It was a busy day in the border town of Anghelen. The normally sleepy streets were abuzz with activity as its inhabitants swarmed the trade guild. The last caravan of the season had just arrived, so craftsmen and hunters were struggling to sell what they could while everyone else was perusing the exotic goods that had been brought in from the inner cities.

After the traders left, winter would come and they likely wouldn’t see anyone new in town for months.

Among the crowd was a small family. A mother, a father, and a young girl. Nephern and Sterthen were hitched up to a large wagon piled high with furs and bundles of dried herbs and were pulling in steadily through the crowd. Kenerang, their daughter, dipped and wove through the legs of the crowd, charging ahead of her parents.

“Kene,” Nephern, the girl’s mother, called out. “Stay by the cart!”

Kene either didn’t hear her mother, or didn’t care to follow her instructions, as she kept weaving through the crowd. Despite their concern, as Kene ran, she had no trouble navigating the sea of legs. Even just running in a straight line, the crowd split around her and crashed together behind her as soon as she passed. Like waves breaking on the shore.

“Come on,” she shouted back to her parents, continuing to pull even farther ahead. “Girin said he’d bring some more of those little candies next time he visited!”

Nephern’s face twisted in worry. Even under normal circumstances, she didn’t like letting Kene get too far away from her. The abnormally crowded streets were one thing on their own, but something else was gnawing at the back of Nephern’s mind as well. The ever-present drone that filled her mind as soon as she entered town was more… violent… than usual.

Something was happening somewhere, but she had no way of knowing what it was.

She was about to shout out to Kene again when Sterthen reached up and put a hand on her shoulder. His gentle smile did a lot to push back her fears but didn’t completely get rid of them. “It’s fine. So long as she’s within eyesight, nothing bad will happen.”

He was just about the only other person in Anghelen that could hear the drone like she could, so those weren’t hollow words. He could also sense that something was off, but they were all the way out in the sticks. Whatever was going on probably had nothing to do with them, and even if it did, anything happening in town would be enough for them to handle.

As if the world intended to punish him for his confidence, he looked up ahead just in time to see Kene run head-first into a rugged looking man stepping out from around the corner. She slammed into his leg, stumbling backward and knocking the package he was carrying out of his arms.

“Hey kid, watch where you’re going!”

By the time the man had finished shouting that, Sterthen had already unhitched himself from the cart, ducked under the bar, and made his way through the crowd to stand behind his daughter.

“Sorry about my daughter, Guisen,” Sterthen said, stepping forward and picking Kene up under the arms, lifting her back to her feet. The moment the man heard Sterthen’s distinct voice, his face went pale.

The family was well known in town, despite rarely coming in from their cabin deep in the woods. Even those that didn’t know their names could pick them out from a crowd as unique existences in the town. The entire family had deeply tanned complexions and rich auburn hair, which was very rare this far west.

Guisen was particularly familiar with them. He was a farmer that lived on the edge of town. His was practically the last homestead before the forest began, but if you followed the small path that cut past his house and led into the woods, you’d eventually come to the family’s cabin. They were effectively neighbors, although they very rarely interacted with each other.

He was a middle-aged man, that was just starting to feel the weight of the years dragging his shoulder’s down, but not long ago he was a brute of a man. Among the largest in Anghelen. And yet, Sterthen and Nephern both towered above him. In reality, they were only a few inches larger than he was in his prime, but their presence alone made them seem like giants.

“O-oh it’s no problem. It was my fault anyway. I should’ve been more careful,” Guisen stammered out, quickly picked up the small package he had dropped and immediately tried to find a way to disengage.

“No, it’s on us. We should have kept a better eye on her. Kene, what do you say?”

“I’m sorry mister,” Kene said, bashfully hanging her head.

“I-It’s fine kid.” He also hung his head, but more to avoid meeting Sterthen’s eyes than out of a sense of shame. He quickly nodded and ducked back around the corner he had appeared from.

By the time he left, Nephern had caught up with the other two, pulling the cart along. She looked down at the ashamed Kene.

“This is why I said to stay with the cart,” Nephern said with a commanding tone which she rarely used nowadays.

Kene didn’t look up to meet her eyes.

