The Wishing Tree

Yuki glanced over at Sudarshan. "Yes-No! I mean... I used to work at the castle. Had since I was a kid. Prince needed friends so they got me. However, I did some things and now I'm hiding out with the knowledge that could make the king the most powerful in the land." It all flowed freely from her tongue, as if she were really telling the truth. However, even truth could be tainted with lies. Moving back to see if where the noise was going, Yuki kept a hand near one of the many pockets on her person. The commotion grew louder as the prince passed by before dying down the farther away they were from the room. Sighing, Yuki moved to sit back down on the bed.

This whole adventure had just gotten a whole lot more complicated. She had thought she was doing a good job keeping ahead of the man, but he seemed to have caught up somehow. "Look, if the prince finds me then most likely I'll be beheaded after being forced to show where the damn Wishing Tree is. So, I really would prefer not to be found." Flopping back down on the bed, Yuki closed her eyes. Sleep seemed like a good idea. Yes, sleep and maybe a hot meal when she woke up. The outside world could just disappear. That would be nice.
 
So Yuki and the prince had been arranged playmates, was it? Sudarshan decided to accept that explanation for the time being. Her reason for keeping her knowledge far from the royal family sounded reasonable enough as well. He nodded to her when she finished speaking. "Fair point. But let's calm down. Prince or not, he's got no business busting into random inn rooms. We're safe as long as we're here, and if you don't mind me making this judgment, you are in no fit state to travel." He parked himself in front of the door again and leaned back against it with his arms folded as before. His eyes were on her, and his face was stern. "Rest. We'll leave when you're ready, when it's quiet. We'll be fine."

Come to think of it, maybe a nap of his own would do him some good. Of course, he'd stay alert until Yuki was at peace. What kind of guardian would he be if he didn't? But maybe after that he could afford to close his eyes for a while. It wasn't like anybody'd be able to break into the room with someone as heavy as him leaning against the door. He hid a small yawn behind one hand before straightening up and crossing his arms again.
 
"Alright." Yuki quickly curled up as best as she could on the bed, closing her eyes. It was nice to have someone else worry about no one finding her out. The extra protection was nice, but it would be only a matter of time before Sudarshan found out what was under her mask, whether it be just an accidental glimpse or needing to for an injury. Keeping the naga around felt dangerous, but it gave her a security she quite liked. The bed enveloped her in comfort as she nodded off, an arm close to her chest and the other near one of her many hidden weapons. She slept lightly, not daring to completely fall asleep lest something happen.

The maid from beforehand was cleaning the halls when she came across the room the woman had gone into again. She looked around before moving to ask her boss what to do. The guest was obviously injured, but she seemed to not want anyone to know. Was she being threatened? Did the naga have something to do with it? A tap on her shoulder scared the young maid out of her musings. "Miss? Are you alright? You've been standing there for quite a while."

The young maid whipped around, now nose to nose with the crown prince himself. All color drained from her face before she stumbled into a sloppy curtsy. "Y-your highness! I am so terribly sorry! I'll get back to my job now!" She tried to slip past the royal so she could go tell her boss of the injured patron, but the man stopped her.

"There's no need to worry. If something is wrong, I'd like to help." The prince gave a charming smile, waiting for the woman to tell him what was on her mind. One of his most trusted servants stood near him as he waited for the woman to tell him what was wrong. The prince knew his father back home would probably admonish him for breaking his roles like this.

The woman, fearful for possible punishment if she refused the prince, confessed. "A woman came in here earlier who was clearly injured and refused to let me get her help. I'm simply worried and unsure what to do." She finally finished with another curtsy. "I'm sorry, you're highness." The woman nearly shook in fear.

The prince shook his head before stepping over and knocking on the door. "Hello? Is everything alright?"
 
Yuki, for her part, seemed happy with the idea of resting for a while. Good. Sudarshan shifted his weight against the door behind him until he was comfortable, and it didn't take too long after that for his eyes to close and his head to dip toward his chest. Yes, naps were good. Maybe when he woke, he'd feel even more mobile. Or should he leave himself a good night's sleep to expect any significant change? He couldn't afford to sleep for too long...but hey, hope was hope, and by this point, he was feeling too groggy to think well anyway. Sleep. Yes...he liked sleep...

