It was dark when I left the hospital. Now that I wasn’t hurt, my stomach woke up to complain with a vengeance. It was easy enough to figure out which direction I needed to walk to get to the E Hostel. It was the opposite direction of all the fancy lights and buildings. Really, the ‘land of the free and equal’ didn’t apply in Eden, the city of the strong. When the strong could make the weak pass out with their sheer presence, who was brave enough to fight for equal rights?

Eden was pretty much shaped like a pie chart with the Gate in the middle. The right side of the city was mostly taken up by the Guilds, each with their own campuses with a main building and housing. The rest of Eden was divided loosely, but efficiently, by ranks of the people who didn’t belong to a Guild or chose to own a home. The higher the rank, the better their living conditions were, such as apartments and eateries.

Even though there was a high turnover rate in Eden, housing was packed. Only A Ranks and higher could actually afford to live in a single house, since they weren’t free through the government. Sometimes when I had time to kill, I’d walk around their neighborhood, awed by the green lawns and beautiful homes. Such a sharp difference to my own tiny room. It was fun to look at the pretty clothes in shop windows and imagine what the treats in bakeries tasted like. Of course all I could do was look. Someone like me wasn’t allowed in places like that.

No, my place was in the northwest corner of Eden. Where lighting was scarce and all apartments were the sizes of closets. The plants in our section, which were laid when Eden was built, were only managed once a year. Since that time wasn’t for another month or so, ‘ragged’ was a good description of the streets right now.

Most of the streets were empty as I walked. Well, at least the side streets that I walked, even if it took longer to get home. By now, I’d learned where to avoid. The Hunter’s Association tried to keep peace and safety for everyone, but even they wouldn’t stop a person from drowning in alcohol after a long day in the Gate. Or prevent intoxicated, super-powered individuals from acting up.

I was almost to the hostel when I heard something and paused. I frowned and looked around the dark street corners. What was that sound? It didn’t sound like a drunk scuttling around, and my danger sense wasn’t going off. Was it ahead? No, it was coming from my right. Instinct summoned my short sword from my Items Bag to my hand. In theory, I shouldn’t ever need to use it in Eden. It was actually illegal to use weapons outside of official duals here. But if I walked into every situation empty handed, I’d be dead by now.

Carefully, I leaned around the corner of the building and looked down the alley.

There was a girl, sitting on the ground in the middle of the walkway, trying to stifle her sobs with her knees.

I scanned the rest of the alley in case there was someone else there. The sensor in the System didn’t show anything and I couldn’t see any movement. Survival instincts urged me to turn around and leave, but I found myself stepping into the alley. “Hey,” I said softly.

The girl screamed and jumped to her feet. She stumbled back and nearly fell over.

Her reaction was so extreme, I jumped myself. “Oh, hey. Calm down.” My short sword disappeared as I put my hands up. “Sorry I scared you.”

I could tell that she was younger than me, but it couldn’t be by too much. For a person younger than seventeen to enter Eden was near impossible. She stared at me with huge, wet, dark eyes, her long brown hair swaying across her back as she panted in fright. Her hands shook as she pressed them against her chest. “Who … who are you?”

“I’m Jyn.” I smiled, trying to show that I wasn’t a threat. Like, seriously. This girl might look like a startled bird, but she’d beat me in an arm wrestle any day regardless of her rank. Which had to be a lot higher than mine based on how fast she moved just then. “I heard you crying. Are you okay?”

She wiped at her cheeks and swallowed a sob. “I …” She bit her lip. “No. I’m not. I don’t know where I am. I got separated from Mr. Smith. Then there were these guys so I ran. And now I’m even more lost.” Her frantic yet barely audible words rushed out.She must have found the wrong streets by accident. Poor thing. Unfortunately, Mr. Smith was too vague for me to guess where she needed to be right now.

“Okay.” I took a couple steps closer. She didn’t jump this time, if anything, she relaxed more. Jeez, she had a lot to learn. She had no idea if I was a threat yet or not. Luckily for her, I wasn’t. Still, there was something about her eyes that reminded me of my sister. A naive gleam that life hadn’t tarnished yet. It was refreshing. “What’s your name?”

“Emma.” She took a deep breath and stopped crying.

“Hi, Emma.” I smiled at her. “So, who is Mr. Smith and where was he taking you?” If she followed just anyone, she wasn’t going to survive very long.

Still, it was weird to find someone so clueless. Couldn’t she tell that she was in E District? And if she was lost, all she had to do was walk towards the Gate and start all over again from there, since every district branched out from it. I looked at her normal street clothes, her cute tee, shorts and sandals. Other than the Items Bag attached to her hip, she didn’t have any Hunter attire at all. But it was the wrong time for a new batch of Hunters to come to Eden.

“Mr. Smith is the Recruiter for the Stone Mace Guild. I met him today and he was showing me around Eden when we got seperated.” She gripped the hem of her shirt.

I couldn't help but be impressed. The Stone Mace Guild wasn’t the strongest Guild, but it was one of the top ten and they weren’t afraid to throw their weight around. They were also picky on who they let it. If Emma met them today…

“Did you just get tested?” I asked.

She nodded. “Yeah. My Hunter abilities woke up early so I was tested today. I’m a C Rank Melee.”

