Elias eyes are wide like a fish – his breath ragged, uneven.
The Crimson Archivist was just here!
The girl head turns left to right, her dress looked moth eatten tattered and torn. Soil clings to her skin especially her cheeks, forehead, and jaw, mixed with sweat and blood from her nose. Her eyes falls on him, unblinking, her gaze sharp enough to cut through diamond. Her entire body is coiled ready to snap.
"Who are you?" Her voice is filled with distrust.
Elias did not know what to say.
Should he tell her his name? To a mysterious girl who has appeared out of nowhere.
When Elias didn't answer the girl lets out an annoyed breath.
"If you're not gonna answer, fine, but we needa get going." She pushes herself up straighten up her already dirty dress. She starts to walks away, and Elias quickly gets up to follow her black figure. He grabs the Memory Slip of Mireya wiping the lantern glass off and stuffs it in his pocket. Elias thoughts were a chaotic blur. But the biggest question in his mind was:
How did she change places with the Crimson Archivist!?
They start to walk up the stairs, the girl holding her nose blood leaking down her fingers, dripping on to the stairs. She wipes the blood on her dress impatiently.
"How?" Elias whispers, his voice barely audible.
The girl shrugs "How would I know?" Elias brows furrow in confusion.
How could she not know?
Elias's clenches his jaw, why was she acting like this was nothing? His hand tightens around the Memory Slip in his pocket, its edges biting into his palm. The stairwell groans under their footsteps. The clean stone walls slowly turning into damp, rotten wooden confinement.
Elias stares daggers at the back of the ebony shadow. She seems to not notice or maybe she did and didn't care. Suddenly she stops and turns him.
"I cannot go out there." She states and Elias nods.
Right, she can't, Red Watchmen are out there for the night.
Elias ponders for a bit weighing his options. If he were to run away the Red Watchmen would notice after seven or eight moons. But he cannot stay here and wait for them to come. Elias looks at the silhouette of the girl. He could feel her gaze as he considered what to do next. He couldn't leave her here for her to be found. But he also needed to be careful.
Elias shifts from foot to foot. "I will come back for you when the moon is at its highest." The shadow figure moves out of his way a signal of trust and Elias walks.
Elias keeps his head down going towards the dormitory, his heart beating wildly in his chest. Why was he risking everything to help this girl? He could have left and never returned. It would have been easier, safer but he couldn't, it's like something is holding him down their grip anchoring him in place, like with him wanting to help Mireya all over again. He wouldn't fail this time, he couldn't. His fingers brush against the memory slip in his pocket, whatever his reasons were he already gave her his word, and he's not taking it back.
There he quickly gets everything he needs and puts it in a bag. His parchment, quills, five Golden Crowns, two sets of clothes, and a spare lantern. He estimates it will sustain them for ten moons before money starts to get low.
Elias waits till the moon shines brighter than any star and he starts to make his way back to the girl. Careful to not run into any Red Watchmen he glances down the stairwell. He sees the girl sitting there on the wooden stairs her head in her lap. The moon light shines on her torn pink dress and he hold the lantern up the flame waving side to side.
"We have to leave." Elias voice is low and the girl jumps startled.
"Coulda warn me before you come sneaking up on me." She scoffs and gets up straightening her already dirty dress she motions him to get going. Elias walks after a few moments of awkward silence he remembers that he knows nothing about this girl. She looks to be about in her early twenties maybe a little older. Her frizzy dirt filled hair shines in the moonlight as well as her tattered pink dress.
She shoots him a glare, "Stop staring ya creep." Elias cheeks heats up and he turns his face quickly.
"Sorry." He mutters out rubbing his chin in embarrassment. She continues to stare at him her face scrunched in a puzzled expression.
"Whats your name anyway? Mines Hermia." She grunts out, Elias keeps his eyes in front of him his hands fiddling with the bag.
"Elias." He replies and she hums in acknowledge her head going up and down.
"So. . .how did ya bring me here, Elias?" She questions him her eyes narrowing slightly and his palms start to sweat. He doesn't know, but she doesn't need to know that he doesn't know. When he doesn't answer Hermia lets out a frustrated breath.
"Look, if we gonna be working together then we need some trust. Especially since now we both running from the Red watch." She firmly declares and Elias cannot feel like she is right. Lying or hiding things would do no good for them both.
"I do not know how I did it. It. . .just happened." Elias looks at her face to see her reaction but her face gives nothing but curiosity. "What happened to you? Why are you dirty?" She frowns then rubs her hands on her dress again and again.
"I was running from something, something that was gonna catch me if you didn't step in. So thank you." Her ears are rosy and Elias despite the tension in the air feels a small smirk washing on his face. He couldn't remember the last time he had a genuine conversation with another human being. He sensed that was all he was going to get for her in the moment so he leaves it at that.
"What are we going to do?" Elias swivels his head back in front of him the marble hallway illuminated by the white shine of the moonlight. He had never really looked at the hallways but it felt right to memorize it now seeing as this is going to be the last time he ever steps foot in this building again. Hermia lips tug a big smile on her lips
"We gonna find Marginalia, we gonna find the revolution."