“You fucking idiot! Give me that!” came a much older voice down the walkway outside. There was a struggle, then a definite gun butt hitting someone in the stomach. The younger voice groaned in pain.

“Sorry, sorry!” said someone that must have been a teenager.

“You’re never holding it again!” roared the other voice.

Jonah and Diana struggled up to sit beside the doorway with her against the wall. He was trying to calm down, quiet himself, the resulting noise was a sharp wheeze. Putting her staff in the stone, Diana drew him close to her, petting his back. She shushed into his ear, his headphones and scarf hanging off his neck. His heart pounded, chest hitting her breastplate in his breathing. She carefully kept his legs from entering the light of the outside.

“It’s okay, it’s okay,” she said softly into his ear. “You did so well, my sweet boy, that would have been a nasty burn. It might have killed me and you saved my life.” She held his face, touching noses with him.

She was only calmer because of what the tiger had shown her. The cat had come across a strange bubble of force in the mists behind a house, figures moving within the twenty foot space. People were climbing up in one of the trees, another was walking around with a device in their hands. It made a beeping noise and the watcher twisted and faced the cat, who had been hiding around a corner. The panicked Ash Maker had shouted, another device was triggered and the cat froze in place. Next the familiar knew, the bubble was gone and so were all the people. The rage of the sources had swelled as the beast took its true form, chasing after the group it sensed fleeing, roaring with all its force. The five stumbled, running like death was at its heels, for a moment there it could have easily been. It didn't let them see it again. When trying to explain why it had been stunned, Diana froze too. Besides a grating sound and the locked up body, she knew nothing more. That memory alone had been enough to take her out of her senses.

Now she saw the five as the tiger stalked, stopped at the end of the house’s front pathway. She recognized one of them, the old soldier, that grizzled man and his thin bony cheeks. His deep set eyes looked over the other four, all shorter than his average height. Though they were bundled in their bulky coats, topped with pink tie dye cloaks, she could tell they were slender by their skinny legs. One head turned and Aiko saw the blushed and fearful face of a girl that couldn’t be older than twelve. She covered up her face with a dingy cloth mask. Her mittens were rough wool, repeatedly patched. Could there be a more sorry sight? Diana wondered, her heart breaking for this girl.

Another girl was talking to her, the comforter couldn’t be much older than twenty.

“Hey, Su, it’s gonna be okay, Ike’s got it,” the young woman said.

A smaller person hugged this “Su” and the girl hugged them tightly back.

“Yeah, Ed’s got you,” the woman said, then rushed to the grizzled man. “What are you doing? Let's run while they're hiding.”

Ike was reaching into a bag, the short gun on his back rocking about. It was nothing like the ballistic guns of the army or even the laser rifles of the last war. This one was slick gray metal, vertically wide at the front, a thick arch under its button of a trigger.

He licked his cracked lips. “They’ve fucking seen us, they’ve seen our kit,” he hissed, the bag jangling. “That cat, it was a familiar, that roar was probably it too. I have a bad feeling. I think I know who it is, I hope I’m fucking wrong… Genni, you fucking idiot.” He glared at the teenage boy holding his stomach against the trees.

The young woman winced, rubbing her temple. “The mists are starting to come back here, get the sh-”

“Shut the fuck up!” Ike snapped, pointing his finger. “Don’t you know what a familiar does?”

“What are they then? A Wizard? Are we fucked? It was just a little cat, it couldn’t have done that roar,” the woman said. She peered around, her big green eyes frightful under her hood.

“It could if it’s who I think it is,” Ike grumbled.

Jonah had calmed down with Diana, now pointing his microphone towards the door. She signed asking him to take a picture of the damage. He nodded and did so. Then with his camera finger, he curled it around the bottom of the door, keeping well away from it with the rest of his body. Diana stood up, Jonah staring up at her, she assured him that it was fine. She spelled out Aiko and gestured See.

With a heavy sigh, she signed K-i-d-s.

He could only see the soldier on his screen, the only one peeking around the corner. He mouthed the word again, shaking his head.

“Hey, could you tell us who you are?” Ike asked loudly, coming out fully from cover. He held his hands up and now Diana had to watch him mostly on the screen as he took a few steps closer. His army boots echoed across the stone.

“Stop right there!” Diana shouted.

The young people all gathered up in a huddle, led by the young woman. She knew they feared the tiger. That's why they stopped, she thought. Why not use the sound device again?

