"So, you're saying this Freed knows everything?" Nikas said as Hallie all but dragged him towards what she knew to be Kirphis's house.

Hallie leaned forward. "Yes, Kirphis knows everything."

A Sóma not much older than Hallie furrowed their brow at Hallie's statement and shrugged, resuming their walk.

All this Hallie saw from the corner of her eye, but she brushed it off. Perhaps they knew Kirphis.

"This is confusing, but I can follow you now."

Hallie let go of Nikas and continued onward. She hoped she remembered where the alley was.

Sure enough, she did remember. She saw the space in between the two buildings and picked up her pace. Seeing this, Nikas did the same.

Reaching the alley proved not to be difficult. No one seemed to care if they ducked off the street to who knows where. Although, they received suspicious glares from a few Taktikoí. You win some, you lose some.

Hallie slid into the alley as if it were her home-away-from-home. And for all she knew, it was.

She examined the alley's wall, waiting for the door handle to come out from the shadows and make itself known. Nikas also scanned the wall with mild curiosity.

Soon, Hallie reached the end of the alley with no doorknob to be seen.

"It should be here somewhere." Hallie put her hand out and ran it over the wall one more time.

"What should be here somewhere? I can help find it."

"There should be a doorknob," Hallie said, still running her hands over the wall, probably contracting many horrible diseases as she did so, and straining her eyes for any disturbance in the sleek stone before her. "The doorknob leads to Kirphis's house."

"And you're positive it's on this side of the wall?"

Hallie froze. She turned around to see Nikas pointing at a spot on the other wall. The spot protruded out from the wall to form a tiny handle. A doorknob.

Hallie's cheeks burned red as she made her way over to Nikas. She held up her fist to knock but stopped.

Oh, gods.

Oh, gods.

She was about to knock on Kirphis's door and ask them a question out of nowhere. What was she thinking? She let her curiosity overwhelm her fight-or-flight instincts. Or just her flight instincts. Her fight instincts died a long time ago.

Hallie shook her head. The status of her nonexistent fight instincts wasn't important. What was important, however, was the fact that she was about to knock on Kirphis's door, ask them a question, chat a bit, and leave.

She must have finally lost it. Hallie thought that a lot, especially in social predicaments, but this time she was positive she wasn't being dramatic. She was curiosity, and the cat sat, ready to pounce.

"Having second thoughts?"

Nikas was a mind reader. A godsforsaken mind reader.

Hallie squeezed her fist tighter. "How could you tell?" Rhetorical question, he was a mind reader.

Nikas tilted his head. "You've stood there for about two minutes looking at the wall as if it promised to divulge your greatest secret."

Hallie flushed. "Oh." So, he wasn't a mind reader. Rather, a meticulous observer.

"I'm sure Kirphis won't mind you stopping by if what you've told me about them is anything to go off of. If not, no harm, no foul. We'll leave."

Hallie waved her hands in the air. "But what if Kirphis isn't here, and one of their roommates is?"

"Then we'll explain and come back later if they don't want to talk."

Hallie squinted at him. "You're making this very hard to freak out about."

Nikas bowed. "You're welcome." Hallie huffed.

Then the door opened.

The.

Door.

Opened.

Hallie opened her mouth to scream, but her vocal cords decided they didn't want to work. Good thing too, it was Kirphis.

"Hallie? Are you okay?" Kirphis glanced Nikas's way, expecting Nikas to have the answer to their question. And to be fair, he did.

"She's panicking," Nikas said as if that explained everything. And it did. But elaboration is key.

"About what?"

"Asking you a question."

Kirphis raised their eyebrows at that but didn't push for more information. "Okay... Do you want to come in?"

Nikas looked at Hallie. "If you want to turn back, we can."

Hallie took a shaky breath. "No, it's fine. We can go in. If it's not too much trouble."

"It's not a problem." Kirphis pushed the door away from them and stepped aside to let them in. "I'm not doing anything, anyway."

"Wow. Talking to me is nothing, now, is it?"

Hallie's attention snapped to one of the two chairs shoved against the wall.

Another Taktikós sat there, legs dangling over an armrest and head upside down over the other. They wore the same raggedy clothing as Kirphis, but the clothes seemed more their size.

Kirphis sighed. "That's not what I meant."

The Taktikós rolled their eyes and turned their attention to the loitering Hallie and Nikas. How they could sit like that and not get a headrush was a mystery itching to be solved. "Who are they?"

"Hallie and their friend." Kirphis leaned closer to Hallie. "They is a friend, right?"

Hallie stalled. Friend? Were they friends? If so, was she being a good friend? By the gods, she was a bad friend, wasn't she?

"Hallie?"

"O-Oh, yes, he's a friend. Sorry, I spaced out a bit."

"It's fine. This is Taryn, by the way." Taryn raised a hand. "Don't mind her, she's always like that."

Taryn rolled off the chair and hit the floor, causing Hallie to flinch.

Taryn didn't appear affected by the fall, despite the floor being made of stone. "You-"

"No swearing, please."

Nikas nudged Hallie's shoulder. "How could they tell she was going to curse?"

"I don't know," she mumbled back.

Taryn closed her mouth and glared at Kirphis. "Fine, you jerk. I'm a pleasure to be around."

Kirphis nodded. "Yes, you are."

Kirphis and Taryn stared at each with varying levels of intensity. It ended with Taryn mumbling something to herself.

Whatever she said, Kirphis ignored it and sat down on Taryn's chair, earning a scowl from the Taktikós.

