Foot pain was the least of her worries that day, as it was finally the day of the ceremony. Reks had woken her up long before sunrise, not that he needed to wake her up, she barely was able to sleep again, and the two of them walked to Jojo’s Boutique. She was slower than usual, and Reks had taken notice.

 

“What’s up with your foot, Silver?” he asked, watching her limp.

Grunting, she shook off his question, but when he repeated himself, she answered, “stepped on glass yesterday.”

He stopped and stepped in front of her, bringing her to a stop as well, “stepped on glass? Lemme see,” he crouched down and tried to get her to lift her foot.

“Knock it off, it's fine,” she lied.

“No, show me your foot, Silver,” he grabbed her ankle and lifted her foot, revealing a mess of dried blood and other various contaminants. “That is not fine, we gotta get this cleaned and taken care of or you're gonna lose that foot.”

“We don’t have time for that,” she argued, wrestling her foot out of his grip, “we gotta get to the church before the ceremony.”

Reks shook his head, “tch come on boy, don’t be stupid,” he stood up and looked her in the eyes, “what good will you be if you can’t walk?”

“But if we miss our chance, and we can’t get the money,” little pools began to form in the bottom of her mismatched eyes, “what am I gonna do Reks?”

 

A mixture of empathy and pity swirled in the boy's stomach, he knew exactly what Loche would do to the kid if they didn’t get the ides for him. And he knew no kid should ever endure that kind of treatment. He also knew he was part of the problem himself. The kid was a demon, at least that’s what everyone said, and Reks knew it was because of people like him treating the poor child like a demon that made them run to the protection of a dirtbag like Loche. With a loud groan he shook his head, “fine, maybe Josiah can help us out.” The girl nodded tearfully, then the two of them continued on to their destination. 

 

“Welcome to, oh, oh no…” with a single look at the girl, the younger Josiah went from jovial to grim, “what happened, you look worse than the last time I saw you?”

“I’m okay, okay? I’ll be fine,” she put on a brave face and kept straight to the point, “do you have our costumes?”

“Disguises sweetie,” Josiah corrected her, “but first, we gotta wash all that off you,” he broadly gestured at her, emphasizing her filth covered body. 

The girl sighed, “I don’t got a bath.”

“I do,” without waiting for a response, he grabbed the girl by the hand and pulled, “come on, we have to sneak you in there without my father seeing, okay?”

“Hey wait!” Reks called out as Josiah led the girl away, “what about me?”

“No boys allowed,” the little clothier winked at him.

“But you’re both boys!” he protested as the two disappeared through a back door.

Still holding her hand, Josiah led the girl up a flight of stairs, taking care to step lightly so as to avoid creaks and groans in the floorboards. They emerged in a small hall, with multiple doors all marked with words the girl couldn’t read. “This way,” the boy whispered, pointing to one of the doors. Carefully, he turned the knob, slowly pushing the door open while nervously looking in every direction. 

 

It was a small room, just barely big enough to fit the tub and toilet it contained. The girl stepped in cautiously, a puzzled look set upon her face. Josiah pointed to some bottles, “go ahead and wash up, don’t worry about using too much soap,” he instructed her as he grabbed a towel down from a hook, “when you’re done you can use this towel.” After folding the towel neatly on a crowded counter he started to leave. She grabbed the hem of his sleeve and tugged, stopping him from going. “What’s wrong, hun?”

“I…I don’t know how to…” she casted her gaze away, trying to hide her red cheeks.

“Oh, well, I suppose I should get the water running for you, not all tubs are the same so you would probably have trouble getting it right,” he said, turning the nozzles on the tub. The pipes creaked before a steady flow of water poured out the tap. “Crap, my dad might have heard that…” 

“Hey, um.. Can you tell me how though?” she asked, her face still cherry red.

“How to what?”

She hesitated, frustrated with her own inability to ask, then blurted out, “I don’t know how to wash myself!”

“Shh,shh, keep your voice low,” he hushed her, before his own face turned red at realizing what she was asking, “oh, you mean… you never bathed before?” Shyly she shook her head, and he sighed, “it would be different if you were my little sister, but it feels odd teaching a kid this,” he tried to think of a way out of it, before relenting, “though I guess you never had anyone who could teach you these things, have you?” She shook her head again, a little teary eyed as she stared back at him. “Alright, I’ll tell you, but you have to do it yourself okay?”

