The door to Joscur's home opened and two young women stepped inside. The first was younger, sixteen, and her arm was held by the second. She had dark skin like her father and her hair was bright ginger, long and kinky. She wore a lightly woven dress of bright blue and yellow that cut off at the shoulders and left her arms and throat bare. It did well to hide her figure and she stepped with a quiet sort of ease as she was guided by the arm by her companion. Wrapped around her eyes was a small sash of matching blue. The second woman was older and wore predominantly yellow though there were splashes of white here and there along the side of her outfit. Her hair was pulled back into a bun and tied off with a piece of twine. She stopped in the doorway and held back on her companions' bare arm to let her know that they should go no further.

"Marisia? Is that you?" called Joscur from somewhere within the house. His voice rang out clearly and firmly as it always did. She could hear her father coming from the other room as clearly as if he were walking right beside her. The sound made visible the rest of the home for her.

"Yes, I am home!" she called back knowing that it would be a few steps more before he was in the same room as she was. She breathed in through her nose and picked up the scent of cooking; the spices and the heat. She could tell just by the fragrance of the seasonings used that this was a larger meal. Her father was expecting company.

Joscur entered the room and strode across the floor towards his daughter and his guest who still held onto the arm of Marisia. Though she could not see it she could hear the smile in his voice as he said, "Thank you so much for looking after her today! Did you have fun in the markets?"

"Yes, all was well," the young woman replied. There was slight relief in her voice that Marisia could hear and she was not naïve enough to not know why it was there. Her father had gone out into the Wastes and had turned her over to Kara, Marisia's friend and escort, while he was away. She knew full well by now that it was in case anything happened to him while he was out in the scorching desert but had not the heart to tell herself this honestly. She preferred to leave it unsaid within her heart. Kara turned and relinquished Marisia's arm as her father came close and placed his hand tenderly on his daughter's shoulder. "I must be getting home. Dinner is likely waiting for me as it is for you!" Kara said cheerfully before reaching down and squeezing Marisia's hand. "Goodbye for now! I will see you some other time, okay?"

"Goodbye Kara," Marisia said with a smile, her head turned slightly towards the direction of her old friend. Their goodbyes exchanged, Kara turned and left the doorway of their home closing the door behind her. Joscur reached out and placed his other hand on his daughters' shoulders so as to hold her attention for just a moment more. "We have company, and I want you to hear it from me first," he said to her. There was a tone of reservation on his voice that was strange to Marisia. Normally her father was so sure with his words and unafraid to say anything. The trepidation made her consider if perhaps her father had finally brought home a woman! He had said often enough that he wanted no other since her mother had died and in her younger years this had brought comfort to her. As she had grown older her sentiments had changed a bit, up to the point that she wouldn't have minded if there was a woman there in the house at least.

"Oh? Who is it?" she asked, trying not to let on what she suspected.

"They are upstairs. Do not go up and disturb them. Let them come down when they are ready, or when food is prepared. I do not want to overwhelm them with too many new people. They have had a long day already..." Joscur trailed off and removed his hands from his daughters' shoulders, turning and walking back towards the kitchen from where he'd come from. His words incited Marisia's curiosity even further. The way he spoke of their guest made her dismiss the possibility of it being another woman. Her face turned towards where she knew the stairs to be and she thought to herself, just who could be up there?

Marisia stepped forward and walked effortlessly through their home with careful, practiced footsteps. Outside of their home was ever changing, full of people and things that moved from place to place. It was impossible for her to move on her own without some sort of guide or assistance in the world outside. Here in her home, however, she knew where everything was. Her father went to lengths to make sure that things were always in their place for her and if something was moved or something new was added he would tell her and let her feel out where things were. Through years of bumping her feet and legs against things, of holding her arms out and feeling the walls, of counting her footsteps as she moved from one object to the next and back again, of complete consistency in her surroundings, she had gained within her own home a kind of sight that she could have nowhere else.

Eight steps diagonally to the right of the doorway there was a short drop off to a square area carved out of the floor that housed many cushions and a small table made of stone and glass that sat in the center. She took her ninth step down into this area and her foot found the familiar, soft touch of the cushions underneath. She stepped on them and moved four steps further to her direct right before taking a seat on the cushion beneath her with her lower back resting against the cool stone of the floor behind her. She turned her head back towards where she perceived the stairs to be and again found herself thinking of who was in the house with them.

