A breeze buffeted Adlai Basil as he stood in the center square of Ittho, and he squinted his eyes against the dirt and leaf dust that it whipped up. His light brown hair flapped and came undone from whatever effort he put into combing it that morning. He couldn’t be bothered to fix it; the wind was just going to toss it around again, anyway. Instead, he let his eyes wander over his surroundings for what had to be the fourteenth time in the past two minutes. He’d found the third loose stone in the plaza the last time he’d done it. Maybe he’d find another one.

Although, I wouldn’t really call looking for rocks “fun”. 

Another gust of wind blew by, fiercer this time, and Adlai shivered, regretting his decision to wear nothing over his shirt. It wasn’t as though Autumn was quite there yet, but why did it feel like the weather hadn’t gotten that message? That was northern Tevyne for you; winter came a whole month early, and somehow the locals made it into a selling point. It was impressive, at least. 

Ittho in particular was an interesting town. It was broad, open, which seemed a little stupid to Adlai. They were just exposing themselves to the elements, like the wind and whatever else happened to come through. The mostly timber buildings also didn’t do much to protect against the cold, he could imagine. 

Adlai stamped his feet and rubbed his hands together to warm up. What was taking Sanja and the others so long, anyway? It would have made sense if they’d spent a decent amount of time in the Archivist’s home, but they were almost two hours gone at that point. His fingers were starting to go numb.

Adlai stifled a yawn, stretching, and cast a glance at the door they had disappeared behind. It was an entirely nondescript house, bordering the very edge of the plaza; you wouldn’t expect it to hold some of Tevyne’s most currently coveted knowledge, but there was an old, cliched adage about that, and Adlai couldn’t bring himself to repeat it even in his head. 

But seriously, this is boring. It might be more interesting if I was one of the ones who went in, but the job’s easy, so I don’t think so. Can’t even feign interest. That’s probably why they didn’t pick me, huh.

That was fine by Adlai, anyway. But if he were to stay sedentary for too long, he felt like he would lose whatever motivation he did have. He turned his gaze over to the two people standing a little apart from him, hoping to strike up another conversation, but one of them beat him to the punch. 

“Dobrea, they’ve been gone a really long time. We should check on them, shouldn’t we?”

The auburn-haired girl who spoke was tugging on another girl’s sleeve, tilting her head up to make up for the height difference.

Dobrea Namjere smiled gently and brushed the hand off in a soft movement. Tucking her own silky, dark hair behind her ear, she replied, “You know we can’t do that, Lily. The Archivist won’t do business with us if there are too many people in there.”

Lily Gurit sighed, kicking at the ground.

“I know, but I’m worried. Sanja said that the visit would last an hour at most. What if something happened to them?”

Adlai couldn’t help but laugh at that.

“What, do you think that Archivist could actually manage to beat Sanja in a fight? His knees looked like they were screaming in pain every time he took a step.”

Lily turned to him, resting one hand on her hip and pointing a finger at Adlai so that she resembled a tiny matron at the Capital Barracks. 

“You should be more worried too, Adlai! Show more concern for your friend. And for Elke, too.”

“If I think I need to worry about him, I’ll worry about him,” Adlai said languidly. “But why in the world would you think they’d be in danger? Think the Archivist actually is trying to get us? Also, Kolohe doesn’t get any love?”

“Kolohe too!” Lily defensively replied. “And of course not. I’m sure the Archivist doesn’t want to hurt us at all. But what if someone else who does want to comes in and finds them there?”

“That blind faith’s not very reassuring, either,” Adlai mused. 

Dobrea laughed softly.

“That’s just Lily. You can’t change how she thinks or stop her from worrying about Sanja and the others. You’d be better off trying to stop the sun from rising, Adlai.”

Adlai looked into her clear blue eyes and sighed.

“Yeah, I guess you’re right. Still, sitting around for two hours is really working our nerves up. I wish there was something to do.”

“Oh!” Lily instantly brightened up, her short reddish hair bouncing up around her face as she trotted closer in excitement. “Remember, remember? What the guide was saying when we first came here?”

“Remember?” Adlai asked, totally at a loss. “Remember what, exactly?”

“The market,” Dobrea said, nodding slowly. “I remember; Ittho’s market is famous around here, right? I saw it as we were passing by. Are you interested in it, Lily?”

Lily nodded fervently, and the bow pinned in her hair threatened to fly off. 