A rap on the door behind him made him lurch awake, his eyes snapping open. Where was he? How long had he been out? He remembered quickly enough that he was in an inn room with his new "friend" Yuki, and it only took another split second for him to remember their situation. "Yes?" he blurted in answer to the question before he'd even taken a moment to think. "Y-yes, we're fine, thank you," he said next, his voice just loud enough to carry through the door. He closed his eyes again and raised a hand to massage the sleep out of his eyelids. Ugh, he could've thought of something more convincing than that had he been alert!
 
The prince frowned, not pleased with this answer. "Are you sure? The staff is quite worried about the woman in there. I'm sure I could find someone to help, since it sounds like she is quite injured." He wasn't going to give up on getting someone help that easily. After all, what kind of leader would he be if he just let one of his subjects in a room possibly untreated? Was she just shy? Is that why she had the man answer him? Or maybe there was some secret she was hiding. That was fine with the prince. He quite enjoyed trying to find out secrets. The maid looked nervously around as the prince continued to try and coax the guests out of the room. This felt like it wasn't going to end well.

Inside the room, Yuki slept on, trying to ignore the situation going on in the conscious world. She needed the sleep and she would be damned if she didn't at least try to get some. Besides, Sudarshan could handle it, right?
 
Of course whoever this guy was was too insistent to have been turned away by that. Sudarshan stifled a frustrated hiss. Yuki was a person he cared about, the beginnings of a friend if he dared think it, but she was also stubborn. And she would have him argue against the prince himself, if he walked by! What if Sudarshan was arguing with the prince right now? He'd mentioned "the staff," implying that he himself was an inn guest. No proof of anything, but Sudarshan could feel a sinking feeling in his stomach. He shot Yuki an annoyed glance. She was still on the bed, but he couldn't tell if she was innocently asleep or just ignoring the trouble they'd just gotten into. Sudarshan was caught, and the only way out was to play some serious mind games with the intruder. Unfortunately, mind games had never been Sudarshan's strong point.

Well, to start, speaking face-to-face with their visitor would probably leave a better impression. The naga eased the door open partway and did his best to fill the opening with his upper body, concealing most of the view of the room from...ah, fuck, it was the prince! That made this situation significantly more worrisome. "Ah, Your Highness! Forgive my rudeness." He dipped his head and bent somewhat at the waist; he'd have bowed more deeply than that to a member of the royal family under any other circumstance, but right now he was paranoid about giving too much vision of the room behind him. He straightened up to meet the prince's gaze. There was no way out of this without making the prince even more suspicious, was there? And on top of everything else, he had to be polite. "Not to brush you off, sire," he said, "but my comrade made it clear that she will be fine with rest. She insists that a doctor's visit will not be necessary. However, we appreciate your concern and are honored that you reached out to us." He did what he could to smile pleasantly, but the fingers of one hand were crossed behind his back. Please leave, he thought desperately. Please leave please leave please leave.
 
Alas, the prince seemed stubborn. He smiled as the naga in front of him bowed, trying to be polite while honoring his comrade's request. It was nice seeing others considerate of one another. However, he could not take an injured person lightly. "It's quite alright, though I would feel quite better if at least one of my party had a look at your comrade. She is well versed in medicine and will honor any requests for privacy that your comrade could have." He smiled, trying to seem more personable. He had never liked being put on a pedestal. "Besides, I've heard the same comment from my own sister when she was sick one too many a time not to at least have a medicine person look at her." His smile strained a bit and his eyes seemed to flash with hidden memories before being swept away. "If you would allow me, I can go and get her to look at your comrade." The prince turned ever so slightly toward where his servants were waiting, silently waiting for the naga to give him the go to get the woman.

Hearing the prince speak of her, the servant he spoke of walked toward the two talking. "You needed me, your highness?" The servant asked. She was an older woman, with kind eyes and graying hair. However, she was quite tall, having a few inches over the prince himself. She kept her hands folded in front of her, watching the prince with curious eyes.

