"Have you ever made a trade with the Healers?" Mark asked while taking time to wrap up the wound on his arm.

The farmer shook his head. "Naw, I would never. I don't know much, but I do know those fellas are no good."

Mark nodded in agreement. "I just hope that they haven't done anything bad to Addie yet. Has anyone you know made a trade?"

"I don't know anyone who traded away their emotions for money. But I knew someone who purchased an emotion from the Healers." the farmer admitted.

"I nearly forgot that people actually buy emotions," Mark muttered, running a hand through his hair.

"Yeah, it's kind of odd I guess. People should just be able to choose how to feel, right? It seems easy, but I guess it's not as simple for some people," the farmer said with a slight shrug.

"You know, and handful of people from my village managed to save enough money to buy joy from the Healers. I guess they were just so miserable with their life and wanted to know what joy felt like. But of course, transferred emotions become almost artificial and wear off after some time. I thought they'd retain some of that happiness, but they just went back to being miserable. To be honest, I think having a taste of joy only made them more unhappy because they knew they could never feel it again."

"So how is your sister so happy?"

Mark shrugged. "I honestly don't know. Whenever I ask her about it, she just sorta names all these little things in our life that aren't so bad. I don't know how she always manages to look on the bright side."

"That's one heck of a girl then. I can see why the Healers were interested in her."

Mark shrugged. "Yeah, I guess. Anyway, go on with your story. What emotion did that guy buy from the Healers?"

"It's sort of a complicated story. He and a friend were fighting over this girl, and the girl seemed to prefer his friend over him. And then he got so jealous that he bought wrath or anger or something like that from the Healers. And I don't know the details, but they somehow put the anger into his friend. And long story short, the friend hurt the girl, the girl left him and when to guy who made the trade. It's sick."

"I didn't know you could buy emotions for someone else."

"Apparently you can."

"I guess the 'consent' rule doesn't apply then."

"What's that?"

"You don't know? The Healers can't take any emotion from you unless you agree. That being said, they'll do anything to make you believe that they are there to help."

"Hm, I didn't know that."

"Yeah, their magic still has limitations," Mark replied.

The brown haired boy turned his eyes to the road ahead of them. In the distance, he could see some sort of town, most likely Zebulon. He fiddled absentmindedly with the edge of his rough tunic. There really was no going back now. In the ideal outcome, he would find Addie before the Healers took her joy and return home with her safely, but the odds were so unlikely. He sighed.

"Something on your mind?" the farmer asked.

"I just...I don't know if I'll be able to find her. And if I do find her somehow, the Healers could have done something horrible to her before I can get to her."

"If you're looking for words of encouragement, I'm not really the one you should ask."

Mark chuckled. "Yeah, I know. I wasn't really expecting you to say anything inspiring."

"Well, if it means anything to ya, I admire your love and devotion to her. That's something really special and unique and I've never seen it before."

Mark gave him a soft smile. "Thanks."

Before long, they arrived at Zebulon. The houses weren't mansions, but they were a step higher than Gad, and a whole staircase higher than his home back in Dyan. The houses seemed to be made of bricks or stones and the roofs had shingles. It was a rather neat looking town.

"I have to drop you off here, I guess," the farmer said, scratching his head. "Anything else I can do for you?"

Mark shook his head. "I'd hate to ask any more of you. Thank you for taking me here."

"Do you need money? I think I can spare a few coins."

Mark hesitated. "Are you sure? I don't want to..."

The farmer tossed him a little pouch of coins and Mark caught it. It was a decent amount of money, enough to sustain him for a short while. He clutched the little bag tightly to his chest.

"Thank you," he said breathlessly.

"No problem. Thank you for helping me out against those thieves back there. Good luck finding your sister."

"Thank you a hundred times over. I can't explain how much this means to me."

In response, the farmer just smiled and said farewell with a tip of his hat before riding off with his cart. Mark looked around at the town around him. He had been experiencing rather good fortune up to this point. He just hoped that the good things would not not cease any time soon.

Like he had done previously, he began to ask around if people had seen Healers. He received a mixed bag of responses, some saying that the Healers had come by recently while others claiming that there hadn't been a Healer there in months. Strangely, a few others claimed that their town had a "resident Healer" who lived in town. The descriptions of the Healers were also various, ranging from young boys to old ladies.

Mark sighed in frustration and ran a hand through his hair. He wasn't getting anywhere this way. He spent the whole day searching, but found nothing. Was there really no clue in this whole town? Would he have to move on? The sun was beginning to go down, so it was about time to find somewhere to stay. Unfortunately, he didn't have much luck. If the people back in Gad were unwelcoming, the people in Zebulon were straight up hostile. They saw him as not just a burden but a detriment to their lives and wanted nothing to do with him.

Most of his attempts to find shelter went like this:

"Excuse me ma'am/sir. I'm traveling around looking for my sister. If you don't mind, may I stay at your house just for the night please?"

