With the golden egg in hand and the blood and guts of all of those snakes still dripping and leaving a nasty trail behind him, Augen and Tonya strolled to a set of screens set up around a dark wooden bucket filled with half-dirty water with grains of sediments sunk all the way at the bottom.

The ground underneath their feet crunched like poorly aligned wooden planks, and as Tonya hopped on it briefly, it sounded like a drum with a compartment under them despite the layer of grains covering the planks. A wooden tube rose straight up from the ground before connecting to a pump and a tap over the bucket. This seemed to be a sort of water recycling system. However, whatever the filter didn’t catch just ends up in the bucket once again and sinking to the bottom, waiting to be stirred up and thrown into the cycle once again.

“So…how are we even going to do this…” Tonya murmured, looking around for further separation between her and Augen, but there was nothing. Her long black hair had been completely soaked with a mix of the snakes’ green blood and her own black, and the smell of rotting flesh coming off her had already started to be unbearable.

Then, she looked towards Augen, who had carefully washed the golden egg first before placing it on the ground next to them.

“As a reminder, I actually don’t have my eyes anymore.” Augen joked, taking off his bandanna and washing that next before hanging it right over the body of the golden egg.

“I…know…” Tonya pressed her lips together and blamed herself for thinking too much as she slowly undressed. As the rough fabric slid off her shoulders, it also scraped away the layers of slime. Augen was facing away and splashing water onto his face when Tonya inevitably caught herself glancing at his back.

Despite his thin frame, Augen’s surprisingly well-built, thanks to Fatera’s slightly abusive training routines. However, Tonya couldn’t help but notice the lines of tiny holes along Augen’s arms and legs, though they weren’t bleeding, the wounds were still fresh.

“How badly did you get hurt back there…” Tonya murmured, pooling a splash of water in her palm and washing her face, “I…I am sorry I wasn’t of much help there…”

Everything had become such a blur ever since Augen took over, and she couldn’t remember a thing that happened after he took her hand.

That’s not true.

She remembered one thing, and it was how wide Augen’s shoulders seemed. She bit onto her lips and walked towards him, each of her footsteps rocking the wooden platform they were standing on slightly until she stopped right behind Augen.

He noticed her and stopped when she placed her hand on Augen’s dirty back, “Here, let me help you.”

“You…don’t have to…” Augen said awkwardly when Tonya lightly pressed down on his shoulders and made him sit on the edge of the large bucket. Then, she started to wash away more of the mixed blood on his body, only to reveal even more of the bite marks.

“Yes, I do.” Tonya said, lowering her head as her hair brushed against Augen’s back, “That’s the only thing I am useful for now…”

“There’s nothing you could have done back there.” Augen shook his head and replied quietly, “I don’t think even Fatera could walk out of that situation unscathed…I was only able to because…because of what I do with my abilities…”

“You speak of this Fatera person very highly.” Tonya remarked, working down further Augen’s back when he finally winced at the ones that hadn’t completely halted his bleeding as Tonya washed over that when Augen handed him a burning hot playing card to quickly disinfect that one.

“She’s…strong, free, powerful, and just amazing at everything she wanted to do…” Augen chuckled as Tonya placed the card against that part, and he ground his teeth together to not make any more sounds.

“Sounds like a great person.”

“…She’s brash, rude, inconsiderate, and eccentric too.” Augen finished, and he felt Tonya’s hand halt for just a moment.

“Sounds like a…person.”

“Aren’t we all?” Augen said when Tonya sighed.

“I just wish I will be half as useful as she is…” She said, washing Augen’s green hair, “But so far…I have only caused problems, and the only thing I have is…my crutch, you know. I had to base everything I do on whether I can use it effectively…”

“You will get there.” Augen said, catching onto Tonya’s hand as she moved down his chest, then he turned to face her as her Wave pulsed in front of him, “You are strong in your own way. Don’t get lost in the wave of comparisons. Everyone progresses at different rates, and it’s all about your journey, not that of the others..”

Tonya nodded, though she always had to remind herself that it was not something Augen will notice.

“I do know.” Augen smiled, “When you understood something, I can always tell from your Wave. You appear calmer and more relaxed.”

“That’s a little creepy…” Tonya joked before she moved Augen aside and sat down before guiding Augen’s hand to her own shoulders. He sensed her soft body and wanted to pull away immediately if not for Tonya still holding onto his finger, “I…want you to cut my hair.”

“Are you sure?” Augen asked, kneeling down beside her as he slowly moved his hands around her back to feel for her hairline, “Trusting me to fight is one thing…trusting a blind man to cut hair is another. I don’t want to ruin your look…”

“If you are a clumsy barber, you just have to take responsibility,” Tonya said nonchalantly before her entire Wave rippled once, and she covered her mouth immediately with her face turning bright red.

“I won’t. As in, I wouldn’t mess up.” Augen said, conjuring up an ice blade with his Winter Bark playing card and slicing off the strands of long hair past her neck cleanly. Then, he created an ice mirror in front of Tonya as she watched him work, his hands moving so gently and lightly to the touch that Tonya could barely feel him trimming away the edges.

“You are surprisingly good at this…” Tonya remarked, “You have cut hair for other girls before?”

“Fatera did threaten my life if I didn’t help shave her head.” Augen laughed before he washed away the rogue strands of hair from Tonya’s shoulder and tossed the ice blade onto the ground as it rapidly melted, “Yours, however, is so much easier to handle. How’s this?”

