Young Joachim sat on the washed up trunk on the beach of Port Llamba, watching the final daylight fading from the western horizon. He wiped teary eyes and snot dripping nose across both his sleeves. Both his eyes stared at the line that marked the edge of the world. New of the war happening across the ocean reached the ears of those on Eltar, but the repercussions of the fight remained unfelt by its denizens.

“Boy-oh,” the voice of Old Man Sontoro called out from behind. “Why are you hiding out here?”

Behind them, the lights of the carnival flashed from the lamps and torches set to illuminate the setting of tents and stands. Fire eaters breathed flames that bursts into the air. Fearful shrieks of excitement roared into the night from the horror houses. Claps and cheers erupted from the big top at the centre everything.

The old man that walked away from it all, limping on a cane while dressed in a contrasting red, white, and yellow conductor costume, used his free hand to light up the pipe he constantly had between his lips. The ember of the plant splintered from its star to shimmer and die in the darkness.

“Come on back,” the man said. “It's cold out here.”

Joachim sniffed. When he heard the man's feet crunch the sand beside him, he signed, “In a minute.”

“Oh, boy-oh. You having another spill?”

“No!” he exclaimed, desperately wiping off the last of his tears and holding back the rest. “I'm just feeling... left out.”

Old Man Sontoro sat down beside him with creaking back. “Oh, Joachim. I know you miss your family, but we're here for you. Us at the Circle Top, we're your family too.”

“It's just, I feel like we're so different. How can we be family if we don't even look the same?”

The man breathed deeply. It was obvious he had been through many conversations similar to that. Joachim could already see the man's eyes glittering in recollection. After all, he did adopt most of the performers at Circle Top and was the godfather of children of those that had left the to start their own families. Sontoro had gathered enough familial experience from his extended household to last ten lifetime.

“Listen to me, boy-oh. And remember this. You're different from me, right? I'm a wrinkly old man, and you're a spritely boy.”

Joachim nodded.

“And you're different from Rosa and Aunt Trea and Uncle Howard and everyone else, am I right?”

The boy agreed again.

“That means we're all the same.”

“We are?”

“Yes. We're all different, that's why we're the same?”

“We're the same because we're different?” Joachim looked back, puzzled.

“That's right.”

Joachim sniffed. “I don't get it.”

“Oh, my boy-oh,” the man wrapped an arm around Joachim's shoulder and pulled him in for a hug. “One day, you will, I promise you. For now, let's head back before the sea breeze gets ya.”

*****

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He sneezed awake on the park bench. Rubbing stinging eyes and wiping dripping noses, Joachim shivered in the cold wind as the first gentle shade of winter snow fell with the last of fall's leafs. Beside him was a long bag he had brought along with. Before him, an empty area of the park waited for the next season with the last of its dirt and dying grass being dotted out by white.

“We're here,” Ishumi called out. He turned to see her walking up the slope of the park with Nos, Lua, and Shjacky in tow. “What did you call us out here for? It's freezing!”

Joachim looked across the group. They were wearing the same school issued winter coat he wore of drake grey with maroon linings. The only exception was Shjacky, who wore a coat of pure white. The latter smiled and waved to Joachim.

“What's she doing here?” he asked Ishumi.

The translator replied, “I'm going with her for some errands after I'm done translating for you.”

“Aren't you staying?”

“Do you want me to?”

“It would be a lot easier for me if you did.”

“Then I won't.” Ishumi grinned to his annoyance.

Joachim sighed. “Alright, let's get this over with.”

Impatient with the silent back and forth, Lua voiced, “Joachim, what's this about? I'm getting frostbite.”

He signed, “Then it's the perfect time for us to have a sparring match to warm ourselves up.”

From the long bag next to the bench, he pulled out two wooden swords and a wooden dagger. He tossed the paired weapons to Lua and the shorter blade to Nos. From his pocket he pulled out his old circus yo-yo. While it was not the deadly weapon his new one was, the toy was heavily reinforced with metal rims and heavy bearings to stand the most intensive of tricks and impacts. He rubbed a finger over the scratches on the yo-yo, markings from different days.

