Zilo's eyes fade open for a moment before they shoot awake and he sits right up. He has no idea where he is, but it looks like he is in another Lidan style bedroom, but that is the least worrisome part. His outfit is gone and has been replaced with a silk robe.
The wall door is slid open as Zilo stands. He turns to see a young woman there carrying a bowl of cold water and a cloth. Her robe is like Zilo's and decorated with a wilting tree in the sunset. Her black hair is long and tied back into a long ponytail.
"AH!"
"AH!"
Both stare each other down awkwardly, but the woman breaks the pause by saying, "Good evening, I was at the tavern and noticed you looked hurt so I thought..." Zilo looks down to see more bowls of now room temperature water. He also notes that he feels as though his bruises have been wetted to reduce the swelling.
"I see, thank you, I'm-"
"Zilo Realms, Master of Strings. I heard you in the square this morning."
Zilo thinks back and remembers when he played for the nobles, he did recall her there, then he remembered her in the tavern as well. He smiles and says, "I remember now, its a pleasure to meet you, miss..."
She smiles and gazes at the bard, saying, "Ai, I'm Ai Rai. Now, will you please sit back down. You still have a few injuries to look after." Zilo furrows his brow and immediately regrets it as his face's movements enhance the marks on his face he had taken.
Zilo sits back down and lies back as Ai begins to press the cloth to his head after dipping it in the cold water. His bruises begin to ache from his reclining and the cold is a welcome relief. He relaxes a bit too much and closes his eyes as the woman takes care of his injuries.
While he is down he feels the woman getting a bit too close and moving a bit much of his lower robe. Zilo snaps up and shifts on the ground, accidentally spilling the cold water bowl. With his eyes now open, he notices that the top of Ai's robe had slowly been sliding down off her shoulder.
She looks disappointingly at the spilled bowl and says, "Wow the nerves much be frayed terribly, you might need some more... in-depth care." She speaks with a seductive smile. Zilo might be dense as adamantine, but he can read these signals.
"Ah-um-ah y-you can't without the cold water though, you should go get some more. Please. Now. Like um. Right now."
"This cloth is still damp enough for..." Ai begins to reach down toward the lower half of the robe again, but Zilo swats her away and insists, "I'm actually rather good at healing myself and I know that reapplying cold is vital to the treatment process for bruising."
Ai sighs disappointed and says, "Fine, I'll be back in a few minutes, don't move." The moment she leaves Zilo gets up again and tightens up his robe. He quickly realizes that the robe is the only thing he has on him. He thinks for a moment and says, "She must have... um... taken my gear while I was out cold, it must be stashed nearby here."
The bard tears the room apart before eventually finds his gear folded and placed in the corner out in the open. As he gathers his gear he hears footsteps coming down the hall, and he figures he doesn't have the time to worry about his poor ability to find stuff.
He opens the door wall on the other side of the room and retreats into a garden with roofed wooden perimeters walkways. He carried his bundle of gear being as quiet as possible. He noted a few guards patrolling the garden walkways surrounding the open area.
Zilo begins to move between their patrols into the garden when he picks out a door he can move to. As he does he heard the door he left from shoot open. He panics and immediately dives behind a bush in the garden.
"Zilo! Where did you go!? Guards, a wounded man is on the premises, return him to me!" Ai's voice rang out to all in the garden.
Zilo silently shivered as the other guards begin to patrol and actively look around a bit. While he is stuck in the bush he takes a bit of time to cast spells and heal his bruises. He waited and gets an opening to move to the door he picked out as the guards pass it by. the room was another bedroom with only a simple blanket bedspread, but not a soul to see.
He ripped off the robe and threw on his gear. Once he was fully dressed he heard footsteps toward the door. He dove next to the door and a guard came in from the garden. The guard walked in and surveyed the room until his eyes came right over to Zilo.
There is another awkward pause, but Zilo was getting used to it at this point, so he silently waltzes over to the guard and cracks him in the jaw, harnessing the awkward to his advantage. The guard begins to fall to the ground., but Zilo grabs him and lightly lays him down to avoid a thud to echo in the nearby rooms.
Zilo makes sure that the guard is comfortable with a blanket before moving to the door away from the garden. He finally made his way to a grand entry hall. He was a mere stone throw from the front entrance, but of course, it wouldn't be that easy. There was Ai looking around at the entrance. He immediately closes the door again. He was trapped between the guards in the garden and the girl in the entry hall.
He decides to stay in the room until she left the hall. A few minutes passed as he tried to track Ai by her footsteps but he lost track of her and after trying to find her again, he was ambushed as Ai entered the room from the garden side. She smiled and closed the door before she spoke, "Zilo, thank the gods, are you... Oh, your wounds!"
Ai walks up to Zilo and examines his face, placing both hands on his cheeks. Zilo smiles as he begins to retreat back and says, "Yeah bardic magic, fixed me right up. Forgive me, I didn't want to overstay my welcome." Zilo takes advantage of her focusing on him and kicks the guard's blanket onto his face.
She says, "Well Zilo, there was something I was hoping I could talk you about once you felt better. And if you plan to leave, now is my only chance." Zilo shrugs as he brings her hands down and away from his face and says, "Sure, what is it?" Ai leans in and speaks,
"I'm sure you have noticed, my family is well off. We run in circles with the nobility of Lidan. One of my best friends, Umie Xunchu, happens to have an event coming up and I need someone to escort me there. I can think of no better option than a bard. I would turn heads with you at my side."
"Umie? What's the event?"
"A foreign prince is proposing to her and this is the Proposal Ball." Zilo nods understanding and before thinking he says,
"Oh yeah, I'll be there."
Ai's face lights up and she speaks, "Fantastic, It is decided then!" Zilo's face droops as he realizes she mistook his words. The bard stumbles over his words as She lightly pecks him on the cheek and waves him goodbye as she leaves toward the garden. He tries to follow after and explain, but guards swiftly swarm in to forcefully escort him out.
Meanwhile, in the other world, the man in the hat who controls Zilo has planted his head in his arms. The woman who controls May giggles and says, "Trouble in paradise ladies man?"
The man in the hat fires back with frustration in his eyes, "3rd time! This is the 3rd time it has happened!" The one known as Jones says, "Not my fault you have 20 Charisma, you are a handsome man. Women notice that." The man in the hat continues to hang his head as he tries to think of how he is gonna get Zilo out of this one.
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