Chapter 2: The Changeling Bandit.  (POV Evie.)
"What's the point of messing with reality if you can't have a little fun with it?"-Illusions and laughter, chapter 4. 

"So that’s her?" The young brown-haired girl whispered with wide eyes. She pointed at a wanted poster of a girl with long auburn hair and golden-brown eyes. "The changeling bandit?" 

“Yes, miss." The guard replied in his everyday, monotonous voice. "The reward for her is two hundred gold coins." 

The girl stared at the poster, studying it closely. "She's rather pretty don’t ya think?" The guard shrugged, staring into the busy street with a bored expression. 

"Hey! I'm talking to you!" The girl furrowed her brows. "Why's she wanted anyway? I'm a traveler." 

The guard sighed deeply. "She's wanted for theft, multiple impersonations, pranks disruptive of authority, and pickpocketing. And…" he wrinkled his nose. "Mockery. Especially of the guard and nobility." 

The girl titled her head. "The reward sounds kinda high for all of that. How’d you get her face anyway if she can change herself? Is this her real face?" The man shrugged again and sighed deeply, earning another frown. "You're a rude man." 

An uncharacteristically mischievous grin revealed itself on the guard's face. "Aye! I’m the rudest man to ever rude!” He spoke with a girl’s voice, high and melodious, like a bird’s song. 

The girl blinked. "Wha? Did you just-" a childlike giggle filled the air. "Gotcha!" She took a few steps back. "What in the Titan’s name?" She looked around her, and by the time her focus was back on the guard he was gone.

A voice softly spoke into her ear, "You know, you’re beautiful too! Shame about your gloves though.” Her eyes darted at her bare hands and she choked out a gasp. How did she steal them? “W-Wait!" Another round of giggles danced through the air. "Gotta go! Catch ya later!" 

On a rooftop not far away Evie struggled to contain her joy. "Travelers! They're so easy to tease." 

She sat down on the edge of her rooftop, playfully dangling her legs and daydreaming of eating like a princess. 

Her eyes lingered on a tiny, empty wooden box where all her savings had once been, two whole years of savings, gone in a single morning. She hid it beneath a pile of random junk but the guards still found it. She’d ran to the other side of the city on that faithful morning, she’d outrun them, but her savings and clothes’ stash was gone forever. 

Her face contorted in bitter fury. "What’s the point of being so fast if they’ll always take my stuff? I can't run from frostfalls anyway!” Her stomach grumbled loudly. "Or my tummy…"

Evie looked down at the brown-haired girl frantically talking to the guards. She could make out something about wanting to find her. But she wouldn't let her. She could never live with the guilt or ruining another life. She clutched her chest, trying to soothe her aching heart.

“It’s fine. It’s fine! I’ll be alone, that way I can never get anyone hurt ever again, nobody’ll hurt me again and nobody’ll leave me again...I’m okay with that!” 

She scoffed, tears pooling in her eyes. “Liar…” her shoulders slumped, then she wiped tears from her lashes and opened her eyes, her face a mask of bravery. 

With a forlorn sigh, Evie hopped off the roof and landed soundlessly on the ground. 

"You!" Evie swiftly turned around and feigned an innocent look. "Yea?"

"Can you help me find this girl?" She tapped on the wanted poster in her hand. "I gotta find her! She stole my boots, but I don’t care about that! Not really, please, have you seen her?”

Evie tilted her head and shrugged her shoulder. "Can't say I saw her. But I probably wouldn't know eh?" 

The girl's face fell. "The changeling bandit…I was hoping to meet her but…" she bitterly chuckled to herself. "She could be anyone. She could even be you!" 

Evie didn't flinch and calmly smiled. 

"I reckon she's off pretending to be some nobleman's daughter or something. Seems like an easy way to fill her belly." 

The girl hung her head, dragged her hand over her face, and sighed. "Easy but rather dangerous..still she’d eat better than most will in their whole lives, more than me at any rate…maybe that’s worth it to her? Anyway sorry to bother you ma'am. I'm Fia. If you ever…think you see her, I'll be in the tavern for a while until I move on.” 

