"Wha-" I'm left speechless. Her reaction wasn't what I was expecting at all, based on her letter she should've been happy or at least okay with seeing me.

"Rainen." Juliana says.

I put my hand up to stop her.

"Don't. I can already tell what's happening." I sigh. "You sent the letter didn't you?"

Both of their shoulder's drop, guilt is plainly displayed. The only plus so far is that I got to see her after eight years and she looked like she grew up well, in the looks department that is. Her attitude still reminds me of that little five year old who would follow me around and annoy me.

But I'm not mad, I'm just disappointed that she's not glad to see me. The only people who seem so, are my grandparents, and I'm not so sure I feel the same way about them after knowing what they did.

"Yes." Frederick responds dejectedly. His hand moves to rub his forehead. "We-we only wanted you two to meet again. When she received the letter she simply threw it away. Of course, we didn't let that happen, we picked it up and decided to write back in her place."

"Why did you need to lie to me?" I ask.

"Because we wanted to make sure you'd come. You see," he licks his lips and glances at the door. "she hasn't been very social with other people here. We were hoping that you'd brighten her mood. Your cousins don't help the problem either, Julian is much more of a hindrance." he covers his face with his palm.

Julian? From what he's told me Julian's my cousin but I don't know who he's the son of. How many of my other cousins are here? But, it looks like she doesn't get along well with him, I could use this to my advantage, hehe.

"You saw how she acted. I hope you weren't discouraged by her words."

"That didn't even sting. In fact, I think that she's just too shy to say anything to her brother who's grown so charming."

"Hahaha. It's good that you're able to make a joke." he stands and lifts my hands. "We're counting on you."

"Yeah. I'll see to it she's crying in my arms by tomorrow." I say.

He smiles, "Will you be staying here tonight?"

"No." Hector says. "We already have arrangements."

Frederick nods, "I understand, you're welcome here anytime."

With that we leave. Honestly, I have no confidence that I can actually get Aisha to even talk to me by the end of this week. The only things I know she'd say are, "Leave!" I'm pretty sure about that one. Another one could be, "I hate you!" that's possible too, in fact, that was her favorite line as a child.

"We have arrangements?" I ask.

"Nope." Hector replies.

"Why'd you lie?"

"Because I need to watch over yo-the both of you."

Well that's great. I would've really liked it if he was just an excited tourist or something other than a handler.

"Couldn't you have watched over us in the house?" I ask.

He shakes his head, "I also think that it's best for you and your sister if you don't stay the night there. It'll give you a better chance at reconciling. We'll sleep in an inn tonight."

Nice to know that he had some thoughts about my relations.

"You're paying." I say.

------------

"What a great place." I say sarcastically to Hector.

"You d-don't mind?" he asks timidly. Looking at the guy now, I really doubt that he'd be trusted by the headmaster to watch over me. He's trying to hide it since he chose it but the inn we're at now is a piece of shit. Where there's trash, there's bugs. The people sitting down at the tables are either drunk, look drunk, or were made that way.

About the bugs, they're actually a lot here too, real bugs. A cockroach crawls along the walls while a few spiders sit quietly at their corners, looks like the service here isn't good either, those spiders must've been waiting for days.

"I was being sarcastic." I say to Hector.

"W-what? This isn't a g-good inn?" don't tell me. I shake my head, it can't be.

"Hector, have you ever slept on the ground or in an inn before?"

He shakes his head, my fears are confirmed. He's way too privileged. If he started out like a village boy then he's completely changed by now, just how long has he been living in comfort? I can understand why, but he really needs to be sent out more.

"This inn is bad." I say it loudly enough so Hector can hear me but quietly enough so others can't. "This, this place, it's like an inn in the slums. I don't know why one this bad is in the middle of the city." only a few things made sense, like the guests for example, a horribly taken care of inn and wretchedly poor guests, that made sense.

"S-so you want to leave?" he asks, accompanying his voice are pleading eyes.

You're supposed to be the one making decisions here. He just doesn't want to admit that he chose a bad place. If you're wrong, just admit that you're wrong, people who don't just get themselves deeper in the pit they're already digging.

"Yes I want to leave. Let's go, I'm picking the inn next." I bust out the door with Hector in tow.

Finding a good inn isn't hard, the next one we walk into is just fine. It seems like he just got unlucky with his first choice. The only problem is that it's full, we move onto the next one and the same thing happens.

"I guess we'll just have to go back to the first one." I say, finally giving up.

"I think we should keep going."

I wonder how he even made this trip. I guess wagons aren't too bad to sleep in, at least, when they're not moving that is. His sleeping didn't look to have been impeded at all by the cold nights outside, maybe he's afraid of bugs? I can understand where he's coming from though, if I ever found one of those things crawling on my while I'm laying down you can be sure I'd jump out of the bed.

I look at the moon. So much time has passed already.

"We should find Axel then." I tell him.

"Right. I forgot about that, we can also look for an inn while we head there." he nods. "Sounds like a good idea." he starts off in the direction of the city gate. His feet barely carry him anywhere, he's not eager to have to go back to that inn.

Axel awaits us by the gate. He sits resting against an house, people walk by without paying him any mind. The guards don't say anything either, they just stand guard per their duty. This is what I'd expect out of people living in a city actually, there's too much stuff going on to worry about others. There are lots of bums hanging around too, Axel, from here, does kind of give off that feel.

However, my feeling is immediately displaced when he smiles. The smile radiates youth.

"Sup guys!" he gets up from his sitting position to wave at us. "How was your visit?"

"Heh. Not very good."

"Why not?" he asks.

"My sister doesn't seem to like me much, told me to leave the moment she recognized me." I say.

The look he gives me tells me he doesn't understand, "She didn't recognize you?"

