Jackson’s breath had tickled her ears as he peered over her shoulder to have a look at the note. For a brief moment, Kayleigh had thought she imagined him almost imperceptibly stiffening behind her upon glancing at the note’s contents, but that had easily been dismissed when he responded in his usual casual, breezy fashion. 

As far as being travelling companions and a formidable tag team goes, Kayleigh could only [i]somewhat[/i] glean the surface of the assassin’s inner thoughts. Sometimes. And sometimes not.

The duo acquired a pair of horses easily enough, and Kayleigh (with much difficulty and self-restraint) dissuaded herself from grabbing freebies from the horse seller’s pockets. She had already collected a fair bit of money from earlier, Kayleigh reasoned, plus they would be receiving plenty on their arrival at Vargoth City. Besides, she could always attempt at swiping Jackson’s belongings while the assassin was fast asleep.

The thought of that amused her, and she chuckled quietly to herself, hoping that Jackson failed to catch the mischievous glint in her eye. It mattered not if she got caught in the act of rummaging through his stuff - it happened quite often anyway – but she relished the prospect of forcing awake her companion in the dead of night, to which he would sit up and grumble non-stop. How adorable.

-------------

It was approximately noon when they arrived at the stone-cold city of Vargoth, having spent two days leisurely riding atop their horses. The weather had been calm, if not slightly sweltering, and they had been more or less free from the persistent wraths of Mother Nature on their journey there. Today, however, the wetness in the air along with the prevalent cold drafts of wind signaled that a thunderstorm was on its way. 

Kayleigh anticipated a dismal, dreary day ahead.