{-Rhenei-}

“This doesn’t change anything,” Kalleira insisted. “He’s still going to do something bad to us. We’ve outstayed our welcome anyway. We should get out of here and keep moving before he starts searching all the rooms and finds us.”

“But… he doesn’t really seem like he’s only staying because of us,” Rhenei mumbled back. She carefully watched him and Calum talk. There wasn’t anything hinting at frustration or anger in either of their voices; neither of them were interested in starting a fight. “He stopped asking about us.”

“That’s because he plans on lowering our guard! The moment we’re unprepared, he’s going to take us back to those other bad guys.”

“Do you have any proof?”

“Do you have any proof?”

Rhenei opened her mouth to say something in protest, but nothing came out. Finally, she glanced at the coat on the bed beside her. “I should at least give back his mom’s coat.”

Kalleira let out an irritated sigh. “Just leave it here with a note! Make Calum give it to him once we’re far, far away!”

But Rhenei was already going to grab it, making the conscious decision that she was going to ignore everything Kalleira told her. Then, after a moment’s hesitation, Rhenei pushed open the door.

Calum looked between her and Farrar and let out a nervous laugh. “Oh, hello there, stranger! What, ah, what are you doing in my house..?”

“It’s alright,” she assured him. “You don’t have to lie for me any more.”

Farrar had a small smile when he saw her. “Well, it’s nice to know you didn’t end up here because you almost got killed somewhere.”

“I was tired,” she mumbled, not really sure if he wanted an explanation, “and I found Calum’s house. I thought it was where I’d turn around and go in a different direction. Kalleira said he felt… comforting, and I did too. It’s kinda hard to describe…”

“Let’s say I’m close to Vaso,” Calum said. It was the same thing he’d told her when she asked him about that feeling. Somehow, she knew he meant it literally—or at least, not in as abstract of an idea as some others would mean.

“So I’m guessing that, if you stayed with him because he made you feel comfortable, then I didn’t?” There was no hint of accusation in Farrar’s tone; it was completely casual. Almost like he didn’t care or almost expected it.

“Kalleira thought you might try to hurt us,” she admitted. “She remembered people from her past. She said what you were doing reminded her of them…”

He sighed. “Do you want to know what the letters said, then? Would that help anything? I’ve got one I haven’t burned yet.”

Rhenei stepped forward. Farrar pulled out a letter from his bag and set it on the table for all of them to see.

‘Dear Farrar:

I do hope you realize failing to respond only makes things worse. As stubborn as you are, I cannot allow you to continue doing this. The church will soon be involved. I advise you to come back and return that girl to her parents right now, before something worse happens.

I am losing my patience. You know that these are not threats—these are promises. Come back now and perhaps you will still maintain some semblance of the carefree life you had before…

Consider these words wisely, your father,

Aureus’

“That’s certainly… something…” Calum mumbled.

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

“You should meet him in person,” Farrar remarked dryly. “I’m already looking forward to when he decides he wants to retire and move out of Hyasari.” He paused. “Or kick me out, at the rate this is going. He’d just be losing business, though.”

“So all of them were from your father..?” Rhenei asked, quieter than she’d intended. “He wanted you to bring me back to my parents… and you never listened to him, no matter what he told you.”

It still seemed like Kalleira didn’t quite believe him—though her expression showed there was some kind of conflict. She probably wanted to, at least for Rhenei’s sake. Yet those memories had to be telling her something different. Eventually, she finally mumbled, “He’s told you a lot. Maybe it’s finally time we become honest with him, too.”

Rhenei gave a small nod. “Since we heard about your mother… and everything you’ve done for us… we think we should tell you why we left.”

He shrugged. “I won’t force you to do anything. If you don’t want to right now, then I’m completely fine with not hearing it.”

She shook her head. “No, I want to tell you. It’s been long enough already.”

“Should I leave?” Calum asked. “I understand if this is something you’d rather keep between the two of you.”

“I think you should stay, too,” she decided with a small smile. “You’ve helped me a lot.”

She took a deep breath, considering memories she’d already begun to hope she’d never have to think of again.

“My parents weren’t very nice—to anyone, really. They always argued with each other. Things would always break. Dad would talk about how the church didn’t provide enough for us but he would always be gone for hours and come back drunk. Mom did whatever he said while he was there, but once he left, made me do it… I didn’t leave the house a lot. If I did, it was never without them. Kalleira and I had wanted to run away for a long time. We just never had the chance.” A panic struck her when she considered all of it. “I don’t want to go back—“

“And as far as I have a say in it, you’re not going to,” Farrar decided. “I decided that from the moment I saw those cuts.”

“Did you ever bring this up with the church at all?” Calum prompted.

She shook her head.

He used some magic to bring a piece of paper and quill closer to him and started writing on it. “It’s the kind of thing a lot of people like to pretend we don’t have; something that doesn’t exist because we are supposedly basking in Orestis’s light. But that doesn’t mean the church overlooks it. All you’ll need is your own testimony and a couple of claims from neighbors and it won’t matter what your parents try to say.” He glanced at both of them. “What parts of Hyasari are you from?”

“Near the northern markets,” Farrar replied breezily, “right across from where the goblins and fairies stay.”

Rhenei had no idea what they were talking about, and it must’ve shown. She barely acknowledged ‘Hyasari’ was the name of the city, how was she supposed to know where she lived in it?

“Do you know how long it took you to get to the shop?” Farrar tried.

She shook her head. “But, right after leaving, there was a man who asked where I lived and I pointed to a random house. He said I must’ve been a child of a new merchant family.”

“Ah, so you probably were neighbors,” Calum decided. “That makes things a lot easier. Farrar, you’re responsible for claiming to have seen what her parents did to her. You don’t have a criminal record or anything, right?”

“I’m not stupid enough to make an enemy of the church.”

“Good, that means they’re probably not going to think that you’re lying.” Calum scribbled a few more things down.

Kalleira tried to see what he was writing, but whatever she saw just made her face scrunch up. “I don’t know what it is. There’s too many complicated words…”

With a nervous shuffle, Rhenei asked, “What are you doing..?”

“Making sure Farrar’s noted as ‘helping’ you and not ‘kidnapping’ you, for starters,” he replied casually. “Also so that, if all things go well, it won’t matter if your parents caught up to you or not. You won’t have to go back to them.”

“I could’ve needed to go back?”

“As it stands now, you’re a runaway. Usually missing persons are supposed to be brought home if they’re found. But you won’t have to worry about that part with this. You two might both need to answer some questions at my church, but I’m confident they’ll tell the people in Hyasari. You’ll be able to be your own individual—with the care of a trusted adult, at least.” Calum made the finishing touches and started putting everything away. “At worst, you’ll be one of the church’s charges until you’re eighteen. Though I’m sure it’s still much better than what you came from.”

“But there’s somewhere I want to go,” Rhenei insisted. “I want to go to that place Kalleira saw.”

Farrar sighed. “There is one more thing I didn’t tell you. I asked about the place and, well… there’s a town around there that they said Skiá destroyed decades ago.”

She didn’t understand how that changed anything. What were Skiá, exactly? She vaguely recalled hearing that it was “shadow” in the Old Tongue. Were those the creatures Farrar mentioned when he said they shouldn’t travel at night? What made them that important..?

Calum didn’t let her wonder for long. “It means there’s probably nothing left.”