"You guys can sit down." Kirphis jerked his head towards the couch separating Taryn's chair and the other one.

Nikas sat down, and Hallie mirrored him. Taryn slunk off to collapse onto the other worn-out chair.

They stayed like that for a while, sitting in a suffocating silence only interrupted by Taryn's jaded cluck of her tongue.

Hallie hugged her knees to her chest. What was she doing here? Asking a question? Ha, that was ridiculous. Absurd. Ludicrous. Laughable. Besides, the question seemed so trivial now. Who cared which ability group held checkmate within their grasp? Not Hallie, that's who. She'd rather go through her life with no hiccups, please and thank you. But obviously, she had to screw that up.

What was she supposed to do now? Talk? No. Talking was never the answer. Seventeen years with her parents taught her that much. The best thing to do was wait until it was over and then get out while you could. "It" being the silence.

She didn't know how her little plan would work - or even what it was, to be honest - but you could bet the gods she was going to make it work. This "it" being the plan.

"So..." Kirphis drew out the word until his voice petered out. "You said you had a question?"

Oh no, there was no way out, was there? The proof was right in front of her: the gods didn't exist. Either that or every single one of them, chiefly Tyche, hated her. Surprising, considering o Días, the king of the gods, felt a romantic attraction to every mortal woman he met.

Hallie shuttered at the thought. Maybe o Días hating her wasn't so terrible.

"Yes." Nikas looked at Hallie, leaning back and lifting his head. "It's nothing too important, just a common interest we happen to share."

Taryn raised her head to get a better view of the conversation. Or the blood finally caught up to her.

"Got it." Kirphis paused. "What is it?"

It came to Hallie's attention that maybe, just maybe, Nikas was stalling too. After all, he didn't know either mortal in the room. Hallie was at least acquainted with Kirphis.

"W-Well, since you know everything, we wanted to ask you what your experience was with Taktikoí and Sómata. P-Particularly, which lives better lives."

Nikas gawked at her. He was most definitely welcome.

Kirphis flushed and looked away. Did they not know they knew everything?

Taryn wheezed. Hallie didn't know what to comment about that.

Taryn toppled over in her seat. "Y-You... H-He..."

Taryn hiccuped and stopped laughing enough for her to continue talking. Still, a grin lay stretched across her face, revealing two dimples in the process. "He has to go somewhere ten times to remember directions."

Kirphis pressed their lips together, cheeks still tinged pink. "I do not!"

Taryn smirked. "Oh yes, you're totally right. You have to go somewhere eleven times." She turned to Hallie. "He's not too bright if you ask me."

Kirphis gave an indignant cry that sent Taryn into another fit of laughter. Hallie heard Nikas quietly chuckle, though that may be her overworked imagination.

After a while of back-and-forth banter, Kirphis sighed and looked away from Taryn. Hallie tensed when she realized he was looking at her.

"I'm sorry to disappoint, but I don't actually know everything." Kirphis half-smiled, his expression twitching when Taryn continued sniggering. "I'm also not the best person to consult for that topic. However-"

A loud thump cut Kirphis off. Hallie twisted in her seat - still holding her legs to her chest - to see that once again, Taryn rolled off the chair.

"I have a bone to pick with that misconception!"

Hallie had no idea if she was completing Kirphis's statement or interrupting him altogether. Perhaps both.

Kirphis threw his hands in the air. "Could you let me finish for once?" Both it is. "Plus, you're going to hurt yourself one of these days. You realize that's stone, right?"

Taryn neglected to address Kirphis's second statement, opting to apply all her focus on the first.

"Why would I do that?"

"Really?"

"Yes."

"Tar-"

"Shut up and let me pick my bone."

Kirphis wrinkled his nose, and Nikas let out a strangled cough. Even Hallie felt her body flinch at Taryn's blunt and strange way to express her feelings towards "The Question", as Hallie now dubbed it.

Kirphis shook his head, but a hint of a smile tugged at the corners of his mouth. Maybe he wasn't that annoyed with Taryn.

"Thank you." Taryn stood up, dusted herself off, and put her body into a wide stance, staring down the two Sómata before her.

"It doesn't matter whether you're a Taktikós or a Sóma. What matters is your social status."

Hallie hunched over underneath Taryn's patronizing look.

"In a position where a Taktikós Kardián has to pick between believing a Taktikós Freed or a Sóma Kardián, the Taktikós will pick their fellow Kardián every time. If somewhat reluctantly."

Nikas leaned forward and cleared his throat. "We kind of figured that may be the case. There aren't any laws giving a clear advantage to either Sómata or Taktikoí that aren't necessary for survival, but there are laws depriving the Freed of their basic rights."

Kirphis winced, and Taryn tapped her fingers against her arm. "Good. I would hate to have to break your thin layer of confidence in your ability with the truth."

Hallie quivered. Taryn displayed no definite and serious signs of hostility, but that didn't change that she was a Freed, and Hallie and Nikas weren't. It was expected for her to hold some form of bitterness towards the upper classes, no matter how small. It just couldn't be helped. And it was deserved.

Taryn twisted her lips and arched her back, stretching until it popped.

"It's nice to know some higher-ups aren't as dense as they make themselves out to be. You'd think, since they're the ones who have access to education, they would be smarter."

Hallie lifted her chin, peeking out of her protective shell. "'Higher-ups'?"

Taryn smirked. "It's what I like to call the Kardiáns and the better-off Mitecs."

Nikas raised his eyebrows. "And they don't hear you?"

Taryn gave him a dry look. "You think they listen to me?"