“Going after a Spiller is suicide,” Emelri repeated, shaking her head slightly in disbelief.

“Maybe, but she ruined our lives,” Toulou said darkly. “I won’t just stand by and let our mother’s killer walk free.”

“Um, and you feel this way too, Pepin?”

The boy wouldn’t meet her gaze.

“Tell her, Pep. You want this too, don’t you?” He shrugged in response, and they frowned. “Of course, you do. Besides, Jacques may be the only person who can take us in.”

“Why’s that?”

They grimaced. “I don’t have to explain myself to you.”

She gave them a strange look. “Uh, okay.” There was a pause. “So, how’d you find out about this Jacques?”

“Asked here and there, plus, he visited our home once a few months ago, so I had a broad idea of where he’d headed after that.”

“Oh, so you’ve met him before?”

“Nope. We never saw him since our mother never let us leave the house, but we did meet Adrian and Andre who gave us free water.”

“Adrian and Andre?”

“They’re with Jacques. Not sure who Andre is exactly, but Adrian is Jacques’s romantic partner, or so I’ve heard. I still can’t believe the king of Nebrasia left his post to be with a commoner…”

“Wait, what do you mean king?”

“Adrian’s royalty. Used to be the ruler of Nebrasia, but he gave up everything to be with Jacques.”

“Are you serious? Wait, so, the king just walks around Venwick like a commoner?”

“Yup.”

“Wouldn’t people recognize him?”

“You’d think. He stands out too. Has blond, waist-length hair and is pretty tall—”

“Wait, waist-length blond hair?”

They considered her. “Yeah? So?”

“I’m pretty sure I saw him outside the portal when I came through to the Elderian side. He and some others were fighting this Spiller with a red mace.”

“A red mace?” They leaned forward, clenching their fist on the table. “Are you sure?”

“I think so, yes.”

“You need to be absolutely sure of this. Did she have long red hair too? Tell me!” 

Her eyes widened at the raised intensity in their voice, and Pepin hit their sibling’s shoulder, frowning in a scolding manner.

She looked between them. “Yes, her mace was red and so was her hair. Why?”

“That was Carnadine, no doubt. Did you see where she went?”

“No, I didn’t see where the others went either. I’m sorry.” Pepin shook his head as if to say it was alright, but Toulou looked more frustrated than ever. “Do you think Jacques knows how to open the portal?” she asked after a moment of silence.

They shrugged. “Maybe. We need to find him no matter what, especially after what you’ve told me about Carnadine.” She nodded. “Well,” they stood after emptying the tankard, “we need to head to bed if we’re going to travel tomorrow.”

Without another word, they left for the stairs. Pepin quickly downed the rest of his fruit juice and followed after them. Emelri watched them both for a moment before standing. 

They both were definitely hiding something. Maybe it wasn’t her business to pry, but she’d never been very good at keeping to herself.

 

 

Toulou lay spread out on top of the single bed that the three would all inevitably have to share that night.

“It’s been a while since we’ve had a proper bed to sleep on,” they said, their tone less severe than before. “S’nice.”

“You’re welcome,” she called from the bathroom, wiping the rest of the blood from her hands on a clean rag. She walked into the main room, taking her headscarf off and sitting on the floor beside Pepin against the bed frame. The boy was whittling something out of wood.

Toulou gave a quick exhale. “Where’d you even get the money for this room, anyway?”

“Stole it, same as everyone else here.”

“Yeah, we know a thing or two about that.” Pepin shook his head quickly, pointing at them with his knife. Toulou made a face. “Correction, I know a thing or two about that. Pep refuses to steal. Always has, even back in Lacot.”

“Lacot?”

“Our hometown.”

Pepin went back to whittling, and Emelri caught sight of the pendant around his neck as it occasionally moved and caught the light. “Where’d you get that necklace?”

Green eyes flitted up to her then down to the pendant. 

“It was our mother’s,” Toulou answered. “Was gifted to her by our grandfather. She never took it off.”

“Huh. It’s a piece of Alchemist jewelry but that green stone should be glowing.”

“It was an energy crystal but obviously it’s been broken. It used to have a black cover over it as well that encased the crystal, but that was destroyed too.”

“Really? Do you know how hard it is to break black glass, not to mention an energy crystal? What happened?”

