Mika gave a one-shouldered shrug as if to say suit yourself before turning and leaving. Kalys looked to his dressing table, where he'd already removed his earring and his coat. He decided to leave them where they were, pulling on a more nondescript black coat instead and being sure to take his sword. He wasn't sure where Sun was going or who she might be going to see. It might be better to try blending, but he would be prepared for danger as well.
He tied his long, dark hair into a ponytail and set off to track her down. Mika hadn't mentioned how much of a head start Sun had had, but it likely wouldn't matter too much.
Outside the manor, he stood there a moment, closing his eyes while he tried to locate her auric signature. It didn't take long; he could feel it flaring. She was using it to travel quickly. With all the practice she had been getting in, she really had improved. But she was so easy to track when she used it. Ideally she should learn to mask it, but teaching her to do so would mean she'd be able to mask it from him. And if she was going to be sneaking out in the late hours regularly, he would prefer to have a way to track her down when the need arose.
Before setting off, he decided he would follow her first and find out what she was doing. He could have easily caught up with her, but he kept his distance. He realised she was heading towards the slums. A trip down memory lane perhaps?
With their abilities, it took less than an hour to cross the city and get to the slums. He caught up with her, keeping far behind her. It was easy for him to see her as she darted from rooftop to rooftop on light feet. She really had come a long way since he first met her. She had also dressed down, perhaps her own attempt to blend. When they hit the slums, though, the streets were still bustling with people. Drunks, deviants, thieves, and whores. They were fornicating in the streets like animals. The stench of vomit, alcohol, faeces, and death wafted up to where he stood.
His sister had lived here...
He knew about this place, obviously, but what he knew had only been words. Standing here now—the odours, seeing the way these people lived—it was so much more foul than he'd imagined. What he'd heard hardly compared to the reality of it.
He felt as if he needed a bath just standing here.
Why would Sun ever come back here?
His eyes sought her out again; she was down below, walking down the street. There was a vigilance about her he'd not seen from her before. He followed along on the rooftops to make sure she remained safe. She drew notice; how could she not? Like him, she had forgone the earring that would have marked her station. But she carried herself differently from the rest of them. It was easy to see she no longer belonged here, if she ever had. She was drawing attention, and Kalys's hand went to his sword, ready to intervene if need be.
A gaggle of children suddenly flocked to her, dirty and dressed in rags. A couple of them tried to distract her while another tried to pick her pocket. Sun was quick, though, grabbing the kid's hand and twisting him round to face her. Kalys couldn't hear from where he was, but she and the kid exchanged a few words before Sun pulled out her coin purse and set it in the boy's hand.
A few more words were exchanged before the kids went on their way, scurrying off into the shadows like rats.
Sun continued on her way, stopping and exchanging a few words with a whore standing at the entrance to a brothel. Whatever they were discussing didn't look like anything good. The woman was concerned; Sun looked guilty, but eventually their expressions lightened, and when Sun left her, the pair embraced briefly.
She continued on again, getting closer and closer to the edge of the city. Eventually she came to a collapsed building, quickly glancing around. There weren't many people this far out, away from the lights and debauchery of what must have been slum central. She just stood a while, staring at the building, arms folded over her chest. Whatever thoughts she had lost herself in, she shook off, turning away and walking quickly towards the forest.
It was a bit more difficult to discretely follow her, but he was proficient enough in stealth to keep his footsteps silent and keep to the shadows. The smell wasn't so strong out here, and he found himself able to breathe a little deeper.
She didn't go very far into the forest before hitting a clearing. The grass was long and overgrown, but he could make out four small stone cairns in the centre. Sun made her way to them, pulling up the long grass around them. He thought about making himself known so he could help her but decided against it. This was clearly supposed to be a private moment. And he was aware of who she was here to see now.
Much as it pained him to admit, she did have what she called family before him, and they were still important to her.
