15.
PRESENT DAY

Lotte was not happy with theft. She had thoughtlessly done it as a child but now that she was older, she knew the kind of turmoil simple people felt. A stolen motorcar would truly be a strike to whoever owned it.

This was about survival—but didn't make Lotte feel any better about it.

Rowan looked like she knew what she was doing all too well when she opened the car door using a metal wire clothes hanger she found by the bins in the courtyard. She went straight to the steering wheel and began rummaging with something underneath it. A moment later, the car's motor was humming and they were inside it.

Rowan had already picked the padlock that held the iron gates shut, she had done everything in under ten minutes.

They were on their way, cruising through the city traffic.

"Why were those people trying to kill you anyway?" Maloru asked.

Rowan scrunched her lips into a bud. "You know, no matter what I tried, they always ended up coming after me. I'm sure I tried to correct that timeline about two hundred times. I don't know, of course, I can just feel it."

"Yeah, but why...?"

Rowan shrugged her shoulders. "It's my reputation. It's the way I lived my life. Sooner or later it was bound to catch up with me." She shot Lotte an odd look before looking back at her driving. "No matter how good I get at changing the present, some things will just have to happen one way or another."

"Lotte says you're a diviner even though she thought they weren't real," Maloru said.

Lotte smiled, she was getting better at talking through her brain.

"Right," Rowan said. "This isn't a good time to be a diviner. My brother always warned me that if I didn't slow down, people would begin noticing."

"Slow down doing what?"

Rowan tapped her fingers over the driver's wheel. "I've been enjoying life a little too much. You get a taste for extravagance if you eat it too often. I developed a bit of an...eh.... Addiction. To gambling." She took a sharp turn that brought them out of their current traffic jam and into a maze of side streets. "Except, in my case, it was more of an addiction to winning."

They returned to the main street, now at the front of the light before the bridge that would take them right towards the Raimil highway.

So, people began to notice, Lotte thought and Maloru translated.

"I got too greedy," Rowan said, raising up her shoulders. "I think it's high time for a change, you know?"

What was she going to do now? Lotte wondered.

"I've been thinking about it for a while," Rowan said. "I haven't seen my brother in years. I think he's in even deeper trouble than I am. I need to find him and slap some sense into him."

"Do you know where to start looking?" Maloru asked.

"Yep." Rowan's smile looked a little bitter. "It's going to be a lot more trouble than it's worth and I'm not even sure how I'll get there."

"Where?"

Rowan sighed, and Lotte had a distinct feeling she knew what she was about to say.

"Serades."

Maloru jumped, nearly knocking his head against the car roof. Rowan didn't seem to notice how tense they both became.

"You know," she said as she slid into the traffic on the bridge. "It's my brother you have to thank for that sketch pad. He's a full-blown psychic. He can actually see connections between people, where they'll meet, where they'll end, how strong they will be. He can see the whole story. He said that someday..." Rowan looked at Lotte. "Someday you'll be important in my life."

Even if Lotte could've spoken, she'd've been speechless.

"I didn't realise you couldn't speak," Rowan went on.

"That's my fault," Maloru said darkly. "If it weren't for me—"

Lotte shot him a glare as she reminded him furiously that he couldn't've prevented himself from being who he was. Falling into a situation where he needed to be rescued wasn't a sign of weakness or selfishness.

"Anyway, it's probably just temporary, right?"

Lotte tried to look confident when she put on a smile and nodded, looking back at Maloru.

Something caught her eye, sirens began to wail. She turned around in her seat and pointed towards the city behind them.

"Nine gods," Maloru exclaimed.

"What? What? What's going on?"

The horizon behind them was angry orange red. The sky was almost pitch black with smoke.

"They couldn't stop the wildfire," he said. "The city's burning."

***
10 YEARS BEFORE THE WAR

Lotte named her doll Melony after her favourite fruit.

She carefully glued her face back together, but the ceramic glue she used hardened to a white against the doll's beige skin and the scars were starkly visible.

So Lotte took a brush and paint and changed Melony. She added a lively sheen to her cheeks, and a bit more texture to her skin and lips. Her scars she turned into the stems of flowers with tiny blooms of violet and sunshine yellow on her forehead and cheeks. She even added some more liveliness to her glassy stare, making the blue of her eyes almost realistic.

Wherever Lotte went, Melony was with her. She sat on a special stool while Lotte painted. She shared Lotte's chair when she ate her meals. She slept every night in Lotte's arms.

"Why, isn't that the doll that was broken?" Mr. Henri asked, noticing Melony for the first time after weeks. "Let me have a look."

Lotte reluctantly handed her to Mr. Henri who looked at the doll with the gaze of an art admirer.

"A doll that was broken and mended at your hands is worth more than any doll in the world. It looks remarkably alive. Imagine what price it could fetch..."

Lotte stood up, shoulders squared. "You can't sell her," she cried. "I love her."

Mr. Henri threw his head back and laughed. "I wouldn't dream doing it now," he said, eyes crinkling with humour. He handed Melony back to Lotte who immediately hugged her tightly to her chest. "You never cared so much for toys."

"She's different," Lotte said with her face in Melony's hair.

"Yes," he said musingly. "She has the scars to show for it."

Lotte then excused herself from the table and hurried back to her room. "Don't worry," she said to Melony hugging her fiercely. "I'll never let anything happen to you."

In response, Melony snuggled her scarred face into Lotte's shoulder and hugged her fiercely back.

