A drink between friends

Gen saw Dorien reach out to grasp her hand but stop short of the goal, and she took a ragged breath. She really needed that human contact, but she knew it would hurt to have it. It had hurt even to hug him earlier today. She was so tired, exhausted from the pain and the dreams and the memories she wished she could erase. She did not want to cry, not here, not anywhere, because crying would erode the hinges on the doors. But she couldn't hold it in any longer; she'd been holding it in too long already.

Genny cried.

For a moment, Dorien didn't know quite what to do. This was something so far outside of his normal realm of expertise that the sudden outburst of tears caught him completely off guard. In the end, he did the only thing he could think of.

He stood up and moved his chair next to his cousin and, careful to avoid touching her hands, he put his arm around her and held her while she cried.

Gen cried long and hard, until her eyes burned from the salt of her tears. By the end, she was utterly drained, a limp pile of limbs that relied nearly entirely on her cousin's arms for support. She barely registered how sodden Dorien's shirt had become as her mind drifted away from consciousness. She thought - hoped - she might be too tired even for the nightmares and garbled messages from the One to make their presence known, or at least to be remembered.

It took Dorien several minutes to realize that his cousin had passed out. From the looks of it, she was out cold, emotionally and physically drained. He wondered briefly just how many drinks she'd had that night.

"Shit..." he muttered, looking around the bar to see if anyone was watching. Luckily, this was the kind of place that people tended to mind their own business.

He shook her shoulder, trying to wake her without any reaction whatsoever.

Great.

This was going to be a long night.

He stood up and tossed a few coins on the table, hoping that it was enough to cover the drinks and a tip. With a sigh he reached under her arms and tried to lift her up. After a few awkward moments he realized that wasn't going to work even slightly. Gen probably had a good two inches and thirty pounds on him. His bookworm physique wasn't going to cut it.

He counted what was left of his money.

"So..." he said, loudly, glancing around at the bar's assorted patrons, "Any strapping young lad here want to earn a few gold?"

-----------------------

When Gen finally opened her eyes, she was in a strange bed, one with no frame or box spring, just a plain mattress laying in a darkened room. As her eyes adjusted she saw through the grimy window that dawn was just beginning to break over the city. The room around her was filled with various tables and shelves that held bottles, beakers and other assorted alchemical items. Gen noticed that she had been tucked in under a heavy blanket.

Nearby, on the floor, her cousin was sleeping, still in the clothes he had worn to work.

Mortified, Gen rose quietly to her feet. Should she wake Dorien so he could move back to his mattress? Should she leave him to sleep?

How had he gotten her here? He didn't look strong enough to carry her.

Feeling guilty and confused, Gen emptied out all the coins she had in her pockets, placing them quietly on a table where he'd be sure to find them. Would it be all right if she left without telling him? She found a scrap of paper with notations on one side that she hoped weren't too important to his work, and scribbled out a hasty thank you note, placing it by the small pile of coins. She laid the blanket, still warm from her own body, over his prone form. Then she slipped out, as silently as she could, into the greying day.