Her thoughts were interrupted by her father calling out, "Daniellex will be over before long to visit!"

"Uncle Daniellex?" Marisia asked excitedly, turning her head in the direction her fathers' voice had come from. Marisia was very fond of the squat burly man and always had been. He treated her like she were part of his family and was always kind, always understanding and helpful. He and her father were much more like brothers than friends and he was not an unusual or unwelcome thing within their home. 'If he is coming over,' she found herself thinking, 'then perhaps the guest upstairs is someone meant for Daneillex?'

"Is our upstairs guest here for Uncle Dani?" Marisia asked, never one to be shy about asking questions.

"No, now hush about our guest! You will meet him before long, come in here and help me with food!" Joscur called out, hoping to keep his daughter occupied with making food so that she couldn't ask him any more questions about their guest. He knew that explaining it all was going to be difficult and wanted to approach the subject on his own terms.

Naturally for a young woman though the distinction that their guest was male came as something more yet of intrigue. A man? A boy? Someone her age? She was filled with questions and as she got up from the cushions, turning to her left and walking a few tender steps up onto the stone floor and then fifteen steps directly forward, she reached out and touched the wall to her right that marked the entrance to the small kitchen that they had before taking two steps forward and, reaching with her left hand, touching the counter that wrapped around the sides of the room.

"A boy? Have you brought home a suitor for me?" she asked playfully. She didn't believe for a second that her father would do such a thing!

"Hush! Give me that ladle there!" Marisia's father said harshly, snapping his fingers and pointing towards her. He was on her left and she knew to feel around the counter top as she walked along it until she felt the utensil laying there. She picked it up and brought it to her father, holding it out for him to take which he promptly did and began to stir the metal pot.

"Who is he then? You must be able to tell me something!" Marisia urged as she turned and rested the small of her back against the counter, her hands laying flat atop it beside her.

"His name is William. We found him wandering in the Wastes today. I offered to give him a place to rest his head until he gets a place of his own, he lets us know where it is that he needs to get to... or the council decides what to do with him," he answered, his words growing slightly grim and Marisia could hear this. She knew that her father made regular trips out into the wastes in order to explore, to gather resources and to help maintain the peace that Mirage had enjoyed for many years now. That was all she knew, aside from she knew better than to ask for more specifics when her father sounded as he did. Some things were better left unsaid was the rule when it came to such things.

"I see... William is a peculiar name, no?" she inquired. She wanted to maintain the conversation without stepping into any conversational landmines. It was often a delicate tiptoe to do as such but she had gotten good at it over the years.

"Yes. There is much that is peculiar about our guest..." Joscur stated, trailing off into silence. A few seconds passed in silence between them with Joscur stirring the pot. Marisia stayed quiet and waited for her father to go on. He didn't usually get quiet like this and it was beginning to make her nervous.

Joscur pulled the ladle out from the pot and tapped it on the rim a few times before setting it aside. He reached out and touched his daughter's shoulder and she reached up to grab his hand, smiling softly. "We need to try and make him feel welcome as long as he is here. Do not push him for too many details. Let him tell you in his own time," he urged her. She nodded.

"Yes, baba," she agreed.

It wasn't long after that that the door to their home opened once more and in walked Daniellex, one hand outstretched to push the door open and the other holding on firmly to the leg of a young boy, Vamenco, who was sat squarely on his shoulders and his hands nestled in his thick hair. He was the younger brother of Marisia and son of Joscur, wearing a bright blue tunic and white pants, his feet bare. Daniellex held the boys sandals in his right hand and as the two stepped through the door way the boy had to duck his head to avoid bumping it on the frame. As they entered Marisia lifted her head and turned it so that her ear were pointed towards the door, listening.

She recognized Daniellexs' voice immediately. "We are home!" he boomed, closing the door behind him and reaching up to lift young Vamenco from off of his shoulders and setting him down on the floor. The young boy laughed, his cheeks puffing up into round pinch-able mounds and his hair, just as bright orange as his sisters', bounced as he exclaimed excitedly. Joscur looked up from what he was doing in the kitchen and smiled himself. "Dani, my friend! Do I hear Vamenco with you?" he asked as he turned back to his task of cooking.