“I’m sorry mommy.”

Although Nephern was trying very hard to keep up the stern act, it broke at the way Kene said that. Had she gone too far? She looked up panicked at Sterthen for help, and he quickly stepped in, sweeping Kene up into the air and putting her on his shoulders.

“It’s fine Kene, but she’s right. If you keep running into people, it’ll take us forever to get to the guild. By then, Girin might have given all those special little candies to someone else.”

The second he said that Kene’s bashful mood broke as she remembered why she had been so excited in the first place.

“Come on, why are we still standing here,” she said tapping her fists lightly on Sterthen’s head to urge him onward.

“We’ll hurry, but you’re riding in the cart the rest of the way,” he said, lifting her up once again and setting her down on the big pile of furs. She immediately stood up and pointed her finger in the direction of the guild, as if to say “Onward ho!”

As Sterthen quickly got himself situated back in the harness, he heard Nephern’s gentle voice pierce through the drone in his head.

“Thanks for that…”

He shot her a quick reassuring glance and they set off.

Just as it had when Kene was dashing through the crowd, the mass of people seemed to split around the cart as it pushed forward.

*** *** ***

As the family’s cart approached the guild hall, the crowd became even denser. Anghelen was not a large city, especially compared to the inner cities where Nephern and Sterthen had spent their younger years, so there was an awkward flow to the crowd like no one was quite sure how to move through it. For the two of them it posed no problems.

As they approached, they saw the depot where carts were stopping to drop off their goods. A few coinmasters watched over everything from little raised booths at the corners of the depot. People who had goods to sell would pull up to a stall where a journeyman from the guild would take inventory of what they brought, quickly assess its price, and write a receipt for the villagers to take to a cashier inside the guild for their payment. Apprentices dashed from place to place, unloading goods, carrying them into the guild, and running messages from one place to another.

It was working like a well-oiled machine.

The family pulled up to the line of people waiting to sell that wrapped around the side of the guild hall. After about an hour of waiting, they were finally the first in line, waiting for the next open stall to take them. They suddenly heard a piercing shout that cut through the clamor of the crowd.

“Neph! Then!” A familiar, scruffy looking journeyman with a huge grin was standing in the farthest stall and waving them over, although he appeared to still be with another customer. He was standing next to a cloaked figure with their own cart, seemingly still in the middle of the transaction. Despite that, the journeyman had completely forgotten them and was waving the family over to his stall.

The pair briefly hesitated, sharing a glance of apprehension. They knew of their reputation in town and generally avoided doing things to ruin it further, even things as small as cutting in line. But this particular journeyman was trustworthy. Surely if he was willing to call them up like that, he had a good reason. After taking a moment to unhitch themselves from the cart, they stepped forward to meet the man. Sterthen swiftly swung his arm out and hooked it into the journeyman’s, locking their forearms together and pulling him into a quick embrace.

“It’s good to see you again Girin,” Sterthen said. “I see you finally made journeyman.”

“Yeah. After all the work I’ve done for the guild, you’d have thought it would’ve happened years ago, but they finally stopped dragging their feet,” Girin chuckled patting Sterthen on the shoulder. “I’m glad you finally chose to show your faces. You’re normally such early risers, I thought something might’ve finally crawled out of the Helefiran and got you.”

As the two men uncoupled, Sterthen stepped back towards the cart and patted the pile of furs. A small giggle could be heard from underneath them.

“Nah. I’m the one doing the ‘getting’ around these parts. Nothing in that forest can get the drop on me,” he said, doing a heroic pose and flexing his muscles.

Nephern stepped up and matched the same forearm gesture that the two others had done a moment before, but as she pulled out of the embrace, she quickly punched Girin and Sterthen in the shoulders.

“It’s good to see you Girain, but don’t joke like that in front of Kene. If she starts having nightmares about the forest, I’ll invoice you for every hour of lost sleep.”

“What are you talking about? I don’t see Kene anywhere around here,” Girin said, exaggerating every word with a big grin. Another giggle could be heard from underneath the furs.