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

"Well, we were separated for eight years." I shrug. "If someone told me she wasn't my sister I'd believe them." until she opens her mouth that is.

"And she wanted you to leave?" he asks.

"Yeah. The reason, I can't really say. Could be anything, we didn't get along too swimmingly as children."

"But to hold a grudge for eight years?" he puts his hand to his chin. "Doesn't make any sense."

"I doubt that it's a grudge." our last moments together eight years ago was in that closet. I just protected her with my body. "The last time we saw each other, we didn't fight at all, I'd like to think that I protected her the last time we saw each other."

"Hohoh." he gives me a, "So it's like that" look. "Maybe she was too embarrassed to say anything to her charming older brother."

"I know right? I'd believe it."

We both laugh, Hector just awkwardly stands there as Axel and I talk.

"So...could we find a place to sleep tonight? You guys can just talk later." he interrupts.

"You guys haven't found somewhere to sleep yet?" Axel asks with complete surprise. I guess since there were two of us, he expected an inn to be found that would be to our liking.

"Well, there's actually this on-"

"Nope!" Hector says. His eyes stare at me as if to say, "Do not mention that place, ever!" I can understand his apprehension to sleeping there, even I have some. But we can't really be picky now can we?

Axel provides us a solution, "Why don't you guys come sleep over at my folk's house then?"

Hector straightens up, "Thank you. That would be nice." a hint of relief's in his voice.

"How come we couldn't stay in my grandparent's place?" I say bitterly.

"It's too late to go back now." Hector says through gritted teeth. "Get over it." wow, spiteful.

"Ew! Look at that cockroach, it's crawling on you!" I point at his leg.

"W-where!" he lifts his leg up and starts swiping away. "Get it off!"

"What's up with him?" Axel asks.

"Scared of bugs." I say. He nods. "Where's your house?" I ask.

"Follow me, it'll only be a little bit away."

After realizing that there wasn't really a bug on him, Hector raced to catch up with us. He wasn't mad, he was more embarrassed than anything. He hid his face from us and refused to make eye contact. Everyone's scared of something, it's nothing to be ashamed about.

When I compare this place to our city, I don't feel very many differences. I actually like the town I went to with Hannah and Henry better, probably because of the trees. Here, there really isn't anything interesting, sure there are nobles here and stuff but that's not something to be excited over. That doesn't add to the appeal of the city at all.

The green tiles only really showed in the morning, at night, they're almost indistinguishable from average rooftops. But boy am I proven wrong when I see the noble houses again. Their already amazing houses that would leave any normal person open jawed, is even more appealing in the dark, is this the true attraction of the city?

From the noble houses, the grass and tiles radiate a green glow. It's a lot softer than the night shows my master used to take me to where they'd launch fireworks into the air, but it's fascinating in it's own way. How did they get it to do that? How many kids do they keep up at night with that alluring light that makes one just want to keep staring.

Within the darkness of night, they really shine. When people mention the Green City, are they referring to this nighttime lights show?

"Axel."

"Hm?"

"What's that?" I point to the lights.

"Oh yeah! You haven't seen them before have you?" he pauses to admire the green glow. "They're the glow from the grass around the noble houses. I don't know how it works but it's quite something to look at eh? My brothers and sisters would always watch it at night, you know, until my parents came out and forced us into our beds." he chuckles. "Heheh, good times."

So parents were inconvenienced by these lights. At least it kept the kids from wandering to random places at night. Most certainly they'd be heading to the glow rather than the slums of the city to have some fun.

"We're here guys." we stop in front of a decent sized stone building.

"I thought you lived in a village." I say.

"Oh? Did I give you that impression?" he scratches the back of his head. "My bad."

This part's a lot different from the rest of the city. Trees, which are starting to lose their leaves, are placed all around. There's also a lot of grass just like the noble's houses, the ground isn't covered over in stones either, dirt is actually under our feet.

"This is what you'd call the bad but good part of town." he pauses. "It's like a place where the just barely well off meet the poor. For some reason, they decided to build a nice park here."

"That's a pretty good bonus."

"I guess." Axel says. "Let's go inside, I'll introduce you to them."

The inside of the house is plain, the walls are average just like everything else. Nothing prominent is put up as decoration, the only notable pieces are the sofas in the living room, which, are also average. I hear a rucks come from what I assume is the kitchen. A young boy and little girl run out.

"Mom! Axel brought friends!" the boy yells into the kitchen.

Out comes a woman who looks worn down by the hardships of work, and life.

"Ah, it's so nice to meet some of Axel's friends." she rushes to shake our hands. "I'm his mother. Please, join us for dinner."

"No, that's not necessary, we already ate before we came." I say. It's not true but I can tell from all the faces peeking out from the kitchen that they probably don't have enough to feed all of us.

"I see."

"Mom. Can they stay the night?" Axel asks.

"There isn't much room."

"It's alright ma'am we can just sleep here." Hector motions at the sofas.

"But I can't have guests, especially friends of Axel to sleep on the couches. It wouldn't be very good of a host." she says with worry in her voice.

"No no. We came unannounced, the sofas are fine." I say.

"Is that so? Well, then. I'm going to go back to cooking, nice to meet you."

"You too ma'am."

She scurries back into the kitchen where the smell of food comes from.

"Where's your dad?" I ask. Whoops, that might be a little insensitive, he could no longer be around. Luckily, Axel informs me he's still alive.

"He's out working, he's a city guard."

I nod.

"I'm going to sleep." I tell him.

"Okay, I'll head to my room."

"You're not going to eat?" I ask.

"Not hungry." he smiles and leaves for his room.

"Liar." I whisper. Your stomach was grumbling all the way here.