To look upon him was to be deceived. He glided through the people as a snake on the sand, giving the impression that where others would falter, stumble and fail he would dance forth undisturbed with that same elegant walk and far off gaze. His face looked almost serene in those moments, though his heart would have been beating wildly had it still been in his chest. He tapped his leg once, twice, thrice as he approached the counter, she lingered behind the barmaid.
She liked to linger more than the others, at times in silence and at time screeching so loudly that he covered his ears in pure agony. This time she was much too busy choking, drowning in her own blood to sputter more than a few words. His chest hurt at the sight, just as the day he had first witnessed it, swallowing hard he fought back tears.
"Where?" She sputtered, blood bubbling from her mouth, her voice raspy as her lung collapsed onto themselves with every intake of air.
"Were you." He quietly finished her sentence, his haunted eyes focusing just past the nord as the female Dunmer attempted a scream only to have it muffled by her failing body.
They all asked him the same thing as If he, a ghost of his past failures should know, should have answers but he had none to give, not anymore. His answers had run dry long ago, his explanations but they never sated her, or any of them for that matter. What could he give that he had already not given to them? What words would put him to rest, kept alive by their spite?
"What?" The blonde questioned as he watched some invisible creature tear viciously into his apparition, eating her alive.
"I was asking after a room." He managed as his head dipped slightly, a feat despite the reproachful look he received, "Forgive me if I sound odd, I am parched from my long journey."
He let some coin fall to the counter, his hands sweeping across the polished wooden counter in a subtle flourish. This seemed to please the woman in tangent with his apology earning him a new face to look at, one much more pleasant. With her brow raised and a slight look of intrigue, she gathered the coin together with a practiced hand.
"There is a small group just leaving, you may take their room when they go but you'll have to wait." She instructed, eyeing the Redguard woman who addressed each patron in turn. "It will give you some time to quench that thirst."
He nodded curtly and spun on his heels in a neat fashion, lifting his hand to run it through his hair. As it passed his face however he saw and felt the hot red liquid dripping from it, his lungs heaved and his stomach churned as his hand shot down to his side. Whose blood is it this time, whose blood have you spilled? An eye for an eye...He gritted his teeth and with his opposing hand tapped his thumb to his index finger once, twice, thrice. Once, twice, thrice. He tried to focus on finding a place within the crowded room, rather than his bodies desire to expel its contents.