Pepin stiffened, and Toulou glared at her. “Does it matter? Stop prying so much, Melri.”

“It’s Emelri.”

They sighed but did not respond.

There was only a short pause before she was asking, “So, do you also get raids here?”

Another sigh. “No. Not exactly, but most of us here are poor and unable to get food or water easily.”

“There don’t seem to be as many Spillers around though, so that’s nice.”

“They’re here alright. Venwick is just massive. Lots of places for Spillers to hide.” 

“That makes sense.”

“Yup. Well, that’s enough questions. I’m turning the lights out now. Come on, Pep.”

The boy stood, stuffing his little wood project into his pocket before climbing under the covers with his sibling. Emelri watched them both. 

“Are you coming or what?” Toulou demanded. “I want to sleep already.”

She hesitated, then climbed in next to Pepin under the blankets. His cheeks grew in color at her sudden proximity, and he turned from her, instead curling into his sibling who pushed him away.

“Get off me, Pep!”

The boy gave a soft sigh before laying on his back and closing his eyes.

After weeks of laying on hard stone, it took mere seconds for Emelri to pass out on the comfortable mattress as soon as she let her own eyes slide shut.

 

❀❀❀

 

Emelri looked to the left then the right in realization. The bed and more importantly, the room was empty.

A pit formed in her stomach. They’d left her.

She had a feeling they might, and yet it hurt so much more than she imagined. It’s not like she knew either of them very well, but it’d been so nice to finally have company and to talk to someone, especially in her native tongue. 

She put her face in her hands, her eyes welling up. That’s when a noise made her start.

“Stop moving, Pep,” Toulou hissed in Venish. “You’re such a baby.” She heard Pepin make a sound of complaint.

Leaping off the bed, she rushed over to the bathroom, ready to greet them when something stopped her. The inside of the little room glowed green. Light poked through the cracks under the slightly ajar door. She knew that glow anywhere.

Throwing the door open with a loud whack, she startled the siblings, causing Pepin specifically to give a small yelp. “You’re a magic user, Toulou? That’s so cool!”

The eldest, who’d been healing a small cut on Pepin’s arm, shot up defensively, the green light now gone. “What are you talking about? Don’t be stupid. Why would we be magic users?”

She folded her arms. “I saw you. Why didn’t you just tell me?”

“You don’t know what you saw.”

She sighed. This was like an everyday conversation with her mother. “I know magic when I see it. Why are you keeping it a secret? Where I’m from, it’s not a shameful thing to be a user. You don’t need to hide from me.”

“Yeah, well it’s different here and I don’t trust you.”

“So, you are a magic user then. Good to know.” Pepin gave a small grin, pointing to himself. “You too?”

He nodded, and Toulou smacked his arm. “Pep, what the hell!”

“I won’t tell anyone,” she reassured. “With how people treat me here just because of my hair color, I understand that some things are better left unknown.”

Toulou considered her, then groaned in defeat. “No talking about it in public, understand, or ever for that matter.” 

“Okay.” She rocked back and forth on her heels. “So, is that why you’re also going to Jacques? Because he’s a user too and you could stay with him?”

They looked away. “Something like that. I don’t trust non-users. I’d fear us being turned in.”

“Makes sense.”

“How have the users in Yayma survived against Teptrite?”

“Teptrite? You mean the element that hurts magic users.” They nodded. “No one in Yayma has any to my knowledge.”

“Really? Well, that would be some kind of miracle.” They exhaled quickly, pushing past her into the bedroom. “If you’re done sticking your nose where it doesn’t belong, we need to get our things ready for travel. New Minoka is a five day’s journey on foot, and there’re no stops in between.” The eldest gathered up what little belongings the group owned and put them into their bag. “Come along, Pep. We need to get a move on if we’re going to get everything we need.”

Pepin gave her a polite smile before following his sibling.

 

 

They all stood around a donkey that Toulou explained they’d stolen at some point.

“Some dumb fucks left him unsupervised, so it was an easy snag.” Pepin frowned at that, folding his arms. “Pep, you know we need a donkey to travel. Don’t give me that look.” They put a handful of coins into the boy’s hand. “Now, this is all we have left right now. I need you to keep an eye on Emri and make sure she doesn’t do anything suspicious while you get our food supplies. Can you do that?”