"You do! I found him playing in the streets with some other children and thought I should bring him home," Daniellex said, reaching down and ruffling the young Vamencos' hair before patting him on the back of the head. The young boy turned and began to run through the house. Marisia moved from where she stood and made her way out of the kitchen, smiling as she felt her hand on the entrance to the kitchen that connected it to the living room.

"Pleasant moons, Uncle Dani! Father told me that you would be coming," she said. Daniellex grunted and stepped over towards the cushions. He always made to sit down as quickly as possible when he came over to visit.

"That is good. It is an exciting evening after all. How could I miss out?" he asked and his tone, too, had the vague tinge of grimness to it that had been on his fathers' tongue as well. It filled Marisia with an apprehension that she did not enjoy. It was a rare thing for both her father and Uncle Dani to sound worried about something. Her thoughts again turned to their guest William who she had not heard yet. She cocked her head slightly as though to turn her ear towards the ceiling to listen. Just what was all of the commotion about?

"Hey, hey, hey, do not sit down just yet! I could use an extra pair of hands in here!" Joscur called out right as Daniellex was kneeling down to sit. The squat mound of muscles that was Daniellex locked in place and grunted again as he worked to right himself. "Come now! I am your guest! Why not have your daughter help you?" the burly man called in protest, wanting desperately to sit after being on his feet all day.

"She has done her part, now come do yours! Marisia, would you wrangle your brother and let him know that we have another guest?" Joscur asked. Marisia turned to her father and nodded, knowing that catching her brother was going to be a task all its' own. He loved trying to run and hide from her because of her blindness. She knew that he meant no harm by it, that it was as much of a game as any he played with the children in the streets, but that made it no less annoying when her father asked her to get a hold of him. Pushing herself off of the wall she moved into the living room and Daniellex made his way into the kitchen. She paused after a few short steps and listened for her brother who was still frantically running around. It made figuring out where he was easy enough at least.

"Where oh were could Vamenco be?" she called out, holding her arms out in front of her and waving them back and forth for dramatic effect. She took a step forward and listened, hearing the giggling of her sibling and knowing where he was. She had long since learned that the best way to get a hold of her excitable younger brother was to play a game with him and so play a game she did. "I must find him, for I am a hungry reausler and wish to feast on bad little children!" she called out, hunching forward and taking a few more steps as she swept her arms to and fro. Once more she heard Vamenco giggling and the patter of his feet and knew that he was off to her left, not far from the stairs. She knew that she needed him not to go up there because that was where their mysterious guest, William, was and she doubted that someone who had been lost in the Wastes would want an energetic young child bothering them – especially if they were still resting.

She moved to her left and down, stepping on some cushions and pausing, cocking her head up in an overly exaggerated fashion for the sake of the game. She moved to the right. No sounds from Vamenco. To the left and there she heard, a small choked bit of laughter before the sound of steps moving over to her right. She smiled wide, calling out, "I am going to eat well tonight!" before charging, stepping and hopping with expert knowledge of her surroundings as she advanced towards where her brother was. Vamenco squealed and tried to run but she knew exactly where he was at this point and it did not take her long to reach out and grab a hold of his tunic, pulling him backwards and kneeling down to embrace him. "Haha! At last I have caught you! And now, I feast!" she cried, dipping her head down and planting kisses on her brothers' shoulder and cheek while tickling his belly. Vamenco squealed and tried to wriggle out of her grasp but little else. The game was won and over with and he knew that.

Pulling her head back she stood back up and grabbed onto her brothers' small hand, leading him down to the pit of cushions and taking a seat. Her younger brother sat down with her and kept his hand in hers. It was a habit he had picked up as a way to better communicate with his blind sister. He knew that as long as she could feel him she knew he was there and listening, not quite understanding that she would know if he were to wander off. "Vamenco," she said to him. "Baba has a guest over that we are to meet tonight."

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"A guest?" he asked curiously, his fingers twitching in her palm. "Is it someone new?"

"Yes. Baba told me that they were out in the Wastes, but other than that I do not know. They are resting upstairs, so you need to be good and not go up there alright? You remember how baba said the Wastes are an awful place?"

