"I'm telling you, officer, our mother is waiting for us on the other side," Cyrdel said in an impatient tone. Nyxis didn't know who the brownie was kidding when he kept insisting they needed to fetch their "mother" from the other side and therefore wouldn't need identification.

"I'm sorry, lad," the brownie at the border scratched the back of his neck. His voice has a tinge of a thick Northern drawl. From Zalgend, then. "Identification, please."

"Excuse me, sir," Nyxis interjected, his Keijula stuttering. "But our mother is in critical agency."

"Emergency," Cyrdel supplied under his breath, correcting Nyxis's apparent misuse of a word. What did he even say in Keijula? Dear lord. Let Nyxis hope this guard wasn't keen.

He was.

"Not that fluent?" the guard jerked his chin in Nyxis's direction. Pale brown eyes bored into Cyrdel's face. What was their cover, again? Ah, sprite brothers. That way, they could pass off the green eyes.

Nyxis shook his head but his mouth blurted, "I am fluent, yes," his limited knowledge of the language was probably showing in his face. How he always has to glance at Cyrdel to make sure he was saying the right thing was enough of a giveaway.

The guard narrowed his eyes; his thin line of a mouth curled into a distasteful frown. "Don't test me, boy," he growled, which to Nyxis sounded like a fresda being grated with his drawl. The fact that the word "test" sounded a lot like "cheese" in Ylanenla distracted him.

"We, uh, really must be going," Cyrdel stepped forward in an attempt to get past the guard. "I'd hate to hold up the line."

"Whoa, there, mister!" the guard surged into Cyrdel's way, pushing the heir backward. Cyrdel tripped on his own leg and landed on his rear against the manicured roads. That elicited at least three gasps from the people waiting in line. Why were these people even attempting to cross borders at this time? It's a mystery to Nyxis.

Cyrdel grunted as Nyxis rushed to his companion's side. "Are you alright?" he asked, as he helped the brownie up.

"Don't worry about me," Cyrdel rasped in rapid Keijula which confused the lights out of Nyxis. "Do it."

That last part, Nyxis understood. He turned to face the border guard. "You dare hurt my aunt?"

"Brother," Cyrdel said weakly from the side of his mouth.

"Yes, brother," Nyxis bobbed his head left, right, up, and down. "You shall pay!"

Yes, that's a line from the famous Brownie drama, Good Guy Bye. Nyxis should watch it some time when the troupes visit for their annual performance. As soon as the words leaped out of his mouth, Nyxis pushed the guard by the shoulder in offense. The guard didn't budge and the shoulder popped back to its natural stance.

The guard wasn't happy.

"Are you asking for it, boy?" He stepped forward. "Because I am not prohibited from firing my crackle."

Now, to Nyxis, that idiom sounded like the guard just threatened he would smoke oshella. Instead of laughing at the strange analogy, Nyxis kept his face straight and made sure to speak with an offended tone.

"You pushed my brother," he said, keeping his voice loud and at the same time, modulated. He was trained to do that since the age of five. His tutor always told him that the technique could be useful in multiple areas and vowed that it would even save his life. Well, Nyxis made a mental note to thank his voice tutor if he saw the old man again. "You have to let us go without identification."

The guard's features crumpled into that of a scowl. "I would have to call for reinforcements!" he yelled before his features relaxed. "Yes, I will not check you for identification."

Nyxis's heart thumped in his ears. "You will step aside and let us pass without a fight," he said.

"Without a fight, got it," the brownie repeated. His tone became dreamier by the second. It sounded like he really just did pop oshella up his nose. Most importantly, he stepped aside and gestured for Nyxis and Cyrdel to pass through.

Excellent.

"Thank you, officer," Cyrdel smiled brightly and made a show of rubbing his sore backside. "I hope you understand that we are in a hurry. We are also not suspicious and we did not attack you or anything."

"Or anything," the guard replied, blinking.

"Good," Nyxis switched to Ylanenla. "Have a nice day."

"Nice day," the guard's eyes fluttered.

Cyrdel and Nyxis hurried past the wall, both holding their breaths until they were a few alleys away. As soon as they rounded a corner, Nyxis exhaled loudly and braced the wall as his knees shook with a delayed reaction to their situation.

"Oh, gods," Nyxis rasped, wiping his brow with his forearm. His skin came away wet. It's just so damn hot in Alkara. "Remind me to never do that again."

"I never thought I would survive," Cyrdel plopped to the ground and rested his back against a wall of a circular house. "I never thought the kuna extract would work so well."

Nyxis swallowed air as he took a deep breath. It had been the brownie's idea to use the potion. There wasn't enough research on that plant and Nyxis, himself, hasn't been exposed to its effects until now so they operated with the huge possibility that it would not work.

But it did. Nyxis induced the extract to the guard's shoulder as soon as he applied pressure when he attempted to push the guard back. There had been a hidden injector, courtesy of Cyrdel, between Nyxis's fingers that snapped into action as it connected with enough force on the guard's shoulder. As soon as the drug was inside the guard's system, it was expected to make him submissive and open to suggestion.

