The Royalty gets a Bodyguard.

Taryn stared at the scene before them. They had never heard Alice scream before, and never seen her like this period. People were beginning to gather outside the door. They finally began to pull themselves together and got up, moving towards the two.

"Our job is not to question," He said calmly back, allowing Alice to push him. "Questioning him would have given him a chance to try again. Try not to let the soft parts of you get int he way." He growled as Taryn pushed between them.

"Stop," Hissed Taryn at both of them. "Both of you, can you not kill each other?"

They turned their attention to the hallway. "Clear off until I call for you," they ordered at the gathered servants who all scurried away.

Alice bared her teeth at him. "It's not soft, Wrung, it's thorough. My job is to protect Their Majesty. If that was a plot, if more of them are coming, if he was hired instead of just a single individual acting alone, then there's a more immediate threat for me to take care of. None of which I know," She hissed, "because you are a buffoon who doesn't know how to use the tiny pea of a brain he's been granted."

Wrung sighed, "There are plenty of spies to take care of that. I doubt this one knew anything, most of the times they're hired with no information and an incredible amount of money." He side stepped the both of them. "This conversation is done, I'll be making my report to the King and Queen." He added, walking through the open door.

Taryn stood there for a moment, trying to collect themselves. There was something warm and wet on their cheek, but they figured it was just tears, even though logically they should have dried by now. They turned to face Alice, "YOur hands," they said again softly.

Alice began to follow after Wrung, ready to tell him exactly what she thought of the pack of lies and absolute tripe she'd just been subjected to when she caught Taryn calling for her. She stopped in her tracks just before the door, turned in place, and looked at them. The corners of her mouth pulled down in a frown when she caught sight of the tear tracks on their face and instinctively took a step forward. "Are you alright, Majesty?"

Taryn looked over at her again, not sure what to do with themselves. They just repeated the same words "Your hands." Their eyes stared at Alice's bleeding hands, beginning to walk towards her. They stretched out their hands to grasp Alice's, to maybe somehow help the bleeding. No one had ever come quite that close, most of them had been incompetent, nor had they seen someone murdered in quite such a brutal way.

Alice blinked then looked down where Taryn's hands held hers, at the blood still dripping onto the floor. "Ah, I'd forgotten about that." The stinging, bright hot pain in her hands made itself known now that she was no longer consumed by tunnel vision and the desire to rip Wrung to pieces. "I'll take care of it later." She said and ripped off her sleeve to temporarily stem the blood flow. "But Your Majesty, are you alright? Are you wounded?"

Taryn shook their head. "No, you need to, your hands,"they found themselves rather stuck on this thought, unable to move off it of. This had happened before, but usually it was when they were alone, or with a small party, and not usually in front of Alice. They were still unaware of the hot liquid on their face not being tears, but a small spattering of blood from the dead man.

"Your Majesty," she said gently, "Why don't you sit down? My hands will be fine, there's no need to fret." She hesitantly reached out and wiped the blood off their face with the end of her shirt, ripping it apart so that it could serve as a sort of cloth.

"No, I'm-I'm fine. You need to take care of your hands," Taryn said, shaking their head a little. They were much more concerned about Alice's hands, which didn't look so good. They were also having trouble taking their eyes off anywhere but her hands, and the dead man behind her.

Alice pursed her lips but nodded. "I'll tend to my hands if you sit down, Your Majesty. Please." She added, reluctant but relatively certain that they would pass out or find their legs too weak to support themselves standing soon. Alice carefully didn't mention that before any of that, she planned to get rid of the body.

Taryn nodded. "Fine," they said, sitting down in the closest chair. They were rather hesitant to let go of Alice's hands, but did so anyway to sit. They stared for a moment at Alice, then the body, then back to Alice. "Your turn," they said.

Alice nodded. "I will, this will just take a moment of my time, Majesty." She hefted the body up, hissing in pain as the rough material of the corpse's clothes dragged against the gouges in her hand. Alice dragged the corpse across the room, tossed over her shoulders, and tossed him out the window, much the same way she had the last assassin who'd tried to kill them. She had an outstanding agreement with some of the staff that whenever they came across a body underneath Taryn's window they'd dispose of it discreetly.

Taryn looked away when Alice picked up the body. The man was clearly already dead, but they didn't want to see him dragged across the room. They got up once the body was gone, avoiding the puddle of blood on te floor, and going over to Alice, wanting to help.

Alice frowned at them. "You said you would sit down, Majesty."

"And I did,and now I'm helping," Taryn said, taking a cloth from their dresser and planning on giving it to Alice. They wanted to help Alice, it was their fault sort of, that she got hurt. They really wanted to help Alice.

Alice sighed and watched them take a cloth out of their dresser, slowly unwrapping the torn shirt rags from her hands. "You know you don't have to do this right, Your Majesty?"

Taryn nodded. "I know, I want to. You spend your entire day taking care of me, at least let me return the favor a little,"they said softly. And it was true, Taryn did want to help, and felt as if they owed Alice.

Alice shrugged. "I don't mind, Majesty. It's my job and I-" She paused, wondered whether to say what she was thinking, which is that she's- bizarrely enough- come to care rather a lot for them. "It's no great sacrifice to me to spend my days making sure no harm comes to you. You owe me nothing."

Taryn continued to wrap their hands, knowing Alice would probably need someone with a bit more expertise, but right now they could at least help stop the bleeding. "You are too kind," they said. "Most people would at least be honest and say its for the money," they said attempting a joke.

Alice laughed a little. "Well. There's that too. But I could make a nice amount of money even if I hadn't chosen to take on this assignment. I stay because I want to. Not because I'm obligated to, Your Majesty."

Taryn smiled a little. "Well thank you for staying," they said, finishing up on Alice's hands. They looked up at her for a moment, before walking away to sit on the bed for a moment as maids came in to begin cleaning the blood off the floor.

Alice flexed her hands and bit back a hiss as a shot of pain jolted through her, but went and shooed the maids out of the way. None of them were particularly well equipped to properly clean the mess up and she wasn't going to let them foul up an easy job when she could just do it herself. Alice crouched down low and started scrubbing the floor, a sight more efficient than the maids had been.

Taryn jumped a little at Alice's reaction, but said nothing, and instead made sure the maids left with some hand gestures to signal they should go. They then say down for a moment, staring at Alice work, unsure of what to do with themselves.

After a while, Alice finished cleaning the floor thoroughly and stood up, the muscles in her legs twinging from staying in one position for that long. It was a clear sign- to her at least- that she'd let herself get lazy, complacent. She'd have to find time to increase the rigour of her daily training sessions. Disposing of the tools she'd used to clean, Alice sent for the maids to bring a small meal up for Taryn. They'd need food in their system after the long day they'd had. "How are you feeling, Majesty?" She asked.

"I'm fine, really you should be the one eating," They said, really invested in Alice feeling as good as she could. This was the first time they had never seen Alice in any sort of injured state. They were really quite concerned for them, although pushing off their own feelings was how they dealt in general.