Just as the night before, and every night for that matter, it was cold.  When was it ever not cold?  Some of these kids had lived their entire life outside in this cold, never knowing the pleasures of a warm home with someone that cares for them waiting for their return.

“I wish mom was here…”  I wish anyone were here.  A confident voice that could ease my unsettled nerves.

“...Hm?  Mackie?  You’re awake again?”  Acou had crawled from his spot to find me staring up at the stars.  Like Mei, I guess I’m also looking for something that isn’t up there.  

“Yeah, I’m just… stargazing.”  Watching the stars does help one think, I will admit.  

“You’ve got that look again, the same as when we stole those–”  He cut himself off and hastily appeared at my side to whisper in my ear, “You saw those sl– girls again, didn’t you?”

“Mm-hmm. Earlier today, in fact.”

“Didn’t you tell me it was dangerous to even talk about them like we were?  Now you went to see them?”

“I didn’t intend to… no, maybe I did intend to see the sisters again…”  It wasn’t random chance that we had met again.  Whether I knew it or not, I had taken a route past that tower where she resided on purpose.  

“Well?  What happened?”  Acou froze with bated breaths.  His concern for the sisters was unquestionable, since the first time we spoke about them.  Right.  When we talked about freedom for a slave.

“It’s troubling.”

“W-what is?”

“Sigh, those Storks that came here.”

“What do they have to–”  I stopped him before he could continue and pulled out the key to Venus, and my brother’s letter which had been crumpled in my pocket, “...A plastic key?”

“That’s why they were here, Acou.  For no reason other than Candor’s beckon; he’s sent for me to journey to Starlight, and Uncle Mauz intends for me to go.”

“...”  He did not speak, instead passing his eyes between the key, the letter, and my own gaze which turned from the stars and to him.

“...I think I could do something really, really stupid.”

“Like what?”

“Those sisters… they plan to– to do what we spoke about on the roof.”

“They plan to–”  I urgently covered his mouth before he could yell out what he was about to say.  I’m sure we’re safe here in Trash, but on a night so quiet as this one you never know who might hear what.  Acou took a moment to collect himself, then tried again, “They plan to do what we said not to talk about?  That specifically?”  I nodded my head, and he collapsed to the ground beside me; likewise, I also crouched down and sat myself next to him, “How do you know?”

“The oldest one told me.”

“Then… she wants your help?”

“Yeah…”

 

Now the two of us were watching the stars, just at the edge of the canopy.  Not one was out of place, nor were any moving.  They were merely still specks suspended in the sky.  Unchanging.

“About that stupid thing I could do…”  He turned nearly his entire body towards me, as if he’d forgotten what I’d just declared for myself; truly, this could be the easiest way to get myself killed right after drowning or jumping from a high place, “If I left like my uncle wants… I could take the two with me.  At least out of the city.”

“...Before, you were adamant about those two, about all slaves.”

“Things changed.  Sure I see ‘em carted around, and like everyone else I didn’t consider them past that.”  For as long as I could remember, slaves were a fact of life; a fact, nothing less.  No one I knew cared about them beyond their use, and only a few cared about their misuse; myself and Acou among them until a couple of days ago.  It’s their misfortune that they should be a slave, and that their master should be a cruel one… at least, that is what I believed.  

Now I have to wonder, how can one misuse a person?  “I’m sure now, Acou.  Those sisters aren’t slaves.  None of them are; they can’t be.”

“...Can’t be?  I’m not sure–”

“I don’t expect you or anyone else to understand, but you care about those sisters, right?”  He nodded his head, “Then let’s leave it at that.”

“We both want the same thing, I guess.”  

“Sigh~”  It’s complicated, more complicated than I imagined,  “Even if I could take them from Pyoni, and convince the cadre to travel with them, which are both equally unlikely, how will I ever get them home?  We’d need to break off from the cadre, and when we do we’ll be lost.”

“Home?”

“Their home… something called the Fields of Hanesh.  Assuming they get out of the city, that’s where they plan to go.  I’m not sure how they expect to get there without some directions or a guide.”

“What about a map?”

“A map?  No, there’s no way she’d have one.”  There probably isn’t a map within ten thousand paces of here.  Mapmakers are as rare a thing as bathing in the Wharf.  “Say she did, how would she read it?  A map isn’t that simple to follow, you know.”

“She?”

“Joran.  She’s the one I spoke to.”

