"From the moment you step out of this place, your new name shall be Kira." Lux's mother stood at the edge of the palace grounds, facing her children.

Lux nodded slightly. If she said anything, she thought she might cry. In a few moments, she was going to leave this palace and go out into something completely new to her.

Her mother's head turned to Rayne, and she took his hands in hers.

"The same for you, Rayne. Your name will be Darrion."

If Lux weren't so sad and nervous, she might have laughed. The name sounded stupid to her.

Rayne nodded in response, clutching the reins of his horse.

Their mother stopped and looked tenderly at both of them, which was a rare show, as she always put on an air of absolute indifference.

Their close moment was interrupted when Lyra coughed.

"What is it, Lyra?" Their mother asked, seeming somewhat annoyed.

"Well, you haven't given me a name yet, Mother." Lyra replied, rubbing her hands together nervously, Lux noted.

"Oh." Their mother stared at her as if she were caught off guard. "You can think of one for yourself."

"Oh, um, alright." Lyra glanced at the ground nervously, looking out of place without a book in her hands.

Lux looked at her siblings, standing silently behind their mother.

Luther was holding Aurelia and Merce, who both looked like they might fall asleep any minute. It was past the time they were supposed to go to bed, but they had both insisted on seeing them off, despite the fact that they would most likely fall asleep before they were able to. Kaia was holding herself with her arms and looked like she was about to cry. Arden was crying. Vivianne somehow managed to maintain a look of nonchalance but still looked on with unblinking eyes.

Managing to smile, Lux walked towards them.

"Bye, everyone." Was all she said, all she could say, without breaking out into tears.

But someone broke out into tears for her.

Kaia flung her arms around her, sobbing uncontrollably.

She couldn't take it anymore and burst into tears herself.

"I'm—I'm going to m-miss you, Lux." Kaia closed her eyes, grabbing on even tighter.

"I—I'm going to miss you too, Kaia, but we'll come back soon." Lux managed to get a hold of herself, and Kaia stepped back, drying her own eyes as a smile came to her face.

"That's the first and only time you'll ever hear me say that," she teased.

Lux chuckled and looked at the rest of her siblings. She was going to miss them more than they would ever know. They were her entire world.

"We'll be back soon. I swear." She would come back. It was a promise.

"You must depart soon. Check your bags again and make sure you have everything," their mother said, knowing they were short on time.

For what felt like the millionth time that evening, Lux took off her bag and checked that she had everything.

A map, to find their way to Chaconas, food, small pouches of money, and their maid uniforms. She looked at Rayne to see if he also had everything—more pouches of money and clothes for himself. He also had a sword on his back, his favorite, in fact.

He nodded at her, and Lux set the bag back on her back, not bothering to look at Lyra, who hadn't volunteered to carry anything important.

Looking at them one last time, their mother nodded at them and pulled an amulet out from a bag on her shoulder.

It was absolutely beautiful.

It somehow caught light that wasn't there, shimmering in the black abyss that was the night. Gold wrapped around it, like the warm embrace of a mother, and in the gold lay the shape of a crown, carved perfectly.

Their mother didn't say anything about the amulet, laying it out in her hands and moving closer to the barrier of the castle.

"Mount your horses," she ordered and held out the amulet.

Lux obeyed, climbing onto her horse, Gilia, and grabbing the reins.

She looked at the barrier and remembered days from long ago.

The first time she had come to the invisible barrier, she was four and very curious. Her curiosity was soon put out when she touched it and found herself being thrown backward. Ever since then, she had looked at the forest outside the barrier with no will to go into it at all.

Now that she was going outside, Lux found her curiosity renewed, and it managed to take away some of her nerves.

Getting ready to exit, she looked straight at the forest, going over their story in her head.

They were all siblings from Sidus who had gotten tired of fishing like everyone else in their family and had decided to move to Polemus for jobs in the castle and a breath of fresh air. The story was somewhat similar to the truth, making their lie a lot more believable.

