Two days.

  Kihal felt that she had already sulked too much after Prince Cosimo had taken her brother away. It had been a month and a half, if she remembered to count properly, and he still wasn't back.

  "Try to imagine it as something like my usual business trips, Kihal," he had chipped in when the shackles dropped down and bonded themselves on his wrists. The little one's cheeks were soaked with fresh tears, and her heart had stung as if it had been branded by fire, but the older man just smiled.

  He always smiled, even in situations not worthy of something so pretty. "Except, you're not going to come with me, because you're going to take care of our pet cat."

  "We never keep pets around." The young one had latched her arms around her brother's neck and refused to let go, even though the men-at-arms were already gritting their teeth and fuming with impatience. "Pets destroy paper and disturb your work."

  "Yeah, I know. But just... just imagine, 'kay?"

  "When will you be back?"

  "Soon. Don't worry." The older man had patted her head and kissed her forehead. His lips felt so warm and moist against her cold, dead skin. "I promise I'll be back soon, and I never ever break my promises." 

  "Liar," whispered Kihal hoarsely when she found herself back in the grasps of present time. The book she was reading sat idly on her desk, its worn yellow papers containing the memories from when they had first opened and explored the unknown pages.

  Her brother often read to her, and he had the most beautiful, storytelling voice that took her to portals of different worlds made of words. It brought characters to life, and when he spoke, their entire surroundings seemed to melt like the metal on his kiln, giving way to those scenarios in the adventure stories he had loved so much.

  Wicked kings, noble robbers, knights and evil temptresses, special people with strange powers... the girl wondered if any of those things were real. There's no such thing as a wicked king in Amoria, however. Just a wicked, handsome Prince Cosimo.

  "Hey, Kihal?" Asagai's head peeked through the door, the mop of mud brown distracting her already occupied mind.

  Two days after he had knocked on her door. Two days after he had screamed like a baby on a measly glass shard. Two days of freeloading, yet the man he had been waiting for didn't come back as well. Somehow, they were in the same situation. But the brazen thief just wouldn't wait. He was really foolish.

  "Why aren't you sleeping?" the young reader questioned, her hand on a hairbrush. At least she had some sort of excuse.

  A fancy, velvety letter with a golden stamp rested beside her brush. The girl's eyes lingered quite hesitantly over it, and before she knew it, she found herself swallowing hard.

  "I can't. I've been waiting for too long. Time can't stop and wait can it? I told you I'm in a hurry," answered the boy in a rushed tone, his voice uncomfortably loud even though silence had practically engulfed the entire house.

  "I'm really sorry, Asagai." Kihal's apology was very sincere, and she made sure of that by staring straight into those pitch black eyes. "You know I can't help you."

  "You bet you can!" rebutted the lad defiantly. "I thought you wanted your brother back?"

  "But we're kids." The official moment when opinions from young ones like them would be accepted... was only if they were sixteen. That was when they would be branded as adults. They basically couldn't do anything, and Kihal's blood just boiled at the thought of it.

  Her brother often told her that anger clouded the mind and caused it to make stupid decisions. So instead, the blonde simply shook the silly notion away and brushed her hair, preparing for bed.

  "Hey, don't just ignore me!" Asagai yelled, his voice filling her ears. He was an idiot, he really was.

  "I'm not ignoring you!" Kihal spat. Two days. They had been going on and on for two days. Good thing she actually pitied him and gave him food even though he was a total jerk.

  She forced her eyes away from him and gazed at the envelope instead. It had been sent by a haggard-looking messenger and a couple of bored men-at-arms just this morning, and the lass frowned upon staring at it. Her insides curled with the bitter sensation of hatred. It was funny, because her brother never taught her how to hate, yet it was his fault she hated everything about their own kingdom.

  An invitation to another one of Prince Cosimo's banquet, it said. Of course, she already knew this could only be an effort to cover up the shame in getting his head thwacked by a child. Everyone was invited, and obviously enough, it would be held in the palace's outer courtyard, where most of the peasants were expected to swarm like sardines.