“Mm~”  Both of us returned to staring out into the stars which dotted our view.

“Uhm–”

“!”  A voice from behind sent us into shock as Acou and I jumped up from where we sat.  Mei was standing behind, and holding her notebook tightly to her chest with her head low.  “S-sorry!”

“Shh!”  We both hushed her, and waited for things to get quiet once more.

“What are you doing up, Mei?  Were you eavesdropping?!”

“I-I– uhh…”  I went into a panic.  Everything we just said, she had heard.  Everything.  From my brother, to the escape.  Is Mei as good a friend as Acou; someone who won’t rat us out to Pyoni for a few guin?  “H-here!”

“Eh?”  She braced herself as she threw out her arms and opened her notebook.  On two pages were black points with letters written next to them, and long black lines that ran across triangles and squiggles.  “...Is this?”

“Mm-hmm.”  Mei lowered her book and cautiously approached us, before lowering it once more to show me.

“It’s too dark to see…”

“I can see it just fine, Acou.”

 

A swarm of named dots were in the top-left corner of Mei’s map.  Some had a large word underlined, with a smaller description scribbled below it.  The swarm of locations extended along the top and left side; the North and West Wharf.  The lines leading out must go out of the city, meaning this location in the bottom-right…

“That’s S-Starlight…”  She gently held her finger at the name written in the bottom, “...Sootfeld…”  She again pointed to another location on the map, this one near the bottom.  “M-Muskreg… and Hanesh…”

“Hanesh… the Fields of Hanesh…”  On the road to Muskreg, a road my father took, a road the sisters took, was the Fields of Hanesh; along the same road I would take to Starlight.  “Mei, where did you get this from?!  This– this is amazing!”  I forgot about the quiet night and took her by the hands, leaping with joy.  She smiled through a blush and retracted her notebook, holding it tightly with a gleeful expression.

“I don’t understand, Mackie.  Having a map won’t change the main issue.”

“You’re right… but it does mean if we can get them out of the city, we’ll know where to go.”

“If we can get them out.  If, Mackie.  And only Mei can read the map.  Is she going with you too?”

“If Mei wants to come with us, she can–”

“With us?”

“Us and the cadre.”

“You and the cadre.”

“Are you… not coming with me?”

“I’d love to but the kids, Mackie–”

“Oh they’ll be fine, Acou.  Don’t you want to see the city of Storks?”

“...Would they ever let me in…”  I pretended not to hear him, “N-no, I can’t go, Mackie.  They need me here.”

“They need you?”  I didn’t mean to make it sound so sarcastic; nevertheless, these brats won’t even let him sleep with them, even though I’m around Acou all the time and have never once gotten a wart or rash; not so much as an extra toe.  He likes to think that some of them look up to him, but I don’t think there’s any of them that have never cracked a joke at his expense.  His rotund appearance, webbed feet, and slimy-green skin being the usual suspects.  “I always thought you’d be coming with me when I left the Wharf.”

“Well–”

“I want you with me, Acou.”

“Okay…”  His expression told me he was dissatisfied, but I’m sure he’ll change his mind when we start our journey.  That whole city of Storks; I don’t know if they’d let him in either, but of course I don’t think we’ll be going all the way to Starlight.

“Mei?”  I turned towards her.  She was still beaming from earlier, and looked surprised when I called out to her, “Are you coming with us?”  Her expression changed from glee to panic.  With widened eyes she stared at me as if waiting for me to continue, “You’re the only one here who can read that; plus, it’s yours isn’t it?  I didn’t think you were planning to give it away–”  She shook her head no, and raised her eyes.  As she fixed her posture, her head soon rose high above my own.

“I… I-I’ll go…”

“You sure?”

“Nn…”  

 

“So what’s your plan?”  Acou and I formed a circle with Mei, and the two looked at me for what I planned to do.  I haven’t really considered what my plan is, but if I can convince my uncle to let these two come with me then maybe…

“The plan for travel is to go with a cadre my uncle trusts, probably some 1088 heavies.”

“Right, but even if they take us they’re not gonna travel with a couple of slaves.”

“That’s only if we tell them.  If I can convince my uncle to let me take my friends, who's to say the sisters aren’t with me?  We’ll just have to hide their brands…”

“And their scent, Mackie.  They’re going to be hunted after they escape, and you know how well a hunter can follow a scent.”

“A couple of hunters against the 1088, though?”

