Rose stood there for a moment, looking at him without saying anything, before turning away, her face both serious and worried."Did Frumpkin say she was okay, at least?" She asked, finally.
"He said she was alive. For now, anyways." Jack said.
"Then we need to get going. We have to get to her before something terrible happens to her." Rose said, her face gaining back some of its characteristic confidence. "If we set out now, we might-"
"It"s late at night." Madeleine said bluntly, cutting her off.
Rose stopped and looked at Maddy, who was looking at her with her characteristic non-expressive stare. "But if we leave now, we might- "
"Jack said Ellie"s a couple days away. And I"m tired." Maddie said. "I want to save Ellie as much as you do, but we can"t do that now. We need sleep. And food."
"But-" Rose started, but after a moment, she dropped her eyes and sighed in frustration. "Alright, fine. We can find a place to rest up, and start again at first light." She said.
She gestured to the area around them. Several of the buildings were still burning, and a thin haze of smoke still drifted about in the open s.p.a.ce. The rest of the central square, where the village"s public housing options would probably have been located, was almost completely destroyed.
"Any ideas on where you two want to bed down?" She asked.
Jack looked around the s.p.a.ce. The choices in the immediate vicinity didn"t seem to contain a whole lot of promise. The only possible option that he could see was a small wooden building towards the far corner of the square, which seemed to have avoided the rampaging fires. Though, even at this distance, it looked ramshackle and more than a little sketchy.
After a few more moments, Jack pointed over towards the building. "We could try over there."
Maddy and Rose looked over in the direction that Jack was pointing. Rose squinted at it, but Maddy just looked up at Jack and said "No."
Jack looked at her, confused. "Why? What"s wrong with it?"
"I"m not sleeping in a brothel with you." She said.
"A brothel? How the h.e.l.l do you know it"s a brothel from all the way over here?" Jack asked.
Rose turned to him. "No, Maddy"s right. It is."
She pointed to the building. "Do you see the painted red circle above the door?"
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Jack looked over at the building, which looked about the size of his thumb at this distance. He squinted really hard and strained his eyes, but there wasn"t a chance in h.e.l.l he could see anything that detailed at that distance. He shrugged.
"No, I don"t. I guess my eyes aren"t as good as yours," He said.
"Red circles mark brothels. It"s a publicly understood but discreet way to announce the services you"re offering." Rose said.
"Oh." Jack said.
"And I"m not staying in a place where people do things like that, with a person who personally requested us for their s.e.x slaves." Maddy said.
"Uh, wha, I didn"t request you for s.e.x slaves!" Jack spluttered, red-faced.
"Frumpkin said you wanted us for your harem. That"s what a harem is." Maddy said.
Jack choked on his own saliva, and started coughing. While he worked to try and regain his breath, Rose spoke up.
"Well, I don"t mind staying there, but obviously Maddy"s not interested." Rose said, shifting her weight.
Jack turned to Madeleine. "Alright then. Why don"t you pick where you want us to stay then, Maddy?"
The ember sprite looked around for a moment, before picking up the sack that she"d dropped earlier and walking back the direction the three of them had come from.
Jack looked at Rose with a confused look, but Rose just shrugged, sheathed her sword, and followed Madeleine back towards the other end of the town square.