"Home .."
Havaldr sat in one of the chairs of his new "home", watching the men carry the goods he brought with him to Gondor inside the shop he intended to sell them from. "Is this really supposed my new home?" He contemplated, but he already knew the answer, as he was feeling anything but at home in this all too familiar city. The places he might have considered home were all far away now, but he also knew that he had to act like this was his new home. Embrace it.
"Or risk capture and death."
He shook his head at the idea, as if trying to make it go away through his violent movements, but it did little to help him feel better. Ever since they had set eyes on the posters calling him a criminal and framing him and his old friend for a murder he did not even know about, he had an ever-present feeling of danger in his gut. It was the first time he pretended to be someone completely else and the stakes could not have been higher.
Ameren seemed to have less trouble with her alias, Branson. Even when he had confessed her his most repressed memories of what happened to him during some nights at court, when he was but a mere teen, she kept the straightforward, cold attitude of the mercenary she was pretending to be, despite the thick walls separating them from any curious ears.
"I'll have to do the same, keep true to who I am supposed to be. Holmwood. A simple but thrifty man from Bree, carefree and with a good sense for business, in the city for nothing but the pursuit of wealth and happiness."
The words were repeated in his head many times more, he could not allow himself to forget who he was.
Earlier today, he had slipped from this role when finding the crate of books in the old shop he took over. He was lucky nobody could see his wide smile at that moment. What was to happen if luck runs out at some point? He had to pull himself together, there were people awaiting him where his true home was after all.
"Hrmph."
Havaldr looked up in a startled manner, being thrown out of his thoughts out of a sudden. The leading man of the three Hillmen Gorlakon had sent with him stood before him, his arms crossed, his expression revealing his annoyance. A quick look around confirmed that they had taken care of the task he had assigned to them. Begrudgingly so, as he noticed and saw, but he did his best to explain to them the importance it had to his continued survival. After ordering the men to take up positions and locking up the shop, he made his way to the bed in the other room, quickly drifting into sleep and dreams of home.
