After reaching Destin my sister and I had nowhere to go, we wandered around the streets, but with increasing hunger we simply took some apples that were on a wooden box, but someone started screaming angrily at us… We ran away, with the apples in our hands, of course.

We didn’t know the terrain very well so we were then found out by the guards of the town and brought inside their garrison, where they kept us and told us some basic rules of living inside of this city and what would happen if one were to break the rules.

This was, of course, explained after they asked about our origins to which I replied that I came from the forest and had always lived with my guardian, which wasn’t exactly true, but not false either, as I had, at that point in time, lived most of my life with Grum, about two years of my three years of age.

Even so, I looked like a young teenager in size and mentally, thanks to Grum’s teachings I would fit quite nicely with people my age knowledge-wise. But I had barely lived, I had barely experienced things so I would still fall into situations where I didn’t know what to do during my stay inside Destin.

Such is the case when we stole those apples, because when we lived with Grum everything that was accessible was for us to use. We weren’t really ready for life in a society, but with the help of the people inside the convent we managed to improve ourselves.

My sister and I didn’t trust other people much at first, because of what had happened with Grum and our realization that he didn’t teach us “basic things” as sister Maria classified normal. Sister Maria wasn’t our sister, but that is how the church treated its devotees and low-level clergy.

When one was talking to more important clergy, then one should treat them as their progenitors, calling them “father” or “mother”, which I didn’t really mind but I never truly understood why. Why was lying about the titles of people ok, but not whenever else?

Father Michael, the man in charge of this church and a knowledgeable person told me that it was different and calling him father should be an obligation due to respect of him as a person and as a clergyman.

But he never truly convinced me of why one should act differently given different situations. Why would one do different things of what he truly believed depending on where one was? Why can’t you always just do what you believe?

Throughout my first few years I discussed these topics many times with Father Michael and Sister Maria, but then I learned that it was better to keep these thoughts to myself, which was kind of ironic as my beliefs were that I shouldn’t change for others and always be myself, but there I was, changing myself for someone else.

But I didn’t only talk with the workers inside the church; I also talked with the other children inside, even though most of them strayed far away from me, be it for my size or for my other physical aspects, such as the horns which had continuously grown during my stay at the convent.

But not everyone avoided me. Most of the ones that didn’t were also quite different from the crowd, but other children were quite nice with everyone and as I was part of everyone, they were nice to me.

It was here where I met whom I’d call the person who influenced me most in my life, another “kid” inside the church. His name was Kupi, and he quickly turned into my best friend inside Destin.

He had the same beliefs as me, live as you want and not as you’re told, and he also taught me many useful tricks with hands. Kupi told me that his race was naturally gifted with their hands and because of that I could never reach his level of mastery with some of the “magic” tricks which he showed me.

He was just moving his hands really fast and when I reached the level where he couldn’t trick me anymore, he told me that it was time to go to the next level. We went to the market, so I believed that he’d show the trick to many people to get donations as I had seen bards do, but he did something unexpected.

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While we were walking normally, he quickly inserted his hands inside the pocket of a woman, took some coins and put it inside his own pockets just to continue walking normally as if nothing had happened. If I hadn’t trained my eyes to follow his movements, I wouldn’t have seen anything!

After exiting the market, we walked into a side alley and he told me that he’d train me to do the same, albeit at a cost. He said I’d have to pay him 10% commission every time I successfully stole something, but he’d exchange me silver coins for golden ones, had I collected enough silver ones.

Kupi assured me that he was giving me a better price than the market one, but I didn’t really know much about that, my knowledge reached the level that with money you could buy things and that some coins were worth more than others, but not how much.

I didn’t really bother learning that, because I never had to go to the market to buy things, as the clergymen inside the convent didn’t really trust me nor Arabelle to do such a task correctly and there were already other children which did it well enough.

Back at the past, inside the church’s resting chambers

Gabriel didn’t really know whether to learn to steal well or not. He had been taught over and over that it was a bad thing, but at the same time, if he did learn it, he could show Father Thomas and Sister Maria that he could live however he wanted and that he’d survive like that.

But what if they couldn’t put up with him anymore? He did realize that he didn’t look like a child, so at one point or another he’d have to get out and survive with his sister on their own, but could they, do it?

Would anyone really hire two reddish looking beings with horns which looked quite similar to monsters which are told at night to scare children into sleeping? Gabriel knew that it was like finding a needle in a haystack, but if there was no needle inside. It was impossible, no one would hire someone who they were taught to fear.

So, they would either have to hide their real selves to be hired, something which Gabriel didn’t want to do unless totally forced, so they’d have to get their needs in some other way. With this angle in mind, stealing really seemed like a good option.

While considering the different sides of this dilemma Kupi sneaked behind me and surprised me by taking away the pen I was biting to quench my nerves and replacing it with a bitter candy which coincidentally have the same shape as a pen, maybe a bit longer.

By experience I knew that this one was another of Kupi’s pranks and I knew that the best way to get back at him was by not reacting, so I kept munching on the stick, even though it wasn’t my favorite taste.

- Aww come on, no reaction again?! I must have lost my touch. – Kupi commented, to which I quickly replied.

- I just got used to them.

- Make bigger pranks, noted. – Kupi joked around, letting a laugh come out his throat and sat on the bed in front of me.

I didn’t need to comment, I just grabbed his arm and pulled him to me to mess with his hair a little. I knew he wasn’t very serious and was mostly trying to put me back down to earth from thought-land.

- So, will you learn from me? – Kupi asked after a few seconds of messing each-others hair. But I wasn’t really sure if I wanted and Kupi could see that in my eyes, which is why he followed up with – you can just try it out first and stop at any given moment. To make it more enticing I’ll even add some private information about me if you decide to truly follow me.

Kupi already knew my weakness about secrets, private information and hard to get data. Whenever I heard about such things I usually didn’t stop until I found out what it was or at least more about it. Once I asked everyone in the city I managed to contact to find out if Gods had truly walked the lands I lived in, but I didn’t get any useful information.

Religious people said that it did happen, but not much else about it, while many others said that it was just inventions that people made to live off the goodwill from others. But the most interesting things I found were from the ones that didn’t answer with any of these two choices.

Some of them told me that they had seen remnants of god, while others told me that some gods were still alive, just in very inaccessible places. Two very fascinating tales, but quite inaccessible from where I was at, both physically and metaphorically.

The last one was still useful, someone said that the grandson of a god lived inside this city and had lived over a hundred years but didn’t look a year over forty. He hid quite well, but the person said he had proof… Although it would cost a single jade-golden coin, as he not only risked his life getting it, but he also risked his life when taking it out, but he didn’t explain why.

Now I had barely seen golden coins and a jade-golden coin was something that I didn’t even know about, but it was my only solid and relatively accessible lead towards finding more about them.

Kupi indirectly reminded me of this experience and so I reached a conclusion.

- Yes, teach me how to steal.

Just then I saw my sister entering the room.