Wandering Mind
"Birdie?"
He blinked owlishly at the woman who had appeared before him. She felt familiar, but it took him several long blinks to place her.
"Pru."
Pru frowned. "Heard Ra's had a new guest, thought I'd come keep you company."
"Oh." That sounded nice. He didn’t really have anyone to talk to here.
Pru's frown deepened, something like concern pulling at her features. "Let's get you back to your room, yeah?" she said, her voice uncharacteristically gentle.
She put a hand on his shoulder and steered him back through the guest wing and to his room. He let himself be led.
Once inside, Pru closed and locked the door and sat him down on his bed.
"There are ears here, Red, don't forget."
He nodded. There were eyes and ears everywhere. There always were, in his life.
"What are they doing to you in here?"
Doing? "What do you mean?"
Pru sighed, frustrated for some reason. "Can you tell me where you were when I found you just now?"
This was dumb, why would she think he wouldn't know where...they had—Well. It hadn't been a far walk to the guest wing, so it must have just been the western courtyard? Maybe?
He said as much and Pru pressed her lips into a line. "No, Red. We were all the way across the compound. You were checked out for most of the trip back here."
That wasn't right, it hadn't taken near long enough to get all the way back here. He would have...what did she mean 'checked out?' "What are you trying to say?"
"Tim. What does Ra's have you doing, when you aren't just wandering around confused?"
"He's...um…"
He remembered. He did. He...why…
His head hurt. His head always hurt. He was so tired, he just wanted to sleep.
He remembered, then, why he'd been out of his room.
"I was going for a walk," he told Pru, a little proud of himself for being able to answer one of her questions. "I'm tired. I'm always...I thought a walk might help wake me up. Clear my...clear my head a little."
"Did it?"
Tim frowned. He shook his head.
It hadn’t. It never did.