His rest was disrupted when he heard a figure approach him from behind. He didn't open his eye, instead he sat with his hand wrapped tightly around his pistol and waited for the figure to stop behind him. "This had better be good." He said, not moving to face the person who stood behind him.
"No." The voice responded. "THIS had better be good." The One-eyed man searched to place the man's voice, tried to comprehend what he was talking about, wondering why he had heard the sound of a shirt moving, as if the man behind him was holding it out, expecting something. Then it hit him.
One-eye still refused to let his body move, he kept his voice low, his hand wrapped around the handle of his gun. "I suppose you want yer fluid."
"Yeah, you could say that." The voice said.
Slowly One-eye let his hand slide down from his coat to the duffel bag that lay on the floor next to him, searching through it a moment before pulling out a small vial of lighter fluid. He held it over his shoulder for the man behind him. "I got more, but that's the quality you're looking for?"
The man took a small sniff of the vial, holding it to the light before nodding slowly. "Yeah, that's right."
Suddenly the old man sitting at the table jerked in his day dream, "Bernadette! Must find Bernadette!" The words came from behind his crooked and gnarled teeth. As he stumbled to his feet, knocking his bowl from the table to the ground, sending stew across the streaked and cracked tile of the cafeteria.
One eyelid slid open curiously as the man stood on wobbly legs in a daze, glancing around the cafeteria for whomever Bernadette was. As the old man came into Zac let his gaze drift over his shoulder to the man he had been doing business with, taking in the younger man. "I've got two pints of the stuff."
"Two, eh?" The other man said.
==
Outside, in the streets Lexxon Berikk turned the corner of an intersection, a few blocks from NRMH where Grampy was remembering the past. Casually but with caution Lex moved along the street ahead of him. His gray eyes caught sight of something and he stopped to examine a small collection of rain water, which had gathered at the base of a drainpipe - a miraculous survivor of the times. He knelt and stuck a finger in the tiny puddle... then lifted it to his nose. After a cautious sniff, the man with the shoulder length white hair reached into a pouch at his belt. He withdrew a small vial to dip into the water, collecting a small amount, for later analysis. He wanted to check the properties of the meager rainfall. When he'd capped it properly, he put it back in his pouch.He stood, looking behind him suddenly as if he sensed something. For a time he gazed all around him into the shadows. Something prickled at his short hairs. What he didn't see was the woman who was following him. For fear, or wise caution, whatever the reason, she didn't reveal herself right away but kept him cleanly in sight as she threaded her way through the confusing jumble of ruins in New Rydynn. Lex shrugged and thought perhaps his mind was playing tricks as he strode on at last toward the hospital. His instincts told him to keep to the walls of the ruins and the shadows himself. The one following, Nichaeya by name, found her curiosity overriding her caution. When he stopped at a corner of a cross street directly in front of the hospital, she stopped as well. Lex kept his back to the wall and peered both ways carefully.
The woman decided it was now or never and felt her neckhairs rise as she stepped out into the open. The man quickly glanced back up along the street behind him... and listened a moment. He wondered if it were a scavenger... or a gang scout... or worse. The woman hadn't moved, because she wasn't exactly certain as to what to do. When Lex finally saw her, he noted how hesitant she was to approach him and ruled out the possibility of a gang scout; but not immediately of something worse.
The woman stepped closer and Lex was careful not to make any aggressive movement. He spoke in a quiet, almost dulcet tone. "Hello?" He looked past her to see if anyone had travelled with her. She was startled, having followed he who had been silent in silence. Her fear had been as much of him as of the narrow streets. "Come forward," he told her, still cautious. "You have nothing to fear from me." His reassurance might do her well, but didn't grant that his own hide would be safe.
Coughing, as she tried to clear her throat, she stepped yet even nearer. Lex reluctantly slipped his hand beneath his desert cloak to the familair hardness of his knife. When she stopped, she spoke the traditional greeting, "Live long and never thirst" With her gaze steady, her arms at her sides where her hands were visible, she waited
He studied her a moment and then said, "May you find respite among friends..."He paused and then said, "Come forward." He beckoned to her and she moved again a few paces closer. "Are you seeking the Hospital? It lies just ahead." He motioned toward it with his hand.
Pausing close before him her eyes never left his to look at the structure, despite the gesture. "No, I ...I seek to learn of you."
Lex Removes his one hand from beneath his cloak... raises both his hands in peaceful sign..::
"So.... have you been following me, then?" There was curiosity more than anything else in his voice.Nichaeya's in turn was full of tension. "Yes for many days."
"I see.... well, I suppose I should tell you that I am Lexonn Berikk... from Malenn'drraa. It's a beginning at least."
The words filled her ears, but their meaning was lost to her, except perhaps for his name.
"I followed you because you are different from the others I have encountered. Forgive me," she added after a moment's hesitation. "I am unused to people...I do not know that of which you speak.
"Malenn'drraa? It is from whence I came... a place some 50 kilometers south of New Rydynn. It is one of the Green Places in Sabattann. One of the few. It is the place of my settlement." The woman glanced thoughtfully in the direction he'd indicated. To what he had said about the green growing places she nodded knowingly. Her impression of the city was confirmed by his words. "Where I am from is beyond sight," he said with a soft chuckle. "And even were we not surrounded by the ruins of New Rydynn, you still would not see it." His words, though friendly, were followed by a sudden pause and a glance about. The woman too looked where he looked, her senses alert.
"Come... let us get inside the Hospital... it will be much safer there, I think."
She stepped forward with him as he nodded, "It is clear... let us hasten."
She surprised him by matching him stride for stride as she followed his lead. Lex headed straight for the front steps of the entrance, between the two broken statues of the NRMH.
"You have not been here before, I take it?" He said as they reached the steps. She told him she had not, that she avoided most people. They both paused as a guard raised a hand in challenge to their entrance. They didn't appear wounded and it was his job to keep the doctors inside as safe as possible. To the guard, Lex said, "I am Lexonn Berikk, of Malenn'drraa... on a trading mission... Dr. Lowinn can vouch for me."
"Okay.. I've seen you here before." The Guard told him in peaceful recognition.
The woman was still and silent beside him waiting. "This woman is... " he said with a question on his lips as he turned to her so that she might supply her identity for the guard.
Her voice cracked as she spoke. "Nichaeya Valenovaa."
"I will vouch for her," Lex said. The guard nodded and Lex thanked him. "Come along, Ms. Valenovaa." As they entered the lobby, the woman addressed the guard with the same greeting she had first given to Lex.
"Live long and never thirst."
The guard didn't respond well; rather looked at her like she was a bit of a loon and Lex chuckled, explaining that it wasn't often heard where it was driest. Nichaeya was concerned she had offended the man. Lex for his part assured her that it hardly mattered. That such niceties and protocols were usually wasted on the soldiers."They are a hard-bitten and cynical lot.... come.. I will show you to the cafeteria..." he told her, escorting her to the "social center" of the hospital.