“Where is that little gremlin anyway? I seem to remember telling her I’d bring some candy next time I came to town, but if she’s not with you, I guess we’ll have to eat it all ourselves…”

He let those last words trail off, but before he could let it finish, the pile of furs tilted off to the side and Kene sprung out from underneath them.

“I’m right here,” she said frantically darting over to the edge of the cart, barely stopping herself from tumbling over the side. “Don’t eat it yet!”

Girin stepped over and picked her up off of the cart.

“Oh my, you’ve gotten so big,” he laughed, but he quickly put her down on the ground upon realizing that that statement was truer than he originally meant it to be. Girin’s build was exactly what you’d expect of a merchant, which is to say not particularly muscular, and although Kene was still a child she was definitely going to be as large as her parents one day. By his count she should be right around 7, but if he didn’t know any better looking at her now, he’d place her at 10 or 11 on height alone.

He subtly rolled his shoulder to try and hide the fact that it had locked up on him.

Even as she was put down, she was already putting her open hands forward, as though expecting something.

“Wow, it’s always straight to business with you,” he said, reaching into the pouch he carried on his shoulder. “You’re more shrewd than some of the coinmasters I’ve worked under.”

He pulled out a small, silk pouch that appeared to hold a handful of small hard candies, and gently set it down in her hand. “Straight from the Surangal Confectionery in the Capitol. Only the finest for-“

He started to say, but as soon as the pouch entered her hand, she immediately opened it up, pulled one of the little yellow drops out, popped it into her mouth, and was completely out of the conversation. As soon as he realized she wasn’t listening anymore, he chuckled and turned back towards her parents, who were both looking on with proud smiles.

“Well, anyway-“ Girin started to say as an apprentice ran up to him and went to whisper in his ear. His face screwed up as he turned towards the nearest coinmaster, an old rotund man who was angrily gesturing back towards Girin’s stall and the cloaked figure who was still standing there. Girin briefly flashed a rude gesture up at the coinmaster before taking a moment to compose himself and turning back to the family.

“Hey, bring your cart up all the way up. I’ve got to finish up with this other customer real quick, but this is perfect. I was actually just thinking that I wanted to introduce you all.”

Nephern and Sterthen briefly exchanged a curious glance before they started to head over.

As they got closer, they could start to see more of the cloaked figure. They were standing stock still with the hood of their cloak mostly covering their face, so the pair was only able to see a slack jaw hanging open. Even without needing to see their eyes, the two of them could still feel their gaze locked on them.

The figure’s trance was broken as Girin lightly slapped them on the back, making them stumble forward a few steps.

“This is Mili,” Girin said, gesturing towards the figure. “She’s the daughter of an old associate from back when I first joined the guild.”

“Nice to meet you Mili,” Sterthen said, stepping forward and extending his hand towards the girl. “I’m Sterthen and this is my wife Nephern.”

Mili was standing there, now staring down at the hand, but still not saying anything. After a moment, Sterthen glanced up to Girin with a questioning look.

He quickly nudged Mili with his shoulder, making her jump.

“Oh, I-I’m sorry. I was just- I didn’t expect to meet someone from the inner cities here. I shouldn’t-,” she quickly shot a panicked look at Girin. He met her eyes and gave a gentle shrug. She put her head down completely, looking straight at the ground. “I’m sorry- Your radiance is too much for me. I’m not worthy. I should just go-“

“Ah,” Sterthen said, understanding crossing his face.

He was about to say something as Mili turned to try and leave, but Nephern stepped past him and quickly shot her hand out, grabbing Mili by the wrist and pulling her arm forward. Mili flinched away in fear reflexively as she did so, clenching her eyes shut.

She clearly expected something bad to happen, but after a moment she felt the warmth of Nephern’s hand close around on her own. She opened her eyes, looking first down at her hand and then up at Nephern’s face for the first time.

“I don’t know what you may have heard, but we’re just normal people trying to live our own lives like everyone else here,” she said, sprouting an awkward smile that didn’t seem to fit her face. But as Mili looked up at it, it did seem to be at least a little reassuring. “If you’re a friend of Girin’s then you’re more worthy than you give yourself credit for. So, once again: my name is Nephern and this is my husband Sterthen.”

