Till Death Do Us Part

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"As long as she doesn't mind the extra load, I could really use the help." Eliza said, looking over at the horse. The poor thing was probably spooked by the witch. Eliza just wanted to run her hand through her mane and tell her that the mean witch was gone now.
 
John nodded, leaning down and hauling her up. He was standing on her injured side, arm wrapped around her torso, supporting but not carrying the injured woman. "Got a name?" he asked after a moment, looking at her. It was weird, really, that he'd just splinted her leg and killed a witch in her defense, yet did not know her name.
 
"Eliza. What about you?" She asked, starting to hobble toward the horse with his support.
 
"John," he offered simply. After a moment, he added, "It's a pleasure."
John helped her onto the horse, looking up at her. "You see anyone else here?" The information the servant had given him might be wrong, after all, and Eliza might know something he didn't.
 
"No. You searching for somebody?" Eliza asked. Play innocent until he found her out or she left. That was her plan until her leg got better.
 
Snorting, John got onto the horse behind her. He could easily see over her, after all, and in this position he could ensure that she didn't fall. "Searching is a word for it, yeah," he replied, grasping the reins. Okay, maybe it was a bit awkward, but it was better than her falling off the horse and maybe breaking something else. "I'm looking for a thief. Someone broke into the royal vault, stole the king's amethyst."
 
"That's bad. Why would anyone steal from the king?" Eliza asked, batting her green eyes innocently. She knew why. She knew fifty different reasons why. She just wanted to hear his answer.
 
He snorted again, spurring the horse into movement. The poor thing was probably just happy to be out of there. "I don't get paid to think about why, Eliza. I get paid to catch the damn criminals and that's that." John preferred to keep his job black and white. Right and wrong. If he got to questioning too much about why this man was dragged in or who this girl actually was, he'd find dark things. Things the king and the nobles kept secret. Easier to just follow orders and keep some semblance of his sanity.
 
"I see. Well, thank you for protecting me from that witch." Eliza said. She couldn't wait to get away from the knight. She had had enough of him already.
 
"Anytime," he replied with surprising sincerity. "What are you planning to do after your leg heals up?" The question was more out of curiosity than anything else. Despite the harsh demeanor, there was something resembling a normal human being with fears and feelings under there somewhere.
 
"Travel around. Find some work." Eliza said, a hand going up to where the gem lay under her shirt. She looked at the forest, her mind elsewhere.
 
(( Alright, I'm going to hit the sack. Night~ ))
John looked at her, lifting his eyebrows. He didn't pry, even though her answer was fairly...vague.
"Few more miles," he said after a moment, the horse coming to the edge of the treeline. The beast's speed increased once they'd left the forest, as she likely just wanted to be away from the cursed place.
 
((Night!))
Eliza smiled as she felt the wind through her hair. It was a great feeling. She closed her eyes and focused on the sounds of the horse riding through the plains and the wind blowing past her.
 
John glanced at her, head tilting. She was enjoying the wind, he supposed. A feeling that he had long since gotten used to. When your job usually consists of riding from town to town hunting down criminals, the feeling quickly loses its appeal. "Thinking about something?" he asked after a moment, if only to end the silence. One of the reasons he preferred not being around people. Silence was usually awkward or tense, and he always felt the need to end it. Typically, he looked like an idiot after doing so.
 
"Just wondering what it would be like to fly... Flighty seems to enjoy it a lot." Eliza said. She smiled and laughed a bit. She would never get used to the feeling of wind. Even when she was on the run, she always enjoyed the feeling of the wind through her hair. It made her feel free.
 
(( Sorry, had to mow the lawn. ))
"Flighty?" John was unfamiliar with the name...if it was even a name. After a moment's though, he added, "Is that the bird that's been following us?" He purposefully didn't respond to her desire to fly. No human could do it. ...Right?
 
"Yep. He's been with me since I was little." Eliza said. "He's constantly chatting my ear off though. 'Eliza! Eliza! Tree! Watch out for that tree!' Sometimes I want to just strangle him." She shook her head as Flighty started to protest.
 
John chuckled softly. He'd heard of people who could speak to animals, but this was the first time he'd actually me someone who could. "So, you can understand him?" he asked, going for the obvious point first. "Can he understand you?"
 
"Animals aren't stupid. They can understand everything humans say. I just happen to be able to understand everything animals say." Eliza said, smiling.
 
That made a lot of sense, if John was honest with himself. It would explain why animals looked at him weird when he spoke to them. "Can you communicate with other animals, then? Or just birds?"
 
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