I studied the woman who was studying the sky.

“Two suns,” she whispered.

She kept blinking, which told me she had accidentally looked directly at one of them.

“Three, actually. Although the third only rises after a storm,” I said.

“Three?” she finally glanced away from the sky, but only to look at me for a moment. She saw my honesty and went back to looking at the sky.

The trees were thinning, and we were standing in one of the many open sections that had begun to become frequent. The forest had grown a little since I’d last been this way, but not by much.

I’d allowed her to stop and rest, and when she did sit down for a breather she had noticed the second sun in the sky.

She was a little more observant than some of my other clients… in fact; the only ones I could remember who had noticed so readily were powers, not humans.

“One is setting, but the other looks like it just rose an hour or two ago. Yet you say it’ll be night time in a few hours?” she asked.

“This sun sets faster. Can’t you tell it’s moving quickly?” I asked.

I didn’t look up. I’ve seen the sights countless times.

But I haven’t seen such a happy smile here in the Rift, on a power no less, in a very long time.

“It is moving,” she said to herself, happy to verify it.

Had she doubted me, or was she just… happy to see something so unique?

I had to admit it was… a little troubling, that she seemed to so readily believe anything I said.

She hadn’t even questioned the third sun rising after a storm.

It’s been… a very long time since I had such trust from my own kind.

That was something I had long since forgotten.

No power trusted me anymore, after all.

“Krift?”

I sighed at myself, and nodded to her. “Yes?”

“I asked if there is more than one moon, too,” she said.

“There are. Only two here. There are three in the Lands of Power, however,” I said.

She smiled, then that smiled died… then it returned with vigor. “Three?”

Standing, she stepped towards me, and I could tell by the way she hurried over to me that she wanted me to go into further detail.

“Three. Two are always in the night sky, and a third never leaves. Even during the day,” I said.

“Really?”

I nodded, and wondered what kind of face she’d have once she sees them.

The sky in the Lands of Power was far more brilliant than the sky here in the Rift. Or the Lands of Man.

Yet here before me, were a pair of something’s far more brilliant.

“You’ll see them. And learn of them, too. Our kind takes the stars very seriously. Much more than the humans,” I said.

“You sound a little odd. Do you find our kind’s interest in the stars silly?” she asked. What was odd was the interest she had in my own thoughts, and not the topics of the conversation.

“No. If I sounded annoyed, or whatever you heard, it was because I was thinking of the long nights being taught our history,” I said.

Her green eyes widened in amusement as she giggled. “So you don’t find history interesting? Or is it the stars? I like the stars,” she said.

“Rather, the teacher. He had a tendency to beat the information into his students,” I said.

“Beat… Really?” she asked. The gleam in her eyes died down, like the last whimper of a flame.

Damn. I did it again.

She blinked, stepping back a step. “Sorry,” she said.

“For?” I asked.

“I… I don’t know,” she said, unsure of herself.

A few moments passed, as we stared at each other.

She had seen my agitation. The moment it happened.

I needed to control myself better. How she saw it so plainly was a mystery, but there was no denying it now.

I didn’t know how. I couldn’t comprehend it. But it was undeniable.

Mintmorency was able to see the Riftborn’s thoughts.

Which wasn’t good at all, since I usually killed those who could.

“So… what does our history have to do with the stars?” she asked, turning to look at a nearby rock. It was shaped a little oddly, with the spikes all over it.

Thankful for her willingness to change the topic of this conversation, I quickly wondered which story would be the best to tell.

“A cluster of stars, that shine brightest, take the shape of a crown. Many generations ago, a kingdom fell. A very mighty one. When it fell, the king’s crown… which had of course been formed to look like that cluster of stars had fallen off along with his head. It cracked,” I began telling her of one of the oldest, and most renowned.

Her eyes returned to mine, and the gleam did too. I smiled at the sight of it.