“Expecting everything to be fine won’t make it so… if we’re not prepared for the worst then anything could happen.”

“Like what?”

“Like us all dying!”  Acou slanted his brows and raised his voice at my unconcern; despite his panic, as long as we’re with the cadre I can’t imagine any harm befalling us.  

“The real challenge is getting them away from Pyoni.  I promise you, as long as we’re with the cadre we’ll be taken care of.  A jacket or coat, something to hide the brands on their wrist, is all we need after leaving the city.”

“What about that letter from Candor, do you know what it says?”

“...No.”  Acou scoffed upon hearing my response.

“What if that’s important?!”

“It’s not.”

“They could turn us away at Starlight!  That letter could be telling you not to come!”

“It doesn’t.”

“Howdya know?!”

“I know.”  I twiddled the key to Venus around in my pocket, “I don’t want it read, Acou.  I don’t want to know what Candor said.”  I’m not even sure I want to go to Starlight.  This whole journey we’re taking… after we deliver the sisters to their home, maybe the three of us can fall out of the cadre.  We have a map with a whole world to see, and for the first time in my life I feel that I don’t want to meet the Storks or see their city.

“Uhm…”

“Hm? Ah, dammit…”  Kibra was wide-awake, leaning against the tent pole just next to our circle.  We really should’ve picked a better spot to talk about this.

“Mackie… I’m really sorry about that crystal.”

“I know, I know.  You should be sleeping–”

“You said you needed a jacket?”

“Y-yeah.”  So he heard our conversation, or at least the jacket part of it.

“Here.”  Kibra held up his olive-green jacket, the one he’d been using as a blanket, to hand over to us.

“No.”  I approached where he was sitting and pushed the jacket back onto his body so he’d be warm,  “You should hang onto that–”

“You needed a jacket right?  Here.  Just take mine.”  Again, he held it up for us to take,  “I’ll get another…”  This time I didn’t reject him and took his jacket.  His arm slinked back to his side and he seemed pretty satisfied to have made up for earlier.  “Thank you, Mackie.”  Kibra’s eyes had a knowing mien as he gave me one last look, then slipped himself off of the tent pole and back into a slumber.  

“Cover him back up with it.”

“No, he wanted me to have it.  His friends will find him another, I’m sure.”  With his jacket, we’d be able to hide Joran’s brand which is one thing we don’t have to worry about now; it’d be stupid to give it back.  Fria on the other hand…

 

“Then… that just leaves the younger one.  Is there anything we can use for the littlest sister?  Maybe something in your case, Mackie?  Any clothes from when you were small?”  Right, the case with my sheets and clothes.  Carefully, I once again traversed the entangled kids sleeping in a ring around the center of the tent.  In the middle where our chairs and treasures were was an old, worn case.  Bringing it back out, I unhooked either side of the lid, and opened it to reveal sheets my mother used.  Lifting them out, my nostrils were overcome with a flowery fragrance that felt… nostalgic.  “This could work.”  Acou reached in and pulled out a polka-dotted pillow case, “If we split this down the middle, ripped a hole at the top, and mended both halves to make sleeves.”  I think I remember that one; it wasn’t moms, but my own back when I used to have a pillow.  At the Bunk-In I never had a pillow, and that went with most of the people I shared the dormitory with.  A thing like that would be easy to lose when you’re not there.

“Hmm~ Acou, run out and steal some pins from the clothes lines.”

“Sure!”  Eager to help, he ran out as I used my claw to tear the pillowcase down the middle, stopping just before hitting the top.  Then I ran my claw through the top and made an opening large enough to fit one’s head in.  In the cold night I could see Acou’s bulbous figure run to one of the wires hanging off a building, and grab a few pins causing the hanging fabrics to drop to the ground; running back just as fast as when he left.

“Hah, is– hah, is this enough?”

“Yeah, this’ll work.”  I placed pins on either side of the halves, bringing them together to create sleeves.  The final result was a polka-dotted cape of some sort with sleeves; odd, but sure to be overlooked by the group we’ll be traveling with.

“This time next week, we’ll be meeting with the sisters, and that night is when it will happen.  Be ready guys.  Do what you need to do before then.”  My two friends looked anxious, but determined not to back out now.  The beat of my heart felt like it was trying to escape my chest; this was what I had been waiting for, the day I would finally leave.  It’s not exactly as I pictured, and it’d be a lie if I said I wasn’t scared; nevertheless, it’s already in motion.  With or without me our little world will change, this time next week.