Tonya looked at herself in the mirror, and Augen slowly brushed her hair down to the side into a side bang with the tips of the black strands curling in towards her neck. She smiled and pressed her hands over her chest as her heart pounded. For something done in a screen with a blade of ice, it was absolutely pristine.

“It’s…ok…” Tonya tried to steady her breath, and she felt Augen’s hands dropping behind her.

“Just okay? I am pretty proud of it myself!” Augen threw his hands up in protest when Tonya half turned around and splashed him in the face with a handful of water.

“Maybe with more practice, you will get better!” She launched both hands forward as they got into a brief water battle that cleaned away the rest of the blood and dirt.

By the time Augen and Tonya fully cleaned themselves up at the bucket, the snake feeder had already hung new sets of common clothes on the top of the screens for them. It seemed the rumors of their emergence from the pit of snakes had already spread all throughout camp as the trainees were all murmuring and looking at them as they walked out after getting fully changed.

However, if all of them had passed the test before…it wouldn’t have been surprising at all. Or at least if all of them had passed the test in the same bloody way.

They headed to the tent as soon as possible with Augen still holding onto the golden egg with one hand, and he saw a pair of snakes resting on a couple of poles right outside the main tent of Zmey’s instead of any human guard.

Then, when one well-dressed trader stepped out of the tent, the pair of snakes crisscrossed their paths, catching onto the tent’s curtains with their fangs and holding it open for Augen and Tonya to enter. Augen felt the tension in Tonya’s arms, and he placed a knuckle over her arm and slowly brushed down its side to calm her down.

“You two sure took your time.” Zmey was sitting in the midst of a mountain of documents and books with hot tea and a pot of smoking herbs next to him. The top of the tent was clouded by the trapped smoke, and Augen resisted the urge to cough or turn his bandanna into a facial mask of some sort.

“What’s this egg about?” Augen asked, showing him the golden egg, “A test of strength? An excuse to execute?”

“A test of character. Like I’ve said.” Zmey pushed away the paper and slowly stood up as Tonya went from looking down at him to looking up at him in a single move, “The truth of one’s character’s revealed in the pit of snakes. And yours have.”

“Those fighters out there don’t seem to have gone through the same way that we did.”

He stepped around the table and stopped in front of Augen as both his and his snake’s eyes locked on Augen’s frame, then he hovered his massive hand and palmed the entirety of the egg and picked it up from Augen.

“Nope, they didn’t.” Zmey said, “They were simply the ones that tried to fight before I took them out. You…however, came out the other way and left behind a bit of a mess in your wake.

“Why are you here?” Zmey pressed, turning around and sitting down as he planted the golden egg on the table with a heavy thud, “Answer me honestly, or you will face my wrath for killing my nest of newborns.”

“We are here for the rebels,” Augen said when Zmey turned his eyes to Tonya instead.

“What do you say, girlie?” Zmey tilted his head and leaned forward, “When you grew up on the streets of the Dune’s Diamond, you develop a keen eye for spotting out those who belong here, and those who don’t.”

“And what do you see?” Tonya asked, crossing her arms and staring straight back at Zmey.

“I see a handful of punks who wanted to take advantage of what I’ve built.” Zmey said as the snake coiled up over his head and finally started to move, “I see someone with motives that simply do not match what I have, yet that someone still willingly marched into MY land, hide among MY people, and take on MY tests.”

“That’s right.” Tonya said, “You are right.”

Zmey’s eyebrows raised, surprised by the two’s honesty as he waited for Tonya to continue.

“The dessert’s harsh enough, and the Dune’s Diamond does not make it easier. We have our own pasts, yes, and we are down on our luck, also yes. However, for whatever you planned to do, you need strong people around you. We know that, and we can offer you that.” Tonya said, finally connecting all of the dots as the corner of her lips lifted up slightly.

“I am already surrounded by the strong.” Zmey laughed out loud when Tonya shook her head.

“You haven’t had someone who made it out of the pit our way.” Tonya added when Augen finally understood, “You control the snakes, don’t you? You use the pit of snakes as a tool of interrogation, rather than execution. That’s what you meant by showing one’s true character. However, you have failed, because you have never had anyone as capable as us come through. Perhaps they were never supposed to win, and perhaps they were never supposed to actually get the golden egg.”

Zmey pinched his eyes together, and he leaned forward, “What are you saying, girlie?”

“I am saying you’d better appreciate our value while you can.” Tonya crossed her arms as her Wave swirled within her body, “We need a place to stay, and in exchange, you get our strength. The strength that already far surpassed that of your trainees in some ways.”

With his arms crossed, Zmey thought for a moment before the snake over his head suddenly launched itself forward straight at Tonya. However, Augen instantly reached his hand over, a playing card already in between his fingers as it inched on slicing the snake’s head off before it stopped its attack.

“You certainly got moves, huh.” Zmey chuckled, “Go see Beardy outside. They will sort you out with your tent and your daily tasks.”

“That’s it?” Tonya asked, unfazed from Zmey’s attack, “Any more of your silly tests we should be expecting?”

“No.” Zmey shook his head, “You are right. For what I plan to do next, I need all the strength I can garner, and it seemed that you two will also be a part of that. Welcome to the circus.”