The white-haired girl stomped her foot. “It’s Emelri, and I can always get us more money with my invisibility charm. I’ve gotten very good at picking pockets.”

They looked her over. “I still don’t trust you. Just stay out of trouble. I’ll be off getting water.” They took up the donkey’s reins. “Meet me in the market, ‘kay, Pep?”

The boy nodded, putting the money he’d been given into his shoe.

She watched the eldest walk off then felt a tug on her long sleeve and looked over. Pep motioned for her to follow as he took the lead.

It wasn’t too hot outside as the two walked silently side by side, a light breeze cooling them both down. Emelri had walked these streets many times by herself, and yet this was the first time she’d felt at ease doing it. Even with a silent companion, she no longer felt the crippling hopelessness she’d experienced before. She hummed slightly, walking with a little skip in her step.

“So... you and Toulou are siblings huh?” He turned his head to her, then nodded with a smile. “That must be nice. My parents only had me. I always wanted siblings. I had a friend I’d go over and play with sometimes, but my mother didn’t like me being around her. She said it was unwise to socialize with a non-Alchemist or a non-pure Alchemist as she says. She’s so obsessed, talking about how prestigious my white hair is all the time.” She sighed. “Anyway, it sounds like your mother was really cool.”

Pepin nodded, his eyes sad.

“I have quite a few friends who’ve lost parents to Spillers. I don’t know why such a group of people even exists. Alchemists and magic users... we never did anything to Spillers, and yet they’re so cruel to us.” There was a pause. “So, Toulou has this whole revenge plan for Carnadine. That’s kind of intense.”

He gave a sigh, nodding. 

“Why do you follow Toulou’s plan anyway? Don’t you disagree with it?” He shrugged. “Well, you’re siblings, so I guess it’s important to stick together and all that.”

He gave a very mature nod.

“But you don’t really like revenge stuff.” He shook his head. “You should say something.” Green eyes blinked up at her in anxiety, and she put her hands up quickly. “No, no, I mean, to Toulou, about how the whole revenge thing makes you feel.”

He considered her, then turned his head away, shaking it.

“Why not? You’re siblings. Surely you get a voice in all this too? You stood up for me yesterday. That means you can do it for yourself too.”

Wide eyes blinked back at her. Whatever she said, apparently it meant a lot to him, because he gave a warm smile, his eyes filling with sentiment.

“Oh look, there’s the market,” she exclaimed, catching sight of the food stands and general bustle of people. “I’ve never actually been here while not invisible. I uh, haven’t ever bought anything here either.” She looked sheepish then.

Pepin gave her an understanding nod, then pointed to a stand selling round flatbread.

“Oh right. Do you know what we need?” He nodded. “Um... I don’t speak Venish very well, so I’m not sure how we’re going to do this.”

He gestured for her to follow him. Walking up, he pointed to the bread he wanted, holding up six fingers. 

The person behind the stand nodded. “Sure thing, Kid. That’ll be three copper coins.”

Handing the money over, Pepin was rewarded with a bag full of bread. He held it proudly, giving her a pointed look.

“That works too!” she exclaimed, beaming at him. “What else do we need?”

They went around, getting different things using Pepin’s silent method, and their arms soon filled up with bags. That’s when they came up short at an onion stand, and they now stood a few feet away from it, wondering what to do.

“Oh dear.” She bit her thumb nail as she spoke. “We definitely need onions for our meals, don’t we?”

Pepin nodded seriously but showed her the dismal change in his hand.

“Hmm... well it’s no problem my charm can’t fix.” She lifted her hand to the pendant when Pepin grabbed her wrist, shaking his head quickly. “It’s okay. I did this kind of thing for months on my own, and I’ve never been caught. Wait for me, won’t you?” She put her things into his arms despite his protests, then vanished from sight.

 In a manner of minutes, she was grabbing a surprised Pepin by the arm, taking him over to a nearby alleyway. Reappearing, she proudly held out two onions to him. He frowned. She’d really gotten too good at this. She knew she shouldn’t be proud of her work, but she most certainly was.

“That’s the last of the things we need, right?” He nodded sadly as she took and held half the items from him. “Hey, you know the money we paid them with earlier was also stolen. Everyone needs to eat.” He glanced to the side. “Shall we wait for Toulou?” He was nodding again. “Hopefully the water doesn’t take too long to get.”

