I stared down at the scrap of dad’s cloak. Why was this the only part left? Why did I not have it with me when Pert took me here?

“I’m sorry, but this was the only part left.” Ham spoke, meeting my eyes with a sad look.

Smoothing out the cloth, I saw the faded markings of a star that had been stitched into the collar. The cloak looked to be a perfectly symmetrical, rectangular scrap from the cloak, centered exactly from the center of the back, from the collar to the hem. Seeing the damage had me choked up as I began to sob. This was the only thing that I had from my father, and I had ruined it somehow.

As I sat there, holding the tattered remnant of my father, Veria hopped from her seat and rushed over to me, hugging me tightly. I held the cloth close to my face and used it to wipe the tears from my eyes.

A few moments passed, and Veria loosed her grip and placed her hand on my own.

“Can I?” She asked, her voice soft and a smile on her face.

I looked at her, confused, but didn’t stop her as she pulled the cloth from my hands and folded it lengthwise and wrapped it around my neck, letting it fall down onto my chest. I reached down and ran my hand across the remains of the cloak, feeling the stitching of the star at the end of the strip.

“Thank you.” I spoke softly. Something about this comforted me. I had not completely ruined it. It just had a new look.

Pert reached a hand down and patted his daughters head, “Great job.” He spoke warmly.

“Why don’t we get out of here now?” Licilia started, getting up from her seat. “There’s so much to do and only so much day left.”

Everyone agreed and got up from the seats. We all left the building and collected into the large courtyard. Pert and Damian went together on the cart to deliver the lumber that they had brought up with them from Pyle while the rest of us all went shopping, crammed together inside the carriage.

A short ride brought us to a part of the city which was almost as loud as the building we had just been in. Just like before, the carriage door opened up and we all climbed out of the carriage.

“We should be done in about three hours, though we will have two more with us, so bring the larger car next time.” Licilia spoke, dismissing the soldier driving the carriage.

Our first stop was at a massive building with a large sign hanging above the door. I still couldn’t read, but Veria must have caught on since I had been squinting at the sign and told me that it said “clothing emporium.” I recognized that the doors had the same carvings on it as the one inside the building where we had all met again. Once inside, the noise from the street disappeared and I saw that the building almost looked larger on the inside than it was on the outside. Nearly every visible spot in the entire building was filled with clothes of all shapes and sizes hanging on racks and walls.

“Veria, could you take Jaime and Hamil around and help her find clothes?” Licilia asked her daughter. “Astrid and I have something to do.”

“Kay.” Veria cheerfully responded, grabbing me by the hand.

“We’ll meet back here in an hour!” Licilia shouted out as Veria dragged me away with Ham not far behind.

Over the next hour, Veria dragged us through the entire store, inspecting each individual piece of clothing like it was a matter of life or death. She would occasionally ask for our opinions or for us to hold something up so that she could see how it looked. If something looked promising, Veria would write something down on a pad of paper that she kept inside a pocket in her skirt. She seemed to enjoy shopping like this, but I could tell from the look on Ham’s face that he would rather be doing something else. Personally, I was having fun, but it was exhausting. The constant running to keep up with Veria took more out of me than any of the training I had done with Damian. This store seemed to have anything and everything that we needed and more.

As we turned into one aisle, Veria collided with someone and fell flat onto the ground. In her excitement, she had sped forward without noticing that anyone was there and bashed heads against another girl who looked to be about the same age as her. She was slightly taller than Ham and had long, blond hair in tight curls. Veria got back up in a panic and rushed over to the other girl and tried to help her up, but her hand was slapped away.

“I see your buffoonishly thick head is still as hard as ever.” The girl spoke icily.

She pushed herself up from the ground and glared daggers at Veria, turning her furious gaze over to me and then to Ham, though the look in her eyes changed when she saw him.

“I’m sorry Charlotte. I just wasn’t looking and-”

“You’re lucky that I’m here by myself.” Charlotte interrupted. “Though I could just let my father know how I was just assaulted.” She added, acting scared.

“But it was an accident!” Veria cried out nervously.

