Chapter 10.

*My mother had been planning the outing the entire week. Her, my aunt, and I were all to go to the Harvest Festival. It came to town once a year and apothecaries, such as my aunt, could collect exotic, therapeutic herbs, while women like my mother could purchase fresh produce. Eldrazi and I were there for the flavored honey sticks. I excitedly tugged my mother's hand down stall after stall, keeping a sharp eye out for the old bee man. I found the stand and ran towards it, breaking my mother's grip. I could already taste the green apple, both sweet and sour, on my tongue. I remember only being able to reach the top of the counter, the bee man only able to see a tuft of my yellow hair over the wooden edge.

"We'll take two green apple sticks please," my mother laughed, out of breath.

"With pleasure. That'll be five ether."

It was when I was handed the sticky straw that my skin began to cover with gooseflesh, like it always did before I transformed. Except that I didn't want to. Not then, not there.

I violently grasped my mother's skirt, yanking it again and again. "We have to go! I have to go! Right now!" Even if my five-year-old self had a better vocabulary, the people around us would not have allowed me to explain any more.

"A-all right then," my mother stammered, no doubt thinking that I had to go to the bathroom as she led me to the nearest building. I was rubbing my arms frantically, trying to rid myself of the prickly feeling they held. Knowing I would not be able to hold off any longer, I sped up my pace and pushed past my mother, into the bathroom where she followed me. She had just locked the door, when I lost it and transformed, right there, the honey stick still held tightly in hand.

"Oh." Her lip dropped to form the word.

"{I'm sorry Mommy, I couldn't hold it}."*

⛤

Aeiln sat down next to Gavin, watching his aunt go before looking at him, concern shining in her violet eyes.

"I'm sorry," he whispered. He knew it wasn't much, considering everything that had just occurred, but what else was he supposed to say? It wasn't like she was going to believe anything he said after that.

"It's fine," she shrugged, scratching her neck casually, but he knew it was fake. He could sense that deep down, she was troubled. The war had taken so many of her family and friends, and she couldn't be sure if the person to blame was right next to her. She could take out her anger, get revenge, anything, and more than anything, Gavin wanted her to. *Say it's my fault. It's all my fault. By the Angels just use your magik and end it already!* But she didn't, because in the end, it would just be another lost friend. Another body to drop onto the pile. He wasn't worth it, and he knew it, which was what bothered her the most.

"I... I'm really sorry you had to see that." Aeiln made no response.

"As you can probably guess," Gavin continued, "I'm not very well liked around here. Sort of the scapegoat for everything that goes wrong, even the little things, and can you really blame them? If it wasn't for me, maybe hundreds of people could have lived. Maybe people you knew and loved. If I had died at birth, like I was supposed to..." He paused for a moment, looking into her face with tears streaming down his face and a pained smile on his lips. "I messed up Aeiln. But it's in the past, right? I mean, I can't do anything about it now," he finished, pulling his, no, his mother's throwing knife out of his belt and holding it by the ends, twisting it in his hands until a bead of blood formed on his right index finger. He just stared blankly as it ran down the side of his hand, leaving a red-stained path in its wake.

"Stop Gavin, I..."

"You what? You hate me, right? It makes sense, so don't lie. This whole war is my fault."

"No. I'm sure that's wrong. You wouldn't..."

Hearing voices in the distance, Aeiln cut herself off. She quickly wrenched the knife out his hands and grabbed Gavin, putting her hand over his mouth despite his struggle. She winced a little as she knew that she was about to hurt him slightly, but she didn't have a choice as she teleported them onto a tree branch overlooking the forest clearing they had been in not even a second ago.

The moment she let go, he keeled over on the branch, putting his own hand over his mouth, coughing over and over. Pulling it away, Aeiln could see the red stains, but he wiped it on his pants before she could mention it.

"I am going to kill your aunt!" She whispered, cursing under her breath before putting a finger to his lips, although he hadn't made a sound. "They're here."

