amber in his hair and flecks of gray in his blue eyes.
He noticed Caleb's neck go pink from the proximity and so he twirled away to a safer distance.
Molly kept singing, moving toward where Jester and Fjord were dancing, lightly adjusting their hands and moving them closer together. His song was a lively one to keep up with the beat of the spoons and Nott was smiling. Molly tried to concentrate on the words and not the fact that he was supposed to be practicing dancing as well.
He twirled around the room, voice rising and falling with the beat. He was on one side of Caleb and his tail tapped his shoulder on the other side. Caleb looked away and when he turned back, Molly had a hand waiting expectantly for him. Caleb took it and stepped forward, a little bit stilted.
Molly ended the verse and Jester took up the chorus from hearing him sing it earlier and so he was free to address Caleb, "come on then, magic man, show me what I'm working with here."
Molly watched Caleb swallow. Caleb's hands were a bit rough but the pale skin was warm and he held on to him tight.
"Your song is about tragic lovers, yes?" Caleb asked, his feet moving with precision, if not smoothly.
"The only tragedy comes from not loving, so I don't see it that way." Molly responded.
"They die in the end." Caleb met his gaze and seemed to be searching for an answer.
"But while they lived, they lived fully, loving with their whole selves." It was a motto he tried to embody as well, with as many lovers as he could get.
Molly recognized the shuttered look of eyes falling back into a past memory that wasn't kind and so he lightly dragged a finger up Caleb's cheek to pull him back to the current reality.
After a moment, Caleb met Molly's eyes again. Molly couldn't judge, who knows what his own past as the Nona-whatsit held? He tried to make his voice kind. "None of that today. Today is a day for dancing."
Caleb reached up and grabbed the hand that was now cradling his cheek. "I should be studying the artifact we found. Find out what makes it so special."
Molly could push. He could force Caleb to continue dancing for the sake of their covers, but he sensed that Caleb was still on a knife edge so he stepped back, bowing to signal their end. "Then I'll relieve Beau, she deserves to dance too." He said.
Before Caleb left to find the artifact that they had unceremoniously dumped in the hideouts makeshift kitchen, Molly yelled out, "Nott, double-time!"
The spoons got faster and he started to sing again, this time a song about chasing the personification of luck and missed chances. It had been a favorite of the circus folk that had been his family for a time.
He twirled, his brilliant coat fanning out behind him and then he ascended the stairs to charm Beau into going down to dance a jig with Jester, who had stepped all over poor Fjord's toes.
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"Remember, for this to work, you only speak Zemnian, so no reacting until I translate for you." Molly instructed as he smoothed down the lapels of Caleb's borrowed coat.
"Do you speak Zemnian?" Caleb arched an eyebrow.
"I'll make it up as I go." Molly dusted off a piece of lint, carefree.
"Schieße." Caleb cursed.
Molly pointed a finger at him, "and remember, you're hopelessly devoted to me, just positively dazzled by me."
Caleb looked Molly's outfit up and down. "At least I do not need to fake the, er, dazzlement."
He clapped Caleb on the back. "There's a start!" He turned, smiling. He was actually quite proud of the frilled clothes he'd managed to scrounge up with Jester's help for this. They'd even found some paints so that his signature coat was even more detailed and intricate. Sure, this crowd may be a bit more snooty than the typical carnival-goers, but he was sure he'd fit right in.
An hour in and Molly was bored out of his mind. These people didn't do anything interesting! They strolled and danced and ate careful bites and there wasn't even an provocative ice sculpture to help conversation veer wonderfully into the taboo.
People were rude to Caleb's face with backhanded compliments that Molly had to find inventive ways to invert when translating.
The first time he translated a remark about Caleb's scarf, the wizard's eyebrows had rose into his hairline in shock. Molly quickly ended the conversation and steered them toward an alcove.
"You said you could not speak Zemnian." Caleb accused.
"Did I? I don't remember saying that." Molly looked at the ceiling.