Prince Alexei smiled. "Oh, yes, I was just wondering if you could help this man here. His comrade is injured, and the staff seem quite worried about the girl though she refuses to see a doctor." The boy sighed and shook his head. Inside the room Yuki slept on, oblivious to the current predicament that Sudarshan had just found himself in.
 
There was just no way out of this mess, was there? The prince had just offered Sudarshan a medic with the promise that that medic would respect Yuki's desire not to be recognized and revealed. It was exactly what they were supposed to want, and Sudarshan couldn't reasonably say no. But this woman was a palace servant, and assuming Yuki's tale about once living in the palace to be true, the woman could very well recognize her almost immediately. Who was to say she would honor her promise of secrecy if she felt the prince personally needed to know the secret? The naga fixed his fierce eyes on the woman. Ah, she looked so kind and well-meaning...did he really have to glare at her like that? He forced himself to answer yes to that question. He couldn't slip up. "Do I have your word that you will keep my friend's condition and identity completely to yourself?" he asked, his voice firm. "She is very particular about her privacy."
 
The prince looked over at the servant, waiting for her response. She blinked as the man asked for her complete silence on his friend's identity and condition. She looked over at the prince, unsure if this was even allowed. The two seemed to hold a bit of a staring contest. Darting between Alexei and Sudarshan the servant finally sighed. "Yes, sir. You have my word. Now, if I could just get my tools I can help your friend." The woman smiled as she glided toward the other servants, her movements screaming grace and maternal vibes. She took a basket out of a man's hands, walking back to the naga with a gentle smile. "Alright, now if I could come in, please." The woman gave a stern glance to the prince who quickly got the hint and went back to his room along with the rest of his troupe of servants. Nodding, the woman turned back to the naga to get ready to help the woman in the hotel room.
 
It wasn't much more than a hunch, but this woman seemed trustworthy to Sudarshan, not just because of her maternal demeanor but because of the way she glared pointedly at the prince to get him to leave. The action certainly cast her as committed to upholding her word. Good. Once the prince appeared to be well on his way, the naga backed away from the door and gestured the woman inside. He closed the door gently behind her for good measure and then lowered his voice to a half-whisper as he approached Yuki once more, not wanting to disturb her any more than necessary. "There was a scuffle in town earlier today," he told the nurse. "She got away with a big gash in her side. I found her a minute after it happened and did what I could to stop the bleeding, but aside from helping her back here to her room, that's about it." He hung back from Yuki's bed somewhat so as not to get in the medic's way, but he still wished to be somewhat near her to monitor her condition. What friend wouldn't?

Strange. Impulsive and disagreeable though Yuki was, Sudarshan was already thinking about her the way he might think of a friend. He wanted her well, even if that meant being looser with secrecy than she wished. Her health came before the risk of the prince finding her or obtaining the knowledge she held. Doubt clouded the naga's vision for a moment as he thought about it. Would it really be so bad for the prince to be let in on this? He had seemed like a nice guy. Of course, Sudarshan had only interacted with him for a minute or two tops...
 
Nodding at the information, the woman moved to Yuki's side as she got some materials out of her bag. The silver of Yuki's hair made the woman stop for a moment. This couldn't be, the nurse thought before shaking her head. No, of course this wasn't the same girl that grew up beside the prince. Carefully, she shook the woman's shoulder. "Miss, I need you to wake up." She didn't get a second sentence in as a dagger or knife of some kind nearly touched the fragile skin of her neck. Yuki held her position for three seconds before doubling over in pain as her side protested her quick movement. The woman watched the younger's eyes with a small gasp. This was her. This was very much the young girl who the prince grew up with.

Taking deep and deliberate breaths, Yuki looked over at her attacker. A very familiar face greeted her. Mortification crashed into Yuki like waves. "D-Dara!" She gasped out. "I'm so sorry, how are your kids?" The silverette tried to spit out as quickly as she could, working to control her labored breathing. Dara stood rigid before relaxing.