Her attention was taken back by her mother, who inhaled loudly.

Suddenly, the amulet started glowing, shining even brighter than before.

The ground started to tremble, as if the whole palace was coming alive, and suddenly Lux was strangely reminded of when she had gone into the servant's quarters only hours before.

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"Go now!" Their mother shouted over the tremors, struggling to stay upright.

With a final nod, Lux kicked the reins and followed behind Rayne into a whole new world.

But that's when she heard a shout.

Panic dancing within her, she looked back to see that Lyra hadn't moved.

She was still in the now-closed barrier, a scowl creeping up her face.

Lux became even more panicked, wondering what had gone wrong, but when she looked at her mother, she calmed down.

Nothing was wrong, because her mother had never meant to let Lyra out in the first place. She saw it in her cold eyes.

Lux sighed. She had never wanted Lyra to come with them in the first place, and it looked like their mother agreed, but she still felt bad that she had been tricked. How would Lyra take this?

Shaking her head, she decided to think about the path ahead.

The wind was in her hair, and despite her nerves, Lux smiled. She was outside for the first time in her life, and she knew that she had a mission, but she was going to enjoy herself.

✦✦✦

Lux looked around her in shock. She was sure that they were in Sidus now, but she couldn't believe it. There were smaller buildings, houses? Where she guessed people were sleeping, seeing as no lights were on. They had slowed their pace, trying not to wake anyone, but Lux was close to gasping and waking everyone regardless.

When she found out in her studies that they were royal, she knew that it meant they were richer than others, but she still hadn't imagined their homes to look like... this. They were barely as big as the servant's quarters!

She did find a certain charm in the village, though, as it reminded her of picture books that her father had read to her when she was little. She could barely resist the urge to run to one of the small houses and run her fingers along the stone.

Rayne was riding silently in front of her, surveying the area. She had told him about Lyra, back when they were in the forest, but he had surprised her by saying that he already knew, and agreed with their mothers decision.

It was relieving to know that Rayne felt the same way about Lyra as she did, but it was surprising to know that he already knew. Why hadn't their mother told her? Was it because he was the heir? What else did he know that she didn't?

These thoughts went around in her brain as they travelled through the village, but suddenly Rayne came to a sudden halt.

Stopping behind him, Lux craned her head to see what the problem was.

A middle-aged man was blocking their way, looking up at them with curiosity.

Clearing her throat, Lux got off Gilia and approached the man.

"Good day, sir! Er, it's actually night now. So good night, sir!" She stumbled over her words, trying to remember how to speak to a stranger. This was the first one she'd ever met.

"Are ye headin' somewhere?" The man ignored her greeting and crossed his arms.

Not getting his hostility, she replied cheerily, "Oh yes, we are. It's going to be a long journey, so we'd like to get going now, if you don't mind."

Suddenly turning cheery himself, the man smiled at them. "If that's the case, ye should come an' stay at me inn. Ye won't be able to get anywhere in the night, what with these trees blockin' the way."

Lux looked back at Rayne, who had dismounted his own horse and had his hands on his sword, like he might have to fight at any moment. He seemed like he was questioning what was the best course of action, but eventually, he gave a single nod.

"He doesn't say much, does he?" The inn owner scratched his head and started walking, presumably toward the inn.

"Yes, he's the silent type." Lux followed him, taking the reins of Gilia as she did.

"I can understand that. Me daughter's the same."

Lux and the inn owner ended up talking all the way to the inn, though it was the inn owner who was sharing information about himself.

When they arrived at the doors to the inn, a little gap-toothed boy came up to them and held his hand out.

"Uhm, err." Suddenly Lux wanted Lyra there to tell her what to do.

With a rising eyebrow, the inn owner said, "Y'know, y'just give him a coin, and he'll take the horses."

"Oh, oh why yes, of course." Lux became flustered and scrambled around in her bag for a coin. When she retrieved one, she gave Gilia to the boy as he pocketed the coin and made her way into the inn.