“That’s right! The guide was talking about how Ittho’s unique for the north because of its ability to nurture tropical fruit trees! Apparently, they have one of the largest selections in the country. It’s something like an attraction, or a mascot!”

Adlai blinked. “Trees can be mascots?”

Lily barreled on.

“It looks like a lot of fun! That’s why I was planning to go there after the Archivist visit was over, but the others are taking so long.” She calmed down a little. “At least we have something to look forward to.”

Adlai literally could not remember a single thing about what the guide had said. It wasn’t his fault he was starving as soon as they got to Ittho. Yet Sanja insisted on doing this information-gathering first, leaving Adlai hungry. Talking about tropical fruit had only worked up his appetite, and he couldn’t bear it any longer.

“Hey, Dobrea,” he said, resting one hand on the pommel at his waist. “You don’t mind if I take her to the market, right? I’m starving, and it’s really boring here.”

Dobrea looked at him and smiled.

“Of course I don’t mind. I’ll come and get you when they come out, okay?”

Lily looked back and forth between them.

“Hold on- what about Sanja and the others? Are we just going to leave them here?”

“That’s not what I’m saying,” Adlai put one hand on her shoulder and began to steer her away. “Dobrea will be here, right? So it’s all good. Come on, I’m tired of waiting. Let’s bring something back for them.”

“But Sanja-”

“We don’t really need Sanja, do we? He never shows any bit of enthusiasm at these things anyway. All your passion’ll be wasted.” Adlai grinned. “You’re not going to let me starve, are you, Lily? Come on, where’s your compassion?”

“No- but-” Lily sighed and gave up. “Oh, Adlai, you’re unfair. Kolohe is rubbing off on you, isn’t he.”

“What makes you say that?” Adlai was a little apprehensive. Getting compared to Kolohe wasn’t necessarily a good thing.

“You’re shirking your duties more often, and I see you messing around all the time,” her ordinarily happy tone had an accusatory edge to it. “I’m afraid we’re losing you. What happened to the Adlai that worked so hard for everything he believed in, and always spread joy to the world wherever he went?”

“That Adlai never existed.” For some reason, he felt guilty all of a sudden, but quickly brushed that away. Lily had a dangerous power to stir up something weird in your heart. Maybe it was her round, innocent eyes, or childlike stature and naive way of thinking. He had to be careful. “What do you have against Kolohe, anyway? He never did…”

Oh, wait. Nope, nevermind. Yeah, he probably deserves it. What was I even going to say, “He never did anything to you?” That’s a blatant lie. Kolohe’s done something to everyone.

“Never did?” Lily turned those large brown eyes toward him, and Adlai started sweating.

“Never mind.” Adlai started pushing her more forcibly. “Anyway, we’ll try to finish up soon, Dobrea. I’ll find you a new ladle or something while we’re at it. The old one’s been getting rusty, right?”

“Oh, I’d like that,” Dobrea said. “I was thinking of making a stew tonight, so that works out nicely. Make sure it’s pure steel, okay? Copper leafing comes off in the heat.”

“Got it.” Adlai and Lily began to walk off, waving back at Dobrea as she found a bench to sit on. She waved back, her long, dark hair billowing up as another breeze rushed through.

“Have fun, you two.”

“Where is this market, anyway?” Adlai asked, once they were a little down the street. “This whole town has a weird, sprawling layout, and I can’t really understand it.”

Lily was trotting just to keep up with his strides. It made sense; when you were that short, you had to do that when walking with pretty much anyone. Adlai had tried to slow his pace as much as possible, but apparently even that was too fast for her.

“It should be just down this street, and then to the right.” Lily peered around the road, captivated. “Look, Adlai! They’ve already started setting up decorations for the Autumn Festival!” 

“At this time of year?” Adlai craned his neck to stare at a lantern-post wreathed in leaves the same shade as Lily’s hair. The people of Ittho were a little too eager to get the autumn months started, if you asked him. 

Lily sighed a little wistfully. 

“I wish we had time to celebrate the Autumn Festival, too. I miss it; we didn’t get to do it last year, either.”

“What, are you suggesting that you would rather be eating junk food and playing music than dredging around the country?” Adlai joked. 

“It’s just a little tedious, is all.” Lily kicked at a stray pebble on the road, sending it skittering off. “I’m really happy to be doing something to help all these people, though! I’m not complaining.”