“My father doesn’t know that.” She spoke smugly. “How are you going to make up for this?”

“I… I don’t know.”

“I’m sure we can figure something out.” She spoke quietly, moving past Veria to where Ham and I had been quietly standing during this whole situation.

“And who might you two be?”

“They’re my new brother and sister.” Veria answered quickly.

“Really? You certainly look nothing like each other.” She spoke, inspecting the both of us with her strangely pink eyes. Her gaze eventually fixed on Ham. She then spoke with narrowed eyes and an alluring voice. “What’s your name?”

“Hamil.” Ham answered with a low voice.

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He looked tired, but I wasn’t sure if it was of shopping or of the girl in his face.

“Well, Hamil, I hope to see you again soon.” She spoke in the same attractive tone before strolling off.

After Charlotte had moved out of sight, Veria shook a fist in her direction and grumbled.

“Who was she?” I asked.

“Her name is Charlotte Renae. Her dad is the marquis who owns the city.” Veria answered bitterly. “Her and her friends are always picking on me.”

“I don’t like her.” Ham spoke simply. “She reminds me of my dad.”

“Who was your dad?” Veria asked, surprised.

“Not important.” Ham shut her down. “Let’s finish this up. It’s almost been an hour.”

Pulling a pocket-watch out from her skirt, Veria panicked and rushed towards where Licilia had decided our rendezvous would be. Just as we started towards the meeting spot, Licilia and Astrid came through the entrance and started waving at us.

“Did you find everything all right?” Licilia asked.

“Yup, I have the list ready.” Veria beamed, handing the pad of paper to her mother.

Licilia thumbed through the papers and nodded her head before turning and walking towards a small counter near the entrance. An older woman stood across the counter who took the papers from Licilia and started to flip through them, slower this time.

“A larger order. May I see your house emblem?” The woman asked.

Licilia reached inside the small shoulder bag that she had been carrying with her and pulled out a small, circular, metal object.

She showed this to the woman who nodded and spoke, “House Wark, thank you for your business.”

I tried to get a good look at the emblem that she had shown, but couldn’t due to my own vertically challenged form. Licilia noticed this and handed me the emblem with a chuckle. The emblem had a good weight to it and was very shiny. On one side of the emblem, a carving of what looked like a wolf with sharp looking wings had been etched into the cold metal.

“That’s called a Wark.” Licilia spoke softly. “It’s a Myth Beast. My husband says that one saved him when he was in the war.”

I felt Ham looking over my shoulder at the object and handed it to him. The boy turned the object over in his hands and examined it for a moment before handing it back to Licilia.

The older woman scribbled something on a small piece of paper and handed it to Licilia who put it into her back and started towards the entrance.

After passing through the doorway, the crowded street came back to life with constant shouting, though one voice broke through the rest. “Catch that beast!”

Looking towards the noise, I saw a familiar shape burst out through the crowd and into the open air. It was Bark. The wooden dog seemed excited to see us again as it barreled forward and leapt onto Ham.

The boy caught the wooden dog and pressed his face against it. “I knew you weren’t far away.” Ham spoke with relief. “You must have fallen asleep in the cart. No wonder we couldn’t find you.”

The dog yapped in reply just as three men came charging through the crowds toward us. The group of three consisted of two soldiers and a short and skinny man with a grayed goatee.

“There it is!” The man in front yelled.

Seeing these men, Bark started to growl and snap at the air.

Astrid stepped forward, blocking the men. “Can I help you?” She spoke in a threatening voice.

“Out of the way, woman! That creature is mine. I found it first!” The man in front shouted in Astrid’s face.

“Yours? I’m sorry, but who are you?” Astrid taunted.

The man’s face turned bright red as he started to shout even louder. “How dare you! I am Count Igner Revan! Now remove yourself or I’ll have my men do it for you!”

“Hello there Igner.” Licilia spoke in a mocking tone. “I see you’re as loud as usual.”

“You dare! YOU DARE! YOU- YOU- YOU B-”

“Count Revan!” A voice boomed through the street, startling the man.

This Count Revan turned to see Pert come out from a crowd of people.