She answered with a whispered, “okay,” then added, “promise you’ll keep your eyes closed?”

“I think that would be for the best of both of us,” he agreed. Seeing the tub fill halfway, he added some soap into the water, bubbles forming in a nice thick foam after only a few seconds, “there, that should also help.” He turned the tap off, faced his back to the tub, “alright, put your foot in and let me know if the temperature is good for you.”

Dipping her toe in, she was shocked at how warm it was. It wasn’t that it was too hot for her, but that she had never known water could feel like that, “it’s fine,” she answered and waited for further directions.

“Okay, go ahead and get undressed, then you can get in,” Josiah held his face in his hands as he spoke, doing his best to keep his eyes closed.

 

She hesitated at first, before reluctantly pulling her dress off over her head. As naked as she was willing to be with a boy present, she gingerly began to dip her foot into the water. Her cut stung and burned, sending a gnawing pain up her leg, but she pushed past it and stepped into the tub with her other foot. She stood for a moment in the tub, her nerves and the cold air around her bringing shivers to her spine, then with a little splash, she submerged herself in the tub. As water hit the boys back he told her to be careful, and she squeaked out an apology. 

 

Warmth surrounded her body, comforting, wonderful warmth. The bubbles clung to her and she giggled a little as she played with the soapy foam. As if overtaken by an instinctual urge, she began to playfully splash the water ever so slightly. 

“Try not to have too much fun, sweetie, the whole point is to get you clean, you know?” Josiah chuckled, flustering the girl.

 

Simply being in the water had already helped some of the filth begin to lift off her skin. Blood, mud, and other things she didn’t want to admit had been stuck on her for so long, she almost didn’t know what she looked like without it all there. As she sat in the water, wading in its nice soothing warmth, she felt something touch her back. She spun around to see that Josiah, his head turned away at an uncomfortable angle, had placed a cloth on her shoulder.

“You can use that to scrub yourself, it’ll help get the dirt off you,” he told her, strain in his voice as he stretched his neck, turning his head away for her privacy.

 

She took the cloth and dipped it in the tub, before rubbing her arms vigorously. It hurt a little, perhaps because she was being too rough, but soon enough her pale skin broke through the nasty stains, revealing an arm free of grime. Her lips stretched from cheek to cheek in a cute bright smile, and she cleaned the other arm, amused at the silky smoothness of her clean skin. Next she scrubbed her neck, then her legs, the tub water soon resembling a bog of murky grossness. 

“Hey, Silver, can I ask you something?” The boy's abrupt question broke the girl's focus.

“Oh, umm, yea that’s okay,”

“I hope this isn’t rude but, how long have you been on the streets?” he sounded nervous, as if he had asked the most personal question you could ever ask a person.

She shrugged, “all my life, I guess,” if she were to really think about it, she had no way to know the answer.

“How old are you?”

“I don’t know,”

“You don’t? Not even an idea?”

“I can’t count,” she said quietly, hiding her face beneath the bubbles.

“Oh, I’m sorry,” he didn’t know how to respond, it was almost a foreign concept to him. As the son of a tailor he was technically a part of the bourgeoisie and so he was given a decent education. Counting was just a natural part of life, he just couldn’t imagine what it would be like to not know how. “So, how about a birthday, do you know when that is?”

“I wasn’t born,” she had no hesitation in giving her odd response, she said it so plainly and curtly that it had seemed as though she just believed that was how the world worked. 

Forgetting a moment where they were, what they were doing, he stared at her in disbelief, surely she was joking, or perhaps she just didn’t understand where babies came from? Befuddlement only distracted him so long before he was reminded that she was indeed in his bath, embarrassment setting in as he whipped back around away from her. 

“What do you mean, of course you had to be born right? Like you had a mother once, right?”

“Nope, I just kinda started existin one day, like I was surrounded by nothin, then all of a sudden I was inside a strange house,” she explained, further sending Josiah's mind into a muddled mess of confusion.

“What month was it?” he asked, trying to ascertain a possible birthdate from her.

