She waited in the doorless appartment, well if you could really call a single small room crammed with as many bunk beds as possible an appartment. She didn't stay in the bed she'd occupied very long but she remained inside the room until she was reasonably sure the monks would be gone. It turned out that her estimate had been wrong however and she almost panicked when she exited the building only to find out that one of them had remained to stand guard at the foot of the building she'd made her 'bridge' to. He did not give the young girl a second glance however and she quickly left the area, really glad for having thought of that particular trick as she headed to her secret place.

She was mildly surprised when she got to the bridge and saw that the boy had actually been waiting for her. Night had fully fallen over the city of Rhea by now and the brightly shining moon and stars in the sky were the only source of light other than the torches borne by Order patrols. It was enough for Nina to be able to properly examine the other rat for the first time since she'd first seen him in the market.

He was sitting on the edge of the street, his legs dangling above the shore of the river flowing lazily more than five meters below. He had the black hair of a native imperial and the slight tan of someone who, despite spending his days outside, remained amongst the shadows of the District's tall and depressing stone buildings for most of them. He turned his head to face her when he heard the tapping of her crutch on the pavement and flipped his legs back onto the stone of the street before getting up. He let her approach but moved to the side a little as she did, most likely to ensure that the bridge's proximity wouldn't impede an eventual escape.

She approached slowly, she'd put her hurt leg through a lot during the day and it had made movement very painful for her on the way back. The pain had settled in as the adrenaline and the exhilaration had dissipated and it had stuck an ugly grimace on her face that she'd found herself unwilling to get rid of. She stopped a couple of steps from the boy and unclenched her teeths from her lower lip, feeling droplets of blood drip along her chin as they were suddenly freed.

"Why did you come?" She was still bewildered that he'd actually listened to her. It didn't make any sense after all, who would ever trust some random rat? Even if they'd just saved you they might have some ulterior motive. And he would have been right to think that since her motivation for helping him had been to ensure she'd be able to get revenge on him. There had been no other reason, none, she hadn't been horrified at the thought of passively watching another child go through what she had. Nope, hadn't happened.

"What do you mean? You told me to come here." His answer pulled her out of her considerations but only increased her confusion. Her incredulity turned into mistrust, had he come to shake her down? Maybe he'd thought she might be an altruistic fool that would make for an easy mark? She discretely glanced at the dark corners of the streets nearby, half expecting a gaggle of other rats to come out and encircle her any moment now. She breathed out, trying to supress the mounting nervousness inside her before she asked him once more.

"Yeah, I did. So why did you come?"

"Well, because you told me to?" Wait, had he really come just because of that?

"And you trusted me? Just like that?" He shrugged and gave her a half-smile.

"Well, you helped me. And you sounded confident." There was a beat of silence as Nina just looked at him with a blank expression, stupefied by the fact that anyone living in the districts could still be so naive. She hadn't really expected him to come, asking had just been a spur of the moment impulse. She'd even started planning ways to look for him efficiently over the next few days while she'd hobbled her way to the bridge! All for nothing it seemed, apparently there was still some value to being impulsive from time to time. He shuffled uncomfortably for a brief instant before breaking the silence.

"Sooo why did you want me to come here then?" She was getting angry for a different reason now, how could he be so calamitously oblivious?

"You mean you don't remember me? From the market?"

"Oh! That's right I remember now! You were the girl who was being bullied by that awful guy! I made a distraction to save you." Wait what? Had he just said what she'd just heard?

"S-Save me? Stop lying to me you used me!" He looked taken aback by the sudden accusation and its accompanying burst of anger. His mouth opened in surprise and he tried to protest but Nina didn't give him time to finish a response before she interrupted him with her ranting.

"N-no you were-"

"Everything was going perfectly until you came in, I was going to slip the food into my dress and not a single one of those grown ups would have even noticed. But then you had to mess everything up! I almost got taken as your accomplice by the monks and that stupid merchant forced me to help him clean up the mess for HOURS! And then it took me three more tries to finally manage to find some dinner! I had to get punched and kicked and shouted at three more times all because of you!" Nina could feel anger turn into rage, as if the embers of wrath throughout her body had suddenly embrased. If she hadn't been certain she would be unable to catch him with her busted leg she'd have rushed him and hit him and hit him and hit him again! He was one of them! One of those hypocrites who took advantage of you and then pretended it was all for your own good! She wouldn't have minded if he'd been honest. He just saw a golden opportunity and took it but he couldn't admit it. Admit that he was like everyone else, he just had to pretend that he was better than other people, better than HER just because he was doing it for a so-called 'good' reason.

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"N-no I was just-" She interrupted him once more, hate boiling inside her, an anger that she had repressed for weeks finally coming to the surface and turning her voice to a rasp as she kept throwing out abuse at the other rat.