“No fanciful cutting edge technology,” he continued. “Just old school sticks and hits.”

“Okay?” Lua began uncertainly. “Why?”

Nos spun the dagger in his hand, attempting to portray a cool calm. But his face betrayed the hot annoyance. “Yeah. I honestly don't think the three of us are going to work well together. Since the tourney doesn't matter to our grades, why not just throw the match?”

Joachim cursed out at him, but inertly thanked Ishumi when she did not translate on his behalf. He pinched his fingers together which let out a satisfying crack.

“I know that. The three of us are too different. Lua likes to fight in pairs and wide opened areas. Nos prefers one-on-ones and charging blindly in. And I'm hot headed and anger prone,” Ishumi mistranslated the final part.

He shot her a glare as she continued to hold back her laughter. “Carry on,” she whimpered.

Another sigh from him to her. He had been doing that a lot lately. “Look, we're never going to agree on working together. So instead, let's just beat each other senseless.”

Lua exclaimed, “And how is that suppose to help?”

“We're too different. We're just not going to be able to train ourselves to work as a team by fighting together. But you know what we do have in common? We don't fully like each other. Well, we don't really like Nos.”

Nos scoffed. “Not entirely false.”

“So we learn to fight ourselves. We learn our strengths and weaknesses and our way of fighting. And when we're fighting in the tourney, we just avoid each other like we're enemies.”

Nos and Lua exchanged glances.

She clarified, “So we're not fighting a three-on-three match...”

“It's a one-on-five,” Nos finished.

Joachim smiled. “Exactly.”

Nos nodded understandingly, a look of intrigue on his face. “Okay. Okay, I get it. That sounds much better.” He took his coat off and threw it onto the bench. “Let's do this.”

Lua gave a laugh. “Okay! I don't know what you're trying to achieve, but this is interesting. I'm in!” Unlike Nos, she took her coat off and folded them before placing them hung on the backrest of the seat.

As Joachim began removing his own jacket, Ishumi and Shjacky walked over to him. The former said, “I guess you don't need me for a while.”

“I still won't mind if you stayed.”

“I won't.”

“Smart move, Joa,” Shjacky shortened his name with a casual smile. “Will be fun to watch your match during the tourney and see how you 'special training' turns out.”

He asked, “Where are you two going?”

“Shjacky has a friend from home visiting nearby. She's a novice dark mage and wanted some tips,” Ishumi answered.

Something did not sit right within Joachim's guts. Ishumi was rarely so open and direct. Usually, she would say things along the line of it not being in his business. He gave them both a quizzically raised brow.

“Oh,” Ishumi let out. “He thinks we're lying to him.”

“Are we?” Shjacky grinned mischievously. “Who knows.”

He looked to his partner as he imagined a father would a daughter about to go on her first date. “You're going to be fine alone?” he signed.

She signed back. “I'll be fine. Besides, Shjacky's with me. It's no big deal. We'll be back by dinner.”

He referenced their epitaphs, “You and Shjacky are Ten and Eleven.”

“Your point?” Ishumi crossed her arms, irritated by his constant questioning. “You, Nos, and Lua are Zero, One, and Two.” It had not skipped him that their numbers lined up so nicely in that situation. He just mostly chose not to think about them.

“I'm just saying,” Joachim replied. “Be careful.”

She smiled, her head shaking disbelievingly before walking back to where she came from.

Shjacky laid a reassuring hand on his shoulder. “Don't worry. I've got her back.” She then went after Ishumi.

After watching the two girls go, Joachim turned back to the field where Nos and Lua waited. His two teammates were doing squats and hopping on the spot respectively, trying to stave off the cold of their white breaths. He cracked his jaw, setting his chilled bone straight before strolling into the battlefield.