Mili took a moment to adjust, but the tension was steadily melting away. Her back straightened and she pulled back her hood, revealing that she was also an odd sight to see around these parts. Her skin was noticeably paler than most of the other people in town, but her hair was almost as dark as Nephern’s. A unique combination as far as they had seen. It was a striking enough sight to give the pair pause, although that soon passed. Girin had said that her father used to work for the trade guild, so he could’ve really been from anywhere. It made sense that she looked out of place in Anghelen.

“M-my name is Mili. It’s nice to meet you.”

Kene dropped down from the cart and ran up to Mili, her cheeks swollen from the multiple candies stuffed in each cheek and extended her hand towards her.

“And my name ish Kene.”

“Nice to meet you Kene,” she smiled and took the handshake.

“How many of those have you eaten,” Nephern said, the gentle voice she had put on for Mili abruptly breaking as her stern parent voice came out once again. Her hand shot down, grabbing the pouch of candy from Kene’s hand and looking inside. “It’s already half empty.”

“Hey give those back. I’m not done,” Kene said, jumping up to try and grab the pouch from her mother, but all she had to do was hold the pouch at shoulder height and it was completely hopeless for Kene.

“No. You’ve had enough for right now. Don’t worry, you can have more later, but you need to learn to savor things like this. You’ll thank me for this when you get older,” Nephern said matter-of-factly, but Kene was not convinced. She continued to jump and whine at the pouch as the rest continued their conversation.

The sight melted away the last of the tension that was holding Mili back.

“I’m sorry about a second ago. It’s just that dad always told me stories about his time around the capitol, so I wasn’t really sure how to respond,” she said, now turning towards Sterthen.

“It’s fine. Honestly, we’ve come to expect it at this point. I’m just glad you got over it this quickly. Some people in town still look at us like we’re freaks” he said, chuckling slightly and then looking around the people in the guild hall.

“You said your dad is an old associate of Girin’s, right? Where is he? I’d love to meet him,” Sterthen said hoping to meet someone else that might have a more civil attitude toward his family than the rest of the townspeople. Girin and Mili’s faces both sunk as he said it though. He immediately realized what that meant.

“He actually… passed… recently,” Mili said, struggling to get the words out.

“Ah… I’m sorry…” Sterthen said, trying to recover from that immediate blow.

“No, it’s fine. He was a dark trader, so it was sort of always… expected,” Mili said, wrapping herself up in the cloak.

Dark traders were a source of whispers around Anghelen, much like his own family, so he immediately understood. They went deep into the Helefiran, the dark forest to the west at the base of the Magru mountain range, to collect rare herbs and minerals for trade.

Out past the boundaries of the Empire.

The woods immediately west of town were fairly normal by most standards of forests in the Empire, but everyone knew that eventually, if you went far enough west, they would start to twist and become corrupted, until it was like you were standing in another world entirely. As children, everyone in Anghelen was told stories about what you might encounter if you wandered too deep into the forest, so very few people went into the woods at all.

The pair had even told a fair share of their own stories to Kene, if just to stop her from wandering around carelessly. Early on in their time there, they had gone out west just to make sure it would be safe enough to live there. They had personally gone far enough to see where the trees started to change, but even that was over an hour walk from where they built their cabin, so they weren’t too worried. And if anything particularly dangerous was out there, it never came far enough out to be a threat for them.

They knew that a lot of the stories were overblown, but they still had to be on the safe side, so they only shared ones they knew were true. Like the Elves that lived there. The Elves had their own fair share of tall tales written about them that even reached as far east as the Capitol, like about how they’d come and steal away children during the night. However, there were certain things that were known about them as a matter of fact.

Hundreds of years ago, they fought against and nearly destroyed the Empire, but the Family was able to force them back. Anghelen was actually built around Fort Heferal, a key strategic outpost built during that war to defend against the Elves. There were even detailed records kept in the Capitol about the conflicts from back then, so they were definitely real. From eye-witness accounts, they were ghastly pale humanoid creatures that were absolutely brutal on the battlefield. Most of the tall tales started from soldiers that encountered them back then, but they were based on the very real fear they instilled in their opponents.

Whether it was some unknown threat in the forest or the Elves themselves, it was obvious what had happened to Mili’s father.