"You were just what? Hungry? Oh boo hoo that's so sad but I'll let you in on a little secret: SO AM I! ALL OF US KIDS ARE! Or maybe you were just being greedy? You just couldn't help yourself from taking advantage of me? Wait no, I know! You were-"

"I WAS JUST TRYING TO HELP YOU!" He shouted so loud it had completely eclipsed her voice and Nina fell silent, momentarily stunned by the sheer volume and the slight desperation she heard in his voice. But above all it was the tears she could now see in his eyes, catching the moonlight as they fell to the ground, that made her listen to what the boy had to say.

"I saw you getting beaten when you'd done nothing but beg and I couldn't let him hurt you more than he'd already had. I know people like the guy who hit you, they don't stop hitting until you stopped moving. I was scared that... with your leg... that he would... I couldn't let him... but I didn't... I didn't know what to do so I did the only thing I could think of. If I stole something it would attract the monks and they wouldn't let him. I knew they wouldn't they don't like when someone else does the beating." Nina couldn't believe it, wouldn't believe it! He was lying through his teeth, he had to be! But the tears... and the hurt in his voice... no he was just like that Quilla girl, he was surely faking it. He must have been trying to gain her sympathy or... or something!

But somewhere inside of her, in a small part of her mind, something told her "What if he's saying the truth?". It told her that not everyone had to be bad, that it was impossible for everyone to be selfish and egotistical, that there had to be some good people in the world. And even though she told herself that it was naive to think so, she realised at the same time that she wanted it to be true. That she wanted to believe that this boy was one of those few good people and that every single word was true. And it took the edge out of her anger and filled her with regret for how she had lashed out at him, for how she'd almost left him to be caught by the monks of Order. Calamities she'd even thought about watching it! Before she could collect herself he wiped his tears and continued.

"I'm sorry. I just saw him hit you and I thought... But I was wrong. I didn't think things through and I acted without thinking and I messed everything up for you. You're right to be angry at me. But I swear I'll make it up to you! I'll do anything you want!" He raised his head to face her and she felt her anger melt away as he declared his intent to make up for his mistakes. It disarmed her how naive he was, she'd been exposed to so much callousness, so much disregard and hypocrisy. That now that she was exposed to some genuine generosity for the first time since she'd been thrown out of the Pink Haze it endeared her to the boy. Plus this was heading in exactly the direction she'd wanted from this conversation. Though they'd not gotten there at all in the way she'd expected.

"Fine." She said, softly.

"What?"

"It's fine. I accept your apology. But you owe me now! Twice since I also saved you from the monks earlier."

"Oh uh yeah of course! Thanks a lot for that by the way, it was a really clever plan."

"More like they were really stupid."

"Yes, that too." They looked at each other and laughed softly and it made Nina feel warm and fuzzy inside. Laughing together with someone reminded her of better days. Of people kindly ruffling her hair and sneaking her candy as she took care of candles. After that there was silence between them once more but it didn't feel bad or heavy like it had before. All good things must come to an end however and the boy dispelled the mild mirth that had fallen upon them with a question.

"So then, how do you want me to repay you?" She pondered a little how she would word her answer. She knew what she wanted from him, she'd known since before she'd even thrown that stupid cloth rope at him to fool the monks and although this was not at all how she'd envisioned the discussion to go it hadn't changed what she wanted out of it. In fact it had only reinforced her belief that this would be perfect for both of them.

"I want you to be my accomplice."

"What?"

"Well as you can see." She gestured to her broken leg. "I can't exactly be a good thief right now. And even though I still found a way to make it work... well... As you've seen yourself it is not really the best method. Right now I am lucky if I can get myself one meal a day and two is impossible, it would get me noticed and I can't be noticed or the monks will catch me again." She paused for a second and when she saw that he was listening intently she continued, a little flustered by how focused his attention was.

"B-but if I had someone to help, someone who wasn't injured like me. Then I could do so much more! I could make different plans and we could relay each other. With my awesome plans and your uh... working legs? Anyways we could get two meals a day each maybe... Maybe even three! We would both profit a lot and you could still repay me while gaining from it." She'd fallen a little into her original pitch, the one she'd planned to give him before their conversation got instantly derailed. She had originally planned to draw him in with the appeal of a deal that would be mutually beneficial along with getting her off his back at the same time. With the way things had turned out she hoped that she hadn't seemed too mercantile, it might make him reconsider given his personality.

"Okay."

"Y-you can think about it first if you- wait what?"

"I said okay, if that's how you want me to repay you for my mistake and for saving me then that's fine." She didn't know quite how to react, she had expected him to at least think about it a little bit. When he saw that she'd frozen in place he held out his hand towards her.

"Wanna shake on it?" It was enough to pull her out of her surprise and she approached and took his hand.

"It's a deal then!" She'd always wanted to say that, Doros used to say that to the alchemist when they shook hands and she'd always thought that it was really cool for some reason. It made her a little giddy inside to say such an adult thing.

"Thanks for your help earlier, partner." He answered, beaming at her as they shook hands, and she couldn't help but smile a little in response. A comfortable silence installed itself once more between the two but this time it was Nina that broke it at the same time as their handshake.

"I'm Nina, what's your name?" His smile got wider.

"Inti."