{-Kalleira-}
She gave careful consideration to every part of her surroundings, to make up for Rhenei’s complete lack of it. They were leaving much later than Kalleira would’ve wanted them to. While she had to admit Rhenei was harder to recognize with a coat that seemed to cost a fair bit of money, she wasn’t impossible to notice. If her parents were out looking for her, then it wouldn’t take long for them to see past it.
Kalleira wanted to hope that they wouldn’t even bother. But she knew that they would—they relied on the fact that, when all eyes were on them, they said what got them out of trouble.
But, with no familiar adults in sight and another question she couldn’t stop considering, she asked, “What exactly do the Strings do, again?” She knew there wasn’t much of a chance Rhenei knew something she didn’t. Still, there was this feeling she couldn’t shake. Maybe knowing more about it would answer some of the questions swirling in her head.
“They reside in Vriuh’s Domain,” Rhenei said slowly. It was clear how hard she was trying to remember something neither of them had experienced in years. “They’re called the Strings because they manage the String of Elements, Spirit, and Life. I can’t remember what that really means, though…”
The Commandments were nothing more than jumbles of big words to both of them. Neither had the knowledge or skill necessary to completely understand it.
It took a moment before Farrar asked, “You’re talking about the Strings, aren’t you?”
Rhenei nodded. “Do you know something about them? They’re who Kalleira saw in her dream.”
“Do you—or she—know exactly what they were talking about?”
“He doesn’t need to know that in order to tell us something,” Kalleira grumbled. “He knows something. Get him to tell us! We’re not letting go of any of our secrets until he starts letting go of his.”
“Just tell us what you know already,” Rhenei said, after considering Kalleira’s words. “What they talked about shouldn’t be related to what you know, right?”
“Each of the three strings relate to a connection of something,” Farrar explained. “They create or cut the strings depending on the will of Orestis or Vriuh. Maho controls the String of Elements—a person’s ability to use, and their natural talent for, magic. Ilathri controls the String of Spirits—a person’s spirit and how strong it is, on the off chance someone actually has one. Nillae controls the String of Life and, if you can’t get that one, we should probably turn around because you will not survive outside the city.”
Rhenei glanced back at Kalleira. “So what do you think that has to do with you..?”
“They were arguing over something,” Kalleira recalled. “Something about—“
A familiar voice made them both freeze.
“Have you seen her? She left sometime last night or early this morning. We’re worried…”
Rhenei’s mother was always so good at putting on a semblance of care into her words when she went out. A care that, as soon as doors were closed and windows shut, was nothing but a distant memory.
“Farrar, I think we should go over there.” Rhenei tried pulling on his sleeve but he didn’t budge.
His confused expression proved something to Kalleira—he was going to get them both caught. “What are you suddenly so nervous for? Are you afraid someone will recognize you?”
He must’ve heard, too, the deceiving story of a lying mother.
“Her name is Rhenei, she looks a lot like her father—that man talking to a few others over there. We don’t know why she would’ve left. She has everything she needs at home… I can’t imagine how she couldn’t have been happy…”
Farrar glanced between the direction of the voice and Rhenei. “Alright, I’ve been waiting this long, but I think there’s some explaining you need to do.”
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A fake sob meant to be heard by any passerby. “Please! We don’t know where else to go. She isn’t well, she won’t be able to survive on your own. We’ve already contacted the church, but we can’t wait for them.”
His expression got darker as he hissed, “Now.”
“I swear nothing she says is true!” Rhenei tried, but it wasn’t enough on her own. It seems he was done believing only words. Her eyes darted from the direction of the voice, Farrar, Kalleira, before stopping at her own hands. She held them up in front of him; the little scars and cuts that were on them. “Do you really think I was happy?”
He was silent for the longest time, some conflict of expression, yet eventually nodded. “But this isn’t the end of this. You are going to have to tell me what happened sooner or later. Come on, I know a backroad out. Only merchants use it so I don’t think a lot of people are going to look there…”
Kalleira still couldn’t bring herself to completely trust him, but Rhenei gave a thankful nod and stayed right behind him the whole way. Kalleira, personally, was more interested in making sure no one saw or followed them; she never had a problem trailing after Rhenei, even when she wasn’t looking. They’d need to know the amount of trouble they were in as soon as possible.
When they got to the gate, Farrar mumbled a few things to the person there. They seemed to know each other. They were done in a minute and Farrar gestured for Rhenei to keep following him out of the city.
Looking at the vast plains and flowers ahead of them, Kalleira wondered if this was what freedom was supposed to feel like.
Then she wondered why “freedom” felt the exact same as the panic she felt in the city. They were out in the open here; it wouldn’t take much for anyone looking for them to see them.
“There’s a town about an hour away from here,” Farrar explained. “We’ll stay there for the night.”
“Isn’t that too close?” Rhenei asked, giving an anxious glance back at the city.
“Until the church actually starts working on it—and trust me they apparently have more important things to do—they’re not going to be able to take it far. It’ll also give us some more time to figure out what we’re going to do from here.” He looked back at her. “Now that we’re out of that crowd, are you any more willing to tell me what happened before you met me?”
Rhenei, still no more interested in sharing, claimed, “I’m a princess and I have to leave to gather allies to punish the people who hurt me.”
“There are several things wrong with that, we both know it,” he remarked. “First of all, Queen Odelle doesn’t have any siblings. Quite frankly they’ve got a pretty strong family resemblance and you definitely do not fit in there. Would you like to say something that isn’t such a blatant lie?”
“Nope.”
“Why didn’t you just start with that, then..?”
She shrugged.
“Be careful,” Kalleira warned. “I don’t think he’s going to play those kinds of games very long.”
They made the rest of the walk in silence, any time Rhenei tried to break it being quickly fixed by Farrar. At this point, though, it didn’t seem like her lack of explanation was what he was thinking about.
He didn’t say anything to her until they entered the town. “Be careful and stay close to me—some of these guys aren’t exactly the friendly type. We’ll stop at the inn, get some rest, and be ready to go first thing tomorrow morning.”
“If we rest now, wouldn’t we be able to leave sooner?” Rhenei questioned. “There’s probably not a lot of people who are going to try to look for me at night… maybe we can get more distance between us?”
“Anyone with a bit of common sense isn’t going to travel at night.”
“Why not? You could make a light.”
“You really don’t know? There’s things that lurk in the shadows—things that will spare no time in killing you. We don’t have as many of them as Seothia must have, but we’re not one of the groups of people that’ll be capable of scaring them off.”
It was something new to both of them; neither had heard of these mysterious shadow-lurking creatures. Then again, when this was their first time out of the city, they were bound not to know a few things. Or… a lot of things, as Kalleira had to wonder was the case.
Farrar opened the door to the inn and gestured Rhenei to follow him. The innkeeper gave him a quick greeting before the two went to have a hushed conversation by the counter.
Rhenei had something else to ask when he returned. She pointed beside the innkeeper where the prices for a night were. “It looks like this place is expensive…”
“I know. It’s a lot better than anywhere else we can go, plus the innkeeper said he’d keep an eye out for anyone looking for us.”
“Do you really have the money..?”
“When you’re running the only reliable blacksmithing shop in Hyasari that doesn’t enchant anything, goblins and fairies are willing to pay a lot for your services.” There was something else, too. Kalleira could tell that she and Rhenei weren’t the only ones keeping more than a few helpful secrets.