She couldn’t simply run away. That much was all Gabrielle knew. Despite her naive nature and all that could imply, Gabrielle did not have a plan and she was aware that running out without any ideas would lead her to die tragically in some desert, or be taken as a slave to a terrible magnate in continental Jericho. At least, that’s as much as she had heard from the Prologues themselves! Tales of dumb, misbehaving children simply trying to run away and dying horribly.

But if not that, then what should she do!?

One thing I won’t do is give them back…!

Another thing she knew! Gabi felt terribly excited to find so much engraved in the stone of her mind: she was not going to give this Angel back no matter what. And why?!

Because…! Uh. Because I don’t want them to suffer?

And why?

Because that would be… bad…?

Gabi didn’t care much for others, for she had been raised in a household of abandonment and ignorance. And yet, here she was, trying to save this Angel. It clearly wasn’t because of moral implications, for she had been taught that the moral thing was always doing what Father said, so this was as immoral as it came.

The girl quickly smacked her face again, trying to wake herself up from these useless thoughts. She could analyze her own motives any other day of the year, now she needed to take this child away and… and…

Hide them!

Yes, that was the solution! She could just hide them for now, and then she would have all the time to think about her own motivations and a way to get the Angel as far away from Father as possible.

Though, they didn’t call them “Father”.

Demiurge. He’s the Demiurge.

What does that mean…

“Alright! It doesn’t matter, nothing matters!” Gabrielle exclaimed, pushing her body to not give her mind any more time to ruminate. Baraqiel immediately clung to her. “Everything will be fine from now on, I swear on my name! And even if I do not know what it means, I know that swearing on names is the most important kind of swear!”

With newly found strength, Gabi pushed harder onwards, not even looking back at the chapel once she passed the corner. No, her steps were now following the trail that went deep into the forest surrounding it all, her trembling steps now turning into quick trotting upon the muddy floor.

People could easily get lost in these lands, with all these trees and details that could easily look identical to the inexperienced explorer. Gabrielle was not an expert by any means, but the constant work she had to realize all her life had come with benefits: she had memorized the paths that actually interested her, the scenic routes to go to Town, the spots where she could see the beautiful birds, and more importantly:

The way to the abandoned mine.

Hidden deep within the forest, south to the Chapel and east to the main trail, there was a plateau. A little stream flowed from it, but more importantly there was an old encampment where people used to work mining “rocks”. Gabrielle never really knew what they mined there, for the place was abandoned far before she was even born, and it had been robbed clean of anything useful. Now, all one could find were rusty tools, some sheds and the spooky tunnel that went deep to the underground.

Underground is spooky and cold, but there are little pink rocks here and there…

Gabrielle nodded to herself. The Mine was the perfect spot to hide an Angel, probably in one of the sheds! People were afraid of the place because of rumors of wolves and wild Demis hiding in there. All baseless, for Gabi knew very well there were no wolves in that forest.

There are some bears though, but they are all dumb and groggy right now.

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Yes. The Mine was perfect. Before this, Gabi had only used it to sulk by herself and keep her mind quiet after days when life got particularly harsh, but now the place felt so much more important. Everything felt much more important!

So important that she didn’t even notice the stings of rocks and sticks on her feet. Every step would make her wince in the past, but not tonight. Tonight she had a person to save.

Her heart beat harder than ever, her body feeling stronger! Powerful! Invincible!

And then, a twig suddenly cracked in the night.

“W-What was that?!”

Baraqiel panicked, clinging a bit harder as Gabrielle stopped all movements and closed her eyes.

“Shhhhh…”

Now she was the one keeping her companion calm. Gabi breathed deeply and slowly, as she listened on to the symphony of the forest.

Without the rain to stop it, she could hear the steps of little animals jumping on trees, and the singing of nocturnal birds flying around. A forest never truly sleeps, there is no such thing as silence if you are paying enough attention, and Gabrielle often pays mind to these sorts of things.

It was much preferable to the constant noise of the girls back at home.

“It was a deer.” She finally concluded, nodding to herself and restarting the march.

“W-What, a deer? This late in the night?” Baraqiel could not buy it. “How do you know?”

“I have good ears.” Gabi explained. “People breathe weird when they hide, so it’s not a people.”