“A year later, the night before the coronation of the new king… the nephew who had usurped his uncle, a star fell. It flew across the night sky with great turmoil. The ground shook. The wind blew, the night became day,” I continued.

Fully entranced by my story, I tapped my own head, where the crack had appeared. “And after that event, three stars had gone missing in the sky. Forming a small… crack, in the crown in the sky.”

Mintmorency drew closer, as the fascination in her eyes grew. “In the same spot the crown had cracked,” she whispered.

I nodded. “Same spot. That crown exists today, sitting on a pedestal in the capital. For all to see, and always to remember,” I said.

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

“What happened to the king? The one who stole the crown?” she asked.

Somewhat surprised she focused on that, I shrugged. “Not sure. Was deposed, or ran away maybe. The legend doesn’t go into that much detail. It’s more so used as a story to deter rebellion. That a forcefully taken crown, or position, has a cracked foundation. One that will topple, eventually,” I said.

“Hm,” was all she said, as she went deep into thought.

“It’s things like that. Allegories. Tales. Lessons. Crests too. Many family crests are found in the night sky,” I said.

“I see. It seems I’ll have… lots to learn,” she said gently.

“In time you will. Though that is an interesting thought, isn’t it?” I wondered.

She tilted her head, not understanding me.

“All children, even servants, get to spend five years in schooling. You haven’t. I wonder if they’ll make you do so as well. You may be the oldest student to ever go to school,” I said.

Mintmorency smiled. “You may laugh and tease me, but I would actually find that very interesting. And fun.”

“You probably would,” I agreed.

“I never got to go to school, or study. Our town didn’t even have a school. In fact, as far as I’m aware, we only had a few books as well. Gillington, the head fisherman, had them. He let the kids read them, if they asked,” she said.

“Who taught you how to read then?” I asked. She was obviously able. She had read those letters.

“My aunt. Occasionally. She taught me enough to help with the ledgers of the farm, and I learned the rest myself,” she said.

Her aunt? Not her mother?

That was odd. Although our spoken words were the same, the human’s letters were different. Different, but phonetically the same. Which made it very easy for a power to learn the human’s writing.

Her mother, even if a servant or lower born, would have known how to read and write. And would then have been able to quickly come to understand the human’s writing.

Yet she hadn’t taught her.

“Why didn’t your mother teach you?” I asked, finding myself unable not to.

“She hated humans.”

The very plain tone she had used to speak, told me the rest of the story.

Her mother had refused to learn their written word.

“And as I grew older, and more and more of our family died… it became my responsibility to handle things. Especially the ledgers, letters and receipts. Our family didn’t just farm. We were also the ones who sold the fish caught in the town. Alongside our excess livestock. So I kind of had to learn, quickly. Or else the town would have hated me, if I messed up their incomes,” she explained.

Glad that she had not been looking at me, to notice my inner turmoil again, I nodded. “That makes sense,” I said.

“It was fun, though. Even if sometimes… troubling,” she said, obviously remembering those moments.

“Then you sold it all. To come here,” I said.

She finally looked back at me, and nodded. “I did. I don’t regret that, by the way,” she said.

“One day you might. Take it from me, sometimes a simple life is… best.”

She studied me, and I let her. I’d not be able to run from those eyes forever, after all.

“The baron I sold the farm to… he said something similar to you. He wanted it for himself. To live there. To leave their busy life in the capital behind,” she said.

“A wise man,” I said.

“His wife didn’t think so. They had argued, the first time I met them to negotiate. It was… startling. I’ve seen married couples argue before, of course, but… this was different,” she said, once again getting lost in thought.

“How so?” I asked.

I didn’t actually care for this baron. But I did care for what she found interesting.

“They loved each other,” Mintmorency said softly.

“And… that was startling?” I asked, wondering why.

Yes real love was… obnoxious. I could think of a few people whom it was unpleasant to be around, since they were like so. But as rare as it was, at the same time… it wasn’t. A rarity but not something that was impossible to find. Especially so amongst the humans.