“Anyway, I should really finish up here. I need to get on the road soon,” Mili continued, turning away from the pair and back towards Girin. “Do you have my receipt ready Girin?”

“Yeah. Here you go… Are you sure I can’t convince you to take my offer? With your skills and experience, you’d reach journeyman in no time at all. It’d be safer that way too.”

Sterthen was trying to be quiet and respectful, especially given that last faux pas, but that conversation caught his ear.

“You’re going back out into the forest? Are you sure that’s the best idea?”

Mili was young. She wasn’t a child by any means, but she was not someone he’d think could handle traveling through the Helefiran alone. She had obviously managed until now, but that had presumably been because of her father. Would she be able to manage on her own?

His doubt was obvious in his tone.

She sighed and looked up at him. “Yes, I am. Girin has already tried to talk me out of it, but it’s the only place I belong. It’s what my dad raised me for. Besides, there are still things I need to do out there…”

She trailed off, clearly thinking about something, but snapped out of it and abruptly turned back to Girin.

“So, my receipt,” she said, extending her hand outward.

He handed it over, and she quickly looked over it, but her eyes went wide.

“This is… too much. I can’t accept this.”

“Yes, you can. I owed Bereth a decent hunk of change from awhile back. I’ve been trying to pay him back for ages, but he kept dodging it every time I tried. I’m sure this is the only way he’d want that money being spent.”

Mili’s expression soured. “If dad didn’t want you to pay it back, I can’t betray him like that.”

Girin laughed. “You’re just like him. Then in that case, let’s make it a deal. That weird metal bird you brought in is quite the curiosity and I know someone back east that will probably be very interested in it. Think of the money as an exclusive contract. I’ll pay you that money so that if you find anything else like it, bring it to me first.”

Mili opened her mouth to speak, like she wanted to continue to argue, but was at a loss for words.

“Well, a deal like that is too good to pass up,” she said after a moment, holding her arm out. Girin took her hand, gave it one firm shake and then pulled her into a hug. She was surprised at first, but quickly returned it. After a moment, he patted her gently on the back, then stepped back.

“Now get on out there. You’re holding up my line.”

“Of course. I wouldn’t want to get you in any more trouble with the coinmasters.”

She stepped back towards her cart and started to guide the beast hauling it forward. She briefly turned back to the family.

“It was nice to meet you all. I hope you have a good winter.”

Sterthen stared up at her, not saying anything. Something about the look in his eyes made it seem like he was a million miles away. She almost spoke up to see if something was wrong but Nephern called out from behind him, still wrestling with Kene.

“Good luck on your travels!”

Sterthen still didn’t say anything, but Mili decided to just leave it at that. She nodded to the three of them and rode off around the corner.

Nephern had half hitched herself back up to the cart and was pulling it forward into the stall, making slow progress as she was still fighting to keep the pouch away from Kene who was standing in the cart behind her. Sterthen, meanwhile, was staring off at the corner where they had last seen Mili with a blank look on his face.

“Then! Could you give me a hand here?”

“Hm? Yeah… just… give me a second,” he said lazily, not really acknowledging what Nephern had said, before he quickly dashed off after Mili.

“Then?!” Nephern shouted out, but she was too busy wrestling Kene to follow.

It took Sterthen a moment to catch up, but as he ran, he saw her. Mili was coming out of the doorway where the cashiers cashed out the receipts, a large bag tied to the belt around her waist. She started to mount back up on her cart and head out.

“Wait!” he called out frantically, causing Mili to turn around in surprise.

“What? Is something wrong?”

“No I just… Sorry but… I don’t… What am I trying to say?”

He paused, trying to figure out why he had chased after her. He’d moved on instinct more that anything.

“If you need help, you can count on us. We live out west of town. Our house is pretty far out of town and we usually have a fire going, so it should be easy enough to find us if you follow the smoke.”

Mili looked down at him confused. Why did he chase after her just to say that?

“Alright… thanks. I’ll keep that in mind.”

“I just… I felt like I needed to say that.”

Mili nodded, unsure of how to respond, but that seemed to be enough, so she turned her eyes forward and signaled the beast carrying the wagon to move.