“Person.”

“Yes.” She nodded. “Big bears don’t stalk this much and it would have been much heavier. And there are no wolves in here. Foxes are not heavy enough, squirrels are not heavy enough, Owls–”

“O-Okay, okay. I got your point. So it had to be a deer.”

“Or a stag.”

“Yeah… that. Thank you.”

—

Baraqiel had to admit to themself that this more dependable, somehow knowledgeable side of the girl was comforting to have around. Her steps felt decided and, more importantly, they were moving further and further away from the Demiurge with each moment that passed. Hope was, once again, blossoming in the kid’s heart, along with exhaustion and curiosity.

They closed their eyes, trying to listen on to the forest like Gabrielle did, but only managed to hear her breathing. It was slow, calm, despite her running steps. But it picked up all of a sudden, which made Baraqiel open their eyes in surprise.

“What, what is it?”

“There it is!”

The trees had been steadily clearing out of their way, revealing the decaying corpse of an old mining camp. Most of the houses built around the gaping maw that was the mine itself had fallen down due to the rotting of their foundations and the theft of all that could hold them up. Only the ripped tents remained, probably because people had no use for cheap cloth, and a few sheds with their doors robbed of their iron knobs.

“See, your cold-ness? It is right here.”

Again with the names, and again with that uneasy smile. Baraqiel couldn’t help but smile back though, the girl was really doing her best and, really, it was more than they had gotten from anyone before, so there was no need to be picky.

Suddenly, as they walked, the girl pointed out at the wooden arch that was the mine’s entrance.

“Parliament!”

Baraqiel blinked twice, looking up to where that finger was pointing: a group of chubby-looking birds with regal, curious expressions on their flat faces, staring at them from atop the arch. Owls, the “angel” had only seen them on carvings or drawings.

“No, Gabi. Those are owls.”

“A family of owls is called a Parliament. Sister Arianna said so.”

They blinked again. Was the girl trying to strike a conversation, now of all times… the way she looked at them, the emotions were suddenly so easy to read on her! All you had to do was look at the eyes, not the face: she was clearly aware of their exhaustion, and was trying to make them feel better before resting.

“Huh… that’s a funny word.” Baraqiel was not exactly a genius at talking, but they did want to keep the conversation going. They just didn’t know how. “But why don’t they just call it a “Family of Owls” or something?”

Gabrielle stopped, her hand right about to open the door of one of the sheds. Baraqiel stared at her for a moment, suddenly worried, before she simply stated.

“Adults probably just think it sounds cuter.”

She had absolutely no idea. But Baraqiel didn’t give her a hard time for it, they just smiled along and nodded, accepting it. The girl puffed up her chest, feeling a little smarter.

—

Once they were both inside, Gabrielle carefully put the “angel” back down on the floor, all before letting herself fall on her butt and sigh in relief.

“There you go, your worried-ness. Safe and sound, no way Father finds you here! Just as I said!”

Probably feeling proud of herself, the girl started checking her feet to take off any little pebbles and splinters that now started to give her Hell. In the meantime, Baraqiel simply looked around the tiny shed, trying to take in what they had at their disposal.

There were some broken down pots, apparently an obsession of this girl, and pieces of metallic scrap; there was this little lamp with a very small candle, hidden among it all in such a way that it was clear Gabi brought it herself. There were also some leaves of different shapes and a pine twig, all hanging from a wall beside a pile of pine leaves down on the floor.

She probably gave up trying to nail a single pine leaf there…

Baraqiel couldn’t help but laugh a bit at that, before looking back at Gabrielle.

“Thank you for helping me out. Really.” They rubbed the back of their neck with an embarrassed smile. “I wouldn’t have believed myself if I had to explain this whole thing for the first time!”

“Oh, it is alright your stinky-ness.” Gabrielle smiled a bit brighter. “I couldn’t let you be hurt again, someone had to help you!”

“... Hey, Gabrielle.”

“Yes, your muddiness?”

“Please cut it out with the names. It’s just Baraqiel, you can call me that.”

“Y-Yes. Sorry, your tinyness. I mean, Baraqiel. I… just, stay there, I will find something to dry you up.”