"No, I don't want you here."

And then the door would be slammed in his face. That was the best case scenario. In some cases, people would openly insult him on top of turning him down. One lady even spat on him, calling him a "rotten street rat" and turning up her nose in disgust.

"Well, that makes me feel great," Mark muttered sarcastically to himself.

A slight hungry feeling was forming in his stomach, but he ignored it. He was just a little hungry right now. He could wait a little bit before going to buy more food. After multiple failed attempts to find shelter, Mark decided to settle under a small canopy protruding from one of the buildings. He sat down on the dirt ground and set his cudgel beside him. He pulled his knees up to his chest and leaned his head on his knees. Feeling fatigue overwhelm him, he shut his eyes and tried to get some rest. Water drops landing on his back startled him awake just before he drifted out of consciousness. The sky had unexpectedly turned dark and rains began pouring from the sky. The little canopy above him was poked with multiple holes, so it didn't fully cover him from the downpour. Mark shivered and curled up into a tighter ball. Well, that was unfortunate. Just as he was about to fall asleep again, someone roughly kicked his side. He opened his eyes to see two boys who were a little older than him. One had dark eyes and dark skin while the other had fairer skin and green eyes. They were both dirty looking and were soaked to the bone by the rain.

"Get out, punk," the first boy ordered. "This is our turf!"

"Turf?" Mark asked, confused.

"Are you deaf or stupid? Get lost."

"I'm sorry, I didn't know."

"I don't want your apology. Get out of here now unless you want things to get messy."

"We can't share this area?"

The boy scoffed. "Oh, we got a peacemaker on our hands. Nice try. But things don't work like that here."

"Please, I don't want to cause trouble."

"If you don't want to cause trouble, you get out of here now."

Knowing that there was no way to negotiate his way out of it, Mark gathered his things and got up to leave. As he was walking away, he caught one of the boys eyeing him suspiciously.

"Wait..." the dark eyed boy said. The tone of his voice made Mark's blood run cold. He gripped his cudgel tighter.

"Does he have anything valuable on him?"

Not waiting for them to jump him, Mark immediately took off into a run. The two boys chased after him, yelling and taunting him. The rain made it difficult for him to see, but he pressed on. The grounds was muddy and slick from all the water, causing Mark to stumble and nearly fall over. He pushed his wet hair out of his face and kept on running. The bag of money was held tightly in one hand and the cudgel was in the other.

After few minutes, he stole a glance behind him. He squinted, trying to see through the rain. Had he lost them? Where were they? He turned back around and immediately ran smack into someone. The person shoved him roughly to the ground. The dark eyed boy attempted to throw a punch at Mark, but he managed to knock street boy away with a strong swing of his cudgel. Mark tried to rise to his feet, but someone else, most likely the other boy, jumped him from behind. The cudgel was knocked out of his hand, and he was forced to the ground. He felt a strong kick to his side followed by punch after punch. The small money bag was ripped from his hands. For a moment, the blows ceased, leaving him gasping for air on the muddy ground. He could hear the clinking of the coins as the boys examined the contents of the pouch.

"All that trouble for just a few coins?" one of the boys scoffed.

Mark didn't reply, even though he was internally boiling with anger. He wanted to get up and just run away from there, but he could not manage to force himself to his feet. His entire body ached all over and he felt so weak and helpless. He felt himself shaking both from the cold and from exhaustion. Another kick to his side. He did not even make a noise. He was shoved onto his back and a heavy foot was placed on his throat. His wheezed, struggling to breathe.

"Weakling..." one of them hissed.

And out of nowhere, the pressure on his throat vanished. It was followed by a sharp gasp and then a scream and then nothing. Mark pulled himself to his knees and glanced around wildly. The rain was still pouring down relentlessly, and continued to hinder his vision. The feeling of a hand being placed on his shoulder nearly gave him a heart attack. He immediately jerked away and stared behind him.

"Who's there?" he yelled into the dark.

And then a girl appeared in his vision. She has shining amber eyes and short blond hair. She wore a short red dress that had become dirty and ruined because of the mud and rain. Despite her messy appearance, her features were rather beautiful and enchanting. He nearly thought he was hallucinating when he first laid eyes on her. She approached Mark carefully, as if she was afraid he would attack her.

"Hey, are you okay?" she asked. Her voice was warm and comforting and her words alone seemed to pull him into a comforting hug.

"Did you fight those guys? How did you get here?" he stuttered, not really knowing what to say.

The girl simply smiled. "I'll tell you everything. But come with me first. We're going to my house to get out of this rain."

She took his hand and gently helped him to his feet. Mark's legs wobbled and he nearly toppled over, but the girl wrapped an arm around him to help give him support. Slowly, but surely, she began to lead him somewhere.

"W-who are you?" he said softly.

"My name is Eden," she replied.