Sterthen stood there for a second as he watched her ride away, before he heard a cough from behind him. Nephern was standing there, holding Kene in her arms and looking at him, confused.

“What was that all about?” Her voice was more worried than accusatory, but he immediately felt shame creep into his mind.

“Honestly, I don’t know. Something just told me I needed to say that… it was just like back in the day.”

With that, Nephern seemed to understand.

“I see. Well, we already talked about this. We’re done following their orders.”

“Kene is our top priority,” Sterthen finished that last sentence together with Nephern, and with that the trance seemed to finally break.

“We said we wouldn’t get involved in other people’s business like this. Don’t make promises you can’t keep.”

“You’re right. Hopefully, she won’t need us, but so long as it doesn’t put Kene in danger, I would like to help her.”

Nephern sighed. She wanted to be angry, but this was how he had always been. It was what made her love him, so she couldn’t hold onto that anger. It instead settled into worry.

“Come on. Let’s head back to the cart.”

Girin was just finishing tallying what they brought and was calculating the final price. He looked to Nephern questioningly about wat was going on with Sterthen, but she just gave a dismissive shrug. Whatever it was must have been resolved.

On to business.

“Well, I can tell you’ve gotten better at roughing it. You’ve learned how to keep the pelts in one piece at least, which is marked improvement from when I first dropped you off out here. But…” he trailed off with a grimace, picking up one of the larger furs that, while intact, had large patches of bare skin where the fur had been damaged in the tanning process.

“Yeah, that one is mine. Most of the shoddy ones are. Neph’s are way better. She just seems to have picked it up faster than I did,” Sterthen said, chuckling. Girin looked down at the pile and while he could definitely pick out the difference in quality, even the best of the lot would be considered poor by any craftsman’s standard. Sure, back when they first moved to Anghelen they had never even hunted on their own, let alone processed their quarry. But in the 7 years since, that had been their main line of work, and the end product looked like someone who had been doing it for a couple months.

“It’s reassuring to think we’ve improved this much in such a short time,” Sterthen said, beaming with pride. Nephern seemed far more self-conscious about the products quality, refusing to meet Girin’s eyes as he appraised them, but even her slight grin when he said they improved showed that she was happy to hear that they’d gotten better.

Girin didn’t want to put them down any more than necessary, but he did have to say something.

“Well, with that in mind, this is the best I can offer,” he said, presenting the two with the receipt to double check. It wasn’t a lie. It really was more than any of the other journeyman would normally offer, but the two’s shoulders sank a little bit as they saw the number. This was their payday for a season’s worth of work and was meant to help them make it through the winter when it was more difficult to forage and hunt in the forest.

“Thanks, Girin,” Sterthen said, breaking the silence and taking the receipt. “This should be just enough.”

From their reactions, Girin couldn’t tell if that was a lie or not.

“I hope it is. Now hurry up and move on through. Even my stunning charm won’t be enough to calm them down if I slow down this process any more,” Girin said, nodding up towards the same coinmaster from before who was still giving him a dirty look.

“We wouldn’t want to get you in any more trouble. How long are you going to be in town? Would you be able to stop by for dinner,” Nephern offered as they began saying their goodbyes.

“Not likely,” Girin said, looking slightly disappointed. “Apparently, we’re aiming to be on the road as soon as possible. Ideally later today. I don’t know what it is, but the coinmasters are antsy about staying here much longer than they have to, and there isn’t really much left to do here.”

He gestured back to the line of carts waiting to be emptied. Despite how busy it had been when they arrived, the line was now nearly entirely gone. There were still people milling about the guild buying what they could, but it was clear that not even those people would need to be around much longer.

The pair shared a glance. Did it have to do with the drone? Most people couldn’t clearly hear it like they could, but it did seem to affect most people in little ways like that, even if it was unconscious. Hopefully that was all it was, but that didn’t put their worries at ease.

“That’s a shame. Well, next time you’re in town we definitely need to get together for longer,” Nephern said.

“Definitely,” Girin responded. “Until then, I hope you all have an easy winter.”

“And we hope you have safe travels.”

