“Did… Did she just call me a pervert?” Rozo stammered.

Auri began bursting with laughter as Reefa, and Naomi snickered.

“Oi! What the hell did you do to my sister?!” Wellor scowled at Rozo from across the room.

“Nothing! I did nothing!”

“The other day when Fifi and her mother went out for a walk, Rozo was trying to promote himself as a gun instructor to Fifi, but he was so desperate that your mother thought he looked like a pervert. So, she slapped him,” Auri wiped the tears of laughter from his face. He began to re-enact how Rozo behaved to Fifi as he remembered it. He changed the tone of his voice to a more booming one that mocked the way Rozo spoke.

“’Hey kid, want a learn a thing or two from me? A young lady like you could use a lot more skill on men. I'll charge you 5 Pisces an hour’,” Auri continued laughing.

“You’re shameless, Rozo,” Naomi roasted him.

“Shut your trap, Auri!” Rozo yelled.

“I'd kill you if you let my sister touch a gun,” Wellor growled.

“Okay, I’m sorry! I’m Sorry!” Rozo pleaded. “I was just looking around for new students that were interested in using a gun. My one student who I'd been teaching for 2 years stopped the lessons. He said he had to save money to buy his father's medicines.”

Auri wasn’t pleased with how Rozo was offering the lessons. “Why’d you charge him in the first place? Your father didn’t do that when he taught us how to use guns,” Auri said with disdain.

“What’s wrong if I ask for payment when I teach others my abilities? Aren’t I good enough to be paid? Huh?! Tell Me, Auri!” Rozo glared and turned his nose up at Auri.

“Because there are not enough funds to even make an income in Detra, you idiot. People here barely have any savings of their own, and that includes your student. That’s why we rely on yearly rations and ghost trading outside of the village,” said Naomi.

“She’s right. We’re practically cut off from the rest of the economy,” said Wellor.

Ghost trading was a practice that required 5 trusted people of Detra to sneak into the borders and make trades with people under a disguised identity. The elders would evaluate the people that were chosen for the work, and Robert would do the final assessment. They would trade pottery, carpets and other valuable items being made by each household in Detra for Pisces, the currency used throughout all the kingdoms. Sometimes multiple households would work together to make these items and agree on sharing the rations equally. After getting money, the traders would mainly stock up rations of food, plant seeds and soap to distribute to the people in Detra. They would consider other needs such as clothing or medicines as an additional resource for the person requesting them directly, which requires extra handmade items to be traded for or use of the individual’s own savings if they had any.

“Does your student buy the medicines through the ghost traders?” Wellor asked Rozo.

“Yeah, just like every one of our daily needs.”

“Damn. I always wanted them to select me as a ghost trader.”

“Man! I saw how they did their work and they get a lot of praises every time they come back with the goods. So many girls surrounded them. They’re so lucky!"

“Well, it’s a good job until someone gets caught in the act,” Auri warned.

“Right. I heard 2 years ago, one of the ghost traders never returned to Detra”, Reefa said with unease.

“The elders had assumed he got captured by the officials and they couldn't do anything about it. All they could do was to lay off the ghost trading activities for 2 months and reroute the path of entrance into the borders,” said Naomi.

“I heard from my dad that they shot him to the head by an ice gun. His entire skull froze to ice before it crumbled,” said Auri.

“No wonder Mr Till has to be careful about choosing a trader,” said Reefa, “He was really hesitant on picking Elias at that time because he was afraid his own son would-”

“Anyways!” Rozo raised his voice to cut the conversation. He cleared his throat before speaking again, “Let’s not talk so much about the outside world and let’s just talk about what’s already in front of us. Our home.”

Everyone went quiet for a moment. The idea that a group of powerless Haaras being sought after by the kingdoms was still floating above their heads. No second thought would be put into mind if a Haara from the kingdom were given the decision to kill a Haara from Detra.

Rozo sighed and said, “Look, I know it’s hard to not think about the kingdoms, but let’s try to focus on what we can do to make the best of living here in Detra. That’s why we hold social gatherings like parties, festivals and youth activities to keep the stress off our minds. At the same time, we create better bonds with one another.

“Forget about the kingdoms! They can’t touch the rest of us even if they wanted to. They’ll die in the desert before they even get here.”

Rozo could feel the tension in the air lift a little.

“You’re right. We should just relax for now,” said Auri, “and I’m saying this as one of the people here that are in the front lines trying to protect this village. It’d be nice for me to see the people not worry too much about them.”

“Thank you, Auri,” said Reefa as she beamed at Auri. “You, your father and the other defenders have done so much for us.”

“No worries,” Auri fiddled with his red scarf and shyly nodded to Reefa’s praise.

Rozo gave a big grin, thinking that he had convinced everyone with his big words of life advice. He clapped his hands and said, “With that being said,”—he put his palms out in front of him and forced his eyes closed with his chin on his neck—“will you three please join hands with me to practice gun shooting?”

Auri, Wellor and Reefa collectively replied, “No.”

“Oh, come on! I’m beggin’ you! Even if it’s just 1 Pisces per hour?” Rozo pleaded.

The three of them collectively replied once more, “No.”

“Reefa, please? You used to come practice with my dad, didn't you?” said Rozo.

“I did, but he didn’t charge me.”

“It’s just 1 Pisces! I swear! Maybe you could find leftover change lying around your house for me?”

