The young maid had barely introduced the callers when the doors to the office were thrown open. A somewhat large, jolly-looking man beamed at them, his booming voice exclaiming – 'You're here at last. Our saviors! What a pleasure! What a pleasure, indeed!'
Arin was a bit taken aback, and only looked back at the man with a face as impassive as he hoped Rin would've had in such a situation. Siel had no such qualms, however, and immediately answered the man with a voice that was pitched to be equivalent in volume and cheer, 'We are, indeed, Sir Grif! It's good to see you again! Though, as I informed you last night, my senior brother is the one we should all be thanking. I did also fall into the curse, after all!'
As they conversed, the man waved them into what looked like a study. Large piles of paperwork and letters lay strewn around the room, clearly indicating at the busy morning the man had had. The glass of a small, round mirror on the desk was glowing softly, and when the man tapped its surface, it dimmed until the light disappeared entirely. Lana bowed politely, then left their company.
'Oh no, not at all, Sir Siel, not at all!' the man was saying. 'That tower magicians such as yourselves deigned to come to the aid of our insignificant little settlement – well! I truly have no way to ever thank you for what you've done!'
'There is no need to concern yourself with such a thing, Sir Grif, please! We were merely fulfilling our duties, you see.'
The two of them were invited to take a seat, while the man himself squeezed into an armchair across from them.
'Ah, but you must allow me to prepare – at the very least – a small banquet in your honor. Nothing too ostentatious, of course. I did glean that you seemed uncomfortable with such a thing when I first brought it up last night, Sir Siel. I must have come across as far to eager, and I apologize for that – '
'No such thing, Sir Grif. But you must understand that we are to return to our tower as soon as our task has been completed…'
Arin watched them toss overly polite sounding spiels back-and-forth as one might watch a game of tennis. His injured head had started throbbing again at the booming voices. Part of him was very grateful to the younger boy for fielding such conversations without blinking an eye. On the same note, it was kind of a blessing that the role he'd been forced into playing happened to be that of the taciturn Rin
And to imagine he might've been shuttled into the body of a chatterbox instead…
Arin couldn't help but shudder lightly at the thought. He reached up to rearrange the way his cloak fell over his shoulders, hoping that'd make it less apparent. The movement seemed to catch the village's head's eye.
'Well, Sir Rin. Would you, perhaps, be able to convince Sir Siel to stay a little longer? As his senior brother, perhaps…' the man's hopeful voice somewhat faded in the face of Arin's cool gaze.
Arin wasn't trying to be rude, of course. It was just that the incessant throbbing in his head was gradually getting worse, no doubt in part due to the booming conversation taking place beside him.
He understood that Sir Grif was simply a rather animated, joyful man; on an ordinary day, Arin was sure he'd have found his company quite pleasant. Now, though, all he wanted was to get away from everything, and from everyone, for a while. Maybe sit in silence with his thoughts for a while, until things started making sense in his head.
'We're grateful for your kindness, but what Siel says is correct. We cannot stay long.'
'Oh…' the large man seemed to wilt physically at his words, his large smile dimming somewhat.
Oh, great. He'd made that happen.
The poor man was just happy his family and village had been saved, and had wanted to mark the occasion with a celebration, but he'd gone and taken the wind out of his sails. Well done, idiot.
Arin suddenly felt like he was the worst person in the world.
'Sir Grif,' he said after a moment. 'We have some questions regarding the curse…ed flowers.' He tried to tilt up the corners of his lips in a small smile that wouldn't seem too uncharacteristic of Rin.
The man straightened up again, and the smile returned to his face.
'Of course, Sir Rin.'
At that very moment, someone knocked on the door. It was Lana, who had arrived with a tray of refreshments for them.
The village head thanked her, offering both Arin and Siel a cup, before taking one for himself.
Then, settling back into his seat, he said, 'Ask away, sir. I shall tell you everything I know.'