Ike stopped midway through the walkway, tensing up in dread. His eyes darted about. “Holy shit… Are you really her?”

“Who are you looking for?” Diana said, leaning heavily into her royal accent.

The soldier flexed his gloved fingers, doing a jerky nervous bow. “Your highness, it’s a pleasure to meet you. I’m sorry, I swear, our boy didn’t mean to shoot at you,” he said, glancing around still. The mists were inching in along the white gold grass, any moment now they fall from the sky.

“How are you so certain I am she?” Diana asked, suspicious.

“I heard that you visited the docks a couple weeks ago,” Ike said, projecting his voice. “I heard about you fighting with the Heroes. Rumor has it you spit in Angelina’s face. Others were laughing their asses off about how you and your boyfriend dodged the Grands. I thought, well, ain’t that fucking weird, I heard her on the radio just the other day, so she must have left. But, it seems here you are…”

Diana was silent, Jonah shrugging up at her.

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“We don’t mean any harm,” Ike said quietly. The ether mists seemed to be teasing them, filling the air above as well. With the light streams of it came the whispering prayers. These ones were louder and more determined. The elvish sentences sounded like they were recent, aware of what was sitting in their midst.

Ike grimaced in agony as the fog came in, the veins pulsing in his temples as his teeth gnashed together. Still, he tried to speak, “The Order--fucking shit! AH!” From his hand fell the coins and the bag, more spilling out onto the stonework. He held his head as if it might explode, dropping to one knee. The crack of his knee cap hitting the pavement was audible, the couple wincing in sympathy.

The young woman peeked around the tree, but her and the rest were quickly and similarly subdued by the mists that dropped on them viciously. It was localized around them, empty air between them and Ike. The youngest ones screamed the loudest, in screeching pain. Diana’s eyes watered, and she blinked out the tears.

Aiko had been sneaking around the house, watching the young ones from the bushes. Presently, it moved as a cat across the house entrance, sprinting along the trees opposite the children. Diana stepped out from the threshold of the house, Jonah following her in panic, trying to drag her back.

“Stop, I have it…” Diana told him firmly.

He frowned in worry, but stayed alongside her.

The Druid pointed out her staff, sending a rush of wind that made the mists fly out across the street, clearing it away from all the Ash Makers. Feebly Ike made to stand up, but was sent tumbling to his elbows as the tiger snatched the gun from off his back. Its mighty teeth held it by the center, careful not to clamp down. Diana knew the destructive nature of Order weaponry well.

Jonah gasped as the tiger passed it off to him. The young Machinist put the strap over his shoulder, analyzing the device, pointing it away from anyone as he checked on various parts.

“I assume you know something about it,” Diana said quietly. “You were able to predict it firing when I wasn’t.”

He smiled broadly in shame, shaking the device, causing the fastenings of the strap to sound off. “It makes a noise like when you switch your gun in a game I played a lot with friends…” he said, putting his hand on the grip of the arch. He demonstrated it, making a consistent sound.

She sighed, shaking her head. “I would have never guessed that noise. I cannot use guns, no normal Mage can,” she said simply. “That’s a matter for another time.”

“Huh…” His eyes flashed with his indexing. “Of course the gunpowder explodes from raw magic…”

Diana nodded, turning her attention back to Ike. The tiger was inches from his face, snarling, the drop off to Jonah had been a short diversion for the beast, able to return in seconds. The Druid saw the children rising, able to stomach the thinner mists. She sent out another wave of wind, making it split down the pathway and through the trees.

“Do you need garments? Food?” she said, her voice wavering. “Please, come into the house, children, we have rations, blankets. With a simple call I could have ten times that here. No matter the number of you, there is room in this city to house you. Niae, one of the Arch Priestesses of Corpine here in Alp’a Linn has no issue with the afflicted. You would be warm and your bellies would be full.”

The two smallest peeked around the trees, one a boy, the other the girl. There was greasy gold hair poking out from their hoods and desperation in their light blue eyes. Their skin was pale and grimy, Aiko caught the scent of the sewer on Ike, but also the bedrock of caves. Where were they hiding?

“Sue and Ed, was it?” Diana said as kindly as she could.

The two clear siblings nodded.

She put her hand to her chest. “I am Diana, the Druid princess of the Magi Kingdom, I mean you no harm, I promise you,” she said, smiling brightly. "This is Jonah, my dear partner. He can play any number of films for you."

Their eyes widened. The little Sue whispered, “Princess… fucking shit.”

"Films??" the boy added.