"Yes," Vamenco said a bit quietly. It had only been within the last year that he had stopped having nightmares about imagined terrors that resided in the harsh sands outside of the barrier surrounding Mirage. He did not quite understand the harshness of the world surrounding him but he was apprehensive about it all the same.

"Well, they have been lost out there for some time it would seem. Baba found him today and brought him home to rest. He will be staying with us for a little while, perhaps a day or two. So you must be on your best behavior!" Marisia urged.

"Are they a boy like me?" Vamenco asked curiously.

"I do not think so," Marisia said, withholding that she did not believe a boy like him could survive out there on their own.

"Will they want to play?"

"I do not know, but I doubt it. At least at first," she answered honestly, reaching out with her free hand and running it over her brother's head. "His name is William and he will be joining us for dinner tonight."

Vamenco giggled and balled his hand into a fist in her palm. "William," he said, enunciating each syllable to the best of his ability but still finding it a bit difficult to say. "That is a funny name!"

"Yes, I think it is funny too," she admitted, letting go of her brothers' hand and turning her head in the direction of the stairs. There was still so much she did not know about this William and she tried to think of what might be the best things to ask him.

"Will they come down soon?" Vamenco asked.

"Perhaps when dinner is ready..." Marisia answered.

"When will dinner be ready?"

"Soon, I hope. Are you hungry?" she asked, turning back to her brother.

"Mhm! I have not eaten since noon and am hungry!" he cried.

"Then I am sure you will eat a lot," she said idly, thoughts still hanging on William. How long had he been out in the Wastes? Why was he there in the first place? Was he from Mirage?

"I will eat so much!" Vamenco declared excitedly, throwing his arms up and leaning back until he fell over and rolled to sit back up again. He looked over towards the kitchen were his father and Uncle Dani were standing next to each other. He could see that they were talking but could not hear what was being said. Marisia could not hear either for they whispered. Even if they were not she likely would not have heard them as her thoughts were preoccupied still.

'Is he a reaver? How far away from Mirage was he when baba found him? What does he sound like?' she thought curiously. 'What should I ask him first?'

"Dinner is done!" called Daniellex, carrying the pot of food towards the squat table. Marisia was pulled from her thoughts at the sound of this and the rich aroma of the food, Vamenco letting out a small cheer as he stood up and eyed the pot hungrily. He and her father were not far behind Uncle Dani who had his hands filled with bowls and utensils. "Marisia, will you come take these from me and set the table? I am going to go inform our guest that dinner is ready and ask if he wants to come down."

"Yes, baba," she said dutifully, getting up from where she sat and moving towards the sound of her father's voice. She held her arms out and waited for him to touch her before passing the bowls and utensils to her and then going up stairs. She turned and walked back towards the table but listened intently to the sound of her father's foot steps as he climbed the stairs.

"Here, allow me to help," Uncle Dani said, having sat the pot down on the table and taking a couple of the bowls from Marisia. He sat one down for himself and then another beside it, urging Vamenco to come sit by him who did so without complaint. Marisia stepped around them and, feeling the surface of the table with her fingers, sat down a bowl for her, her father, and their guest while also setting utensils beside them. She passed the remaining utensils to Daniellex and took a seat, waiting. The three of them sat quietly for a few moments as they all waited in anticipation. Daniellex eyed the pot of food as if to keep his attention on it rather than the guest that he knew was going to be coming down the stairs shortly, Vamenco couldn't stop himself from half turning on the spot and looking up to the stairs, eager to get a glimpse of this mysterious new person first while Marisia sat with her head tilted forward, ears open and waiting.

After what felt like several minutes but was only a handful of scant seconds in reality, she heard the sound of footsteps at the top of the stairs. The heavy, confident thud of her father's feet against the sandstone stairs told her that he was coming down first. She ignored these steps and tried to focus, listening intently for the sound of their guest. What she heard, shortly after Joscur made it half way down the staircase, was the soft pad of feet that, to her, sounded as if they were intentionally trying to be quiet; it was almost as if he were sneaking down the stairs after her father. Yet the cadence of their steps suggested otherwise. The first thing that Marisia learned of this new person for herself was that they were light on their feet and quiet.

"Hello!" Vamenco called out cheerfully, rising up on one knee as if to run up and greet the guest. Uncle Dani, however, was quick to turn his head and place a hand on his eager young shoulder.