The inn was warm, with the faint smell of alcohol in the air. One candle flickered lightly, there was a counter at the front of the room, and to the side, there were stairs. The man got behind the counter and held a piece of paper with something written on it, and looked to the two siblings. "What are yer names?"

"Kira." "Darrion." They answered simultaneously.

"Right, right." He scribbled on the paper.

"Where are ye from? I don't recognize ye at all, and this is a small village." He questioned, folding his arms.

"Ah, well..." Lux tried to think of an excuse, and she looked to Rayne for ideas. But he looked equally as stumped. They couldn't stick to their original story, as the man would know they were lying. Thankfully, an idea came to her.

"We're from a neighboring village. We meant to be on our way to Polemus for work, but we found ourselves lost. That's why we were out late at night," she explained with her hands.

"Alright then... Anyway, that'll be two Chyros. Your room's the one with the door open." He reached out his hand, and Lux gave him the money.

They both started making their way to their room, but Lux stopped and went back to the counter.

"Need somethin' already?" The man cleaned a glass as he looked at her.

"This is Sidus, right? If so, then what do you know about the Callis family?" She had decided that she should learn more about their current situation if she was going to discover what was trapping her family.

"Ooh, that's a name I haven't heard in a while." He set down the glass and looked as if he was remembering something from long ago.

"So you know something?" Lux was onto something now.

"Mhm." He grabbed the chair behind him and sat down. "The Callis family was well-loved around here, even though they were in Polemus most of the year. Always givin' to the people, real involved in the community." He went on, clearly on a roll. "The queen, Astrid, I think was her name, became queen when she was only twenty-two, but she was good at it. She had two kids too, but I always forget their names. Anyway, she was a grand queen, really cared about us poorer villages, but the Athas ruined everything." Lux listened closely, with Rayne also standing close, taking everything in.

"One day those stupid Athas said that the Callis were gone. Just disappeared. Poof! And all those cities and villages down south believed 'em! But up here, we all reckon they killed 'em and got away with it. Scoundrels! Every last one of 'em!"

His tone became more serious. "Some folks have started to... rebel 'round here. They're tryin' to dethrone the Athas and put the Callis back on the throne, and the Callis alone. But they're all dead; it's a lost cause. The capital doesn't even see 'em as a threat anyway."

"Y'know, their palace is up there. Their own personal one. But they weren't even there when they all disappeared anyway, an' you can't get close. It's a labyrinth in the forest 'round it."

That was weird; she and Rayne had gotten out of the palace just fine. Did it have something to do with what was trapping them?

Lux nodded and started making her way to their room again. "Thank you for the information. It was very kind of you."

The man stared at them for a minute.

"Do y'know the helper lady?"

She spun around at his words. For a second, she thought she'd been caught.

"No, I... don't think I'm familiar."

"Oh well, I thought y'might." He returned to cleaning another glass.

Curiosity had taken hold of her, and she asked, "Who's the helper lady?"

"Ah well, she goes by many names." He started what obviously was a long story.

Lux felt a hand on her shoulder and realized it was Rayne. "I'm going to go to our room. Come fetch me if you need me." She nodded, and Rayne retreated for the night.

"He's your brother?" He questioned.

"Yes, but what were you saying about the helper lady?" She said, wanting to turn the attention away from them.

"Ah yes, like I said, she goes by many names. Some call her the Lady of Mystery, the Righteous Soul, or somethin' daft like that. No one knows who she really is or where she came from, but four years ago she started visitin' this village and helpin' out with things. You see, we've gotten poor after the Callis died, but she brings us lots of food and bread, and one time she helped a wee lad who was stuck in a well—'twas like magic! For some reason, she only comes every two months, though, but she's done more for us than the Athas ever will."

Lux nodded, but she realized that this story really didn't help her at all. I mean, it helped her learn about how little the Athas cares for this village, but, to her at least, it wasn't useful information.

Lux sighed and thanked the owner before returning to her room for the night.

✦✦✦