The young woman, whose hood had blown off, pulled the girl and boy back towards the first metal tree. She glared at Diana and Jonah. “They don’t trust Mages,” she said plainly. Her hair was a neat bob around her chin, the ends flared up like wings away from it. The shade was a cloudy cream color with a bluish tint. Did she really come from the Sky?

“We’re not just any Mages, and we’re not with the Heroes,” Jonah said, projecting his voice over the long space.

“True,” Diana said, grateful to him. “We stand for peace, my only interest is in Blodwyn, I wish to harbor you, safely away from the Heroes. Even you, Mr. Ike.”

Aiko backed away from the older man, starting to circle him a few feet out.

Ike rose, dusting himself off. “They’re safer with us,” he said, coughing, his voice hoarse.

From her belt, Diana offered her canteen, stepping forward.

The man held up his hand, drawing his coat aside to drink from one himself. Jonah tried to hide the restrained raise of his weapon, pointing it back to the ground.

Wiping his lips, which had started to bleed from their cracking, Ike said, “We’re gone, we're moving out of this city.”

The young man, the one who had shot at them, groaned. “Not again…”

“Shut up,” Ike muttered. “Beth, take them out of here.”

“The…the thing isn’t working,” the young woman replied.

“Take the long way,” Ike said.

The two siblings shook with fear, holding each other.

“Okay…” Beth frowned.

“No one is leaving!” Diana snapped, sending another harmless wave of wind out. “Whatever cave or place you are staying in, it will not be better than here. Here there is food you don’t have to get from the docks.”

Ike’s pale eyes widened.

“Yes, I have known about you for a while,” Diana said confidently. “In all that time I have not told the Heroes, nor will I. All I want is for you, and these poor, poor children you keep with you to be safe. All of you, truly. I and my family have no ill will to anyone save Blodwyn and those that planned my sister’s--”--she swallowed a lump, she could hear her own voice wavering again.

“Please, whatever you’re doing here, the war needs to stop!” Jonah declared loudly, his voice cracking.

Ike pushed his fist into his jaw, glancing back at Beth, signaling something Diana couldn’t understand.

The Skyborn nodded, ducking behind a tree.

“Listen,” the old soldier began. “there’s more to this than Blodwyn. These kids are here because us Ash Makers have a tendency to wind up dead. There’s more of us than you think, or there would be if we didn't have so many ‘accidents.’ We have to protect them, even all your programs from after the war didn’t help. The fucking Dry Isles you gave us didn’t help. Blodwyn settles scores and she doesn’t like to owe debts. I was about to say, before the mists came in, that we have orders from the top not to harm you or your family. The General doesn’t want any more Scholar or Orchidrin blood shed, she doesn’t have any problems with you. We don’t want any problems with you, and we don’t need any damn help either. I’m glad you saw how fucking evil the ‘Heroes’ are, good for you. Just stay out of the Order’s way, go home if you can…” He saw what his speech had done and was carefully stepping back by the last sentence.

Diana only saw red, her eye twitching, her hand gripping her staff so hard that her knuckles popped and shone whiter than her pale skin. The cold was nothing to her and mists were nowhere to be seen, a ring of wind spinning around her feet like a top. Every few rotations a small gale burst out and whistled past the metal bark of the birches.

“Blodwyn does not decide when we are done!!” she shouted above the winds.

Beside her Jonah staggered, shoulder thudding into a tree.

Ike struggled to stay up, most of the wind was centered on him.

“I WILL SEE YOUR GENERAL PINNED TO A FUCKING WALL!!” Diana bellowed, slamming her staff as the cyclone built higher and higher. “The Order shall surrender! I will have peace! I will have the Heroes held accountable! Surrender! Concede! Bring your people here! I will protect them! I won’t have another child die in this war!”

Fractured images came from Aiko as the old soldier went flying onto his back, skidding along the pathway. Some kind of warning. Was she using too much magic? Was she close to passing out?

Red, a world of blood.

Deep crimson like her sister’s open throat.

Now the woman that did it was done with her.

The silence about her on tape.

The reason for her revenge didn’t even care about her.

“HEY! Bitch!” came a voice above the small tornado. “We surrender!”

Beth had managed to sneak around her, the device in her hand.

The wind died down, Diana’s heart hurt, so did everything else. Was that blood in her throat?

The young Ash Maker pressed the button and with it came a sound. One she didn’t even hear for a second before mid motion, mid word, Diana’s world went black.