With a small smile, Dara responded. "The children are fine. You however, are not." Gently pulling the masked woman's hands away from her side, Dara pushed the woman down onto her back so she had better access to the wound that her companion was talking so much of. "Now, I heard you've been getting into trouble again from your friend here." Yuki looked over at Sudarshan, a raised eyebrow asking how the woman got into their hotel room. "Merciful Lord!" The sudden exclamation temporarily stole Yuki's attention. Dara had taken off most of the bandages and was now staring at the deep gash in Yuki's side. "This needs to be stitched as soon as possible. However, I don't have any numbing plants with me at this time. You're going to have to either find something to bite on or bear through it." Carefully, Dara grabbed a needle and string. Before even attempting to try and suture the wound, she quickly went to get some water to clean off the gash with.
 
Damn, did Yuki have some good battle reflexes. Sudarshan was impressed. But he didn't want her hurting herself, and he winced in sympathy when she recoiled. After another moment, though, something much more interesting happened: Yuki and the nurse recognized each other. Dara, the woman's name was. So Yuki really had grown up with the prince. Interesting.

Presently Dara reacted strongly to the severity of the wound, and before Sudarshan could say anything, she was scurrying out of the room. He flinched and hurried after her, getting as far as the door before he stopped to think. She was probably only in a hurry because she needed to retrieve something. Or was that just an excuse for her to alert the prince? No, he didn't want to believe that. Dara had given her word, and she seemed the type to keep it. He sighed and slithered back to Yuki's side. "You hanging in there?" he asked. "It's okay. She'll have you patched up in no time." He patted her on the arm before he realized what he was doing, after which he pulled away in embarrassment. Why did he care about this woman so much, and why was he treating her like a child?
 
Yuki nearly laughed at the naga's concerns. "I'm fine, though I'm curious how you managed to get her to come in and check on me." The masked girl paused for a moment to clench and unclench her fists. "I thought you were going to guard the door? Or did you just happen to meet the one person in the castle who won't force the Wishing Tree out of me. As if they could, anyways." The girl stopped talking when Dara came back with a bowl of water and a rag. The nurse quietly started to clean out the wound, shushing the whimpers and whines that left Yuki. Cleaning her own hands off, Dara got ready to start suturing the wound shut.

"Alright, Yuki... I'm going to start suturing. If you need to scream, don't feel ashamed. If you want to hold onto something, hold onto your friend's hand." With this, Yuki snatched the naga's hand. She clenched tightly, not letting go for anything. "Okay... I'm starting to suture." Before Dara could finish the sentence, she shoved the needle through two sides of the wound. The surprise and sudden agony ripped a small scream out of Yuki. She screwed her eyes shut, panting as one fist curled into the bed sheets. The other clawed into the naga's hand. The process continued, Dara continuing to suture the rest of the wound as Yuki nearly sobbed through it all. The silver haired woman's voice was going hoarse when Dara finally finished the sutures. "There. Now, you're going to be staying in this bed until late tomorrow. Then if you want to ditch town, you can but only if you take it easy. I will not tolerate you breaking or ruining those sutures, understand?"

The masked woman nodded, too pained at the moment to speak. Dara gave her a sympathetic look before standing. "That's all I can do. There's no pain reliever I can give you, otherwise I would have already given it to you. Thank you for allowing me to help you." Bowing to Yuki then Sudarshan, the woman left.

Catching her breath, Yuki looked back over at Sudarshan, slowly taking her hand from his. "Thanks." She muttered, closing her eyes as her eyebrows furrowed. The agony from before dulled down to a quiet roar that wouldn't quite go away.
 
Yes, Sudarshan supposed it really was a stroke of luck that his run-in with the prince had ended so well. "Both," he said, just a hint of a chuckle in his voice, but their nurse came back then, so he fell silent.

For all her experience on the road and her quick hand in fights, Yuki's pain tolerance didn't seem to be anything spectacular. Sudarshan's was above average, but rather than causing him to look down on Yuki as a less seasoned fighter, it primarily made him feel sorry for her. She was only human, to use a common phrase. He gave her his hand to hold, and when the torment began, a cry erupted from her throat that made Sudarshan recoil, not just from its force, but from its familiarity. He had heard that chilling cry before. The last time he had heard it, though, it had wailed once and quickly fallen silent, never to be heard again. Sudarshan's brow furrowed in discomfort. Yuki was fortunate to be free to cry in pain repeatedly as she suffered. Her fingers dug into his hand for dear life, but she was in no danger of losing it, comparatively speaking. Why was Sudarshan still here, babysitting this impulsive young woman? She'd gotten herself into this mess...