"Don't kill her," he whispered back fiercely. "She is the only family I have left. Do that and I quit this mission." Even so, he leaned out of the tree to get a better view. There she was, leading five other Inquisitors behind her, dressed in their typical long white robes with the green emblem of the human empire emblazoned on the back.

"He was right here," she was in the middle of telling them. "He was biting this poor girl on the neck. He was trying to poison her and eat her! I swear, if it wasn't for me, he would have killed her."

*{Ah yes, I eat people now, didn't you hear? Because it's not like there are hundreds of healthier, less fattening and tastier foods out there. What would that be anyway?}* Eldrazi thought for a moment. *{Half-cannibalism?}*

"Besides," Gavin went on, ignoring Eldrazi's ramblings. "If you kill her, that will reveal our positions and truly prove how dangerous we are. Prove why the Inquisitors should eliminate people like us. It doesn't help anyone."

"Fine then! I won't." She stopped and stared at one of the Inquisitors for a minute, but they were so far away that it was hard to make out details. "We have to leave here, before I do something to knock every one of them out." She held out her hand, waiting.

"Fine by me," he replied in a complete monotone as he took her hand and was immediately in the room they had rented out only a short while ago, although it felt like days to him. Gavin just went to bed, pulling the sheets over his body and laying there, unmoving, while Aeiln began to pace the room.

She finally sat down on the edge of the bed with a creak. "I knew it," she said to herself, her head resting on her hands, which in turn rested on her knees. They were silent for a moment.

"What?" he inquired, unable to stand it any longer.

"He is one of them," Aeiln replied, only half-focused on the conversation.

He sighed. Time to play this game again. "Who is what?"

"Oh, you never met him, but my brother is one of the Inquisitors we just saw."

"Do you have any good siblings?" Gavin sarcastically commented.

*{Oh, like your family is so much better.}*

*No one asked for your input,* Gavin retorted, but at least Aeiln laughed.

"Yes, I do. The one who is an Inquisitor is amazing." She smiled to herself.

"You know, sometimes you make no sense," he shook his head. How could any Inquisitor be amazing? The only one who would have been would have been his own brother, but that would never happen now. "Anyways, do you have a plan for how we're going to get the Relic now with them knowing we’re here? Not that I want to rush into it..." *But at least it will take my mind off of this for now.*

"Nope, not in the least," she admitted. "You said my way wouldn't work, so I guess I'll leave it to you."

He tried to remember his own plan, but his thoughts were too scattered. Too frantic. It wasn't even all that different than before. "Right... and when are we planning on going?"

"Let's do tomorrow," She suggested, laying down on the bed. "Doesn't seem like you're in the right mindset to do it now." She took a dagger and began to flip it up into the air, catching it repeatedly. A closer look informed him that it was his own.

"Hey! That's my knife! When did you get it?" he yelled, running over and snatching it out of her hand. "Don't touch them. Ever." But no sooner did the words leave his mouth then she had his other one. "What's the matter with you? You're acting weird."

*{And to her, so are you.}*

Gavin had no answer for that, and watched as Aeiln just shrugged and continued to toss his prized possession in the air.

"Fine! Don't answer me." He flopped backwards on the bed, staring at the plain baize ceiling. It bothered him how carelessly she handled them, but then again, he had never told her that they were the only things he had from his mother.

"...I'm sorry for grabbing your aunt like that. I saw how much her words hurt you, and it bothered me how you just stood there and took them to heart. And I'm sorry you had to see me like that. You're doing so much to help me, and maybe you're right. Maybe you have had it worse than me. But... maybe we should stop comparing ourselves so much. After all, it doesn't matter if we both have the same goal, right?"

Gavin was utterly shocked. He didn't expect her to apologize for her past. If anything, maybe he had stepped out of line. Of course, he already knew how much she regretted her actions, but he had expected her to bottle them up. Now he felt twice as guilty for speaking to her the way he had before. With no response for her second apology, he decided to focus on the first.