 

***

 

“You’re taking the garbage kids?”

“Not all of them, just a few of my friends.”

“Hmm~ I don’t know, Mackie.  I’m not sure if the Captain’ll go for it.  And to tell us so late into the week after so much planning~”  Fareal was playing it up, but he’s right that this was at the last minute.  I figured it should be last minute, that way no one involved had any time to think it over.

Fareal was dressed a lot warmer than the last time I saw him, except at his legs where his fur naturally warms him.  Since the week before, we’ve been steadily heading into the winter; the most vulnerable time of the year.  Water caught in the rain will freeze, food will cost a fair bit more, and if it snows then everything will shut down; this, I’m sure, is especially true for the roads leading out of the Wharf.  A group on the move taking on a few more mouths to feed is always going to begrudge doing so.

“Is it those two behind you?”

“Eh?”  Fareal nodded his head towards Acou and Mei who were standing behind me, waiting.  The rest of our tent had been cleared out, like usual, except for Kibra and a few kids who stayed behind to watch him.  He’s doing better than he was a week ago, but he’s still in and out.  “Them and two others…”

“Hmm~”  Fareal looked around Trash, “Two others?”

“Yeah, some uh… Cuni girls–”

“Pfft!  You’re planning to take some whores?!”  For a man who never smiles, Fareal had an enigmatic grin; at least, I think it’s a grin.

“They– they’re not whores!”

“Right, right.  You can call them whatever you like, but after they get passed around that’s all they’ll be~”  He placed his hand on my shoulder, “You’re gonna share with the cadre, right?  They might be more interested in taking the four of you if so–”

“They’re not whores!”  Fareal withdrew his hand and held his stomach from how hard he was laughing.

“Who are they, anyways?  I’ve never seen the garbage kids with any Cuni girls.”

“New kids…”

“New?  And you want to take ‘em with you?  Hoh~”  He held his hand to his chin, and placed its index over his chin’s hump.

“I can’t?”

“I didn’t say that.  It’s up to the Captain, like I said, and he might be interested in the fact that you’re planning to have a couple of nobodies tag along; Cuni girls, at that.”

“Well you don’t… have to tell him that–”

“Hmm?  And what should I tell him?”

“What I said before, that I want to take some of my friends.  Can’t you leave it at that?  Please…”

“...And is there any reason I would need to lie?”  Fareal lost his mysterious almost-grin, and replaced it with a serious expression, “Is there, Mackie?”

“It would… make things easier.  That’s all.”

“Hmm…”  Fareal tapped his chin with his finger, “I’ll think about it.”

“Y-you will?”

“I don’t see any obvious problems with omitting a little information, and you’re still Candor’s lil’ bro.”  He leaned down so that his eyes met with mine, “But Mackie, if I catch wind of any other reason for you to lie other than ‘making things easier’, the Captain will be the first to know.”

“Gulp– of course.”  Fareal straightened his back and waved to Acou and Mei, the two of which hesitantly waved back.

“I do call them garbage kids, but you’ve got some loyal friends.  That’s hard to come by these days…”  He ran his fingers through my hair; it was oddly pleasant, if not a tad bit annoying, “Be sure not to lose them.”

“I-I won’t!”  He walked away in a haughty fashion; one large step after another as the usual characters in Trash made sure not to get in his way.

 

“What did he say?!”  Acou ran up to me after Fareal was out of sight, “Will the cadre take all of us?”

“As long as we don’t fuck up tonight.  Speaking of, we need to hurry.”  The sun was starting to rise in the same position it was one week ago, “Joran will be expecting us soon.”  I faced both of my friends, and waited for Mei to join us.

“After we do this, there’s no going back.  Are you two sure you’re up for it?”

“Of– of course I’m with you, Mackie!”

“...The-there’s not much… for me here… a-anyways…”  Mei’s response was hard to hear, but her face showed determination to come with us; a determination wholly unlike her.  

“We’re here for you, Mackie.”  Acou placed his hand on my shoulder and gave his prized smile.

“Well then, let’s get to it!”

“Yeah!  Haha~”  Acou gave an enthusiastic cry, but I’m sure it was just to hide what we we’re all feeling.  What we’re about to do could get us killed, and will surely have us hunted for years to come.  After today, we can never return to the Wharf.