“Me and my friends want to leave the city while the guards are looking for us. You and your sisters are trying to hide from the guards who will sell you to the slave traders, right? Would you like to cooperate and run away together?” Nick asked while looking deeply in to the boy’s eyes, “I will make sure you will have enough money till you grow up and find a real job to support the two of them.”

Boy looked back and tried to see through this young man. Nick never treated children differently than grownups and, just like with Zia back in the day, he soon earned this boy’s respect as well. But the subject was risky, even dangerous for both of them and he was betting on the fact that even if he had some options, the boy definitely felt that he had no real outs to escape the slavery.

“How can I be certain you won’t sell us to the slave traders when you are safe?” Boy asked a logical question.

“Take this as guarantee.” Nick stealthily put a shining gem from king Black’s collection in the boy’s small palm, “It is worth more than any house you can see around us. You can hide it anywhere you want and it will guarantee you I will keep my word. After our deal is done, you will tell me where you hid it and I’ll pick it up later.”

Obviously all of that was nonsense. First of all, Nick had no idea about the value of the gem and, second, didn’t intend to ever pick it up. But the boy didn’t know any of it, but could feel it was a precious thing.

“Fine, I’ll help you. But you will pay me gold and I want your magic ring as well!” Boy stated his terms. He obviously had heard stories somewhere about meteorite rings and judging by the amount of supplies Nick purchased, was confident he had one.

Nick almost choked, but managed to keep his serious composure.

“You can sell me out to the guards in that case as well. Not going to happen.” He haggled, “Best thing I can do is to give you share of our loot and it is a lot of gold, but you will not get any items.”

“Deal.” After thinking for a bit, boy agreed. They both didn’t specify any amount and only used the term ‘a lot’, but it felt like none of them noticed this nuance and were satisfied with the deal.

“Good. In addition, I will provide your sisters with a good medicine if the three of you act and behave well.”

This was the last thing boy needed to hear. He already witnessed the effects of the medicine Nick gave earlier and if he really got some fat loot, his sister definitely could be cured. May be he trusted this older ‘college’ of his on instinctual level, but the deal was made.

Nick quietly explained their plan and first thing they had to do was to pick up boy’s sisters. Since they had now a long term partnership, they introduced themselves properly.

Boy’s name was Ali, the older sister was named Alu and the baby girl was Ala. When Nick heard these names, he looked back at the kid with a weird expression, but suddenly understood the reasons.

“Did you give them their names?” He asked and the boy nodded with a smile. Obviously he liked those names.

Turns out approximately half a year ago his parents were killed in a dispute with the city guards while he watched hidden in a closet. After crying for couple of nights, he finally got out and started to hide on the streets while stealing to survive.

Month ago he found the two other kids and hid them between boxes while the anxious guards were running around the streets looking for them. He didn’t know their background or names, so gave similar ones to his own. Normally he had a relatively easy time providing food for himself, but the little one turned out to be a picky eater and the eldest sister soon started coughing. Thus, without any real ways to help them, he continued his trade in hope of some miracle.

And currently that miracle was wrapping up the smaller sister in a clean piece of cloth and helped the older sister change her clothes as well. Turns out, that while shopping in the market, he bought quite a bit of children’s wear while planning for this. Ali got now clothes and shoes as well and, after half an hour of struggling, they sat in the wagon once again proceeding towards the inn others were resting at.

The three kids were left outside with Ali taking care of the mules while Nick quickly entered the tavern to show up in Clayton’s room.

“Code red.” Nick whispered right after entering.

Clayton instantly jumped up and drew his sword.

“Not that red. You have a minute to pack up. Then wear these things.” Nick dropped few pieces of closing and helped to pack up Clayton’s stuff.

Three minutes later they were at the wagon.

“These three are our new family members, Ali introduce yourselves while you wait. I will need at least an hour to prepare the others, so you just wait here. We have to leave before the sunset.” Nick quietly said and left Ali and Clayton staring at each other in confusion.

From Nick’s earlier superficial explanation Clayton knew the general idea of this plan, but there were only so many things a person can tell in few minutes. Nick himself wasn’t exactly clear how they will handle it, but trusted Clayton to manage the current situation properly.

A moment later he knocked on another door and, after almost three months, saw the real faces of the girls. They wanted to say something, but he just interrupted with the same ‘code red’ and called Steven over as well. This bunch was different from Clayton and needed a proper briefing, thus within next five minutes he explained the situation and his plan as well.

Then he approached Kate and mercilessly started to manage her looks.

