“Sooo, what was all that about?”

They had found a secluded place to talk at Lily’s insistence. She still wasn’t exactly comfortable– at all. But she had some big time things to ask about everything that had happened since entering the city.

Sunica had brought her to what could generously be called a park. It was a square of grass the size of about four houses with three trees. Although you could only tell there was grass because a few bits peeked out from behind the snow. It was green. That seemed a little odd too, but it was at the very bottom of a list of a million questions. No one else was around, so she could finally speak.

Sunica gave her an awkward smile.

“Uh, which part exactly?”

Lily sighed, and stared.

“Okay, let’s start with the whole ‘is she yours’ business, and then you saying yes? What does that mean exactly?”

“Oh. That. Uh, this bit can be kind of complicated for people not from around here to understand. But I’ll try.”

“Yeah. Try. I’m pretty smart– sometimes.”

“How can I put this. Uh, you’re an outsider. That is, you’re not from here and you’re not balaur.”

“Uh huh. With you so far.”

“Hey, don’t be snippy. I’m explaining, and I promise I haven’t done anything bad.”

Lily glared for a second longer, then stopped.

“Okay, it just sounded an awful lot like you were treating me like a belonging. Or like, a girlfriend? I’m not sure which but either way I feel like I should be pissed!”

“I’m sorry! Look, it’s more like a belonging than a girlfriend.”

Lily went back to glaring.

“Hey, no. That came out wrong. Okay, listen. Our society is very hierarchical. I understand it’s not like that in other places, but here everyone is under someone else. Well, almost everyone anyway. We have a really defined class structure. Outsiders complicate things. Since you don’t really fit anywhere in the system, see? So, when an outsider shows up they get claimed. I was just saying I’ve taken responsibility for you. Well, there’s more to it than that. But that’s the most important part.”

“Oh. Well you could have warned me!”

“I’m sorry. It’s just– It’s a lot of things. But you were already trying so hard I didn’t want to add to it! I didn’t think it’d come up on a first trip if you were just standing behind me, honest.”

“Hmm. Okay. Thanks for telling me. Is there anything I have to do?”

“Not really, no. Be respectful to people of higher class if you can tell. Apologize if offense is given. And um. Well, if we meet anyone else as low as me, you’ll have a good excuse not to talk to them. I’m your connection here, see?”

“Huh. That just leaves me with more questions, honestly. Like, what’s up with that? It’s your scales right?”

Sunica flinched.

“Yeah. You could tell?”

“I’m not an idiot. Of course. At first I just thought you were special. But, everyone we meet is giving you the stink eye. But I don’t get it. Aren’t you just special? Why is red bad? You’ve got way cooler scales than most of these people, are they just jealous?”

Sunica turned bright red. For a split second, her tail went absolutely wild. Then she turned away from Lily and covered her face, holding stock still.

“Um, I’m sorry. Did I say something insensitive? I didn’t mean it, I just don’t know–”

“No! No. No. You didn’t say anything bad. I swear. I.”

She went silent for almost a full minute.

“Thank you.”

“I still don’t know what I did, but you’re welcome?”

They stood still like that for a few more minutes, before Sunica turned back to her.

“It’s because they’re red. Balaur get our color from where we’re born. I’m red because I don’t belong here. To put it in terms an outsider might understand, balaur that share a color think of themselves as kind of like distant relatives. I’m red. I’m not part of the family. See?”

“Oh. So it doesn’t come from your parents? And you’re looked down on just because you were born somewhere else? That’s so stupid!”

Sunica winced.

“Please, Miss Lily. It’s how our culture works. And I wasn’t exactly born somewhere else.”

“Huh? But I thought you said–”

“It was a house fire.”

Lily stopped. That– That’s all it took? What the hell? She wanted to ask more questions about that, but she could see Sunica’s hands clenched, and the fact that she was trying very hard to keep a straight face.

“Oh. I’m sorry.”

“It’s fine. I’m used to it.”

“No! It’s not fine. Why don’t you leave? Surely humans wouldn’t care, or you could go to wherever red balaur live right?”

Sunica shook her head.

“This is my home. I’ve lived here all my life. My mother and sister live here. Well, up in Avezare. I don’t want to leave. Besides, people aren’t too bad. Some of them are kind. But if you’re wondering why they act like I’m beneath them, it’s because I am.”

Lily frowned.

“Well, I don’t care. You’re my friend and that’s that. Everyone else can go– Sit on something unpleasant!”

Sunica snorted, and the tension was broken.

“Is that something they say where you’re from? That’s so lame.”

But she was laughing. Lily smiled too.

“No! I just. Look, I don’t care about your color. I think your scales are beautiful, and anyone who’s gonna treat you like crap for it sucks. I’m glad I met you.”

Sunica gave her the most genuine smile Lily had seen on her face yet.

“Thanks. Now, let’s hit the guard house and ask about Star. Then we can swing back by Merici’s place and pick up your clothes. I also wanna see if I can find someone who knows a spell, just so you can see what that looks like. But don’t talk magic with them, okay?”