“Sounds an awful lot like complaining to me.” Adlai grinned. “And you’re saying I’m the one who’s starting to sound like Kolohe? Listen to yourself.”

“No! That’s not what I meant!” Lily was panicking, desperate to show her sincerity. “I just meant that I’d like a break once in a while, right? Everyone likes breaks, don’t they? Right Adlai?”

Good thing Kolohe’s not here. His self-esteem would be absolutely destroyed if he heard her try her very best to distance herself from him. I never knew you were capable of such cruelty, Lily.

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“No, I know what you mean,” Adlai said. “We don’t even know if the Crown will work, after all.”

The Crown… it seemed a little too good to be true, in Adlai’s opinion. After all of this chaos, one object was the key to restoring order? Wasn’t that far fetched, even if the Council did say that it definitely existed?

“It has to work!” Lily shook her fists up and down in a flurry of either apprehension or excitement, Adlai wasn’t sure which. “The Council said it would, and they always know the truth. Don’t you trust them, Adlai?”

“I wouldn’t have joined the Regiment if I didn’t.” Adlai’s hand went to his chest to readjust his badge. “Maybe you’re right. Ah, whatever, thinking about this is too much for me right now. I can practically hear my stomach trying to eat itself.”

Lily’s expression clouded over, and her face grew uncharacteristically gloomy. 

“The rebellions-”

Adlai cut her off.

“They’ve stopped for now, haven’t they? Plus, if we’re successful, they’ll be gone for good. Cheer up, Lily; I really can’t focus on this sort of thing right now.”

The girl gave her brownish-red head a firm shake, making her hair splay everywhere.

“You’re right! We’re working hard to change things, so let’s go to the market for now!”

Lily picked up her pace and ran to the next street corner, turning back at Adlai to wave him over.

“So easy,” he murmured to himself, but smiled anyway. That was part of her charm, after all.

The Ittho marketplace, it turned out, wasn’t all that different from other marketplaces around Tevyne. It was just a long row of stalls and booths, manned by somewhat shady merchants with questionable goods and services to sell. 

That’s it? All that buildup for a pretty normal shopping district?

That didn’t stop Lily from running around from stall to stall, hardly looking at one thing before trotting off to another. Even from his spot a few dozen meters away, Adlai could clearly hear her cry out in excitement and happiness at each new discovery. He laughed to himself.

Who could’ve imagined a seventeen-year-old could act so much like a little kid? 

“Adlai!” Lily ran back to him and presented something in outstretched hands, eyes shining. “Look, porcelain! I’ve only ever seen porcelain when I was in the capital. Isn’t it pretty?”

He eyed it. It certainly was well-polished and had a nice design, but you could never be sure with porcelain. It was very expensive to manufacture, and because of that, there were vast amounts of counterfeits circling the market. Of course, Lily would never suspect someone would try something like that. Adlai quietly resolved to never let her go into a flea market by herself.

Lily handed the porcelain pot back to the merchant and rejoined Adlai.

“Dobrea wanted a new ladle, right? Where do you think we could find one? Adlai? Hey, Adlai?!”

But he wasn’t listening anymore. His nose had picked up an unmistakable scent, and every other thought was driven from his mind. Salivating slightly, he began to wander through the crowd, stumbling in his eagerness.

Where is it? Where is it? Where-

“Hey, you with the brown hair. You interested in my roasted chicken? Well?”

Adlai snapped out of it, realizing that he’d been standing unresponsive in front of one of the vendors. Shaking his head to clear the hunger-driven fog in his mind, he swallowed hard and said, “Don’t keep me waiting. Come on, give me everything you’ve got.”

The vendor gave him a strange look, but filled a tub with poultry and handed it to Adlai.

“You’re a weird dude, you know that?”

He didn’t respond, opting instead to bury his face in the chicken and eat without aid of his fingers. It was gone in seconds. 

“Ah, thank you.” Adlai smiled contentedly, placing the bucket back onto the counter of the stall. “I needed that.”

The vendor raised a single eyebrow. 

“Anyway, how much do I owe you?” Adlai pulled his pouch out, fishing a few pieces from its depths. “I have to say, that was pretty good. I’ll even give you a tip. Paying an extra piece on top of three or four isn’t really a problem, don’t worry about it.”

The vendor brought the tub back into his stall.