"Easy, sit back down and let him come to us," the burly man softly growled. The young boy looked to his uncle and nodded, sitting back down in place but looking over his shoulder at the still descending young man.

"Thank you Daniellex," Joscur said, taking his place at the table and crossing his legs. Marisia could hear the soft steps approaching and turned her head so that her ears could follow along with his pace. "Please, have a seat," Joscur said warmly. Marisia could tell that he was smiling but that his smile was forced. His tone always gave away when he was smiling out of happiness and when he was smiling from obligation.

William took his place between Marisia and Vamenco quietly. His sitting down was as quiet and controlled as his foot steps were. He was sat down for only a second before Vamenco leaned forward and excitedly greeted him. "Pleasant moons to you, stranger! I am Vamenco and this is my family! What is your name?"

"Vamenco, please!" Joscur spoke up in the middle of his son's greeting. Marisia could hear the genuine smile in his voice. He wasn't scolding his son so much as trying to correct him. "I am sorry for my son, he is young and excitable..."

"It's alright," William replied softly. The sun-scorched stranger turned to Vamenco and said in turn, "My name is William. Thank you for having me for dinner."

Polite and soft spoken. Marisia was learning more about their guest by the moment. Her father leaned towards her and said as softly as William, "He is smiling!" Marisia smiled at this and gave a curt nod. Her father had long since developed the habit of telling her what facial expressions people were making so that she could associate their sound of their voice with the visages she could not see.

"Allow me to introduce you to my family. Vamenco is my youngest child and my only son, Marisia next to you is my eldest and my only daughter. You have already met Daniellex, my close friend and godfather to my children, their 'uncle'. Well, introductions have been made, so let us eat!" Joscur declared.

"Yes!" Vamenco cried loudly, leaning over the table and reaching for the ladle only to have Daniellex once again reach out and place his thick hand over the little boys' arm to restrain him.

"Hey, hey, we have talked about this! It is rude to just lunge in for food like that!"

"But I am hungry!" Vamenco whined.

"I know you are, now give me your bowl and I will dish some out for you, and you will remember to wait next time!" Uncle Dani said, holding his hand out for Vamenco to fill.

"Yes Uncle Dani," Vamenco pouted, doing as he was told.

"Good lad," Daniellex said, leaning forward slightly with the bowl and dishing out some of the steaming bean-based stew that Joscur had prepared, only a single serving from the sound of it where the rest of them would start off with two. "William, would you like me to serve you?" Daniellex asked warmly.

"I would appreciate that, thank you," William replied in his soft manner, picking up his bowl and handing it to Daniellex who met him half way as Vamenco picked up a utensil and began to eat. Two ladles of stew were placed in his bowl and passed back to him before William reached out and grabbed onto the lip of Marisia's bowl.

"Ah, ah, that's alright, she is capable of doing that herself," Joscur spoke up. William froze in place for a moment before setting the bowl back down.

"Sorry, I just assumed..." he said. Marisia could feel his gaze on her. The sound in his voice was one she was quite familiar with at this point; the sound of someone meaning well for her because of her blindness and not realizing that she didn't need the good will of strangers for a task so small. She had come to appreciate these small acts of misguided kindness all the same when they weren't condescending.

"It is well, you did not know," she said, demonstrating her capability by serving herself. Unlike her brother, she sat her bowl down and waited for the others to be served before she began to eat. William filled his bowl after her and Daniellex after him. Joscur waited until the others had been served before getting his serving, as was customary for the head of the household in Mirage to do.

"Please enjoy everyone. Dig in!" Joscur proclaimed, and they did.

***

After eating his dinner Vamenco had fallen asleep right there at the table and the others were content to let him sleep while they continued to eat and talk. Mostly it was Joscur and Daniellex who spoke with one another, exchanging pleasantries, telling stories and talking at William, who kept quiet for most of the meal unless asked for a quick opinion on one thing or another, while Marisia kept equally quiet and listened, chiming in only when a story concerned her or required her input. They laughed heartily, even William, and young Vamenco slept soundly. Everyone respectfully did not inquire about William's personage, history or where he had come from.

