Hallie would like to clarify that it was not her idea to visit Hoiples without Nikas. No, no, no. It was Nikas's idea. He was still salty about Taryn maybe-maybe-not being a thief.

She begged him to go; he begged her to stay.

So here she was.

Semele hummed as she skipped beside Hallie, Kirphis and Miscenus walking a few paces ahead. Somehow, all three of them were calmer without Taryn to pick fights and instigate petty melodrama.

It was also important to note that Perialla was also missing from the herd, having also stayed behind. It was for the best. Taryn and Nikas weren't exactly the best of friends.

"We're almost there!" Semele shouted and jumped onto Miscenus's back. Luckily, no one was around to give her any glares.

Miscenus stopped walking and stood stock still, arms out to form a Τ. Kirphis watched with unconcealed amusement.

"You're no fun," she said, sliding off his back.

Kirphis chuckled. "And you're extra."

He slipped into an alley, followed by Miscenus roaring with laughter and an outraged Semele, shaking her fists.

Hallie grinned and followed as well.

It was nice seeing this new side of the three of them. The two boys were more relaxed and willing to joke around, less burdened by what responsibility they must feel for keeping Taryn in check and not challenging an irate Kardián to a duel.

Semele was different, too. More in Miscenus and Kirphis's fond insults getting to her than changing her actual character, though.

That was probably exaggerated; they still had Semele to worry about, and Kirphis was tenser than usual. They bumped into him thirty seconds after they left. Back then, he appeared melancholy. Scared. Haunted. He unraveled and became more relaxed as time wore on, but Hallie could see it in his eyes. It was a mask.

She would hug him. He needed a hug. She made a mental note to hug him.

Even so, it was nice seeing their other sides. So nice, she almost didn't feel the tightening of her chest as she stepped into the alley. Almost.

When she caught up, Semele seemed to have forgotten why she was mad and Miscenus intent on moving a slab of limestone.

"It's almost out," he grunted. Kirphis moved to help him, anyway.

Semele evaluated their progress as if she were their manager and them her subordinates. "I didn't hire you to slack off, you know."

"And I didn't accept the job to listen to your nitpicking, you know."

With a final thrust, the limestone heaved forward, pushing the other slabs of limestone away from it. The furthest slab Hallie could see peeking out beneath the opposite building.

Semele jumped into the hole revealed by the limestone and crouched down until only the tufts of her black hair showed.

She emerged a second later with a handful of jewelry: gold necklaces, platinum earrings, and silver necklaces, all sprawled over Semele's hands like water on dirt.

"Taryn's grandfather left her all that?" Hallie asked as she admired a wedding ring displaying a depiction of Éros.

"Yup." Semele didn't look her in the eye.

No one spoke as Hallie turned over the jewelry. She wondered if they were waiting for her to call foul, to call their bluff. She wouldn't. She had no proof, and besides, she owed them that much.

Hallie looked up and met Semele's tense eyes. "Do you sell these to anyone who will take them or just Hoiples?"

She relaxed. "Just Hoiples. No one else will buy from a Freed." Semele frowned. "Or do they not want to break the law?"

"It doesn't matter." Miscenus stooped down and took the stones, making them disappear into his roúcha. "Hoiples is the only one we can trust not to ask questions."

"That makes sense... You have pockets?"

"Yeah. It was nothing a sewing kit and an afternoon couldn't handle."

Semele hopped out of the hole and helped Kirphis slide the limestone back into place. It took longer to close than to open; there were so many slabs to push back into place. Hallie chipped in, if only to make herself feel useful and speed the process up.

Miscenus checked each slab to make sure they lined up with each other and the unmoved slabs, while Kirphis made sure nobody was being nosy. They probably should have done that first.

"Okay, we're good," Miscenus said, standing up.

Semele took off running and plunged deeper into the alley. "Hoiples is this way!"

Hallie swallowed her fear and ran after.

She burst out onto a new street, the sudden change in lighting causing her to blink away the inky black spots in her vision.

Hoiples's cart sat to the right, unmoved and unchanged from the first and only time Hallie visited. Hoiples had his elbow on the table and his head resting in his hand, his dark brown hair blowing gently in the midday breeze.

Semele walked over to the cart and stooped down to look Hoiples in the eye. "'Sup," she said, mimicking his posture and stance.

He grinned and pushed himself up. "Why hello, my dear! Did you bring me anything good?"

"You heard the man, Cenus!"

"I did, no need to shout."

Miscenus dug out a cufflink and stepped forward to barter with Hoiples.

As the two discussed pricing, Semele dragged Hallie to look at the jewelry on display. The jewelry they sold to Hoiples.

There weren't many to look at - most had to be in a storage container - but one particular pendant protruded out from the bunch.

A small rectangular chunk of polished, white marble hung from a twisted silver chain. The letters alpha and nu carved into the marble in loopy cursive writing.

Hallie took the pendant in her hands, untangling the chain and holding it up to the light.

"AN"

Auge Nephus.

Hallie's sister only took off the pendant to sleep, as she always had since their parents gave it to her for her tenth birthday. She never let it tarnish or scratch or so much as brush Hallie's hand. Even now, it felt eerie and wrong holding it.

Auge loved the pendant more than anything. She would never lose it.

"You like that one?" Semele asked and used her index to spin the marble on its axis. "It's beautiful. We sold it about two weeks ago, I think. I wonder what the alpha nu stands for..."