“Too bad your friend isn’t here right now to save you,” a gravely, female voice spoke, and they both whipped around. 

Two rough-looking adults loomed over them with knives drawn. One was a skinny woman with black hair, bronze skin, and scars down her face, and the other was a man just as thin who looked like he could be her fraternal twin. Pepin froze on the spot, while Emelri’s expression darkened.

“Now give us the goods, little shits,” the man demanded. Emelri knew that insult in Venish too well, having heard it for weeks on the street, usually directed at herself and other homeless kids. “Do as you’re told, and we won’t hurt you.”

She glared, responding with another phrase she knew well. “Fuck off.”

The woman laughed. “We saw you earlier with your invisibility necklace. Give it to us,” she grabbed Pepin by the front of his shirt, causing him to gasp and drop everything in his arms, “and we won’t have to gut the little runt you’re with.” She placed the tip of the knife to his stomach, and he stiffened.

“No, stop! Don’t—”

Her words were cut off when she and the thin man both stared at the foreign knife now buried in the woman’s sternum. Blood began slowly oozing down her chest as she released her grip on Pepin, falling backward onto the ground.

“What happened?” the man shouted, his voice wavering. “What did you do to her?”

Emelri tore her eyes away from the corpse to look at him. “I didn’t do—”

Toulou was behind the man then, one knife to his throat and the other to his groan. “Make one move and I kill you like I killed your partner.” Their voice was cold and calm. 

“Holy shit, you’re fast!” he exclaimed.

“Better leave the way you came if you want to live.”

“I ain’t afraid of no kid—”

In one quick motion, the man’s throat was slit, and Toulou didn’t give a second glance as the body fell. Sheathing their knives and pulling the last one out of the dead woman, they then kneeled in front of their brother. “Are you okay, Pep?”

The boy’s lip trembled as he nodded quickly, then he burrowed his face in his sibling’s chest. 

Emelri watched them in disbelief. “Why did you kill them?” she asked angrily. “There was no reason—”

“They threatened Pep,” they snapped back. “I won’t let anybody hurt my family again.”

“But killing?”

“You want to stay with us? Don’t question my calls then, and what were you doing, egging them on like that? You could have gotten Pep killed.” They gently pushed Pepin away and stooped down to pick up the dropped items.

“Excuse me? I wasn’t going to just stand there and let them take our stuff!”

They gave her a stern expression. “If you want to live, don’t pick fights. You could have saved more time taking a calmer, more strategic approach, and you, Pep, you can’t just stand there doing nothing.” The boy wouldn’t look at either of them. “I swear, you both have the opposite problem. As it was, I’m the only reason you’re both alive.” They walked away, loading the stuff onto the donkey that stood a few feet away with a barrel tied to its back.

She watched them, her chest heaving. “We would have been fine—”

“Don’t be stupid. I got the water already.” They led the animal by a rope. “Let’s go.”

She bit her lip, then followed in a silent rage.

 

❀❀❀

 

The trio set up camp in the middle of the desert. They’d traveled all day with barely a word said between any of them, which for Emelri specifically, was quite impressive. 

Even after they’d all eaten and tucked three bodies under the same thin blanket on a mat under the stars, the group stayed relatively quiet. Emelri lay squished against Pepin, facing away from him as she blinked into the darkness. Her crossness had melted into disquiet as the night crept by.

She’d seen plenty of death in her thirteen and a half years, but something about what happened in the market especially bothered her. Toulou hadn’t hesitated at all, not even cared about taking two lives, like they’d done it dozens of times before. She didn’t doubt they had. It scared her. They scared her.

She turned over onto her other side, then blinked in slight surprise at wet green eyes. Pepin quickly wiped his tear-stained face in embarrassment. Considering him for a moment, she placed a hand on his shoulder, making him glance up. She gave the shoulder a small squeeze and that was enough to send him into tears again. Only hesitating a moment, she wrapped her arms around him, and he stiffened. 

Relaxing after a second, he silently continued his sobs into her shoulder. “I just froze,” he whispered into her ear, and she jumped slightly at the barely audible words. “I should have helped... I’m sorry.”

She gave him a small pat on the back. “Hey, it’s okay,” she said softly so as not to wake up Toulou. “It’s not your fault.”