“Thirteen pieces.”

Adlai’s hands froze.

“Th-thirteen?”

The vendor gave him an incredulous look, and the people who had paused to see Adlai obliterating his meal started to laugh.

“You ate a whole batch of chicken. Did you think I was going to charge you the same as if you’d ordered a regular serving? What’s the matter with you? Did your parents starve you?”

“Who said it had to be my parents?” Adlai muttered, reluctantly shelling out the contents of half of his pouch.

Ahh, that’s not good. Sanja’s going to berate me, even though it’s his fault. Kolohe’s going to make fun of me, too. I really could live without both of those things.

“Adlai!” Lily managed to squeeze her way out of the crowd, panting heavily. “Oh, you really have to slow down! I had no idea where you went!”

“Ah. Sorry.”

Adlai scratched at his neck, a little embarrassed. Something had come over him, robbing him of all sense and reason. Hunger was a frightening thing.

The vendor waved them off to make room for new customers, saying “Make sure he’s eating properly, alright, little missy? It’s not good to let your friends run up to cooks and eat them out of their entire stock. Not good for the cook, and not good for your coffers, got it?”

“Yes!” she said, smiling brightly. “I’ll make sure he’s stuffed at every minute of the day!”

“Every… minute? Ahh… no, really, you don’t have to force yourself. I’m good, I promise.” Adlai didn’t even want to imagine what being “stuffed at every minute of the day” would entail.

Lily ended up dragging him off further down the line of stalls, in search of the ladle they’d put off. They found a rather nice one for five pieces. At least, Adlai thought it was nice. He had little to no cooking experience, so he just chose the first one that looked like it was of a decent quality. Pure steel, ,just like Dobrea had requested.

The rest of the market was more of the same: a balance between shady dealings, overpriced goods, and food stalls. Lily spent some time marveling at the fruit trees she had mentioned, but after a little while, Adlai felt as though they’d seen everything there really was to see.

“It’s about time we should head back, don’t you think?” he said, casting a glance at the sun, which had dipped considerably lower. “I can’t believe they aren’t done yet, but there’s not much else to do here.”

“Wait, wait!” Lily said, still holding a knife with a mahogany hilt. “Look Adlai, this one’s only thirty pieces! Isn’t it a bargain?”

“Are you trying to bankrupt us?”

The merchant leaned forward, clasping his hands together in the most stereotypically greasy gesture imaginable. Adlai wasn’t sure whether to be impressed or weirded out.

“Now, now,” he said, showing off all of his teeth in what he probably thought was a winning smile. “Don’t be apprehensive, my fine sir and madam. This dagger is of the highest quality, let me assure you. Mahogany straight from the Pajuris Woods, and a high-heat tempered alloy, naturally flexible and break-resistant. For such a cute girl and a strapping young man, I’ll give you a five piece discount.”

“Did you hear that, Adlai?” Lily swiveled her head around to beam at him. “Five pieces off, just for us! Isn’t he such a generous shopkeep?”

This girl…

Adlai took the knife from her and turned it against the light.

“Does mahogany even grow in the Pajuris Woods? I thought it was mostly oak and pine there.” He tossed it into the air, and it flipped over itself, arcing gracefully before he caught it again. “Hmm, now that I think about it, isn’t oak wood often mistaken for mahogany?”

The merchant’s painful smile tightened.

“You must be mistaken, sir. No true connoisseur would ever mistake such a base wood for something of such quality. Might I suggest you trust the professionals? I-” suddenly, his voice cut off as his gaze slid from the dagger Adlai was holding aloft to Adlai’s chest.

“Ah.”

And then the knife was gone from Adlai’s hands, tucked away safely into a box beneath the counter. Adlai started, and cast a look at the merchant, who was sweating profusely.

“O-oh, don’t mind me, sir,” the merchant said, his greasy smile now betraying a hint of terror. “I- I didn’t realize you were a customer of such… prestige. Please, forgive me. Such humble goods are beneath you, sir.”

“Mister Shopkeep?” Lily asked inquisitively. “What’s the matter?”

“Oh, nothing, nothing,” he replied, sweat now pouring from his brow.

Nothing, when you look like you’re losing a liter of water every few seconds? 

