Mira's room was small and dainty, a carpet on the floor, some colorful dolls on the bed, and a bookshelf at the foot of it.
Ryan sat on the carpet with Maeve playing rock-paper-scissors, while Ellie curled up nearby to sleep.
Poor Mira kept getting her ears touched, her little face flushed red with frustration.
Maeve watched from the side, forever calling the shots. "Throw scissors next! I don't believe he'll guess right again."
"No, I'm throwing rock!" Mira mumbled.
Ryan watched quietly, then decisively threw paper and gave Mira's ear a touch.
Maeve jumped right up, practically dying of frustration. "See, see! If you'd listened to me and thrown scissors you'd have won!"
After watching a while, Ryan concluded that neither of them seemed very bright.
Mira was still little, so it was excusable.
As for Maeve, her stupidity was written all over her face.
"Let me, let me! I'll definitely win!" Maeve was dead serious, staring hard at Ryan's hand.
Ryan waved a hand. "Forget it, forget it, I'm not playing with you. You cheat when you lose."
Just now Maeve had lost, and the moment Ryan's hand reached over she'd bolted.
For all that she was so full in certain places, she really could run fast when fleeing for her life.
Maeve let out a mournful whine and gently shook Ryan by the shoulders. "Not the ear-touching kind..."
"That's no fun at all." Ryan's mouth curled up as he gently shook his head.
Seeing that wheedling got her nowhere, Maeve flopped onto the carpet and started sighing and moaning.
"Let's all rest a bit; we've been at it for a while." Ryan looked at Ellie, curled up asleep in the corner.
He wondered whether she'd managed to fall asleep after all this time.
Ryan lowered his voice and called out tentatively, "Ellie..."
Before he'd finished, Ellie opened her eyes and pushed herself up with one hand.
???
Seeing her curled up there motionless, Ryan had thought she was already asleep.
"Did I wake you, or were you never asleep?"
Ellie yawned and answered, "Never asleep."
Just then Ryan heard snoring.
Turning to look, he found Maeve sprawled spread-eagle on the carpet, belly bared, apparently already asleep.
Ryan's eyes went wide.
Was she even human? Asleep in under two minutes?
She and Ellie — one couldn't fall asleep to save her life, the other was out the moment she lay down...
"Why didn't you look the least bit tired when I first bought you?"
When he'd bought Ellie, her spirits had been quite good, nothing like someone short on sleep.
"Because I fell asleep the night before that." Ellie rubbed her eyes.
Ryan raised a brow. "How'd you manage that?"
"Once I'm worn to exhaustion and fall asleep, I don't wake."
Ryan was momentarily lost for words.
That wasn't falling asleep, that was passing out.
Mira piped up, "When I can't sleep, Mom sings a lullaby, and I drift off listening to it."
Ellie said earnestly, "I don't have a mom."
The air in the room froze.
After a moment's thought Mira went on, "Then have big brother Ryan sing."
"I don't know any lullabies." Ryan looked at Ellie, the corners of his mouth lifting. "But I can try another way... Mira, lend me your bed for a moment."
Ryan sat on the bed, and Ellie lay down with her head pillowed on his thigh.
After a while with no effect, Ellie tossed and turned and seemed about to get up.
"Don't move. Close your eyes, relax... relax..."
Ellie began breathing to the rhythm of Ryan's words, her long, fine lashes trembling slightly.
Ryan stroked her cat ears, trying to soothe her frayed nerves.
Mira watched from the side and mumbled, "Big brother Ryan, why do you always like touching our ears? Big pervert..."
"How does touching ears make me a pervert?" Ryan hurriedly covered Mira's little mouth. "Shh, don't talk for now — Ellie seems about to fall asleep."
Mira scratched her head and yawned, seeming a bit sleepy herself.
She nimbly climbed onto the bed, rolled gently to behind Ellie, hugged her around the waist, and was soon fast asleep.
Ryan sat there against the headboard for a while; he couldn't tell whether Ellie was asleep, her ears drooping flat against her head, her breathing very steady.
"Hey..."
Ellie didn't stir or respond — it seemed she was asleep.
Usually the moment Ryan called her, no matter what she was doing she'd straighten up, but not this time.
He hadn't expected to lull her to sleep so easily.
The trick, it seemed, was simply touching her ears, nothing more.
Just as Ryan was feeling a touch smug, a knock came at Mira's door.
Ellie's ear twitched, and she opened her eyes at once, fully awake.
Evelyn slowly pushed the door open and poked her head in for a look.
Ryan turned to look behind him and lowered his voice. "Keep it down — Mira's asleep."
He noticed what looked like a few unwiped drops of blood on Evelyn's face, though not very obvious. "You've got blood on your face. What were you up to just now?"
Evelyn said dismissively, "Killed a few merchants involved in Mira's kidnapping."
"Merchants?" Ryan raised a brow; he'd thought that Erik was the mastermind.
Evelyn shook her head. "It's a long story, so I won't go into it."
"Why didn't you wait until night to act?"
Daytime had too many eyes; it was easier to act after dark.
Evelyn lowered her head slightly. "Daytime was the whole point. Their bodies are hanging in the square right now, for every passerby to see."
"Hanging in the square? That's harsh. Won't someone come after you for it?" Ryan supported Ellie's back and helped her sit up.
"No." Evelyn answered with certainty, but on second thought quickly amended, "At least no one will come after me openly — they don't have the guts."
Although Ryan had never seen Evelyn fight with his own eyes, he could vaguely sense she was quite formidable.
After all, for a woman — a female demi-human, no less — to run a tavern in the city's busiest square, she had to have some skill.
"Enough about that." She stepped into the room, lifted a leg over the Maeve sprawled on the floor, and craned her neck to glance at Mira. "She didn't cause any trouble?"
"No, she had a great time playing games with us." Ryan noticed that Evelyn's hands and clothes were covered in blood too, though it had long since dried.
"Good. There's one more thing I want to discuss with you."
"Go ahead."
Evelyn looked Ryan over and said slowly, "Stop being a mercenary. From now on work at our tavern, and play with Mira when you've got time. The child can't sit still, and only with someone watching her can I rest easy.
Ten silver a day, room and board on me, and I can find you a house nearby."
???
Ryan fell into thought.
His mind raced.
If he wasn't mistaken, this was what you'd call being kept, wasn't it?