That's what Nyxis and Cyrdel did. The drug would wear off after a few minutes so they really should get going. Nyxis looked back at the border and cursed. "Uh, Cyrdel?" Nyxis called to his companion who promptly pushed himself up and followed Nyxis's gaze.

The people behind them in the line were now haggling for an entry even without identification. They saw what happened to Nyxis and Cyrdel and demanded the same treatment. Sadly, as the drug's effect wore off, so did the guard's suggestibility. People were going to notice that something amiss went on. "We should go," Nyxis said. "It is only a matter of time."

As a matter of fact, it really was just a matter of time.

Cyrdel and Nyxis tore through the silent streets of Depandes, making their way towards the Palace. This road was supposed to lead them to the busiest part of the city. When they got there, it was like walking through Gulstead and that's saying something.

Gulstead, the town of escaped convicts and hiding criminals, boasted the fact that one could hear the wind singing because of how quiet it was. Remove the fog and replace it with the glaring sun, one would get Depandes.

Nyxis glanced at his companion and saw the brownie pursing his lips and clenching his jaw so hard the veins in his neck were pulled taut. Without a word, they trudged as fast as their legs could carry them. Past the circular houses and abandoned shops, their worn boots thumped dully against the cobbled roads which stopped glowing even in the moonslight. It was like they sensed the change in atmosphere and decided to not cooperate.

When Nyxis stepped foot into Depandes the first time, he was amazed at the amount of activity going around in the city. Now, gone were the rolling machines, the hurrying brownies, and the perpetual smell of something burning. The air was as clean as the roads. Nyxis was both amazed and saddened at the fact that he could breathe freely without inhaling fumes from machinery.

Cyrdel certainly paid all of these no mind. The brownie, if possible, began walking faster. Nyxis had to jog to catch up. Not that Nyxis was complaining. It was only a matter of time before the patrol guards and maybe some of the local police would find them.

The central district came into view. This was where Nyxis and June watched the festival dance and drank the Narfalk liquor—rosado—until the wee hours of the morning. Strangely, he couldn't remember how he got back to the Palace that night.

Now, the central district was deserted. The wooden benches that once have been filled with spectators sat collecting dust from the roads. The carts where merchants once set up shop were replaced by empty spaces. The whole place looked so spooky and lonely it brought a pang in Nyxis's heart.

Instead of continuing north as Nyxis remembered, Cyrdel swerved right to the next alley they came across. Nyxis was about to open his mouth to ask but one look at the brownie's stern expression, he decided not to.

Cyrdel led them deeper into the alley, never minding the fact that an attack could come from anywhere since there weren't even any real alleys in Depandes due to the circular houses. At first, Nyxis thought it to be ingenious and unique. Now, he was pissed at the city's layout. It would be hard to lose someone chasing them if that became the case.

The Alkaran heir continued walking and Nyxis hobbled beside him. One foot in front of the other, with sweat beading in Nyxis's forehead and pouring down his back, they half-jogged and half-walked all the way to a part of the city that Nyxis has never been into.

It's even more deserted than the central district and the houses looked like they'd been into a tornado only to have been put back together by a horde of fairy children. Huge chunks were missing from the roofs while some looked like they're bombed through. Others were bombarded with holes, giving Nyxis a glimpse of what lay inside. He spotted piles of dried clay in more than one house.

A shiver raced down his spine.

He was aware the Synketros attacked Alkara but he didn't imagine being here would be so...horrible. How was Cyrdel even handling all this? Nyxis got his answer when he caught the brownie raising a hand to his face to run a hand underneath his eye. Oh. Perhaps, it was not a good idea to go back here, after all.

Cyrdel didn't say anything nor cried any more as they came to a stop at a house similar to the rest around them. Nyxis was about to point out they should be moving along when Cyrdel drove his hand into the closed door. The wood shattered. Nyxis jumped. Who thought Cyrdel couldn't get violent?

He watched the heir insert his hand through the hole and twisted a knob. Oh, clever. The brownie stepped aside and let Nyxis pass through first. He was greeted with the house's interior as soon as he did. There were no baths. Bummer.

In fact, there wasn't anything. A worn rug was laid on an odd position on the floor. A moth-eaten, cushioned chair was pushed against a section of the wall to Nyxis's right. There were, thankfully, no windows and the only way out would be the door Cyrdel had just punched through.

Or so Nyxis thought.

Before he could even open his mouth to comment, Cyrdel had already crossed the room and had flung the rug aside to reveal a circle of scrawled characters from the Keiju koset.

"Let me guess," Nyxis strode to where the brownie stood by the spot where the rug had just been. "Underground?"

Cyrdel grinned at him. "Better."

Before Nyxis could respond, Cyrdel dropped something into the middle of the circle of scrawled letters and the world vanished around Nyxis.

Rosado is a type of luxury wine made from crushed and fermented Dawnberry, a couple of other berries, and a special type of algae. It is known for its very strong alcohol content that could knock a person out in the first shot. This is usually abundant during festivals, holidays, and celebrations.