Maybe it was because he didn't want it to happen again.

He brought himself back to the world when he heard Yuki quiet down. Dara left Yuki with instructions to stay put to heal, and once she was gone, the girl turned to Sudarshan and thanked him for his presence. His face softened at the expression of gratitude, and he nodded to Yuki in turn. "You're welcome." He leaned back to stretch his arms and back, while also wondering what to do with himself next. "So...you still want me to stick around?" he asked as he relaxed from the stretch. "I admit, I don't have much better to do...and I guess you'll be needing someone to bring you food eventually. But I can leave if you'd rather. Whatever you'd like."
 
Yuki glanced up at the naga, watching him as he asked her if she wanted him around. She wanted to retort that of course she did. He was good company. Besides, he could be useful down the road. However, it felt like she was slapping him in the face just forcing him to tag along. If she could, she would tell him exactly how to get to the Wishing Tree. Hell, she'd tell the whole God damned kingdom where to get to that forsaken tree if she could. But, as her current situation had it, she could not. Staring Sudarshan in the eyes, she gave him a smirk, though mostly unseen because of her mask. "You'd better stay with me. How else are you going to get to the Wishing Tree to say goodbye to your lost person?" There. She had decided. Though, she supposed she had decided long before this that she would help someone get to the tree. This just happened to be the naga's lucky day.

After that, Yuki practically passed out from fatigue. Time seemed to blur for her as consciousness and unconsciousness seemed to alternate. When she finally was strong enough to leave town, she immediately headed to pack things up. It was in the middle of the night, when no one really expected her to leave the room. Opening the window of the inn room, she glanced back at the naga. Would he be able to fit through the window and leap down as she had so grown used to doing? Or should she just have him meet her around back? Yuki glanced between her escape and her new companion. The thought of worrying about someone else for a change felt strange to her. Normally she would have skipped town and been all the way to a new city by the time she and Sudarshan had finally decided to leave. Despite this, it was nice to have someone other than her own thoughts to talk to.
 
"How else are you going to get to the Wishing Tree to say goodbye to your lost person?"

That rhetorical question was what cut through Sudarshan's armor. His head snapped up in surprise, eyes widening, and his chest quickly began to bloom with a strange, tight warmth that could've only been gratitude. To think that he had been willing to leave the informant be for the sake of politeness, passing up his best hope at what he sought, only to have her extend that offer to him after all! He nodded and muttered a weak but earnest "Thank you," unsure of what else to say.

Yuki seemed eager to resume her rest after that, so Sudarshan followed her lead: he removed most of his effects from his person, leaving just his undershirt on for the sake of comfort and decency, and withdrew into his coils to nap. Much as his companion did, he drifted in and out of sleep for a good number of hours. At one point the following day, he was awake enough to suddenly remember his promise to bring Yuki some food while she slept and healed. He knew well that most humanoids were accustomed to eating more frequently than nagas did, and he didn't want Yuki to start suffering from hunger pangs if he could help it, so he took several sleepy minutes to reclothe himself, after which he left the room and slithered downstairs to the inn tavern in search of food. He returned a few minutes later with three rolls and two apples, which he set on the bedside table for her. Hopefully those would be sufficient. He then returned to his post, stripped to his undershirt again, and soon went back to sleep.

He was eventually roused by Yuki for good. Augh, why did it have to be at night? He felt most sluggish at night. He groaned as he dressed once more and shouldered his bag. Yuki already had the window open and looked ready to jump down from it, but she looked back to Sudarshan with the obvious question in her eyes. He peered at the window. It would be a bit of a clumsy fit, but he wasn't worried about the fall. He came up behind her and gestured to the window. "After you."
 