Once she had cleared the cairns of grass, she sat down in front of them and started speaking. It was practically a whisper, and he could only catch snippets of her words over the breeze and the rustling of leaves. Her voice sounded so small and broken.
She stayed there a long time. He thought once she finished talking, she would get up and return to the estate. Instead, she lay down and went to sleep. Perhaps she was trying to find them on the other side.
After he was sure she had fallen asleep and would be oblivious to his presence, he stepped out into the clearing. Falling asleep in a forest like this was ridiculously stupid and reckless. She was lucky he was here and willing to stand guard for this foolishness.
He took a seat beside her in the grass, resting his sword across his knees as he looked at the stones. There were no plaques or names, and the stones weren't expertly laid. The children had likely done this themselves. At the base of each of them, there was a larger stone with a crudely carved picture in it. An airship, crossed swords, a flower, and a bear.
He looked down at Sun, fast asleep in the grass. She curled up into a ball, though the cold shouldn't have been bothering her too much. Still, he took off his coat and draped it over her before settling in for a long night.
-
When Sun woke up, she was instantly alert, realising she wasn't alone. She stayed still, not wanting to give any signal she was awake. The element of surprise could be important in a fight.
"Sun, I know you're awake."
She recognised her brother's voice, and she sat up, his coat sliding off her. They were both in the grass, the graves of her family still there. How had he found her out here? He was sitting beside her, sword in his lap. He had his hair tied up; she'd never seen that before. Gods, he managed to look even more attractive; she could feel the heat rising to her cheeks and hoped he would conclude the reaction to be embarrassment at finding her here. She shifted so she was sitting cross-legged beside him, her eyes falling on the cairns they'd built for their fallen family members. Each time they'd had to do this, there had been one less of them. It had been hard finding enough rocks in the forest to build them. They'd wanted to carve their names into a stone, but none of them knew how to write or spell. So they'd carved things that reminded them of each one.
"I know they're not here anymore, on this side or the other; I just... I don't know. Hoped I might find them, I guess."
"Who is who?" He asked softly.
She nodded towards the airship. "Ezra. He used to climb to the highest point in the slums and watch the airships come and go. He wanted more than anything to ride one."
Next was the crossed swords. "Ren. He was one of our protectors, he and Zen."
"Ren and Zen?" He asked, a tinge of amusement in his tone.
"Ami found them around the same time. She named them. She named all of us. She's the flower. In the spring and summer she would always come out here and gather flowers for our home to try and make it... nicer. We had this cracked, broken vase she'd found dumped outside of the potter's. She tried so hard to take care of us."
Her eyes fixed on the bear—the stuffed animal kind of bear. "That's Kawana. He was the youngest of us. He had this ratty, ripped, completely filthy stuffed bear. He'd sewn it back together so many times, it was more thread and patches than anything else."
She drew her knees up, curling into herself. He had been clutching that bear as he died. They'd buried it with him.
Gods, she wished she could have found them on the other side, even if it could only be once, just to know they were all right. What good was this ability of hers when she couldn't even do that? Kawana had been so young and so little, and the idea of him being all alone out there left such a bitter despair in her. Being back here and so close to it all again, she had to fight off that all-too-familiar rage. Her fists clenched, and she bit her tongue so hard she could taste blood in an attempt to stop from screaming and crying. Maybe she wasn't as over it as she had believed; it felt like it was bubbling just beneath the surface. Why did it still feel so raw?
She felt a weight on her shoulder and looked up to find her brother's hand there. He wasn't looking at her, still looking at the cairns. She hadn't realised she had been shaking until his touch had stopped it.
"Sorry," she muttered, not quite sure what she was apologising for. Making him uncomfortable, maybe?
"Grief isn't linear," he told her, still in that soft tone she was slowly starting to get used to. "And it never truly leaves us."
"I don't— It's not just—," she struggled with the words, how to explain. "I'm so... angry. They deserved better."
"We cannot change the past," he rose to his feet, offering his hand down. "Come."