  "Well, what if that thrice-accursed prince won't give your brother back? What if he rots in there forever? What if Ember— what if they die? Are you going to take that chance?"

  Kihal gritted her teeth, her hand hurting as it clenched the handle of the hairbrush even tighter. "What do you expect me to do then? Think of a plan on how we can sneak inside the... the..." her voice trailed off, and the word 'palace,' hitched in her throat.

  The ball. Everyone was invited.

  "Wait, will you let me see that bangle again?"

  "You said you didn't want to have anything to do with the things I stole," murmured the thief dryly, his hands crossed over his chest as if he was in possession of something extremely valuable.

  Shortly after the boy had confessed his identity as a 'dangerous' criminal from another kingdom, Kihal had led him into the kiln to free his thin, almost bony hands from the hurting clasps. Her brother had taught her a lot of things — though not entirely everything just yet — and she had hammered down the shackle's chains with great pleasure, imagining them to be the same ones the guards had used on her only family member.

  Something inside her had burst out with pure warmth; she felt like she had belonged in those adventure novels filled with action and chases. For the first time, it seemed like she had actually rebelled against the kingdom by freeing the boy.

  It was an amazing, addicting feeling that sent her awake and excited for the past two nights, no matter how much she had drunk milk. How would it feel if she freed her brother? No, no... it was enough that she helped out and kept a fugitive in their house already!

  Enough adventure stories. Kihal struck her own forehead for that. Too much reading brought strange emotions towards things out of natural order.

  "Why do you want it, anyway?" asked Asagai ignorantly, his head tilted curiously to the side. "I wanted to give it to you before as payment for freeing me, but you wouldn't accept it."

  His unnaturally strong voice forcibly snapped the girl out of her internal battling. What was she going to do? Sit down and wait for a brother who might never return? Grasp the moment and then turn into some vagabond running away from the order of the Prince?

  Why did the latter sound very tempting?

  "W–well... if I'm not mistaken, the bracelet you just stole belonged to a maidservant of the palace. They usually wear it while they're at work, so it'll be easy for the others to recognize their position in the castle."

  "Oh, really?" Asagai raised a brow as he strutted closer to her. His current clothing, a pair of loose robes from her older brother's closet, hung off his shoulder and showed just how thin he was.

  "Are you going to the seamstress tomorrow?" she asked back, thoughts drifting off to the wonderful tales of Robin Hood — he died in the end, and she had wept so much, too — and his remarkable heists. There was a robber in her home as well, and just the mere thought of it sent the young girl's mind in knots.

  Asagai lowered his gaze and stared at the floor as if it was the most interesting thing in the world. "I guess I will. Ember — the fire-dancer paid the seamstress extra for my clothes, after all."

  "Then that's great," said Kihal as she stood up and clasped her hands together. "While we're at it, I can request something from the store as well."

  A small, reserved grin appeared on the lad's face. He took the golden bracelet from his pocket, and even though he was rather reluctant, handed it over to the lass.

  "Do you know how to fire-dance?" she questioned, taking the still open book in her hands and carefully closing it, her fingertips caressing the brass bindings. She smiled when her index finger reached a small dent, remembering the time when she went on a tantrum because her sibling won't let her go to a close friend's house to read books.

  He probably had a point, knowing that her 'close friend,' had been branded by the townsfolk as a half-crazy witch.

  With the way Asagai's face was marred to a frown, Kihal realized that he was probably still new to the whole dancing business.

  Useless. That word scorched her tongue and left a bitter taste, and it was soon followed by the pang of cold, numb guilt.

  "Hey, um... let's go outside. Start a bonfire and I'll bring in a few of my brother's torches," she offered.

  "Are they juggling torches?"

  "There are other kinds of torches? Can't you just use normal ones?"

