((Logged 3/26/01 By Dirah))
Dirah pushes open the door with all the obvious traits of the weary, choking on breath as she attempts to recover from that -last- dash. Quite certain her lungs are going to explode, she stays a long moment in the doorway before walking in, aching legs protesting in their very existance. Finally, she thinks to look up- and, scanning the room, finds no sign of Tifa. Of all the ill luck... A terrible chase and Tifa.. She could still be -out- there, trying to escape that rediculous other pirate? Or worse.. "Geez..." Its barely an exclaimation, breathed out with her attempt to catch her breath back to a more normal pace, "What more could possbly go -wrong-?"
Arriving after Dirah is Cerencia, pausing in the stairway outside to watch in a long and silent moment for pursuers. Finally he enters the room, legs weak and rubbery from their own run across town and back. He coughs to clear his throat of dust from the road, pushing closed the door behind the two and absently checking to make sure that it is secure. "The Young Master isn't back?" He frowns, and walks immedietely to the window to look out. "Where... and Daniel, too. I wonder if they're in trouble."
"I certainly hope not.." Is Dirah's weary reply, as she falls to a sitting possition on the edge of the bed, flinching mildly. With a painful swallow, her throat far too raw from such exertion, she finally manages to gather her breath to a reasonable pace. And that, done promptly enough, in order to complain. "I don't think I can -move- after all of that.." And she grits her teeth, glancing up around the room once more, as if expecting to see Tifa sitting just out of sight, or Daniel somewhere nearby... But.. nothing? "How utterly inconvienient. If she wasn't able to outrun him, that will cost us rather -seriously-.."
Torn between the worry for one charge and the thirst of another, Cerencia breaks himself away from the uneventful window to search through their supplies for water. "Here... you haven't been hurt, have you?" He uncorks a flask and pours a glass for Dirah, offering it to her. "Don't drink too quickly," he warns out of habit. "I wonder if that pirate is gone... I should go look for them. Otherwise, maybe Tifa and Daniel retreated to Dazil as planned?"
Dirah takes the flask with a murmer of a 'Thank you', taking a large sip before.. Vaguely noting Cerencia's words, pauses for a moment and replies, words caught in all too much obvious displeasure, "Besides a few inevitable cramping muscles, I'm fine.. He didn't touch me." A pause, and she offers a little laugh, adding wryly, "Too busy staring." She then takes another sip of water, more reasonable this time, before handing it back to Cerencia, "I hope he wasn't able to trail us.. He seemed as weary as we were this time, and you did get a decent strike at him. And, if they're at Dazil.. Should we check, as soon as we're certain its safe?" And, as a last minute sort of realization, she adds, a bit more quietly, "Oh, and.. Well, thanks for the help back there."
Cerencia nods, taking a glass for himself before setting down the flask by the foot of the bed with Dirah's used cup. He rests in one of the rickety chairs provided by the inn, drinking a taste of the water to clean out his throat. "Be sure to let your muscles stretch," he affirms off-handedly, and lets his eyes stare into space while he thinks. "Are there any other matches scheduled? I don't know if it would be wise for Daniel to compete again... the pirates might set a trap for him. In that case, we should be heading back to Dazil ourselves." He pauses and eyes the contents of the room in a moment of imagination for how to carry it all back. And to Dirah's words, he only shrugs a touch. "No need for thanks... I'm just glad you're safe."
Dirah shakes her head only mildly in responce, a frown settling upon her expressions, "I think that Daniel participating in other matches is perfectly out of the question. The one who pursued us mentioned him as false- as did the prince, when I was forced to talk to him. They're suspicious enough as it is- having him go again would be foolish." And she stretches a bit from where she sits before she finally, although grudgingly, gets to her feet, pacing slowly in an attempt just to move- sitting plainly gave her legs too much time to cramp, moved from dash to stillness too swiftly. "Then we have to go to Dazil... And, hopefully, as soon as possible. I don't -like- these pirates.. Such a suspicious bunch." And, er.. Do you expect anything else, considering what you're doing to them? No matter at all. And she shrugs just mildly back and adds, "If you insist. Still, it would have been a much more comfortable situation had someone remembered to remind me to bring some manner of defence." And that person would be you, wouldn't it Dirah? Well, let's not make it sound like it.
Cerencia flexes his own legs while he sits, the weariness from the activity settling in and causing him to choose sour muscles later rather than move now. "They're difficult." That's all? "We should go as soon as possible," he warns, a look of worry entering his eyes again. "If that man has any sense to him, he'd be checking the town. We ran into it and there's no other place for refuge miles around." He sighs, but shrugs. It would be possible to move everything without -too- much work, especially if they rented a buggy. There were funds enough for that. "If we can't find them in Dazil, we might as well check with the last line... Lahan. If it turns out that the Young Master and Daniel have been caught," he points out rasonably, "then there's nothing we can do by ourselves just yet. And... didn't I pack your gun in your cloak?" He frowns. All worries of other sides tossed away in light of dry-cleaning.