“Umm… it was after winter, but before summer,” she answered, causing him to realize that she probably didn’t know the months of the year. 

“Perhaps it was in Mai?” he suggested, and she shrugged, “well, how about this… if you were born, or existed, in spring, maybe we can figure out how many springs have passed since then.”

“Okay, but how?”

“Well have you been through a winter since then?”

“Yes,” she answered.

“And then another spring?”

“Uhhuh,” she nodded.

“How about another winter?”

“Yea,” 

“And another spring?”

“I think so,”

“What about another winter?”

“No, I don’t think so…”

“Oh,” he was thoroughly confused beyond all possible state of confusion he had ever experienced before, “well, there is no way you are only two years old.”

“I told you, I wasn’t born a baby,” she said, “I was a kid when I was made.”

“So then,” he stroked his chin, trying to think, “I guess there isn’t really a way to figure it out is there?”

“Well how old do I look?”

 

The boy thought about it, if he was twelve and honestly not too much taller than her, then perhaps she wasn’t too much younger than him. Her face looked young but malnourished, certainly not a good gauge for her age. Though she had an odd manner of speech, that could easily be due to her dialect, and other than sounding funny she did still have a good grasp on communication. She wasn’t a little child, but she wasn’t a teenager either. Putting together all these pieces of evidence, he decided on an age, “Eight, I think you are eight,” he nodded in approval of his own estimate. 

“Eight, is that a lot?” she asked, the only numbers she knew were one, five, and zero, as those were the only numbers she saw on money. 

“Well, you start with one, then two, three,” he attempted to teach her to count, though he wasn’t sure how much of it would stick.

“Okay, so bigger than five, but smaller than one and zero?”

“Well, no, not one and zero, it’s ten, which is written as the numerals one and zero,” he tried explaining, but without any visual feedback of her expression, he wasn't very confident his lesson was having any impact.  

“The more zeros after a number the bigger it is right?” she knew that much from the few times she had money.

Josiah nodded, “Yep, pretty much,” he had gotten so distracted by their little math lesson, he had almost forgotten they were in there for a purpose, “oh, hey, are you washed up?”

“I think I am,” she said, slumping beneath the water so only her head stayed above its now murky surface, “what do I do now?” she tugged on the back of his shirt.

“Well, now you have to drain the tub and dry off,” he gestured to the towel. 

 

With a fresh towel wrapped around her squeaky-clean body she snuck alongside Josiah into his bedroom. For the second time she was awestruck, surrounded by detailed sketches of dresses strewn about the walls. The room was a cluster of notes, materials, and unfinished garments, filling every last corner. They weren’t walls, but pinboards for Josiah to place his ideas, even the bed was simply just a place for him to lay his work in progress, as he seemed to move on to another project.

“Are you really a boy, Josiah?”

He laughed a little louder than he felt comfortable, given the need to not wake his old man, but he couldn’t help but cackle at the adorable bluntness of her question. “No, probably not,” he said wiping a tear from his eye, “honestly, I love beauty. And I find nothing more beautiful than a good dress.” 

“So you do make the dresses in the bot…bot… the clothes store?”

“I do,” he admitted proudly, “at least, I made the most recent ones. My father only started letting me make them once he saw how profitable my designs were. Before that I just made a few because.. well…”

“You’re really good,” she said, mesmerized by a nigh finished dress set on a mannequin.

Josiah blushed, “nah, I’m not that good,” he protested, “but I’m glad you like them.” He smiled at her as she continued to stare at the dress. It was his latest creation, one he had started only after meeting her. It was darker than his usual work, a deep blue like the midnight sky, with gray and black accents. It was clearly incomplete, but still a stunning sight to the little girl.

“Oh!” he exclaimed, then aware of his volume whispered, “I have something for you, it’s gonna be pretty important if you have to run.” He rummaged through a nearby wardrobe, retrieving a small box, then presented it to her.

“What’s this?” she asked, wary of the parcel. 

“They’re hand me downs, but I figured you could really use them,” he opened the lid of the box and pushed it closer to her.

It was a pair of simple black shoes, a little worn, but otherwise still fairly nice. “I can’t pay for them though, I don’t have any money,” her voice was low and regretful. 