  "Forget it." Asagai's face fell as he crinkled his nose, attempting to grab the golden, rose-encrusted bracelet from the lass's hand.

  "No, I'm serious!" insisted Kihal, her hand stretched out and away from the lad's grip. Despite being at the same age, she was a few inches taller than him. She picked up the letter and waved it so close to the boy's face he had to step back.

  "Come on, lighten up! Don't look as if that fire-dancer person had been hanged already." The lass grappled onto the thief's wrist before literally half-dragging him away from her room.

  "Does this mean you're finally agreeing?" enquired the boy, and even though her back was turned, Kihal somehow felt the smile seeping into the other's face.

  "Well, it all depends on what the both of us are capable of doing. You owe me one for the first aid and one for the cuffs, remember that."

  "Yes, I know. I'll do my best to repay you in whatever way possible," swore Asagai firmly, both their footfalls loud against the wooden stairs. "That's... that's the least I could do."

  They reached backyard, and the moment they did, the boy immediately opened his arms and inhaled deeply, taking in a lungful of smoke-filled air. He ended up coughing and wheezing right after, however.

  "Your kingdom smells awful," Asagai remarked as he sat on a bare patch and crossed his legs. "I'm not bragging and all, but in Xaddercrux, the air's always fresh — even though there are occasional scents of blood from time to time — because it's high up."

  Kihal just stood there, her feet rooted on the spot as the young thief began rubbing the twigs together to make fire. Her mind flew back when her brother had attempted some bonfire stories for experience, but then they got swarmed by mosquitoes. A smile, a slightly sad one, marred the blonde's face, but she stopped and pinched her cheeks so hard she almost squealed.

  No! She was doing it again!

  'Stop it!' shouted her mind. But of course, the young one knew it was always easier said, or in her case, thought, than done. She had cried night after night, day after day, drowning her thoughts and heart in pure sorrow until her eyes became so swollen she could hardly see where she was going. Shortly after that, it didn't even matter to her if she saw anything. She just cried and cried until she could do so no more.

  The neighbors had consoled her and offered to have her come over, but Kihal had already snapped out of her silly, useless notion. Crying over spilt milk didn't help her. It never did. She should've listened to the older sibling more.

  She wanted to grow up quickly so she could make a difference. She needed to grow up quickly.

   What could he be doing, Kihal often found herself wondering almost everyday. Did he burn himself? Did his hand ever felt sore from all the fixing and hammering? The man had this tendency to overwork himself, especially when he was excited — which was almost all the time, for some reason — and she had been the one who looked out for his wellbeing, just as much as he had intensely cared for her.

  "I need him," Kihal declared rather lifelessly, her eyes focused on the soft flame eating up the dried twigs and leaves. She was certain one day she would just drop dead of sheer loneliness, her story ending before it even began. She could've fought, and she could've done something different. Kihal didn't want regrets, she just wanted her brother back. Ever since the old memory of the frightening fire, it had been the two of them, for better or for worse.

  "What's your brother's name, by the way?" Asagai questioned, allowing the blaze to lap up along the sides of his stick. Perhaps he noticed that she had been awfully quiet.

  Kihal tilted her head to the side, her straight locks spilling down her nightgown. Her brother had always found his own name rather embarrassing, so he had stuck to that title the folks gave. "Coya. His name's Coya, but he often thinks it's too soft and doesn't fit him. I'd like to say otherwise."

  "Well, if your brother's not underneath the castle dungeons, he can probably see the night sky, right?"

  What was he implying? The lass's face scrunched up to a small frown, and the thief decided to explain further. "Well, the sky is really huge — I bet even my old hag can see it from our house — and it's one and the same."

  "Of course it is." Kihal almost snapped at him again, but apparently, Asagai wasn't finished.

  "The sky is huge and one and the same. So if you look at the sky, it's almost like you're right beside your brother, right? I bet he's looking at the sky too, since the stars are so pretty!" The lad's eyes visibly sparked with something similar to deep longing, but the young reader didn't want to keep on staring at those black irises for too long. It was rude.

