The tension was so palpable that it could be cut with Yue's butter knife, which she still had no plans to let go of.

Although eating lunch at the kitchen table was unusual, the reasons were obvious; according to Miss Estelle, Yue had fallen on the table, broken some of the lunch ware and even a chair. Fynn watched in disbelief as his friend stood beside him while that elderly woman described what had happened.

"And I haven't even talked about the mess on the second floor yet!" the woman exclaimed with exaggerated alarmism. "The whole door is ripped off the frame!"

"Really?" asked Yue to Fynn in a whisper.

"I wasn't going to let you hurt him!" whispered Fynn in alarm.

"Keep quiet, you two!" ordered Ledger, facing them.

Fynn lowered his gaze nervously as Yue stared at the aging man.

Ledger returned his gaze and soon covered his mustache with one hand.

"That was a lot of damage for one morning," Aliz exclaimed, looking at Annui disapprovingly. "Do you realize what you've done?"

Annui, sitting next to the pair of Marked children, lowered his gaze in chagrin at the situation.

"I'm sorry, Miss Aliz, I got carried away by the situation..."

"Oh, getting carried away with the situation is not what happened here," Aliz retorted. "You brought two Marked children in here without approval, and they caused a lot of damage to my home."

"I-It wasn't his fault!" hastily exclaimed Fynn.

"Silence!" ordered Ledger.

Aliz raised her eyebrow at the quick exclamation from the boy, who seemed to be trying to get some weight out of Annui's shoulders.

"You two, do you have names?" asked Aliz.

Fynn looked at the woman and, with some embarrassment, nodded, "I'm Fynn, and she is Yue."

Aliz rolled her brown eyes at the girl, "An akajsi girl. It's been a while since I've seen an elf in these parts..."

Yue averted her gaze at having that woman's eyes on her.

"Are we in trouble?" asked Fynn, fearful.

That jovial woman's serious face soon broke into a smile, "Oh, of course not!"

Ledger made a hoarse sound and soon looked at Annui, "Speak for them; he is in trouble."

"Oh, Led, the pottery and walls can be repaired again. He's just a kid..."

Annui looked at Aliz, the woman who sheltered him and smiled.

"This will come out of your funding, though," Aliz quickly replied to the boy with a scolding tone. "You'll forget about your field research for a couple of months."

The brown-haired boy nodded hastily, "I understand, Miss Aliz."

Surrounded by aromas in that kitchen, Fynn and Yue soon became aware of that ravenous hunger that made them shiver. The smell of fried food and others already prepared to cool in the windows gave the children an even more desperate look.

As expected, Aliz treated the children as her guests, something Ledger didn't seem to agree with.

Quickly, the servants placed plates on the table and served lunch in the kitchen, and admittedly unusual event.

"How did you get here?" asked Ledger, inquisitive. "Did you come out of a cave?"

"I-I came out of a cave, but that was a month ago," Fynn explained hesitantly.

"Then how did you get here?" asked Aliz.

Fynn and Yue looked at each other and quickly fell silent. As they met each other's eyes, all that heavy feeling of anguish came back to them; the attack on the ship, the death of Ranier and Pollard, and the days floating in the icy ocean it was all coming back to them.

Fynn shivered as if a chill ran through her body. Yue looked at the plate of vegetables placed in front of her. No matter how long they went without food or water, the Marked children felt their stomachs close up.

"Our ship sank," Fynn said in a shaky voice.

"I found them on the cliffs, clinging to a wood plank," Annui added.

"Oh, by Lithal," Aliz exclaimed in amazement as she covered her lips. "The children were shipwrecked, how terrible..."

Ledger watched Aliz and soon inquired again. "What happened to their ship? What was their fate?"

"Does it matter?" asked Yue with hostility.

"It matters, and a lot..."

"Led, please," Aliz expressed in a soft, demanding tone. "They both went through a bad time, don't start with that."

Aliz pointed to both children with her multi-ringed hand. She thus brought out the sad face of Fynn, who had a blank stare and palpable anguish.

"My name is Aliz Dimont, and this is my husband Ledger," the woman finally introduced herself with a broad, thin smile. "The arrival of such unusual guests is always fascinating. You are welcome to stay until you feel better and can be on your way. By the way, where were you headed?"

"O-Our ship was due to arrive in Adhaz..."

Ledger saw them with some disgust.

"Oh, where were you coming from?" the woman asked curiously.

Fynn looked at each other with Yue, trying to remember the place's name. "Miz... Muz..."

"Mizuna?" asked Ledger.

"That!" exclaimed Fynn, soon lowering the tone of her voice. "Our master took us to a port; from there, the ship was to take us to Adhaz."

"Oh, so you were going to Adhaz," Ledger said with a slight frown.

"Careful Led, you're letting the lack of appreciation for that place show," Aliz mockingly.