“Yeah. Okay. Thank you. You’ve made this a lot easier than it could have been for me.”

“Hah, anything for you Miss Outsider.”

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

The guard house was shockingly normal. Upon entering the room Lily was surprised to find what could have been a modern office in a rustic style, but for the lack of computers on the desks. Busy guards or maybe [Guards] walked around the room in mostly leather armor.

A gruff looking balaur man behind the front desk looked up as they walked in. He was downright burly, and had scales that were a mix of pure white and slightly grey. It gave him the unfortunate impression of dirty snow. He raised an eyebrow.

“Sunica? Tell me you’re not in some kind of trouble again.”

“No Mister Rece. Avea pointed me here. I met a human in the forest. She’s looking for a dog. He’s about thiiiiis big?”

She looked at Lily. Lily nodded.

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

“Male, white, fluffy, black spot on his head, super smart. Those are all the clues we have, unfortunately.”

The man scratched his chin thoughtfully.

“I haven’t heard anything about a dog, but I’m not sure that sort of thing would be reported. I’ll put out a heads up, but unless one of our men finds him directly you might be out of luck Miss Outsider.”

Lily felt like she was going to cry, but she held it in. No. No no no. Someone had to have an idea of how to look. But the truth was, she didn’t even know if he was nearby. How was she supposed to look? A spell. It had to be a spell. How could she contact him? He was wearing the bandana that she had enchanted. Maybe she could do something like that? It was her magic. Lily realized she’d been lost in thought when Sunica shook her shoulder gently and nodded towards the door.

The moment they were outside, Sunica exclaimed.

“What a waste of time! Ah well. It was worth a shot, but we’re gonna have to try elsewhere. Maybe we can post something at the adventurer’s guild? Not sure they’d take a request to find a lost dog, but I think some teams have a [Tracker]. Honestly, maybe we ought to just look for a [Tracker]. A private person might not charge us an arm and a leg. Anyway, let’s–”

Sunica turned and realized Lily had stopped walking five feet ago. She backtracked and bent slightly to look Lily eye to eye.

“Hey.”

Lily started, and looked around wildly for a second.

“I have to cast a spell. I’m trying to work it out in my head. There’s gotta be a way. I feel so stupid for not thinking of this problem before it happened. But, I can figure this out. I just have to put my mind to it.”

“Hey.”

“There’s something there. His bandana. Connecting a spell to another spell. Something like that. It’s still my magic. If it’s far away it might cost a lot of mana though, and I don’t want to think of what it’ll be if he’s home or somehow on the other side of the world. Or, maybe distance won’t matter if I can charge it gradually? I need to take a look in my notebook for any glyphs that look related. Ugh, I shouldn’t have–”

Sunica shook her, hard.

“Hey!”

Lily looked up, again seeming almost surprised to see her.

“Sorry. I just get in my head when it comes to this stuff. I have to work it out, you know? We said we’d always be there for each other.”

“You need to get it together. You’re gonna drive yourself crazy at this rate. I get being worried, but there is a limit to what you can do. You’re not going to be of any use at all if you drive yourself into a hole.”

“I can do it though! I know I can. Look, when everything first happened I was a weak and scared girl. And in some ways I still am. But I’ve grown. I’ve gotten stronger. I’ve learned how to survive, because I’m– Because I’m determined. It was Star who taught me that. If I just throw myself into it, I can make amazing things happen.”

Sunica grabbed her hand and pulled it up in front of her face.

“Yeah? And what about the cost you were talking about before, then? How’d you get these scars, Lily? I’m guessing it was something like this.”

Lily almost smiled, but there was no joy in her expression.

“I’d gladly pay it to make sure he’s okay. This is my fault. I have to fix it. It doesn’t matter what it costs. It’s what I have to do.”

Sunica stared at her with a look Lily didn’t recognize at first. Oh. Right. Disgust. That’s right. That’s what she should have been looking at Lily like all along. It’s a wonder it took this long.

“That’s just– You’re just punishing yourself. Do you really think your friend would want that?”

“I don’t care. It won’t matter what he wants if he dies because I didn’t help him. I have to.”

“You don’t even know if he’s in danger! What good is being self destructive like this?”

“I don’t know if he’s in danger. What could be more clear? I’ll try not to get hurt, but there’s nothing I wouldn’t do. Is that so wrong for someone important to you?”

“That’s clearly just an excuse so you can hurt yourself! I met you earlier today and even I can see that. You’re not okay.“

“All I’m talking about is casting a spell!”

“Don’t deflect! It’s not about the spell. It’s about your thought process. If you wanted to cast a spell and be safe and sane about it, I wouldn’t be talking to you about this.”

“You don’t understand!”

They stared at each other for half a minute. Then a voice from behind Lily broke the silence.

“Uh, are you two girls okay?”

Lily whirled. The balaur guard from the gate was standing at the entrance to the side street they were speaking on, looking concerned.

Lily’s eyes went wide. She almost yelped. Someone had noticed their argument. Her heart started beating faster. A cold sweat started on her back. No no no no no. She couldn’t do this. She couldn’t be out somewhere. She knew this was a bad idea. She didn’t really even know Sunica. How could she let herself be brought here? No. No. No. She had to–

She turned on her heel and ran like her life depended on it.