*** *** ***

After leaving Girin’s stall the family stopped in the guild hall briefly to see what the caravan had brought in. There was nothing of interest that was worth spending their meager coin on, but Kene was having fun looking at all of the nicer goods, so they at least took their time. The elegant outfits and finely crafted armor and weapons particularly caught her eye. There were few people in Anghelen, like the local Sun Lord and his family, who sought after a life in the inner cities enough to pay the exorbitant prices for them. If the guild could sell even a fraction of them, that alone would pay for the cost of the trip out here.

Even the foods that they brought were far too expensive to be worth it. Nephern briefly saw a large jar of the little hard candies from the Surangal Confectionery that Girin had brought for Kene, but as soon as she saw how their price, she quickly signaled Sterthen to distract Kene. He picked her up and started showing her a particularly nice breastplate that was on display, telling her about the design and what it represented.

A pouch of candy the size that Girin had brought would cost practically their entire budget for the winter, but if Kene were to beg, it would be so painful to tell her no. Girin had explained at one point that the reason the caravan’s prices were so high was to make up for the fact that it cost money to ship the goods this far away from the capitol. Even keeping that in mind, those little candies were absolutely absurd. It didn’t seem like it would be worth it even if you got it at the source.

Not too long after that, they decided to leave the guild. Partially for fear that Kene would see the candy and partially because the apprentices were already packing most of what was on display and only a handful of people stuck around to shop. More importantly, the guild hall was right next to Fort Heferal, their last stop while they were in town.

That mattered for two reasons.

The first was that the city’s Sun Tree grew in the central courtyard of the fort. It was a massive tree whose trunk was made of countless smaller vines that twisted up so high that they wer visible over the top walls of the fort. It also happened to be the source of the droning sound that was slowly draining Nephern and Sterthen of their energy. The closer they got to the Sun Tree, the more unbearable it became. They had managed to put up with it that long for the sake of appearances, but their willpower was nearly at its limit.

The second was that they were waiting for someone to appear at the guild before they went over there. And sure enough, after a little while longer they heard a large man boastfully enter the guild hall, asking around to speak with the coinmaster who headed the caravan. That man was Sun Lord Guinang, the appointed leader of the town. He was the only person other than the family that obviously appeared to be an outsider in the town with his deeply tanned skin and darker hair. He wasn’t as imposing as Nephern and Sterthen, but he carried a different presence. A more arrogant one.

“Where is Coinmaster Arafal,” he bellowed as he threw open the door of the hall. Immediately the apprentices stepped aside to make way for him, and the senior journeyman stepped up to escort him to a side room in the guild hall.

It wouldn’t be unfair to say that Guinang and his household hated the family. That hatred had started brewing long before they had even met each other. He was the first to know that they were moving to Anghelen and knew the specific reason why they were forced to move out to the farthest edges of the Empire.

When the family arrived there with Girin all those years ago, Guinang sent a group of his private guards to personally escort the family from the guild hall out to the edge of town as soon as possible. They were basically thrown out into the wilderness with Nephern still recovering from giving birth and Kene barely a month old.

They were both capable enough to survive, but it was unbelievably difficult. After about a month of that, one of Guinang’s guards came to visit. Apparently, word got back to the Capitol about how they were treated and Guinang was severely reprimanded. They were offered some assistance with getting their home built and temporary lodging in town until it was complete, but even that was just symbolic. They never received a formal apology and could tell that Guinang’s feelings hadn’t changed. So there became an unspoken agreement to avoid bothering each other whenever possible.

They snuck out front to pick up their cart and then quickly made their way over to Fort Heferal. Although it was originally meant to be a defensive fortification, it hadn’t seen any real combat in so long that it had been repurposed. The largest tower was set aside as a residence for Sun Lord Guinang and his household, while the rest was used as a sort of town hall. In preparation for winter, that’s where the communal food stores were being managed and distributed.

The majority of the stores were carefully rationed out. Those who worked in the town and contributed directly to the stores were entitled to a portion of it by default, but anyone in the region could pay for a portion of the surplus as well. Since Nephern and Sterthen wanted to avoid making trips into town as much as possible during the winter, they were going to stock up as much as possible now. They planned to spend about three quarters of the money they just earned from the guild on bags of the milled grain that was grown in the region.