Evie bit her trembling lip, wisps of doubt in her eyes.

“I’m…Eire. It’s um, nice to meet you?” Fia grinned, and let out a little chuckle. “Never thought I’d see an older woman be shy around me, take care, ma’am.” 

Evie solemnly waved her goodbye. "Ma'am…this face isn't even 25 summers old...I think..did I overdo it?" 

She shook her head and broke into a run towards the marketplace. A look of dismay crossed her face at the sight of ironguards patrolling the marketplace. 

Their heads were adorned with hauntingly humanoid-like faces, ever-smiling and watchful. Their stupidly strong dark metallic plate armor covered almost every part of their body. And their deathly, sickeningly sharp blades, straight out of a madman’s nightmare. Their clockwork hearts and their facsimile of muscles screeching and clanking. The sound of their heavy metallic steps, always getting closer.

"Citizens of the Lisari Empire, the changeling bandit has been sighted near the western gate. Please only move in groups of two and do not engage any one person. Do not lose sight of companions. Check your funds regularly. Report any suspicious activity to the nearest guard. Repeat. Citizens of the Lisari empire, the changeling bandit has been sighted…"

 Evie scowled at their distorted, mechanical voices then ran back to her street and climbed back up her favorite rooftop, she lazily waved her hand and shifted back to herself.  

"Iron pricks." She gritted her teeth. “I’ll wait until it’s night.”

                                                                                                              ****

Evie smiled softly at the familiar sight of the shining moonlight, night had fallen over Arivel. 

"Finally." She stretched then hopped from one rooftop to another, running faster and faster with each step until her feet were barely touching the ground. Her smile grew as the wind danced through her waterfall of auburn locks as she dashed from the roof and landed on the street with just a gust of wind to betray her. 

"Wait...Is that..booze? Yea it’s gotta be! I think…" she sniffed then cringed at the scent. "Or maybe it's the sewers..." 

her eyes settled on a dark-haired man chatting up some very interested gals in a distant alleyway. “A prick!” Evie looked at his face and snorted. "A very rich prick then." 

She ran her hands over her face and hair, changing it to look more, "Prim and proper! Hmm, I guess he likes dark hair.." 

She flicked her hair and faster than a blink it was the color of soft obsidian. She snapped her fingers and her dirty ragged dress looked like a beautiful scarlet dress fit for nobility.

"Okay, just…act like you've got a stick up your arse. Shouldn't be too hard…Except I don’t know a thing about etiquette-" 

"You there!" Evie froze in her tracks. "Another drunk bastard." A pair of rough-looking guards strode past her. "Excuse me miss." 

"What? Whadda ya want?" Came the drunk man's slurred voice. "Identification please." 

The man guffawed until he started wheezing. "I'm the bloody emperoror! Kneel you pfhools! Whadda ya wanna huh? My gold? Pfha!" 

One of the guards facepalmed and the other folded his arms. "Identify yourself...sir." 

The man had an expression not unlike a man who just heard something very offensive. 

"Naaaaahhhhh...I'm THE empehor. Damnh yu." 

Evie carefully tiptoed towards the guards, trying her hardest to look graceful and poised. With every step, she felt her heart beating faster and faster. 

"Miss? Are you alright you look rather pale." She eyed the sharp blades in their sheathes then cleared her throat to change her voice to a more deeper, refined tone. "I'm fine. This is my father, I'm deeply sorry for him acting like a pri-professional drunk!" 

The man looked up at Evie and scrutinized her looks then gave her a lopsided grin and a twitching, knowing wink, sending a shiver down her spine. "Hehe. Me gurlll! Go away nowh gwards..." 

One of the guards grunted, pinching the bridge of his nose. “You know what? I’ve had a bad day so fine. Fine! If you ladies would please come with us, we’ll escort you home and leave this…citizen, and his daughter alone.” 

The ladies shared a glance, gritted their teeth, and begrudgingly walked away with the guards.

"Do take care of your father miss!" The guard shouted, then hastened his pace, nearly dragging the women with him. 