“Count Wark. I-I had no idea that you were back.” Count Revan stuttered.

“I would hope that my presence isn’t the only thing stopping you from insulting my wife.” Pert growled.

The entire street had gone silent. Fear had gripped the heart of every passerby, causing them to freeze in their tracks.

“I-I would never-” Count Revan muttered, but stopped when Pert started to get closer.

One of the two soldiers moved to stop Pert, but a simple glance in their direction caused the soldier to draw back.

Standing mere inches from Count Revan, Pert glared down at the small man and spoke in an even tone. “Why don’t you finish what you were saying? I’m sure it was nothing insulting.”

“O-Of course. I was going to say that she was b-beautiful.” The man whimpered. “Yes, that’s it. I was about to say she was beautiful.”

“Well, that’s plain to see. But… perhaps you were trying to seduce my wife in my supposed absence.”

“Unthinkable.” Count Revan spoke with a reaffirmed confidence. “I was merely going to ask her to return the beast that that whelp stole from me.”

“Whelp? Stole?”

“I think you’re mistaken, my lord.” Damian spoke up, coming out from the crowd. “If I remember correctly, you were trying to steal that beast from the boy.”

“Preposterous. The boy took the beast before my men could recapture it.”

Damian stepped closer to Pert and tilted his head. “Again, my lord, you are mistaken. That beast and that whelp have been traveling with me since we left Pyle.”

“You must not believe these lies, Pert.”

“Lies? If I am not mistaken, I was also traveling with my newly adopted son.” Pert growled, glaring into the man’s eyes. “And I believe that this beast happened to have been with him the entire time.”

“I…”

“Perhaps you should leave before the royal guard arrives and I explain to them that you were attempting to rob a child in broad daylight.”

Hearing Pert’s final words, Count Revan turned and ran off from where he first came, followed by his two guards.

Pert scoffed as he watched the man leave and turned to the rest of us. “Supper anyone?” He asked as if nothing had happened.

We all walked together as the streets became noisy again, this time with the hot gossip that Count Revan had just been verbally beaten by Count Wark after trying to rob a child. Pert led us to a large diner nearby where we all ate together. Most of us didn’t eat much. However, Astrid and Damian, together, ate more than everyone else at the table combined. The chef came out from the back to see just who had been ordering so much food and was immediately assailed by dozens of compliments from the two gluttons. Embarrassed and flattered, the chef left for a moment and came back with a large platter of small desserts. They were all incredibly sweet and tasted better than anything I had ever eaten before.

Before we knew it, we had spent just over an hour in the diner.

“Mom…” Veria turned to her mother with big eyes and a pouted lip.

“Fine, yes. You can go play. Just be back here when it’s time to go.” Licilia immediately answered.

Beaming with joy, Veria grabbed Ham and I and brought us out of the diner. Dodging around the people in the crowd, she led us to a wider, less crowded road that led to an open plain full of lush looking grass and dotted with tall, vibrantly colored trees.

It was my first time “playing” like this, so I had no idea what we were doing, but Veria introduced us to a couple of games that we played with some other children that had all gathered together. I don’t know if I’ve ever had “fun” like this before. My new sister had asked me several times if I was having fun, and I could definitely say that I was.

Our fun came to an awkward stop when two other kids came out to us. Everyone stopped and lowered their heads as these two children approached the group. A girl and a boy, twins, both with dark brown hair and dull green eyes. The girl stepped towards Veria and I and eyed me up and down.

“Really? Playing with the rubbish again?” The girl asked as if it was the last thing she thought possible. She had a strange accent. “I mean look at this thing.” She reached out and grabbed the end of the scarf the Veria had fashioned out of the scrap of dad’s cloak.

Instinctively, my hand shot out and grabbed the girl’s wrist before she could touch the cloth.

“Hey! Let go of me! My father will be hearing about this!” The girl shouted.

I knew that she was going to do something to the scarf. It was the only thing I had left from dad. The idea of someone trying to damage it made me furious.

Suddenly, I could feel my aura flaring to life, spreading out through my body.