Hallie brought the pendant back down to the table.

Nikas wouldn't like this.

~~~

"This is stupid."

"I know, Taryn."

"I should've gone with them."

Perialla sighed. "You know why that wouldn't have ended well."

Taryn glared at her. "So I called him a prokyon, big deal! He wouldn't shut up about how pleased he was to do business with me. With me."

"And you don't see why that's not a nice thing to say?"

"It was three years ago!"

Nikas had to admit, this was entertaining. More entertaining than any of the plays Charax had him perform in the past five years.

"She is right, though," Nikas said. "He is a suck-up."

"Not helping." Perialla rubbed her temples. "Please don't turn into another headache."

Nikas shrugged, but Taryn wasn't done.

"You - both of you - would've called him one too had you had a second less of sleep!"

"That's fair."

Nikas slumped lower into his chair. "What do they even need to do with Hoiples?"

"Trade. Exchange. Barter. Swap. Take your pick," Taryn said. "We have stashes of my inheritance scattered around the city. We trade that for drachmés."

Ridiculous. Absolutely ridiculous.

Nikas would use profanity to describe his bubbling anger and the complete utter lies falling from Taryn's mouth, but he was too upset to string more than those two words together. He could also feel Semele's disappointment.

Nikas wasn't a jerk; stealing was probably the only way a Freed could survive in this world. He just couldn't help the resentment the very thought of thievery brought up.

"When are you going to stop lying?" Nikas crossed his arms. No use beating around the bush. "I know - Hallie, too - you don't have an inheritance."

Perialla looked away. Taryn did the opposite. She looked him in the eye, a fake smile stretched from ear to ear.

"Whatever do you mean?"

"I mean your whole story about your Kardián grandfather," Nikas said. "It's not true."

"Hmm?"

"Oh, don't play dumb." Nikas glared at her. "It doesn't take a genius to figure it out. The story had more holes in it than Árgos Panóptis had eyes. Plus, it doesn't help that I saw you pickpocket Hallie that day at the Kýrous."

Taryn was stunned. Perialla snapped her head back to the conversation. "You did what?"

The girl had to compose herself before she found her voice. "It was only her birth certificate. And I gave it back."

"I know. I saw that, too. I also know what you were going to do with it. Identity fraud is a more serious crime than stealing, you know."

"I know!" Taryn shook as she clenched her fists. "I know that! I know all that. I know it's wrong and illegal and 'bad for the economy' or whatever. But you know what else is wrong, illegal, and bad for the economy?"

"Let's calm down, now-" Perialla's efforts went unnoticed.

"Letting an entire group of mortals go without the things they need to survive. To live. Leaving them to die."

Nikas crossed his arms. "I never said the laws surrounding the Freed were fair."

"Then why? Why are you still making a big deal of this?" Taryn glared at Nikas. "I hate this town, and it hates me. I do what I must to combat that. If it still bothers you, just think of it as us collecting our paychecks for being your stepping stones."

Taryn sat down, arms and posture reflective Nikas's. Perialla looked between the two of them.

Nikas didn't know what to feel at this point. He did, however, pity Perialla. She caught in the middle of their fight, stuck between a friend and a girlfriend. Nikas found her to be the voice of elegant reason he wished the world would listen to. He would gladly support her if she became the first female tyrant of Kardiá.

"'Your stepping stones'?" Nikas asked. "Everything I have I worked for."

He reached down the neck of his roúcha and yanked out his necklace. The looks on their faces. He would have to laugh later.

"I spent the past five years working my way up from nothing. Nothing but the roúcha on my back and this godsforsaken necklace. I lived on the street for three years and waited hours for a measly cup of water. I know you two go through far worse every day, but I'm just as much a stepping stone. Just a little more polished."

Nikas let them watch the necklace spin in the air for a few seconds longer before tucking it back into his shirt. Then they snapped out of their trance.

"I... didn't know that," Taryn said, muscles stiff. "But that doesn't explain why you hate the idea of stealing so much."

Nikas looked away. He was an idiot. It shouldn't bother him that much.

"I used to work for Hoiples."

Taryn raised an eyebrow. "So? Also, I never saw you."

Neither have I, yet here we are.

Nikas almost smiled at the touché his mind supplied. In Taryn's voice and everything.

"I was his advertisement. I would run around Kardiá advertising his 'wide array of elaborate goods'." He chuckled. "I still don't know if it was a ploy to rake in more money, help a kid he found on the street, or get someone into his debt. It worked, though."

Taryn made a gesture for him to continue.

"I could have bought a place two years after I got here. But that chance was ruined."

Perialla leaned forward, enraptured as if she were listening to a tale of adventure. "By what?"

"By a pickpocket."

Taryn blinked at him. Perialla was - dare he say - even more shocked and horrified than when he said Taryn almost stole from Hallie.

Taryn's mouth twitched, then she burst out laughing.

"I'm not kidding," he growled.

"I- I know you're not." Taryn gasped and got a hold of herself. "You think we stole from you. And I find that hilarious. We only steal from the uber-rich Kardiáns. It's one reason why we mostly steal jewelry."

Nikas bit his lip. "You sure?"

"Absolutely."

"Okay... That makes me feel better."

Taryn smiled and went back to complaining to Perialla about not getting to have her "rematch" with Hoiples.

Nikas watched the banter as he had before, content to continue until Hallie got back. Maybe he'd throw in his two cents this time around.

He wouldn't mind this.