"I know why you did it, but trust me, it doesn't do anything except make it worse. You of all people should understand. When you live your entire life getting called names, saying that everything's your fault, that you should be dead... You kind of get numb to it. Numb to everything, even your own pain and thoughts." *Which is why I shouldn't be acting like this right now. Last week, I don’t think this would have affected me at all. Eldrazi, why is everything so confusing now... why do I feel like this?* Ever since he had met Aeiln, he noticed he had begun to feel more emotions than he had in the past four years, but now they only seemed to be negative ones. Happiness was a lie, while pain and sorrow were fully fleshed out. *It makes no sense.*

Eldrazi gave no reply, which was strange of him.

"Yeah, my brother and I understand the name calling at least."

"The Inquisitor?" It was so weird to finally have someone to talk to, who knew what it felt like and was willing to sit there and share past experiences with him, but he couldn't deny how comforting it was.

*{So this is a friend… }*

He had never had one. Since he hadn't been allowed to leave the house much in his younger years, and had felt awkward trying to socialize at the age of nine, when everyone else had already formed their own little niches. But he had watched others. Watched people play games together, whisper secrets and laugh at jokes. Sometimes even more than that, but he had never been allowed to do the same, and he realized that for the longest times, he had simply accepted the fact that he never would. *Maybe that's not the only thing that can change.*

"He's my twin brother, Alasdair," Aeiln answered, pulling him back to the conversation. "The one we just saw. With the really dark hair?"

He must have missed him, or been completely ignorant because he didn't recall seeing anyone like Aeiln in the group. "Is he also a..." he gestured at her, because there really was no simple, one word term for it.

"He is exactly like me, except a boy."

"Then how is he allowed in the Inquisitors?" he yelled in surprise, bolting up into a sitting position on the bed. "How have they not killed him already?"

"They haven't found out. He's been a spy there for a couple years, trying to keep them off my trail."

"Lucky bastard..." Gavin muttered under his breath. "So then why do you seem so upset to see him? You owe him your life."

"I love him because he's my twin. I hate him because he is sacrificing his life for me."

"Why would you hate someone for that? That is the greatest gift you can ever receive. You should be grateful! Without him, where would you be?" He was in utter shock. Surely he was missing something.

"Gavin, he is three minutes younger than me. I wanted to be the one to save him. Not the other way around."

"...Then why didn't you?" It was weird to think. If there was a chance that she could have been an Inquisitor, how different would their lives be? He never would have met her, and if they had, she would have killed him on the spot, or he might have killed her if she had been forced to hide her powers. They wouldn't be trying to steal the Relics, and definitely not friends, but Gavin couldn't help but wonder if she would have rather chosen her life to be that way.

"I didn't because he ran off to join them in the middle of the night. I haven't seen him since, until now. It's just been letters in the mail at best," she murmured softly, half of the conversations being spoken to the blanket.

"I guess it wasn't the best time for a family reunion. Sorry." Maybe if he wasn't there, she could have talked to him again. Why was the world so set on him not existing? It wasn't like he had had a choice in that. "I wish you could've met him."

"It's not your fault. It's mine." Aeiln stood up from the bed, making her way to the door. "I-I'll go and get us dinner," she excused herself before exiting the room.

"Oh! Make sure there's no..." But she had already left before he could utter tomatoes. With her gone, he grabbed his other knife off of Aeiln's bed, tucking it away in his belt before she came back.

"Here," she said, shutting the door softly behind her and handing him the food. As he did, he noticed his belt felt significantly lighter, and he didn't have to look down to know she had taken his belongings once again.

"Come on Aeiln. Give it here," he sighed.

"Catch."

He put up his hand and gracefully snatched it out of the air, staring at it in his palm for a second and smiled, when Aeiln's skin suddenly paled over, and he knew he couldn't have been because of his trick.

"What's the matter? Aeiln... Aeiln?" Climbing over the obnoxious floorboards, he sat next to her, touching her hand lightly. It was clammy.

"Do me a favor and don't talk at all," she instructed as the door, although locked, was slammed open, then closed, leaving a hooded figure standing in its frame.