Reefa squinted for a while at Rozo as he clasped his hands and pouted at her.

“Fine,” Reefa sighed, “I'll try to search it through my house. I could probably use an hour or two to hone my precision again.”

“Yay! Thank you, Reefa!” Rozo cheered with his arms in the air.

Later on, Mr Kerr called Reefa and Rozo to help in the kitchen and serve a bowl of meat stew for every person in the party. Rozo’s mother spooned the meat stew in equal proportions into several wooden bowls and placed them on trays, in which Reefa and Rozo would bring the trays and distribute the bowls to each of the guests of the party, all of which thanked them for the meal.

Meanwhile, in Rozo’s bedroom, Naomi urged both Luis and Fifi to play in her room for now. She was afraid that the kids would start rummaging through Rozo’s belongings in his drawer and all his clothes and underwear would be all over the place by the time Rozo got back. Naomi knew for certain Fifi would follow Luis if he went to her room. Fifi had a habit of following Luis because somehow she admired Luis’s act of bravery whenever he played some sort of character such as a knight or a pirate.

“Come on! Follow me and I’ll take you to where all the treasures are!” Naomi shouted.

Luis’s eyes dazzled as soon as he heard the word 'treasure' and Naomi knew she hit the jackpot. Naomi dashed to her room and Luis ran after her. Fifi quickly grabbed her toys from the floor and gambolled behind them.

They left Wellor and Auri alone in the Rozo’s room. The awkward silence between them caused the loudness of the chatter from the living room to become more apparent to them. A question popped up in Wellor’s mind that he wanted to ask Auri.

“Auri, I’ve never asked you this but… uh…”

“Hmm?” Auri didn’t make eye contact with Wellor as he sat across the room from him. He lifted his clay mug and sipped the warm cinnamon tea.

“What weapons do the defenders use when they’re out on their expeditions?”

Auri halted the tilting of his mug with his hand and let it rest on his bottom lip. The warm liquid of the cinnamon tea was almost touching his lower lip. He paused for a while before answering to his question and Wellor noticed he was thinking carefully of what he was about to say. Auri gently placed the mug back on the floor.

“Mostly guns but some of them carry swords or pocket knives.”

“Oh, okay… Do you use them too?”

“Yeah, sometimes.”

‘Sometimes’? Wellor thought. I never once saw him bring a weapon of his own.

The houses in Wellor’s neighbourhood were mainly facing towards the west of the Hariq Desert. The defenders would start their departure at sunrise by heading towards the west and return to the village from the east roughly one week later. He would casually walk around the neighbourhood at around dawn for a morning stroll. Sometimes he would catch the group of defenders getting ready for their expeditions and riding their horses to the spanning sands of the west amidst the rising of the sun. Along with the group, Auri would be the one to ride at the very back of their formation, whilst Mr. Peck led the group at the very front. After a few times of getting used to the sight of their itinerary every morning, Wellor would observe the gear and equipment that the men brought along with them. He noticed that out of all the members, Auri and his father were the only ones that did not bring any of the bigger weapons such as a shotgun or a sword. They wrapped nothing bulky around their wastes and carried on their shoulders. This made him wonder how they would come to defend themselves if an enemy struck them.

Would they rely on the others to protect them? No, that’d be absurd. They wouldn’t even be part of the group if they were so defenceless to begin with.

“Did you ever get into a fight with someone from the kingdoms?”

“A few times.”

“Can you tell me how you fought them?”

After hearing his question, Auri's gaze immediately shifted to Wellor and Wellor froze up. Auri's mouth was set and his eyes were bleak.

“I never knew you as someone who’d pry into other people’s business.”

Wellor gulped. He could feel his intimidation as Auri’s expression slightly turned to a darker one.

“I… I’m sorry,” he stammered. “If you don’t want to talk about it, that’s fi-”

“I fight them by grappling.”

“That… That’s it?”

“Yeah.”

“You’re joking, right?” It dumbfounded Wellor.

“Nope.”

He found it hard to believe. How could a 16-year-old be that strong? He thought. He decided to hide his doubt and to go along with his statement.

“So, you kill people with your bare hands?”

Auri took a second to respond to his question.

“Wellor, I can’t tell you everything that happens with the defenders. You know that, right?”

“Oh, Right,” Wellor chuckled guiltily. "Sorry. I'll stop now."

Auri didn’t feel like being prodded with questions from Wellor, especially questions that would lead to him revealing his fire wielding. Ever since he first learnt how to wield fire properly from his father when he was around 4 years-old, he had always tried to keep it a secret from Wellor, Reefa and Rozo. Even though they grew up together, he was afraid of being judged for what he was. It was also because his father told him not to go around telling people about his own ability. From a young age, his father had instilled in his son's mind that an ability like fire wielding would surely make him look like danger to others that can’t wield anything.

It wasn’t only that he was afraid of being judged for his wielding. He also didn’t want to relive the memories of taking the lives of people whenever he was told to use his overwhelming power by his father. Every time Auri looked at his own hands, a part of himself reminded just how much he became a murderer throughout his childhood. His most hated memory of himself was when he burnt several men up in flames. But after several times of having to shed blood on his hands, it became a normal routine. Time and time again, the emptiness that he felt after taking a life continued to grow. He hated himself for not being able to feel remorseful, even if he knew that what he was doing wasn’t completely right.