Nodding, the girl got to work. She snuck through the window and jumped down to the ground. She kept her knees bent for a bit before rising and moving toward the north exit of the town. Yuki rarely looked back to see if the naga was following her, focusing more on her current surroundings. The white haired girl was deathly silent, not daring to make any sort of sound that could attract attention. She ducked as passersby made their way home from the bars and other nightly activities. The whole night seemed to cloak the woman in vague mysteriousness that hadn't been with her earlier. Stoic eyes never lingered too long on any single thing. Everything set her senses on high alert.

The edge of the town didn't appear soon enough, but finally Yuki and Sudarshan made it to the edge. Breathing a sigh of relief, Yuki kept her guard up but no longer slunk around the shadows as much. She didn't seem too bothered by the night, as if used to its presence. It took her a while to remember that there was someone following her. She glanced back, making sure the naga wasn't too worn down or dragging behind. They had a lot of ground to cover, and it would do her no good dragging a tired naga behind her.

Yuki was glad that Sudarshan hadn't asked her any questions. She was sure she would have had many by now, such as why she couldn't just tell the man how to get to the Wishing Tree. Why was she the informant? Where was the Wishing Tree? If the tree really did want to be hidden, then why would someone with the knowledge just float around instead of being put down by the guardians or whatever the tree had to protect it?
 
Sudarshan gave his guide a few seconds to make her way free of the room before he eased his upper body out the window himself. Letting the rest of his bulk slide out the window by its own weight was a little more awkward, as he had to hang onto the windowsill to avoid slipping down prematurely, but after a second he deemed the job good enough, and he let himself drop. The impact was heavy, and he visibly winced when he fell--his stomach did not like that--but he shook himself out and hurried after Yuki without any further complaint.

Once he was moving, he felt a bit more awake, certainly awake enough to observe how secretive Yuki was being. He followed her lead as best he could, keeping his upper body low to the ground and moving as quickly as he could reasonably manage in the cold of night. After several minutes of this kind of movement, they cleared the city and relaxed a little, if only in posture; they still moved quickly. It was quiet. That was fine with Sudarshan, at least for now. He was a quiet man.

But quiet though he was, his mind had nothing to do now but return to chewing on the questions that had been plaguing it ever since he'd met Yuki. He respected her privacy and gave her the benefit of the doubt, but that didn't stop him from harboring curiosity. Whether he kept that curiosity safely and silently inside his head would depend on his willpower...and after some amount of time, anywhere between twenty minutes and two hours (he wasn't sure), that willpower reached its breaking point. "So..." he began, "why don't you just hole yourself up in a cave somewhere? If you're keeping such a valuable secret, I mean?"
 
Yuki nearly wanted to laugh at the question. It really was quite the logical one. Why not hide away? Why continue to roam the countryside when she could just hole herself up in the ground and never have to deal with people going after the tree again. Oh that sounded absolutely lovely. If only life were that simple. "I can't just do that because I'm... let's say under a magical contract with the Wishing Tree." The silver haired girl brought a hand up to her face where a large ugly scar rested underneath her mask. "My job is to spread false rumors about the tree so people still believe in its existence, but they don't actually reach the tree." She looked back at the naga. "So that's why I'm leading you to it instead of just telling you where the tree is."

A rustle of the bushes made the woman stop. She glared at the noise, reaching for a weapon only for a rabbit to dash past followed by a fox. Yuki waited for a few more moments before continuing on. "You don't have to keep quiet." She kept her eyes on the road ahead as she addressed the naga. "You can ask questions, just not about my identity." A silent 'otherwise I would have to kill you' seemed to permeate the air, but Yuki ignored it.
 
Sudarshan's brows rose in initial surprise to Yuki's explanation, but after a moment to process it, he realized that it explained many things. Her reputation was at least partly intentional. Now, though, rose the question of why Sudarshan had apparently earned the right to be an exception to her act.

He twitched reflexively at the noise just as she had, moving one hand toward his sword's hilt, but the scare was over quickly, so he straightened up. Her next words were met with a dry, smileless chuckle. "Don't worry, I know that one's off limits," he muttered. "I have a name I can call you. That's good enough. And knowing you had a childhood with the prince is more than I expected as it is." He was quiet for a moment, but then he thought of a follow-up. "Actually, if you don't mind this one...is Yuki your real name or a pseudonym? You don't have to tell me your real name if that's not it. I'm just curious."
 
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