I nodded slowly. A good solid rank. High enough to be useful, without threatening someone else’s position. Still, it had to be tough being thrown into this place alone. It was something that I was familiar with. “Do you have any family here?”

Emma shook her head. “I’m the first Hunter in my family.” A small smile touched her cute face. “They were so proud.”

“Yes, they usually are,” I muttered under my breath. Especially when they didn’t know what it was really like. At least she wouldn’t deal with the same crap I did, since she was already part of Guild. Hopefully they could keep the naive light in her eyes strong.

I jerked my head over my shoulder. “Come on, I’ll take you to the Stone Mace Guild.” My stomach was so empty, it hurt. But it wasn’t the first time, and Emma was probably just as hungry.

Her face lit up and she fell into step with me. “Thank you! Are we close to it?”

I gave a little laugh. “If you count being on the other side of the city close, sure.”

“Oh.” She sighed. “Are we going to walk?”

“There aren’t many cars in Eden. Only the richest of the rich own one,” I muttered, noticing that she was slightly limping. It wasn’t until we passed under a streetlamp that I noticed the blister rubbing on the back of her right heel. Seriously, was it too hard to ask for shoes that were cute and comfortable at the same time? It was like asking for jeans with pockets — a one in a million shot.

My lips pulled to the side, thinking. “There’s a tram a couple blocks from here we could take. Trams are free throughout the city.” Without further ado, I took her in that direction.

All the way, Emma babbled about her life before today. How she’d always been good with a bow. Then last week, a stupid boy in her Hunters Prep class made her so mad that she shot his bow out of his hand. Not only that, but his bow was snapped in half and her arrow embedded almost all the way through the wall. That’s when they figured out that she’d Awakened; her Hunter power had come early.

I couldn’t help but laugh, even though I felt bad for her.

It was a big deal when the new group of freshly graduated kids came in. People took special care for the first couple weeks, helping the new Hunters adapt. But that didn’t exist for the unfortunate kids that Awoke early. As for the possibility of someone becoming a Hunter later than seventeen, that didn’t happen. The huge glass ball each person touched wasn’t just a tester. It also forced hidden Hunter talent to Awaken right then and there.

We climbed onto the tram and rode to the Gate Square. As we went, I pointed out places and talked about things that she might not have learned yet. It was fun. Really, it was. It had been so long since I talked with someone my age. But more importantly, someone who didn’t look at me like I was a cockroach.

We got off the tram. I took a second to point out the hospital to her. As a C rank, she wouldn’t be there as often I was, but it was still a good thing to know. Then I took her through the Guild District as I pointed out the different Guilds.

I came to a stop at the bottom of a set of wide curved stairs. With a sigh, I looked up at the heavy, double doors of the white marble building. “And here we are.”

“Oh.” Emma’s jaw dropped as she looked up at the stately building. “This is the Stone Mace’s Guild? I thought this was like a city building or something.” She turned her head, looking at the stone spires highlighted beautifully with lights so they glowed against the night sky. “Whoa.”

I smiled and nodded to the side. “Yep, this is it.” If she thought this was gaudy, she might faint when she saw some of the bigger guilds buildings. One of them was literally a castle. I glanced at Emma to say goodbye, but stopped at the apprehensive look on her face. “Hey, it’s okay. I’m sure they’ve been looking for you. Just tell the front desk your name and it will all work out.”

She pressed her lips together. “Will you come with me?” Her voice was small and hard to hear.

Me? Go in there? I couldn’t even laugh at the absurd thought. My smile felt strained, but I managed to keep it in place. “You’ll be fine, really.”

She gripped the hem of her shirt and looked down at her toes. “The truth is, I got separated from Mr. Smith while we were in the Gate. I was supposed to kill a monster and get its energy crystal. It was just an E rank, but I was scared and ran away. When I couldn’t find him in the Gate, I went outside to wait in the square. But he didn’t show up so I thought I’d go to the Guild. Then I went the wrong way, and well…”

Her head drooped even lower. “I’m supposed to bring an energy crystal back with me. That’s part of the contract with the Guild, you know. What should I do, Jyn?” She looked in the direction of the Gate, her face wrinkling in fear.

That was a problem. The Gate was the most dangerous during the night hours. I had a hard enough time in the daylight, I shuddered to think about what it was like inside the Gate now.

I tapped a finger on my lips in thought. I knew exactly what it was like to come back without a crystal, and how it affected the way Hunters looked at you. She had it rough already, did she really need to know about the dark side of Hunters her first night? Guilds didn’t keep weak or useless people. If she went in there without an energy crystal, it was possible that they could throw her out and say it was a breach of contract.

A solution to her problem popped into my head. It was an ‘easy’ solution, but it hurt my heart anyway. With a silent sigh, I held out my hand to her. The energy crystal in my Items Bag appeared in my hand. “Why don’t you give them this one? Just tell them that it’s yours.”

She blinked at the faintly glowing stone in my hand then gaped at me. “Are you sure? I mean, you’ve already helped me so much already.”

I shrugged. What was one more night of just rice and a few veggies? Honestly, my body was so used to it now, it wouldn’t matter. Even as I thought that, my stomach twisted into a painful empty knot. “It’s nothing.” I stuffed the crystal into her hand before I could change my mind and stepped back. “Well, see you later, Emma.” I waved at her and turned around.

“Ah, bye, Jyn!” Emma called to my back. “Thank you!”

I waved a hand and ran off.