*Yeah, like I am going to sit back and do nothing while you handle the Inquisitors.* Still, he kept quiet when the tall boy stepped towards them.

"Aeiln... What are you doing here?" the figure asked, pulling back his hood to reveal short brown hair and matching purple eyes.

"Don’t even think about hurting him!" Her words were harsh but it sounded strained.

“Hurt whom?” he heard the boy reply. Aeiln turned to look at Gavin, but he hadn’t moved anywhere to hide.

“The short one, right there?”Aeiln prompted awkwardly, and Gavin couldn’t help but be miffed that out of all the ways she could have described him, his height was the first brought into mention.

“Exactly. Who are you talking about?” And Gavin could feel a smile in his heart. “As far as I’m concerned, I’ve stepped away from my duties for a while to speak to an old friend of mine.”

“Oh Alasdair! I thought-” but she cut herself off and ran up and hugged him, tears raining from her eyes.

Pulling away from Aeiln, the boy, which he now knew to be Alasdair, came towards him, offering his hand, which Gavin warily took. As an Inquisitor, this guy could know everything about him, and even if he was a spy, there was a huge price for his dead body, and he couldn't completely trust him. It was more than enough money for him to safely live on some personal island off of Malin alone with Aeiln for the rest of their days. Hopefully, if he mostly kept to himself, he wouldn't be recognized at all. Then again, he had met his aunt in the past hour... Shoot! He bit his lip with one fang poking out slightly, as he often did when he messed up. Why hadn't he thought of that?

"Don't worry, I'm not going to turn you in, Gavin Myres. I'm Alasdair" he elaborated. *Why did he use my whole name?* If anything, it made him more uncomfortable than he had been before.

Letting go of his hand, Gavin immediately drew it back to his side. Alasdair smiled kindly at him, looking nice enough, but still…

*He knows. They could track him, and find me. Maybe it wouldn't be his fault, but I'd still pay the price.*

Alasdair turned to face Aeiln. "While I find the two of you to be a great pair, he shouldn't be here either. Why did you come to the Durne of all places? And however did you meet?"

Aeiln sighed and began to catch him up to date, and Gavin returned to his food. He hadn't eaten yet, and while it was great that Aeiln could see her brother, it didn't really include him. He felt more out of place then he usually did, and kept quiet, which was a simple enough task for him. Around an hour passed, before Alasdair snuck a glance out the window to take note of the time.

"I have to leave, before the rest of Them get too curious about my whereabouts," he said, hugging his sister once again. "I hope to see you around Aeiln. And Gavin, for both our sakes, I hope we never meet again, no offence."

"None taken." And with that, he was gone, and Gavin had the feeling that Alasdair wasn't the kind of person to drag things out, especially goodbyes, for fear of someone seeing just how much it hurt him. Instead, he would prefer to appear composed and aloof. Gavin counted out ten seconds after the door closed and his footsteps had faded before asking a simple, "Are you all right?" He knew that she had been waiting for this moment a long time, but he could sense that something was up. He only resorted to asking because her emotions were too tangled together for him to make sense of them anymore. Then again, she was a teenage girl, whether she accepted the fact or not.

"Yeah, it was nice to see him again," she smiled sadly.

"Must be nice," he agreed, stuffing the last piece of bread in his mouth.

"To have a twin. Not at all."

"To have a sibling I meant. And why? There was nothing wrong with him."

"Well for one, I forgot how annoying it is to have to hear him in my head," she laughed.

"Wait, you can talk to him telepathically? I thought that you two hadn't spoken in years?"

"Well, he does have the same magik that I do. But no, there is a range, so we still haven't spoken, but when he was in range... Gods. He never stops thinking."

"Sounds nice," Gavin responded, seeming like he was blowing her off, but really he was slightly jealous.