"We should find a way to be on our route," Fynn said to her friend before looking hesitantly at the place's owners. "W-We don't want to cause you any trouble either; it must be hard to hide one of our own?"

"Hide?" asked Annui, quizzical.

"Oh, in Mizuna, they don't accept yours, dear," Aliz explained to the boy with a puzzled look. "Unlike here, they have the Unmarked treaty."

"What's that?" asked Yue, who finally felt the desperate cries of her stomach and began to devour her plate.

Aliz and Ledger watched in disbelief at that girl's lack of table manners.

"Annui appeared on my lands some time ago and poses no threat beyond the destruction of my home from time to time. So, the kingdom recognizes his existence here, and he can enjoy certain privileges he would never have elsewhere."

"You say he has never been chased?" asked Yue incredulously to the boy beside her.

The boy, denied with surprise in his gaze, "You have been chased?"

Fynn nodded as he split a loaf of bread in two, "Since the first day we've been running..."

"Apparently, they don't have much respect for Lithal's precepts in Mizuna," Aliz added.

"What are we going to do with them?" asked Ledger to Aliz. "Clearly, the treaty only stipulates that there can be only one on the property."

Fynn and Yue turned their gaze to the man. It was curious to both of them to know that they were a couple; Ledger looked much older than Aliz, and his slicked-back black hair was graying, especially in his sideburns. Although remembering Idda, Fynn could believe that Aliz must be barely older than her; she had a delicate face and smooth skin adorned with a pair of jewels. Both were dressed elegantly compared to the servants in the house, but the woman wearing the more elegant dress.

Aliz turned her eye to the pair of children and pursed her lips in a grimace of doubt, "It is true that we are breaking the rules by having them here without the necessary permissions..."

"W-We can leave if you want," Fynn soon replied. "We'll go far, far away; you'll never hear from us again!"

"Calm down, Fynn," the woman said with a laugh as she watched that dark-skinned boy grow more nervous at every word, and his eyes filled with more anguish. "I don't plan on betraying you or anything. As far as I'm concerned, you are travelers and unexpected guests. I'm sure the mayor will understand if I make him understand. If not, perhaps I could send a letter to my cousin, explaining the situation..."

"I can always convince him, only if you wish," Ledger hinted.

Aliz smiled at her husband's words.

The situation seemed to have settled better than they had hoped. Finally, with the matter being termed ''an unexpected misunderstanding,'' both Marked teens could eat their lunch peacefully.

After lunchtime, the situation was far from over. While the trauma was still simmering for the children, both knew they could not dwell in one place for long. The kindness of that couple, and the workers there, was incomprehensible to them.

Both of them had been presented with clean clothes and promised Yue that they would mend her torn and ragged cloak, which were reasons for strangeness. The clothes they were given were not new, but they were in perfect condition, just like the clothes of the workers.

No doubt, it was all too strange.

Outside the house, they were both trying to plan what they would do, away from everyone in that big walled courtyard.

Fynn and Yue watched the workers and servants of the farmstead doing their tasks without caring about their presence in the place beyond the odd curious glance at the arrival of visitors.

"It's weird how they let him be here," exclaimed Yue, sitting on a barrel. The girl watched Annui, who seemed to be getting his wagon ready to leave again.

"It's nice to know we're not maltreated everywhere,'' replied Fynn smiling.

"Still, the woman said he was only here because he's allowed by someone else," Yue insisted. "She also said that we'll bring trouble to him if we stay too long..."

Fynn remained silent until her friend caught her attention again.

"What are we going to do now?" asked Yue. "We don't know where we really are, we don't know anything about this place, and we have no weapons to defend ourselves. We don-"

The girl was raising her voice, and her words were coming out faster and faster, full of anguish and annoyance. Fynn quickly hugged her, and even as she tried to continue resisting that anguish, she hugged her friend back.

Annui was bringing down several objects he used for his field studies, which he knew he wouldn't see again for a long time. However, his ear was magically set on both Marked Ones, to whom he listened to their chatter through a small incantation he channeled with one of his hands as he kept swinging his fingers.

"Annui," Aliz exclaimed, causing the boy to startle at having her and Ledger in front of him.

"Y-Yes, Miss Aliz?" the boy asked, watching them both.

Ledger watched his wife and sighed, "You won't have your classes today. Instead, I need you to go to town to buy me a few things."

The man pulled out of his blue coat with large gold buttons a piece of paper and a bag of coins, which he dropped into the boy's hands.

"Very well, I will," the boy said hurriedly.

"Also, why don't you take them both with you?" the woman asked smilingly. "Take them for a walk around town while you do your chores."

"Do you think that's a good idea?" asked Ledger of his wife.

"I think it's the best opportunity for Annui to meet people like him," replied Aliz.

Annui nodded and smiled excitedly at both of them, "I will don't worry!"

The boy quickly ran to where Fynn and Yue were, and after a little while to convince them to get in the car with him, they both agreed to ride with him.