She heard Sunica’s voice call out after her, followed immediately by the man’s.

“Lily! Wait!”

“Hey, cool it Red, I don’t know what you did to that girl but I’m not gonna let you chase her down!”

Then Lily turned a corner, and the sounds of the city took over. There were people everywhere. They stared at her as she came running into the street.

No no no. She had to leave. Get outside the city. Which way was it? She couldn’t remember. She was all turned around, and everyone was staring. She shouldn’t be here. She shouldn’t be here.

Why had she run? That was so stupid! She was so stupid! Now she was here in front of all these people. They were staring at her. She could see it. They could all see she didn’t belong here. She tried to defuse things.

“I-I’m sorry. I–”

The words stopped coming out. She turned to run again, when a hand grabbed her arm.

“Gotcha!”

The guard from earlier had her by the arm. Lily tried to wrench it free and run. His grip was like iron.

“Hey, Hey. Miss Outsider I’m here to help. Let’s go somewhere more private alright?”

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to cause trouble. Please just let me leave.”

The guard gave her a cold smile.

“What kinda guy would I be if I let a girl in trouble just run wildly through the city? C’mon.”

He pulled her away with absolutely no trouble.

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

Minutes later, Lily found herself sitting in a small waiting room in the guard house. She’d been dragged in past the guard who had seen them earlier, and told to sit down. She didn’t dare make things worse for herself. But she felt like she was going to throw up. At least she was alone in the room and could breathe for now.

What did this guard want with her? Avea? Had she broken a law? Was it because she was human? Or was it something even more scary..? Her mind was running wild. No. Maybe he really wanted to help. She shouldn’t jump to the worst.

She was trembling. She had to get herself under control. How? Breathe. Relax. She had to get back to Sunica. Unless…

Did Sunica even want to see her? Had she just burned that bridge? Over what? She was so stupid. Stupid stupid stupid. She kicked herself.

The door opened and Avea entered and sat down at the table across from her. He blew out his cheeks and took a deep breath before starting.

“Okay Miss Outsider. We’ve got Sunica out in the main office just about ready to start a fight to get in here. So make it quick.”

Lily stared at him with wide eyes. Had she heard that right?

“Sunica is here?”

“Yeah, and she’s real pissed I stopped her from chasing you. That girl’s normally pretty law-abiding. I don’t know what you did with her, but she doesn’t wanna talk about it, and just keeps insisting we let you into her care. So, make it quick. What happened? We won’t send you out with her if you don’t want to go.”

“You’re not going to do anything to me?”

He gave her a confused look, and his tail smacked the floor behind his chair. He rolled his eyes.

“Why would I do anything to you, Miss Outsider? I saw a scared crying girl getting chased through the streets. I’m a [Guard]. I kept telling you I was tryin’ to help on the way over here. Weren’t you listening?”

Lily clenched her hands tightly and tried to be steady.

“I’m sorry. I– I was very scared.”

“Yeah, I could tell. Looked like a monster was chasing you. So, what happened?”

“We had an argument. I think she was trying to help me. I said some stupid things. And I got… startled when you showed up.”

Avea snorted, and then almost doubled over with laughter. He pounded the table a few times. Lily flinched from the loud noises.

“Startled? You can that startled? I thought Sunica was going to skin you like one of her trap captures.”

“Y-yeah. I’m sorry. Really. I didn’t mean to cause trouble.”

“Oh it’s no trouble Miss. I’ll be laughing about that one for weeks. So, you’re fine with Sunica?”

“Um, if she wants to see me, then yes.”

“I think she’s gonna burn the place down if she gets any more riled up, so yeah I’d say she wants to see you. Fine. I’ll go let her know you’ll be out when you’re ready.”

He stood and turned to leave. Wait. Wait. Lily opened her mouth, and words didn’t want to come out. But this was important. She bit her lip hard to snap out of it, and spoke up.

“Um! Wait!”

“Yeah?”

“Thank you.”

Avea smiled at her. It was the same smile from the road earlier, but now, less clouded with her own fear, she could tell it was genuine.

“Sure thing Miss. See you around.”

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

Lily and Sunica awkwardly left the guard house a second time, walking side by side in silence. They got half way down the street before they both tried to speak at once.

“I’m sor–”

“Hey, sor–”

They paused, and then laughed. Lily spoke first.

“You were right. I’m sorry. Thank you for coming to save me.”

“No no. I shouldn’t have said all that. It was presumptuous. We don’t know each other well enough for that yet and I was overstepping.”

“No, really. You were right. It’s… It’s this place. Being here with all these people. It starts to be hard to have a positive thought at all you know? Everything is fear and stress.”

Sunica closed her eyes and nodded.

“Yeah. It wasn’t the place to talk about that at very least. C’mon. Let’s get you those clothes and then head home. We can talk about our next steps there, okay?”

“Thanks, Sunica.”

“Anything for you, Miss Outsider.”