*{Oh? And why is that? Eldrazi perked up from deep inside of himself. Is it because of her loving family? Her siblings that would sacrifice anything to save her? The ability to do ridiculously powerful magik? Come now, you can't lie to yourself.}*

*All of it! She even lives in a giant house for Vesper's sake!*

*{Ah yes. The same point you were so keen on making before. Now think about it. Everything in life comes at a price. What did she have to pay to get what she has now? Years of imprisonment? The weight of hundreds of lives on her shoulders having been in the Wars? Fate hasn't exactly handled you gently, Gavin, but different amounts of Luck wield different prices. If you can't appreciate what you have now, then work on getting those Relics faster.}*

Gavin, once again, was left with no quick-witted repose. He knew he could never argue back with Eldrazi. How do hide your own Human flaws against someone who knows you better than yourself?

Aeiln's voice broke through his shock, reminding him that reality still existed. "Goodnight Gavin."

Her words made him also look out the window, and he was surprised to find the sun already down. Had the day really gone by that fast? As Aeiln headed to bed, he noted that this was the first time that they were sleeping together. Sure, they had been in that other tavern before, but it had been different rooms then, and these beds were closely placed together. "Hey Aeiln?" he called across the room, to which he got a small hum in reply. "If you hear me make any weird noises or talking to myself, don't worry about it." That being said, he laid down on his side to make room for the bulk of his tail, facing the wall, and pulled the sheets over his head.

Perhaps it was because she thought he wasn't paying attention, or because she simply found it funny, but Aeiln, for reasons unknown, threw a knife at him. It didn't smell like his own, so he guessed that she must have summoned it from someplace or another. He reached his arm up, not even bothering to look as he caught it betwixt his middle and index finger. "Your aim is horrible and your technique is sloppy." He sat up and looked at her, smiling. "But these are very good daggers, so they make up for the fact. Keep practicing and maybe one day you'll hit me. Now let me sleep."

"I don't do much with knives and Rowan wasn't exactly the best teacher for anything outside of magik. Now give me my dagger back!"

"Oh really? Is this important to you? I wouldn't know what that feels like," he only half-joked, tossing it casually. It whipped past Aeiln's ear and landed solidly in the wall behind her, right where there lay a small knot in the wood. "I've been doing this since I was seven. I can teach you if you want, but not right now."

"I might take you up on that. And thanks." She gingerly took it from the wall, the wood emitting a small crack as it released its mighty grip on the metal.

"Anytime," he mumbled before passing out.

⛤

There was a small thud as the aforementioned knife landed deep into the wall by Aeiln's bedside. Then came two more in quick succession. Gavin smiled. If she thought throwing a knife at him whilst he was sleeping was amusing, then surely she would appreciate this. Holding his thinly sliced ear, he admired his handiwork. Aeiln's sleeve was pinned to the wall with her knife, and his own two were holding her hair vertically in the same fashion. Not that he had thrown it with enough force to cut it, he wasn't that cruel, but it was sure to make a Hell of a scene for her when she tried to sit up.

*{Now for the fun part!}* They both laughed. Putting on his most serious face, he ran over and violently shook Aeiln awake.

"{Quick! Quick!}" he cried, not even breaking a smile to prove his words false. "{They found us. We have to go now!}" He saw her eyes widen in fear, and he tried not to smile. *One... Two... Three…*

She went to bolt up and was yanked back, with her screaming in pain.

"You imp! That hurt like hell!" She held her head as she began to remove the knives from her hair and sleeves. "That's it. These are mine now."

"No! Please don't! Those are really important, and if they get damaged..." he trailed off. I wouldn't be able to live with myself.

"Well then don't throw them at me." All the same, he was handed them back.

"Could ask the same to you," he smirked as they left down the stairs. The bartender was a mite disgruntled to be serving them at this hour, but did it anyway, allowing them to eat in a quiet room. They were about to sit down, when Aeiln perked up suddenly.

"Gavin, go eat. My brother is back again for some reason. I'll be with you in a few minutes.

"All right, but don't you dare leave without me, okay?" He waited until she had left, then began to silently follow her. Her brother should not be back. His return meant anything but good news, and this time, he was determined not to be left out.