Evie tapped her bare feet impatiently until the guards were out of sight. The drunken man's grin grew wider and he reached for her but by the time he even took a step she was already behind him.

“Wanna look at something pretty?" She wiggled her fingers and a small spectacle of lights and colors appeared in front of the man. "Mahjic!" The man swung his arms at the light show trying to catch the lights. 

Evie wasted no time and swiftly took his purse. She saw a faint glint on his finger, then clenched her jaw. "A charm ring…." Evie scowled, she swiftly slid the ring from his finger snd dashed away from him. With a triumphant smile, she twirled, dropping her disguise then ran and climbed her way home, ignoring the drunken man’s howls. 

"A full purse of!-" She gingerly opened the leather purse then carelessly dropped it. 

"Copper rioga’s. Copper, ash-damned rioga’s. I should’ve looked before getting my hopes up…” 

Evie sat down on her torn pillow and put her chin on her knees. "Enough for dinner, one bowl of soup…" her ears picked up the echoing sound of patrols and ironguards marching closer and closer. "..tomorrow." 

Her ears perked up at the sound of faint giggles. She crawled to the edge of the roof, only to see a pair of noble girls surrounded by a small army of private guards, mercenaries by the looks of their leather armor. 

"Fire take you…" her belly cried out again. "You and your damned big fat coin purses..." she breathed a sigh of exhaustion. 

"I bet these prissy lassies have never felt hungry in their life." She whispered then dropped her disguise and laid down on her worn pillow. "If I could just know how to pretend to be some rich girl…" she sighed again, wincing at seeing the vapors of her breath. 

Evie hated the cold, despised it so much she wished she could kill it. But as a 'proud citizen'  of Arivel the freezing cold was always there in some way, especially at night. With shivering hands she drew a blanket over herself and wistfully stared at the stars until she fell asleep, dreaming of having a home. 

                                                                                                             ****

"A bunch of coppers." She wrinkled her nose, squinting her eyes at the morning light. 

"Can’t even buy some decent water for that…” Evie muttered to herself. "No..." with acrobatic ease she backflipped off the roof and softly touched the ground. "A 200 gold rioga bounty…I can do better…can't I?" She rubbed her pale arm and bit her lip. "I’ll have to…" she clenched her jaw, a fire lighting in her eyes. “I will.” 

She'd been at least halfway starving for so long she hardly knew anything else. But if she knew one thing, it's that she was tired of being hungry. 

She walked through the shadows of the alley, when she came out she had unconsciously adopted the looks of a girl similar to Fia. her gaze darted across the busy market. No ironguards today, yet the tension in her heart didn't fade. Evie strolled into the bustling market and prayed ironguards wouldn't show up or worse...that they were just hiding, again. 

She spotted a pair of chatting men, dressed in peasant’s tunics. With practiced ease, and her light, nimble touch she snatched their coin purses, not eager to disappoint herself again she felt through the leather of the purses and realized she was just holding coppers again. 

She glanced over her shoulders, and her eyelids drooped. 

“What if they have families..” she grasped the small purses and snuck up to the men again, in a blur she fastened their purses back and with that, she took off.

A dreadful feeling sank into her stomach, a mixture of hunger and anxiety. She had little way of knowing what day it was, but she learned to measure the seasons at least, by the weather, and how cold it was. She let out a deep, joyless sigh, winter is coming. 

                            

A young man’s laughter snapped her out of her thoughts, she saw he was dressed in a fancy cobalt coat, not a spot or sign of wear and tear. 

The man chatted absently with a middle aged, regal looking man, likely a baron, wearing a expensive black and blue tunic, their laughter boomed so loudly neither noticed her fingers dexterously snatching the sailor’s coin bag with practiced ease. 

 

Evie giggled in a loose fist and jingled the cloth purse, listening to its lovely sounds. Silver rioga’s, this time. Enough to buy a decent meal and some water for a few days, maybe even some new rags to wear, still without a chance of renting a night at an inn though. 

Her joy turned sour at the sight of an ironguard, a real one. Within a blink she ducked into an empty alley, slowly watching the eerie mechanical soldier stomp off. 