“No silly, I am giving them to you, they’re free,” he giggled, “go ahead and put them on, hopefully they’ll fit you.” 

“Free? But why?” 

He giggled again, and rustled her hair, “cause I want to be your friend, do I really need a reason to be nice?” She looked up at him, her eyes big and wet, her gaze saying all he needed to hear. "Alright now, we're going to have to dress you too. Can't just wear the robes afterall," returning to his wardrobe, he fetched a pair of shorts and an undershirt, "go ahead and put these on for now, they might be a little big, but better than going naked."

"What about my dress?" She asked, concerned she would be losing her one piece of clothing.

"Don't worry about that for now, I'll make sure you get it back," he said handing her more clothes, "oh and put those on before the shoes, don't want you getting too many blisters." He continued to pile on clothes into her hand, till soon she had a full outfit. "I'm going to step out while you get changed, just knock on the door when you're done, okay?"

She nodded silently and he slipped out the door. It took her a moment to process what he had just done, but when it all sank in she had realized that she was holding new clothes, well new to her at least, clean clothes at that. Clean clothes given to her, clothing for her to wear. Clothes that were not torn, not stained, and that did not smell like they'd been in a dumpster. They weren't a dress, but still they were clean clothes. 

 

She dropped her towel and immediately began to throw on the clothes, first the underwear, something she hated to admit had been a long time since she owned. Then she put on the pair of denim shorts, they were a little baggy on her, and longer than she would have liked, but she wasn't going to complain. She pulled on the undershirt, then after that a vest. It wasn't the cutest top she could wear, but it would do for now. Then she slid on the socks, possibly her favorite thing about the new clothes. They went past her knees, almost to her thighs, and felt nice and soft on her feet. Lastly she slipped into the shoes, her foot stinging with pain, but after the pain subsided a little, she was able to enjoy the feeling of finally having something to keep her feet safe. 

 

She looked into a full body mirror Josiah kept beside his bed, seeing her reflection through the various sticky notes and other things that covered it, and sighed. Of course these were boys' clothes, but as much as she hated the style, she was grateful for them all the same. She felt uneasy in the clothes, but didn't want to seem unappreciative, it was after all the first time someone gave her something. Actually it was the second. That rich little girl with the eye patch had given her a bag of Bonbon's, something she unfortunately did not get to enjoy thanks to spilling most of them when she ran away. Still, that moment would live on in her memory, as the first act of kindness she ever received. 

“Are you still getting dressed?” Josiah loud whispered through the door.

She let out a little, “oh!” then tapped on the door to let him know it was safe to enter. 

 

“Hey, not bad,” he whistled, “they actually fit you pretty well,” she would have appreciated the compliment where it was a dress or skirt, but given she felt odd wearing the boys clothes, the compliment didn’t land quite as well. “Come on, Silver, we probably shouldn’t keep Reks waiting too long,” without another word, he tugged lightly on her hand, guiding her back down the stairs.

Reks tapped his fingers rhythmically against the store counter as he waited for them to return, only stopping once he saw the two stepping into his peripherals. He faced them, perking up a bit, and whistled, “damn Silver, who’da thought you’d be adorable without all that muck on ya?”

“Don’t patri…patro… shut up…” she tried to form the word and gave up.

“I’m being serious though,” he argued, “but anyway that’s not important. Suns coming up soon, so we gotta hurry up.” 

It seemed that she had taken longer to bathe than she realized, she felt bad leaving them pressed for time, but she was happier being clean so she didn’t feel too bad about it. She looked up at Josiah, who simply nodded and went into a room behind the store counter. A few seconds later he returned with two black robes adorned in slight orange accents.

“Gawd the Shepherds have an ugly color scheme,” Reks sighed, “but hey, you came through for us Josiah. These look pretty authentic!” 

Josiah blushed, having his handiwork praised always seemed to have that effect, “honestly I could have done better, but I had to go off of memory. I don’t really like poking around Shepherd churches too much, they just give me the creeps.” 

Pulling the robe over his head, Reks laughed with a big snort, “ha yeah I get whatcha mean, honestly feel like I’m joining a cult with this thing on,” he grinned a goofy grin as his head popped through the top opening.