Marisia could feel the slight tension in the air because of this, though. Near the beginning of the meal she had attempted to ask their guest how it was he had ended up in Mirage but her father had gently placed his hand on her arm and told her to leave it lie for the moment. She could tell from the sudden firmness in his voice that this was something that needed to be left for another time and so neither she or anyone else brought up the mysterious circumstances of William for the rest of the night. All the while she could tell that, while they were not probing their guest both Daniellex and her father wanted to. She could understand why it was that her father would want to talk to William about such things. He was, after all, a city guard. It was part of his job, as she understood it, to be wary of strangers who would enter their city and yet he was not asking now.

Was he waiting for her to leave before he began questioning William? For that matter, what was William doing here at their house if he was a stranger to this city? Had her father been ordered to bring him here?

Marisia had too many questions rattling around in her curious mind with no answers and she felt that her father and Uncle felt the same. By the time she had finished eating and was simply hanging back in the conversation she felt that she was about to burst with the longing for answers! William, for his part, had remained quiet and respectful the whole time, the gentleness in his voice giving her the impression of frailty. Finally she could take it no more.

Rising from her seat she stepped over and knelt down to pick up her brother. "Taking the little one to bed are you?" Uncle Dani asked her during a pause in talk with her father.

"Yes, your talking has put him well and truly to sleep!" she quipped with a smile, earning a chuckle from both Daniellex and her father. "I think I will retire as well."

"The rest of us will follow shortly. It is a long day for many of us," Joscur replied. Daniellex was quiet at this apart from a grunt which Marisia took to mean that her father had given a hint that he needed to leave and head home soon. She nodded, turned and carefully stepped up out of the dinning area, walking around to pick up her brother, and made her way carefully over towards the stairs. As she ascended talking resumed between the three remaining sitters and she listened closely while not delaying the delivery of her brother to his rest.

"I suppose I will be headed home then myself. It has grown dark but that has never bothered me none," Uncle Dani said, patting his belly from the sound of it.

"Yes, that would be best. We will meet up again tomorrow, at the usual time," Joscur said. There came the sound of two men getting up and clasping their arms together – sounds that she was quite familiar with. "Soft winds to you, Dani."

"And to you," Daniellex replied. There was a pause as Marisia began to top the stairs and head into the upper hall. "You are in good hands, William. Trust this man here, he will not lead you astray."

"Thank you," came the soft reply from William and that was the last that she heard as she went down, step by step, treading the path she knew lead to her brother's room. Stepping inside she laid him down to sleep and then quietly made her exit, headed to her room and taking a seat on her bed where she sat quiet and thoughtful for a while. She'd grown so absorbed in her thoughts that she hardly heard the approach of her father and only raised her head to acknowledge him when he tapped on the doorway to announce his arrival.

"May I come in?" Joscur asked his daughter. Marisia nodded and listened as her father walked into her room and sat down beside her on the bed. The sounds of his hands coming together let her know that he was about to talk with her in a serious manner as they always did when he had something important to say.

"Our guest, William, will be staying in the guest room at the end of the hall," he informed her. "He is already made his way there for the evening and is resting now. If for any reason you hear him get up in the night or he comes and asks you for assistance, come and get me and I will help him, hm?"

"Yes, baba," Marisia replied with a nod. There was a moment of quiet between them before her father spoke again.

"So what do you think of our William?" he asked.

Marisia took a moment to think, straightening her back on the bed as she thought the question over. "He is quiet," she said, "and mysterious. I still have many questions for him that I was not able to ask over dinner."

"So do I," Joscur said, his voice laced with solemnity. There was another pause before he sighed and reached out to place his hand on his daughter's shoulder. "Please try to pay him little mind. I do not know how long he will be with us, only that he is for now. By tomorrow he could be somewhere else or sent on his way. It is doubtful that he will be here long at any rate."

"Yes, baba," Marisia said although she found herself intrigued by this suggestion. Why should her father tell her not to think of their guest while he is there? What was wrong with him that her father didn't want her to get to know him more?

"Good girl," her father said, leaning over and giving his daughter a kiss on the temple. He rose up from her bed and walked towards the doorway, saying as he went, "It is time we went to bed. Rest up and I will see you in the morning. Goodnight, Marisia."

"Goodnight, baba," she said, smiling. She waited until her father could be heard no more before laying down in her bed and getting under her thin cover. She rolled over on her bed and slowly drifted off, her imagination running wild about the guest that was laying just down the hall from her.