“It is,” he hissed. “Just like it’s my fault Mother didn’t escape the fire.”

“Wh-what’s that?” She tried pulling back to look at him, but he rigidly stayed glued to the spot. “That’s how she died? What happened?”

There was silence.

“Pepin?” He shook his head in response, and she gave a small exhale. “Okay. You don’t have to talk about it, but today wasn’t your fault at all, okay?” She held him closer, and he gripped her hard in return, not saying another word the rest of the night.

 

 

Things improved the next few days as they continued their journey through the barren desert. Emelri soon returned to her chatty self and Pepin was cheery again. 

“Oh, so this is what the onions were for?” she asked, crouching over the fire next to Pepin who was adding diced vegetables to the small frying pan. “Then you add the meat, right?”

The boy nodded, pouring a small amount of oil in as well.

Toulou came over with a bowl of sliced, raw meat, speaking in Venish. “You’re going to burn it if you don’t stir it, Pep,” they growled.

He frowned, snatching the bowl from them. 

They clicked their tongue. “You know I’m right.” Their eyes fell on her. “You need to______speaking Venish, understand?” She blinked at them, and they sighed, switching into ancient Elden. “You need to practice speaking Venish.”

Her eyes widened. “Oh! Practice. I guess I do, though—”

“Which means, no more ancient Elden from here on out. We’ll only talk to you in Venish.”

“What! But—”

They interrupted her in Venish. “Uh, uh. Speak in Venish.”

She groaned. “But, Toulou—”

“Venish.”

“It’s so hard—”

“Venish!”

She released a guttural sigh. Biting her lip angrily, she said in the requested language, “I hate you.”

They nodded in approval. “Good.” 

She glared at them, but her face softened when Pepin let out a small giggle. 

“You’ll be grateful later,” they insisted.

“Yeah. Whatever.”

They nodded again in approval, and she couldn’t help but exhale a laugh.

“Fine. Maybe it will help. Um, by the way... Thanks.” She glanced away.

“For what?”

Forming the words in Venish was difficult, but doable. “For saving Pepin and I at the market.”

There was silence, so she looked up, seeing them adding fuel to the fire. For a moment she thought they hadn’t heard her, but then there was an audible, “You’re welcome, Emelri.”

She blinked, then her face spread into a big smile. “Hey! You remembered my name!”

They frowned. “Yeah, yeah. Don’t make a big deal about it.” They returned to the donkey to grab more food items off its back. “Instead of standing there, why don’t you help Pep out.”

She beamed at them. “On it!”

They scowled, but the moment she turned to help Pepin, the expression softened. If she’d looked over then, she’d have seen a small smile hidden in the corner of their mouth.

 

 

After struggling through an hour of Toulou forcing her to only speak Venish, Emelri quietly cleaned up after the meal with Pepin. The older sibling had gone to bed early, suggesting they both do the same when they were finished.

Scrubbing clean the only pot they owned, Emelri glanced over cautiously at the quiet form under the blanket across from the fire then back to Pepin who stood beside her cleaning out two chipped bowls.

“Do we have to speak it all the time?” she whispered in ancient Elden.

He gave a little shake of his head and smiled.

“Venish isn’t so hard, I suppose. It’s very similar to Venwi, which I also speak.” Pepin gave her a questioning look. “Venwi is the original version of Venish, I think, or rather, Venwi and Venish are a branch of whatever Hans Fox and his followers spoke. They’re very closely related anyway, but they changed enough in the last two hundred years to be quite different.”

He nodded with a thoughtful expression on his face.

“Well, anyway. You can always tell me when I’m talking too much.” He shook his head reassuringly as if to say it was alright. There was a pause. “Um, how are you doing today by the way? Better?”

He blinked away, the smile melting. She wanted so badly to ask about his mother and the fire but knew better.

“Sorry. I didn’t mean to bring it up. You probably don’t want to talk about it.” He looked back at her, then shook his head. “You’re really good at cooking, you know. I enjoyed the food. I could eat it all day!”

He smiled.

“Thanks for teaching me, Pepin. You’re really nice.”

He considered her, then set down the clean bowls. “You can call me, Pep,” he said softly, and she blinked in surprise.

“Are you sure?” He nodded. “Well, then you can call me, Emi!” She gave a toothy grin, and he responded with his own shy smile, his cheeks turning red.