Elizabeth had never ridden on a public train before and did not expect them to even have their own personal compartment. Luna had opened the windows, and the cold night air felt good as she looked outside. Their carriage was just right behind the engine, and from their compartment they could feel the chugging of the train. It was too dark to see anything outside, so she returned to her seat. Luna had carved the watermelon they brought in and laid out some berries for her as well, on a nearby side table. The child took a slice of the melon as she watched the bounty hunter put some powder in a paper pouch into some canisters very slowly.

"What’s that?" Elizabeth asked as she stood up and tried to take a closer look.

"Flash powder." Luna sealed the canister tightly. "If you mix it with fire, it can blind people temporarily or permanently, depending on whether you don’t like them." She punctured the top and put in a thick wick that acted as its fuse.

"Are you a really good bounty hunter?" Elizabeth took another bite of her melon slice. Luna just smiled as she got ready to create another grenade.

"What do you think?" Luna said as she got another paper pouch.

"I think you’re really good. You are just like my friend Kinney. She is the best bounty hunter I know."

"Really? How good was she?" Luna said as she poured the powder.

"Mhmm." Elizabeth ate a berry. The berries were surprisingly juicy and sweet. "She said she was a shadow. And shadows are the best of the best."

Really now. Luna thought as she finished, "I have been a bounty hunter for a long time and I have never heard of a shadow with the name Kinney."

"Kinney said that when she left, she changed her name so that they wouldn’t bother her."

Smart woman.

"Did she tell you what her name was before she changed it?" Luna placed another wick in her second canister.

"No. But-" Elizabeth turned around, and when she faced Luna again, she showed her a hunter’s coin. "Kinney said they only give this to council shadows."

"May I see?" Elizabeth gave her the coin. Luna turned the coin over and flicked the side facing towards her so the child wouldn’t see it open.

"Did your friend ever tell you anything else about this coin?" She flicked it and it closed.

"No. She only told me that it would help me when I was in trouble, but so far it hasn’t worked. "

Luna could see the child starting to feel dejected. Even if the child knew what the coin did, it wouldn’t have helped either way, but she could see Elizabeth really valued the coin.

"That’s because she did not tell you how it works." Luna leaned in and flicked the side, which made the horned skull open its eyes and mouth and revealed the blood red rubies inside. Elizabeth’s eyes grew as she was surprised by the coin’s secrets.

"Ooooooh!"

Luna closed the coin and handed it back. Elizabeth took it and opened the coin herself, clearly entertained.

"Just so you know, your friend was not lying when she said the coin would help you when you are in danger. But you need to be much older for it to work." Luna lied in the last part.

Just then, the door of the carriage opened and a service automaton was outside delivering their dinner and even a pack of cards. They both enjoyed their meal of roasted duck, and afterwards they played cards on the floor. It wasn’t long until Elizabeth had fallen asleep, and Luna placed her on the couch. She removed her long coat and tucked the child in it to shield her from the cold. With the night still young, she turned the lights off, and then headed out of their compartment to go get a drink.

As she walked through the train, she tried to piece together what Elizabeth told her.

Shadows retiring are not uncommon. Most use the status to boost their reputation and then set off to start security companies or take cushy jobs as bodyguards for rich families. So it was clear Elizabeth was the daughter of a high ranking aristocrat at the very least, which also somehow explains why her view on magic was so innocent.

Someone with enough money to hire a shadow for private protection can surely conceal a child’s magical abilities from the church. But that does not explain why, out of all the children in the convoy, she was the only one spared. Even if Elizabeth was a mage, it still does not add up. And the enforcers clearly betrayed Ketil, but the reason why has her baffled.

Though not heading straight to the enforcers in Yeten was the right decision in her mind. Luna was not sure if she could trust them after what happened to Ketil, and she had to wait until they reached Llomeryn to report the convoy massacre. Luna did not want to question Elizabeth right away, but she needed to do it soon to get an idea of what was going on. Something about all of this makes her suspect there is more to this child.

Luna arrived at the dining carriage, which was still filled with people. She chose a seat near the door, and an automaton bartender took her order.

Half a bottle of whiskey and a whole bottle of wine later, and she started to feel dizzy. To adjust herself, she decided to watch the people in the carriage. The crowd was pretty calm; families that enjoyed a late dinner, couples sharing a romantic date over the candlelight, there were some individuals who wore cloaks that kept to themselves, and a group of teenagers played a children’s card game near her seat.

They were playing crazy eights, and one of them, the youngest boy in the group, kept losing. As she watched them, Luna could tell that he was losing because he couldn’t maintain his facial expressions. She was bored and needed something to do, so she decided to eavesdrop.