 

The girl stood there, hesitating before she had to put on the ugly church garb, then with a huff and haw she slipped it on over her clothes. It was baggy, itchy and worst of all ugly. Not to discredit Josiah, it was not his design afterall. In fact, as far as she could tell, it looked exactly like what an altar boy would wear. Though perhaps hers was not the best judgment, as she had spent no more than a few minutes inside a church. 

“Alright, Silver, you’re lookin like a proper kid of the cloth,” Reks teased, “guess we’re all done here then.”

“Aw, going so soon? And here I had hoped you would stay and have tea with me?” Josiah quipped with a wink.

“I’ll take you on a date when I don’t got a church to rob,” he winked back, “come on, Silver, time to get to work.”

“Oh, before you go,” Josiah remembered one last thing, “Silver, I’ll bring you your dress as soon as I get it washed, okay sweetie?”

She nodded, a faint little smile spreading across her cheeks.

“Good luck you two, and please be careful.”

“We got this,” Reks gave a thumbs up, and the two left the shop behind.  

 

Streets that had been empty not so long before became congested as people began to leave their homes to begin a busy day of work. Though it may have still been early, the city had awoken, their prospect of slipping into the church unnoticed lessened as the eyes watching increased exponentially. 

“Reks,” she whispered, practically clinging to the boy's arm.

“What is it, Silver?”

“Are you sure we can do this?” everywhere she looked, she felt as though the peoples gaze latched onto her like a tick. 

He snorted and huffed, “don’t lose faith in my plan so quickly kiddo, we’re only gettin started after all.”

He spoke of a plan as if they had formulated an idea together, he seemed so confident in it, she was almost afraid to ask him to share it with her. “What plan, Reks? All I know is that we’re goin to the church in robes and I gotta pick a priest's pocket.”

 

“There’s a buncha stuff going on in the background of our little escapade, Silver, it’s complicated stuff. Let’s just say though, all eyes are gonna be somewhere else today, so you don’t gotta worry,” he knew exactly what he was doing, that is the attitude he gave off, an aura of confidence that almost permeated through the girl's shell of doubt. She wanted to ask him to clarify, to tell her more, but she also knew that he was probably right. She wouldn’t get it. She never really fully understood anything in the world around her, so why would that be any different today? “Still, the one thing I can tell you is this, no matter what happens, keep away from the prince, got it?”

 

Of course! She thought that much was obvious. Still, she didn’t quite understand why they would choose to rob a church when the prince was there. Wouldn’t there be lots of guards? How could the prince’s being there be any kind of advantage to them? Really it didn’t matter, she had a deadline, one that was coming up fast. Loche wanted his dues, or really, he wanted her to not be able to pay her dues. Even her child's mind understood what he wanted, and it made her skin crawl. She’d have to prove herself useful and this would be her only real chance. If she could steal the money that the king gave to the church, then Loche wouldn’t mess with her again for a while. Failure wasn’t going to be an option. Either she returned to Valha with the church's ides, or she didn’t return at all. 

 

“Gotta say, this is all so crazy though,” he laughed a dry little chortle, holding his head in his hand, “I’m rellyin on a little kid to do the hardest part, aren’t I?”

“I’m not that little! I’m like, eight, I think,” she objected.

“Oh, Eight huh? Well then, I guess you’re a big boy then,” he teased her.

“Girl, Imma big girl!”

“Okay, shhh,” the eyes of pedestrians quickly turned in their direction as the girl angrily protested, “fine, you win. Girl. You’re a big girl, just keep your voice down.”

Sincere or not, he called her a girl for the first time, and that was enough to make her grin a little. Caught in a wave of euphoria, that little momentary victory was almost enough to distract her from the daunting task that was ahead. A distraction that only lasted till the sky became blackened by the shadows of an impossibly high steeple. The sun was soon to rise, but it would have been impossible to tell from where they stood, dwarfed by the imposing sight of ST. Augustus’ Cathedral.    

 

“You ready for this Silver?” he asked her, prompting her to nod, “heh, good girl,” he sighed, Only eight years old huh? Guess I wasn’t much older than her back then. He grabbed the sleeve of her robe, and led her inside the cathedral doors.