The merchant tugged at his collar and wiped at his forehead, leaving a glistening trail across his face. His eyes flicked from Adlai’s chest to Lily’s, then back up to their respective faces. It was fine that he stopped trying to scam them, but Adlai had no idea what had sparked this change. Unless…

“Ah… You see, I’ve never had the pleasure of having esteemed soldiers such as yourselves visit my simple booth.” The word “pleasure” sounded like it was forced out of an indentured servant in the throes of hard labor. “Members of the Regiment are so rare around these parts, after all.”

The crowd went silent all of a sudden, and eyes started turning to Adlai and Lily. Murmurs of, “Did he say Regiment?” and “No way… those two?” began to sweep through the shoppers, and gradually increased in frequency and volume, until the whole marketplace was abuzz.

“Looks like we got a bit of attention, Lily,” Adlai grinned apprehensively, backing up a bit as the crowd inched nearer. “Doesn’t it feel great to be a celebrity?”

Adlai was never good at dealing with this part of the job. Of course, when you were in a part of the military as publicized as aimed at the common good as the Regiment was, you were bound to get noticed. The shining badges adorning Lily and Adlai’s chests didn’t help with going under people’s perception, either. Adlai was all for a good challenge, but he could probably live without this one.

Lily grew closer to Adlai, the approaching people easily looming over her diminutive frame. You’d probably be rightfully doubtful that such a small girl would be one of the nation’s most lauded warriors, but everyone had their own strengths and weaknesses. Lily’s just had to do with crowds that looked to her to be double her height.

The people had gotten even closer, and began asking the two questions directly, children in the back peeking around legs, and the taller in the rear peering over heads.

“Is it true that you guys kill marauders? That’s awesome, man!”

“It had been about time when the government instituted your positions. I’ve heard that the amount of banditry has significantly gone down.”

“Hey, what’s it like, being in the army? Do you have drills and specific reports and duties you have to do? Do you eat rations?”

“I always feel safer with you young people around. Keep on keeping the peace, you hear?”

“I! Um!” Lily managed, glancing frantically from person to person. “Thank you very much! I- I mean, we’ll- try to do our best, for all of you!”

Adlai couldn’t be bothered to reply to every single question that was asked of him. Even worse, it didn’t look like they were going to let up anytime soon. How were they going to get out of this?

“That’s enough. Step aside, all of you. That’s right. We have important business, let us through.”

The crowd began to part from the far side at the new voice, serious and stoic in tone. A figure moved methodically to where Adlai and Lily were pinned, and stopped when he finally stood before them. Three other people, two girls and one man, trailed behind him.

Sanja’s close-cropped black hair didn’t move much in the autumn breeze, giving him a look of utter immovability. It added to his overall demeanor and rigid posture. 

He turned to the crowd and began to wave them away, saying, “Move along. We in the Regiment don’t have time to answer questions or idle in the marketplace. I have matters to discuss with my colleagues. You’ll have your chance another day.”

Gradually, the crowd dispersed, muttering somewhat unsatisfactorily. Adlai watched the last of them leave, and heaved a sigh of relief.

“Thanks, Sanja. You really saved us there.”

Sanja turned to Adlai, green eyes still as impassive as ever.

“As for you, Adlai. How many times do I need to tell you to be more responsible? I thought you’d know better than to go into a popular part of town like this, without any regard that people might hold you up.”

Dobrea, who was one of the three who came along behind Sanja, stepped up.

“I’m sorry; I was the one who encouraged him to bring Lily to the marketplace. We were waiting for so long, and I thought it couldn’t hurt.”

Sanja’s gaze shifted over to her, before a bit of edge left his eyes and he turned back away, starting to walk down the street.

“Either way, be more careful. Putting that aside, we learned something interesting from the Archivist during that visit. Once we get out of Ittho, I’ll tell you three.”

“Yes, Sanja!” Lily chirped, and began to trot after him as he strode away. Dobrea and the third girl, Elke, started to follow as well, leaving Kolohe and Adlai staring at the back of Sanja’s crisp, black military shirt.

“Who stuck a rod up his ass?” Kolohe said, tugging at the loops in his brown hair.

Adlai shrugged.

“That’s just Sanja for you.”

Kolohe’s face split into a wide smile, and his golden eyes narrowed. 

“Are you suggesting that Sanja always has a rod up his ass? My man, what makes you say that?”

“Stop. It’s only sadder because it’s believable,” Adlai sighed, and the two hurried to catch up to the rest of their group.