***
PRESENT DAY

The motorcar's wheels crunched on the gravel at the side of the road. Rowan took them as close to the line of trees as the car could go. Maloru jumped out as quickly as he could and rushed into the darkness. Lotte could make out he elongating shadow from where she sat in the car next to Rowan.

"Guess he really needed the toilet..." Rowan mused.

Lotte shook her head.

They both turned to look at the orange line on the darkening horizon. They had driven for hours. They were miles and miles away, and yet they could still see the blazing city.

"I guess that's not any normal fire," Rowan said.

Lotte nodded in response before opening her door and wandering towards the trees to check up on Maloru. He had found a reasonable spot, pushing three saplings aside as he rooted himself.

"Where'd that elf-kid go?" Rowan asked. "Guess he had number two..."

Lotte smiled and patted Maloru's trunk.

"Look, that tree's covered in elven markings."

Lotte pointed to herself and then pretended to hold a brush and drew the markings in the air.

"You drew them? When?"

What followed next was a frustrating exchange where no amount of gesturing or head shaking could convey to Rowan that the elven boy she had been speaking with this whole time was now a tree.

Eventually, they both gave up.
"Are we setting up camp now?" Rowan asked.

Lotte shook her head.

"Do you have any sleeping bags or... what about a fire?"

Lotte shrugged.

"Aren't you cold, though?"

Lotte shook her head.

"O—okay." Rowan pointed over her shoulder. "I'll be sleeping in the car then to keep all my human-y bits warm. Hope the kid'll be fine."

She rolled her eyes and ambled away. Fintan shot out of Lotte's pocket the second Rowan was out of sight and chirped loudly, looping through the air. It had doubtlessly been cramped for him sitting in a pocket for the entire day. Then again, he had arrived from Serades in a tiny box, so one day of pocket couldn't have been that bad.

Once Fintan had burnt out all his excitement, he ate the empty tin can Lotte had found for him and perched on one of Maloru's branches to guard. Lotte was finally able settle down among Maloru's roots and get to sleep.

"Blue!" she cried, running up the steps of the tower, heart soaring with excitement. "Blue, I'm here."

"Lotte...finally." There was the golden thread, and warmth blossom in her chest the second she touched it.

She could've landed perfectly well on her own when she reached the tower room, but he was there to catch her. Her rational mind of the waking world had prevented her from giving in, but even his flirting touches were pleasurable. He met her eyes, holding her longer than necessary. He knew how she felt even as she continued to hold back.

She slipped away while yearning desperately to hold him, wringing her hands together to stop herself. He watched her with a bemused smile, but made no comment.

"I suppose now would be a good time to talk about Serades," he said.

Lotte perked up at the suggestion, thinking it would be a perfect opportunity to put her head on straight.

Though, he could see she was struggling. Why didn't he say anything? Did he not want her to? A part of her longed to stop struggling, and any persuasion attempts on his behalf would, doubtlessly, do the trick.

She settled down, somewhat uneasily, into one of the crooked throne-like chairs that were spread throughout the circular room. Every time she came here, the objects in this place seemed to change. Now the table was pushed back against the farthest part of the room, and it was laden with glass orbs of all sizes each one filled with a small flicker of differently coloured lightening.

Blue threw cushions at the floor and settled by her feet. There was another chair not far away, but he was more suited to lounge like a lion and be close enough to touch. Every part of him was as irresistible as his whole.

From this close, Lotte could see the violet spark of the curse swimming in his eyes.

"Serades is ruled by the virata people who were created when Sky Dragons mixed with humans during the dawn of time," he said.

"Are you a virata?"

"Yes. There is every species of every creature in the world in Serades, but only the virata can rule."

"Is there any particular reason?"

"There is, my clever Lotte, there is."

"And what is it?"

"It's the Sky Dragons."

Lotte immediately thought of Fintan.

"Not a land dragon like the little one that's with you," Blue said with a smile. "But a sky dragon, a dragon who is so magical, they're practically a god. Every generation, among the virata, one sky dragon is born. They will be the dragon king or queen, ruler of Serades, because that is the only creature all the species of Serades will agree to follow."

"Because of its power?"

"Because of its influence. Only a sky dragon can hold back the Rugar. Only a sky dragon can keep the waves of the Nolgg ocean at bay. When the troll tribes had to flee the fire demons, they came to Serades. When the land of the shik became home to an unnamed beastly terror, it was the dragon queen of that time who banished it."

"So, the dragon kings keep the region safe... but don't actually govern?"

"Some did, the current one doesn't." A dark look passed over Blue's face. He was quick to hide it, but Lotte was certain she had seen it. Blue took issue with the dragon king. "He allowed the virata crime families to rise to prominence, even going so far as letting their influence extend into his own palace. It was convenient for him. If the land became unlawful, he didn't have to waste his time with laws."

"They always said that in Serades innocence died a messy death."

Blue clenched his fists, looking away from Lotte. "The 'laymen's life has no more value. All that is Serades is the inner struggle of four families. And to make matters worse, the dragon king is dying."

"Doesn't he have an heir?" Lotte asked.

"There's always one heir..."

"But the heir might not want the families to have so much power," Lotte said, thinking aloud. "And they wouldn't be able to get rid of him without dooming the entire region."

Blue inclined his head to the side and let her speak.

"So, they would do something to the heir. Maloru said that virata are rumoured to be good at curses..."

She gasped and looked at Blue.
He smirked and shuddered as violet lighting danced over his body.

"It's you," she whispered. "You're the dragon heir."