"You implied you had never conversed in it." Caleb tapped his foot.
"Well, you see, there was this fire-breathing Zemnian couple a few moons back in the show and we got to chatting and it turns out that they swallowed more than swords, if you know what I mean."
Caleb blushed and Molly liked the sight of it.
"Any more surprises I should know about?" Caleb asked.
Molly smiled. "Of course, but I'm not revealing all my secrets just yet. Where's the fun in that?"
With that, Molly whirled Caleb back out onto the dance floor to avoid more tedious conversations with other guests.
"They should be in the vault by now." Caleb noted, his voice pitched lower to avoid being heard by other dancers.
"But you haven't received a message from our mutual button-collecting friend and you're getting nervous." Molly observed.
"Nein, I have faith in her. I just…" Caleb started before being cut off by the slightest rumble below them and the tinkling of the chandelier overhead.
Their eyes met and they immediately quickened their steps in the dance to be along the far east wall.
With perfect timing, a disguised Fjord arrived to deliver a message to the security detail at the party and the men and women in armour filed out the west door.
After a glance around, Molly held up a curtain for them to both slide behind. With a few whispered words, Caleb unlocked the covert entrance and they stole away into the private office of the Dwendalian Empire's Official Overseer of Wheat and Other Crops. One note on letterhead from the desk of Lord Yrrosi would be more valuable than all the wine and art in his vault. Although, hopefully their friend's had made off with a token or two for their explosive troubles.
"Got it." Caleb whispered as he walked away from the impressive desk. "Time to put on a show?" Caleb asked.
"Took the words right out of my mouth." Molly replied, before returning to the secret entrance they had used. When they were both out of the office, Molly swung an arm out and broke a vase. For the boring night he'd endured, he hoped it was irreplaceable. Then he saw movement to his right and vowed to end the night with some excitement. He took Caleb in his grasp and kissed him for all he was worth. Caleb, like his cat, was hesitant at first, but warmed to the kiss eventually and relaxed his shoulders so they were no longer around his ears.
Molly walked them toward the dance floor, trying to smash as many goblets as his feet could trip and stumble over.
Eventually, a quiet gasp was heard and Molly broke the kiss, looking down to a see a small gnome girl. "I'm sorry sirs, I didn't know anyone was left here. There's been an…incident and everyone must leave."
"So you're saying that when I felt the ground shake under my feet, that wasn't this one over here?" Molly leaned down to be at eye level with the girl and gestured up at Caleb, who was looking at the chandelier and itching his neck.
"Who can say?" She said with a charmed smile. "If you'll follow me."
Molly felt like that had cemented their cover, but just in case, he looped his arm with Caleb's and walked out, following the swift steps of the servant. He made sure to wear his most mooning expression for any lingering on-lookers.
Caleb's cheeks were still tinged pink and his eyes had that shuttered look to them again, so Molly squeezed his bicep. "Come on, my lord."
They were escorted to their carriage where a blue tiefling driver was waiting with a giant grin on her face.
"Good night?" She asked, waggling her eyebrows.
Molly let Caleb get in first before bowing to the gnome girl and getting her name. He missed what was said between Caleb and Jester. He settled on the opposite seat and waited until they were out of sight before asking Jester how it went.
"Flawlessly! They were such fools!" She crowed, tail swinging happily.
She launched into a recounting of their actions, with probably a lot of embellishment, but Molly was entertained. He was listening so intently that at first he didn't notice Caleb's preoccupation with the carriage window. But then he rested a hand over the fingers tapping a rhythm on the seat.
"You alright?" Molly asked, gently. His eyes searching.
"I do not think I am made for dancing. Not anymore."
Molly thought about quipping to Caleb that he just needed to find the right partner, but this required more finesse. Caleb had clearly been hurt before by those he had trusted. Molly didn't want to make promises he couldn't keep. He held Caleb's hand and simply said, "there's time yet."
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