Dirah merely sighs, an irritated note in itself, "Packing up anything and leaving might be a bit noticeable.. Although, with any luck, we might be able to find a reasonable time to leave in which we wont be the only ones out there..." So many cursed factors to consider! It frustrated, honestly. And she paces on, her movement drawing more honest to the movement of irritation, rather than just stretching her legs, "But you're right. Reasonable risk states that we can't stay here- not when lodgings are generally the first things checked for suspcicious persons. And all of that sounds reasonable- although they had -better- not have gone and gotten themselves captured. This entire thing is a mess..." Gritting her teeth mildly, she casts Ceren something of a mild glance, as if wondering quite the obvious, "Do you really think I would have just stared that obnoxious pirate down had you remembered to do so?"
"Then it must be in Tifa's cloak right now." Ceren turns his head away from the room, propping it on his knuckles as he watches the door. "That's the problem with having the colors be the same, about. It confuses our enemies but it makes it difficult to sort out in a rush." He sighs and thinks quietly to himself for a few minutes. "Then, whenever you're ready. Rest up and make sure you're prepared. We have enough time for that."
Dirah frowns darkly in responce to such, stopping her pacing just in time to cross her arms, "Tifa has it? Oh, that's just lovely..." A pause, and a heavy sigh she gives, although.. Its really not a logic she can debate with. After all, it is true that they wear the same cloak.. And, well, perhaps that is to the better, things considered. Doesn't mean she can't whine about it. "Well.. I hope she realizes that, then. So if she -does- get captured, she has something to fall back on." She sighs, and turns to the room at the latter thought, glancing over the collected mass of possessions- and notes, mildly, "It'll take me a little while to get all of my stuff together.." So says the 'well packed' one, who, er, might be better noted as the overpacked one. But truly this is too late to complain of now.
Cerencia nods a little, standing as he recognizes his own time for rest to be over. "Then it works out for the best if Tifa does need it." He takes the two empty cups and rinses them carefully, wiping them clean and dry. "I'll pack your things, Dirah. Don't worry. Do we still have the keys from the buggy we rented to get here, or did Tifa take them?" It wouldn't be a problem if the Young Master had--indeed, it would explain where Tifa had gone and how. "The excavators are open all night. We can always pick up a new set if the Young Master and Daniel needed them." With a sigh, Ceren begins to fold up the recently settled supplies.
Dirah nods, shifting her cloak mildly- vanity first, after all- before going over to the sparse little thing the inn apparently called a complimentary table- and started shifting through the accumulated items, trying to find wherever the keys were left last, if they were still there, "I suppose that's -one- thing to be grateful of, since Tifa decided, for a reason or another, to -drop- the whip she still had after the battle..." But there is really no need, or time for that matter, to fret over who did what wrong- obviously, for all this grating, Dirah is.. Unsettled. And who wouldn't be, after being chased through the town by Sigurd? "I can't seem to find the keys.." She notes, moving over to another side of the room- things held in some slighlty untidied possition as if they could resist any of Cerencia's best attempts just by the facet of whom they belonged to, "Which, I suppose, seems like a good enough sign of its own.. I can only hope we can manage to rent another without any complications..."
Cerencia pauses from folding away several shirts for travel, looking up to nod in the direction of Dirah and the table. "Then that's a good sign. We shouldn't have to worry..." He picks up another stack of pants. Leave it to luck that they could unpack and pack so soon after one another, but they were prepared for that as well. "We -shouldn't-..." he ties off one bundle and opens another pack. "We have enough funds to buy a quick rental for the night. It doesn't matter if we have to spend the extra for the speed--we won't need to care as much about being remembered or not now." All just idle babble, to keep from worrying over matters which none could control. And with a few more packs, Ceren has managed to quite nearly put everything back together for a quick transit. "We'll have to steady these on the ride over, but they'll hold for now. How are you doing, Dirah?"
"Right, right... No need to worry.. The Young Master just decided to be overwhelmingly inconsiderate and take the buggy without leaving a note or a message or anything..." Remarkable how Cerencia convinces himself not to worry over the brighter looking sides of things, while Dirah seems to cheer only by convincing herself by throwing fault. Charming trait. "Thank you. Well, thankfully, none of us really had much of a chance to get our things out.. Most everything seems to be packed now. Shall we head out immediately, then? Or wait a few hours and hope that the pirate has given up any search he may have taken on?"
Cerencia shakes his head firmly. "He looked tired, but he might return before the night is over." As nice as it would be to rest, the option was too risky when the party was split like this. "If you're ready," he adds patiently, beginning to shoulder some of the heavier packs himself already. In a way, it was useful that Ceren had carried most of the luggage himself--it meant that he could carry it all out again.
Dirah sighs, and nods, all a bit reluctant, and all gestures certainly unhappy, but nonetheless resigned to do what she must, "Very well... I suppose that is the best thing to do." And yet she would -so- like a rest right about now... But, with a sigh, she moves to pick up the rest of the packs that Cerencia did not take up, grumbling mildly under the weight of them, but giving no other protest, "No time like the present to get on with this then... The sooner we manage to catch up with them, the better."