"Iron arse." She whispered.

 With delicate steps, she moved out of the alley and passed a crowd of maids buying breakfast and flowers. Evie grinned and turned her appearance into a smaller girl before idly looking around, scowling at all the nobles, maids, and soldiers spending their gold rioga’s on trivial things like perfumes and exotic spices while a single gold rioga could save her life, food, water and a place to stay could all be hers if she just had one.

Evie shook her bitter thoughts away and licked her lips, salivating at the dreamy thoughts of all the things she could buy for a gold rioga. Frosted myrberries, eggs and shrimps, proper, warm soup, maybe even some chicken or…clams..and-" She was broken from her daydreaming by some drool dripping down her chin. 

An enticing aroma bewitched Evie’s nose, a mixture of something sweet and sugary. “Cake!” She squealed and ran to the stall, nearly running face first into it. “Can I have a piece?” The burly-looking man sneered and looked down on her. “No. I don’t serve beggars and worthless low life like you. No rioga, no food. Now scram!” 

Her lips drew back in a snarl and she slowly backed off then padded behind him and traced her hands over her face and waved her hands over her rage dress, casting her disguise.

She tapped his shoulder. Her voice turned from childish and sheepish to a warmer and elegant timbre.“Excuse me, sir? I was wondering if I may have a taste of your food?” 

The man’s face turned as red as cherries. “My lady! But of course. Please, help yourself.” 

She took a slice of cake and devoured it as fast as she could. 

“My lady it’s truly an honor that my food makes you forget your manners.” He smiled and bowed. Evie was so bewitched by the cake she didn’t notice the shopkeeper kissing her hand. “What?” She drew back her hand, looking at him with big eyes. 

“A most peculiar soap you use my lady, it’s most…is…that..dirt?” The corners of her mouth quirked up. “Aye, that’s dirt!” She grabbed his cake, pushed it in his face and ran off, giggling all the way. 

“Wait.” Her eyes widened, “I forgot to eat his cake! Well…All of it anyway...” She pouted, crossing her arms. 

“Oh well!” She sang. “Tomorrow’s another day.” An impish grin graced Evie’s lips. 

On her way home Evie heard an all too familiar sound. The sound of a prissy old noble lady. Mischief twinkled in her hazel eyes. 

"What do you mean you're out of eye cream?! Do you know who I am you knave?!" Her shrill voice made Evie grimace. 

"Good morning madam how much do you love your emperor?" The woman ignored the deep guy's voice behind her.

 "I'll have you thrown in the dungeons peasant!" Then the lady turned around and forced a thin-lipped smile. "Uh, very much my good sir." Evie nodded prudishly. 

"Enough to dance in the streets while praising his name? Shouting it as loudly as you could?" The old woman's jaw dropped. "I beg your pardon?"

Evie tilted her head and knitted her brow. "I believe you heard me madam." A crimson flush came over the lady's sickly pale cheeks. "I…do not, in fact, love him enough for that."

 

Evie pouted. "A real shame madam. If it makes you at all comfortable I could, In fact, dance with you? I will try not to shout too loudly, though it is encouraged as to draw much attention!"

The lady couldn't shake her head fast enough. "No sir guard that won't be necessary I will...reinvigorate my love for him elsewhere! Yes! There’s no need to hurt my reputation-uh-my poor feet.”

She pondered for a second. Then grinned at the old lady. "Very well. I shall be back one day. Under the emperor's law volume 'B' chapter 'I' article 'T' main section 'C’ subsection 'H’ i shall come back to test you again someday because of your current lack for love of the emperor." She flashed her a charming pearly white smile. 

The old lady furrowed her brows, Evie had never seen so many wrinkles in one place before. "What are you?…wait...You just spelled bitch." She nodded sternly. "Spot on madam."

The noblewoman stared at her blankly. "Cause you really are a bitch ya know." The voice that came from Evie was none other than her own. 

"Try hugging more! Bye!" Before she could react Evie was long gone. The only trace of her left was her laughter, lingering in the air.