“It was. Yet for as much love they had for one another, they couldn’t agree on their future. He wanted to raise his children on a small farm, in a small little town like mine. She didn’t,” she said.

“Ah. She didn’t want to abandon her wealth,” I understood.

“No. She didn’t want to leave the rest of her family. She was willing to live in the outskirts of their city, in one of the farms around there. But not so far from the rest of her family,” she said.

“Also not surprising. For many, their family… even the extended ones, are important,” I said.

“Not in my experience.”

The tone was an odd one from her. And I somewhat liked the way her eyes glared at me.

She wasn’t sad. She was angry.

She was accusing.

It looked good on her.

“You didn’t have a very good chance, Mint. With your circumstances. It’d not be fair to judge the families of others with the same eyes,” I said.

Her glare hardened a little, but I noticed the gleam in her eyes hadn’t disappeared yet.

“I know. My aunt… didn’t like me very much. But her and her husband, and their children, were wonderful people. Maybe the nicest I’ve ever known,” she said.

“Then why the… anger?” I dared to ask.

She blinked, and with it most of her anger dissipated.

“Because… I had traded my birthright to someone who was getting what I wanted. It made me feel… ridiculed. Even if they hadn’t meant to, or even knew it,” she said softly.

I frowned, and tried to look at her from her perspective. She was upset because she was selling her home, to find her family. And they were getting a home for a family, in exchange.

“They were happy, weren’t they?” I asked.

She nodded. “Our third meeting. I was expecting them to say no. Based off the meeting beforehand and the letter they had sent after. Yet when I walked into their house, they both hugged me and were so… so very happy. It made me sick, and almost made me not shake his hand,” she said.

Yes. That’d piss me off too.

“Life is like that sometimes. Teasing and taunting you, like so,” I said.

She shrugged, and looked back up at the sky.

“Oh. Wow,” she said, noticing that the sun was already heading back to the horizon.

“Like I said. It’d pass quickly,” I said.

“Sorry. Should we get to walking?” she asked, worried.

I nodded, and pointed in the direction we should head. She had long since forgotten where we he had been going.

“How about you, Krift?” she asked as we went back to walking.

“About me what?”

“Your family. Was it a happy one?” she asked with that strange… innocence of hers.

“What family?” I asked, making sure our eyes didn’t meet.

One of her footfalls skidded a little. As if she had almost tripped.

Although I didn’t want to look at her, I still did… to make sure she hadn’t hurt herself.

I expected to find her eyes staring at me again. So full of strange comprehension. Reading me as easily as if I had written each and every thought and emotion down for her word by word.

Instead she was looking down, with a firm face. Focused on walking, all of a sudden… and not because she had just almost fell.

“Probably a good thing you’ll let me sleep through the night. I’d fall all over the place, maybe,” she said lightly.

I knew from the tone of her voice alone, that she was just trying to change the topic… again. I didn’t need to see the way her eyes darted around, or the weird smile.

“Falling isn’t that bad. Sometimes the dirt tastes good,” I said, letting her do so.

“Please,” she sniffed a laugh.

“Plus the nights aren’t that long. Usually. Sometimes they last for a very long time, but by the judge of the air tonight will only last a few hours,” I said.

“Huh… I uh… have a few questions, then,” she said.

I nodded, since I knew she’d have them after hearing such a thing.

And I went to answering, in return for her earlier kindness.

In allowing me to ignore speaking of my family.

And the atrocities they had committed.

That I had committed. In their name.

She’d hear and learn all about it… soon.

Once we left the Rift.

Once we went into the Lands of Power.

But for now… I allowed her kindness to keep it all hidden.

Tucked away, behind a curtain of kindness.

It was such a simple and innocent kindness. One that I couldn’t remember experiencing. Maybe long ago… when I had been younger, before the war.

Hopefully I would not become too dependent on that kindness.

Because it’d probably get me killed.

Or worse…. Get her killed too.