  "If you think about it, the two of you are looking at the same sky, so you're still close to each other!" Asagai placed both arms behind his head and laid himself upon the scratchy grass. Kihal winced, but the boy looked rather comfortable as he hummed softly and gazed at the stars some more.

  She gathered her grime-covered nightgown on her thighs and hugged her knees. His simple logic sounded somewhat comforting, and Kihal liked that.

  Dark clouds rolled in, but the moon shone brighter, her rays giving ample light to their simple backyard.

  Hope. Coya always loved stories with bittersweet endings, and whenever they reached a rather sentimental part, the softhearted man had always struggled to sniff back the tears. She couldn't understand why when happy endings were so much better, but of course, in reality, there were no such things as happy endings. Coya hated saying goodbye to characters he had loved, and Kihal hated saying goodbye and waiting for the person she loved to come back. 

  Her heart throbbed loudly, as loud and as fast as the time she snuck up from her room even though it was past bedtime, all in order to get her curious little hands on that certain book the older sibling refused to let her read. He had proclaimed that said book was for 'adults,' but the young reader just couldn't satiate her curiosity. He nearly cursed when he saw her hands leafing through the parchment pages, and, throughout her entire life, he never cursed.

  Kihal's heart squirmed and began to ache again. She glanced back to Asagai, her neck slightly cramped from looking up for so long. The boy, however, was staring wide-eyed on something behind the bushes.

  The girl gasped loudly, her heart racing with mingled fear... and curiosity. A pair of golden brown eyes stared back, and after what had seemed like an eternity of staring, Asagai got up and hobbled towards the bush. What animal had golden eyes? Was it dangerous? Could it be considered a friend?

  "Wait, Asagai, don't!" Kihal reached out for the boy, but he ignored her and continued limping towards the creature.

  "Fier! It's you!" The moment the animal's name was called, it immediately bounded up with a giant leap and rammed itself towards the young lad, who fell down and grimaced in pain, but a smile had still taken over his face soon after.

  "It is you, you daughter of a devil and a snake!" His voice grew louder and shriller again, but the lass made no further attempt to pipe him down. The fox sniffed at the bandages on the boy's foot as if it had forgotten his original scent. The animal licked his ankles tentatively, and the boy's giggles filled the cold, chilly air.

  "You'll get rabies! Get that thing off your wound." Kihal approached the two slowly, her mind wandering back to all the books about foxes. They were evil and cunning and clever in fables, but the drawings weren't as close as the real thing. The young reader's hand unconsciously reached out to caress the vixen's fur, but the feisty little creature simply hissed and spat with teeth seemingly sharper than glass.

  "I thought those cursed guards butchered you already! I thought they flayed you and used your fur coat like a scarf!" The vixen nibbed Asagai's left arm when he hugged her, but the grin on his face was still evident. Kihal took a few steps back and admired the soft, cottony fur from afar. She wondered just how soft a fox's fur could get, but stopped herself. 

  Something white crossed the starlit heavens, but when the reader turned, it was gone. Probably a shooting star. Upon remembering the young thief's words, Kihal's chest began to constrict and hurt again. Her hand clutched the fancy envelope tighter, recalling the plan she had just thought of. Three days from now, the banquet would take place... and her plan would commence.

  The girl listened to the lad's laughter as she continued staring at the crescent moon. She was with her brother, for the sky they were looking at was huge and one and the same.

---------------------------------------------------

  Wow, gosh... we actually made it to Chapter 19! Thanks so much for giving this book a chance, guys! I really, really appreciate it.

  Kids sometimes have very little to no say in the things that happen around them, even if it directly involves themselves. Oftentimes it's easier to just be an adult, and moving along would be easier.

  But now, Kihal has to make that decision with Asagai if she wants to get back with her brother again.