Ideally, it would serve to pad out their stores if they weren’t able to hunt enough to make it through the winter.

That was why they wanted to wait for Guinang to be out. They were practically walking into his house, but they still wanted to make their visit as unintrusive as possible, for their own sake as much as his.

As soon as they passed through the large gate that served as an entrance and stepped into the central courtyard of the fort they were within sight of the Sun Tree. This close to it, they were effectively deaf. The horrible drone seemed more like a scream at that distance. It took all of their concentration to just make it through the bare necessities of the transaction.

The guards stationed in the fort had their eyes intently trained on the family. Sterthen and Nephern knew instinctively that they were being watched but didn’t pay the guards any attention.

They approached the clerk taking payment and put the money they set aside for this purpose down on the table. They saw his mouth moving but couldn’t actually hear anything through the drone.

Sterthen spoke. “Give us as many bags as this can buy.” He couldn’t even hear himself, so he was just going on instinct of what it felt like to say that. The poor clerk jumped at those words, but quickly nodded and started counting it out. They both immediately realized that he must have been abnormally loud and made note of that for the future.

The rest of the transaction went by like a blur. It was like they were stuck underwater, desperately holding their breath as they struggled towards the surface, trying to get out as soon as possible. Their minds went completely numb and the next thing they realized they were back outside the fort, hooked up to their cart, the bags of grain piled in the back. At some point Kene must have sensed their distraction and grabbed the pouch of candy from the pouch at Nephern’s waist.

She had quickly popped a couple more in her mouth as she noticed just how out of it her parents were. She stood up and patted Nephern on the back.

“Mommy? Are you okay?” Her speech was slurred by the candy in her mouth. Nephern, turned to look at her and saw the bag of candy lazily hidden behind Kene’s back. She let out a loud sigh.

“Kene, honey. Please put the candy back in mommy’s pouch. It’ll be for the best if you save it for later,” she said, her voice strained and fatigued, more begging Kene to listen to her than commanding her. Like it took all of the energy left in her body to make such a simple plea.

Kene looked at Nephern with a deep concern. She slowly took out one last candy, put it in her mouth, and then slipped the pouch back into Nephern’s pocket. Kene didn’t understand why, but Nephern’s weary face quickly melted into one of relief.

“Thank you, sweetie. Mommy and daddy are just tired. Once we make it back home, we’ll be fine.”

And sure enough, by the time they were on the very edge of town, they could still feel the fatigue from having to deal with it earlier, but they were already starting to get their strength back as it grew quieter. Eventually, as they passed Guisen’s house and truly left town, the drone went completely silent and they both let out a sigh of relief.

As they walked in silence, Nephern started thinking about what could have possibly made the drone so much worse today.

“I wonder-“

She was cut off as a scream rippled through the air. Nephern and Sterthen knees gave out from underneath them. They would have dropped completely to the ground if the harnesses they used for the cart weren’t holding them up. They both clutched their ears as tears streamed down their face.

The drone had come back in full force, even stronger than it was inside the fort.

Not only was it so loud it was painful, it also ripped away at them on some deeper level. It felt like their very essence was being worn down, like if this continued there would be nothing left of them. This sound was death.

Through grit teeth, both Sterthen and Nephern forced their eyes open to look around. Nephern surveyed the surroundings, trying to find any threat that might be coming. There was nothing there.

Sterthen looked up at Kene, who was braced on the edge of the cart, gripping her own ears. She was being affect by it too.

He tried desperately to stand and hold her, to try and protect her in whatever way she could, but his legs wouldn’t move. He just hung limply from the harness.

And then, just as abruptly as the scream had started, it went silent. They were there, with only the sounds of Nephern and Sterthen’s heavy breathing and Kene’s loud wails as she bawled filling their ears. They recovered as quickly, standing at attention, ready for anything that might come. Nephern immediately readied herself to fight while Sterthen picked up Kene and was gently rocking and shushing her as he scanned the forest around them.

As time dragged on, it was clear that there were no immediate threats.

Even so, they quietly shared an uneasy look.

In that moment, the world had changed. They didn’t know what had happened, or where, but there was no doubting it.

It was the start of something big.