When hour and a half later Nick finished Steven’s make up, in the middle of the room was a big stack of clothing and the girls were standing around it, still in daze.

“Why do I have to be his wife?” Kate grumbled obviously upset.

“Blame the nature.” Nick pointed at her chest, “And stop the nonsense! Tomorrow we can rearrange things, but this has to do for now. Steven, continue. YunYun, shave me … sigh … again.”

Everyone was already prepared and Nick was left as the last one. Unfortunately for his role he had to wear a wig and therefore – shave his head once again.

While YunYun carefully played the role of a barber, Steven continued to chant the mantra in Nestri dialect he had been repeating for over an hour.

“We just went to see the doctor, our child is sick. We need to hurry to get home before dark.”

While Nick was fluent in Nestri dialect already back in Paradise city, others could only more or less freely communicate, but as soon as they began to speak longer sentences, a cautious listener would notice the difference. Thus Nick made Steven practice same two sentences over and over again so he could fluently say something to the guards at the gate if the situation required.

When Nick’s head was all shiny, YunYun sat on his spot passing on the dagger and expecting him to shave her head as well.

“No need. This time your hair can stay as it is, in fact, I look forward to the time when they grow few centimeters more. I think you will look even more beautiful than before.” Nick smiled at her.

During their travel her hair has grown almost eight centimeters and Nick felt that only ten, may be fifteen more were needed for her perfect look. Not only it would be more practical than over one meter long hair she had before, she would look much cuter as well.

As for the last preparations, Nick took out a wig with long gray hair and glued it to his head – he was not willing to a take risk of it falling off at a crucial moment. Then he wore an old gray dress and used some herb to make his teeth look rotten.

After checking everything one more time, they left the inn one after another to not draw any unnecessary attention.

Even if the girls knew Nick ‘hired’ few children, their hearts clenched when they saw the pitiful ones in the wagon who Clayton was trying to take care of. They almost teared up only to start laughing awkwardly when they saw the small baby in Clayton’s arms. The strong and manly Evans family’s sailor didn’t know where to put his hands or how to move his fingers properly being afraid of hurting the tiny soul.

A skinny elderly woman approached Ali and to his shock said in Nick’s voice, “Alright, we will go in two groups. Let the poor couple take your two sisters. This big fellow will be your father and that middle aged woman,” he pointed at Kate in disguise, “will be your mother. We will follow your sisters and they will remain in your view so you don’t need to worry. Alright, we are out of time, let’s … oh, wait!”

Nick took out a dirty piece of cloth that terribly stank from urine and passed it to Steven.

“Carry this and wrap it around her when we near the gates. Alright, take your new children and let’s go.”

Steven and Conny, dressed in poor and somewhat dirty clothes took the both children in their hands and proceeded towards the north. There was nowhere to run towards the east, therefore they simply couldn’t take the eastern gates which were close by and the long road along the coast towards the north was their only option.

The procession in the wagon followed the two poor ‘parents’ who did their best to look ugly and pitiful. Steven even walked with bare feet and Conny’s footwear wasn’t much as well. Nick whispered his last instructions and then put Ali on one of the mules and sat himself on the other while Kate awkwardly tried to play Clayton’s wife.

Their other two ‘kids’ sat at the back of the wagon curiously looking around at the ‘sights of the big city’. They sat for a while, then walked along the wagon while listening to the ‘granny’s’ nagging and then sat back in again.

Every single one of them, including Ali, would love to enjoy this theater under different circumstances, but they had to get out of the city first.

It was quite a long way to the northern gates and it was almost dusk when they arrived. Quite a long queue was formed out of people and carriages waiting to leave the city and most were complaining about the unusual inconvenience. Still, the queue was moving surprisingly fast and soon Nick could see the city guards checking the contents of the carriages and even faces of the travelers – both those who came in and were leaving the city. Two sternly looking men in expensive armor supervised this process on each side not letting any face slip by.

When it was Steven’s and Conny’s turn to pass thought the gates, annoyed and tired guard barked at them, “What the hell you two beggars were looking for in my city?”

“Sorry, we just went to see the doctor, our child is sick.” Steven replied in quiet and anxious voice.

But when the guard came closer to take a look at them, he grimaced in disgust when smelling the stench coming from them and kicked Steven to the ground, “Get away from here before I turn you into slaves!”

The girl in Steven’s hands started to cry despite her ‘father’ taking the damage from hit as well from the fall and her little sister joined as well. The four beggars were quickly chased away under the gazes of surrounding people. Many laughed, while others shook their heads and made few remarks in disgust.