"-I’m heading straight for the casino when we get there." One of them said.

"You can’t even win against us, and already you want to head for the floating oasis?"

"Hell yeah! I’m finally of age to apply for a hunter associate position." His friends just mumbled and shook their heads. "Hey, I’m serious! I’m shadow material! Just you wait, in a couple of years I will be drowning in credits and tail."

"So you think just because you beat up Mitchel’s gang, you think that makes you worthy of being a bounty hunter? They will just kick you out of there. Besides, the bounty hunters are has-beens. They are just over glorified mercenaries. If you really want to bring in the credits, be a member of the syndicate, the huntsmen, or the reavers. "

"No way man, no one can beat shadows. They are the apex bounty hunters. The best of the best. My uncle told me that to challenge them or their guild head-on is a guaranteed death sentence." Luna snorted as his friends laughed at him. She continued to drink straight from the bottle’s lips. Her head spun so much that she rested her head on the counter.

Over glorified mercenaries, a perfect description of my life.

"He's right, you know." Luna's vision blurred, but she recognized the woman sitting next to her. "He’s smart... but he’s a lousy gambler."

It was a young woman with dark brown hair, fair skin, and blue eyes behind thick round glasses. She wore a dark blue open cloak on top of a pristine polished steel cuirass and finely crafted shoulder armor. She even had matching bracers that shone even in the dimly lit carriage. Even her heavy boots were capped with steel points.

"Amelia." Luna said as she cursed herself for why she did not notice the blue color of the cloaks some of the people in the room wore. "I did not recognize you without commander manslayer's leash around your neck. Fancy a drink?"

"No. I’d rather put you under arrest." A towering male ork with bright red hair and stone grey skin, that wore the same armor as Amelia, sat beside Luna as well. She had already lost all of her escape routes.

"You sentinel’s really put work ahead of pleasure, don’t you?"

The other sentinels in the carriage did not move but clearly watched them. She still had a small pouch of flash powder in her pockets, but the ork watched her intently.

"Whatever you are thinking, don’t bother." Amelia said, as if she had read her mind. "We have you surrounded."

The other sentinels started to stand and approach them. Before Amelia and the ork could grab her, Luna leapt forward towards the table and grabbed the lit candle. The teenagers were shocked, stood up, and blocked the view. Amelia reacted quickly and reached for her pistol. She shoved them aside and aimed straight at Luna, but it was too late.

A blinding light with a loud bang covered the room.

Everyone in the room cried out in pain while Luna leapt from the table, knocked down Amelia, and bolted towards the door. The ork, one step ahead, had shielded his eyes and recovered quicker than the others.

As Luna attempted to lock the door behind her, the ork rammed the door with all his might and broke through, causing the door to fall on top of her. He used his entire weight to pin her underneath, but Luna used more strength and managed to lift the door with him on top, and once she had room, she used her legs to kick both off. Luna tried to run, but her foot was grabbed by the ork with a firm grip.

"Get off!"

With her other foot, Luna aimed to kick the sentinel in the face. But he blocked it and locked her legs, preventing her from escaping.

He pinned Luna’s lower body as he unleashed punches, which she blocked by putting her arms up. Using the momentum, Luna copied the ork; she caught one of his hands, twisted it, and used it to turn their positions over, with Luna now on top and aiming her punches toward his face.

The sentinel used his knee to strike at Luna’s stomach. The force and the metal armor landed a solid hit, which caused her to gag.

Luna leapt forward and escaped another knee shot, well out of the ork’s striking distance. She got to her feet and dashed to the other side of the carriage, with him right behind her. Luna knew that the carriages ahead were empty except for hers, which was at the very front. Desperate, she got her shadow’s mark and bit the skin on her hand until she punctured it and blood spurted out. Luna slid open the coin and smeared her blood all over the rubies, which made them begin to glow brightly.

Because the sentinel was right behind her, Luna threw the coin at the ground as the coin shone brighter and brighter.

The ork saw the light and stopped. He panicked and quickly retreated back to the other carriage behind him, while Luna made it to the other side and entered their carriage as she slammed the door behind her.

The coin shone immensely bright and it detonated. The loud explosion was powerful enough to tear the middle carriage apart and cause the entire carriage to separate into two halves.

As she reeled from the blow to her stomach, Luna opened the door to see what had happened and found that the other half of the train had slowed down, While their carriage and the engine were the only ones that continued down the tracks. Luna stood at the edge as she held her stomach and watched the other half of the train slowly vanish into the distance.

"Luna?! Luna?!"

Of course, it woke up the child. Perfect. Just perfect.