A twig snapped in the dark forest as Vachna trudged on to meet Banghr. He could hear the whispers of the trees and the sounds of the forest twilight. Owls hooted and coyotes howled he stepped over a pile of putrid smelling dung. He was about to continue walking when he circled back.

Fear flooded his body and panic bloomed in his chest. That was no ordinary animal dropping.
Vachna turned on his heel. He must have been mistaken. He began to walk away only to be annoyed by a swarm of Flitter Faeries. He swatted at the cloud, a faery zipped over to his hand, chomping down hard on his finger.

"OWWWW!" he roared and swiped at the faery so strongly it fell out of the sky and landed in the pile of dung.

"Vachna?" a female voice called. "Is that you?" 

"Banghr," He breathed and jogged toward the location the voice came from. Then he saw her. She was strolling around in a clearing. She was breathtakingly beautiful, with long, golden bouncing curls, bright sapphire eyes and pale skin dotted with freckles.  

"Vachna," she cried, spotting him. She ran over and gave him a quick hug. "We meet again, old friend!" 

"How do the master and mistress plan to carry out the plan on the travelling couple?" Vachna asked, getting straight to the point.

"They have asked us to pretend to be siblings that have had their parents murdered by the master and mistress," she began. "We have to gain their trust and then use our Majik to persuade the girl to use her powers to give the mistress what she wants." 

"Why can we not use our own powers?"

"Our powers are too weak," she replied. "The girl's power is strong, stronger than master has ever felt before. Ever since the girl has been near, he has felt lost of power flowing through her, so strong it gave him headaches."

"Jeez," he murmured, impressed. "That must be a lot of power. Is the girl aware?"

"According to the mind reader she is not, and her traveling companion doesn't seem to be aware either," she answered.

"Well, I guess we have nothing to lose, then!" Vachna clapped his hands together.

"There is one more thing..." she trailed off, biting her lip.

"What is that one more thing?" he pressed, slightly worried about what she would say.

"Disguises..." Banghr grinned mischievously.

* * *

"Where in Hyswæ did you get these?!" Vachna exclaimed, amazed as he sorted through a chest of costumes and disguises. He tossed a ripped, dirty blue dress to Banghr. It looked as though it would fall around her kness. She caught it in one hand without even looking at where it was coming from. 

"A little costume shop down south in Asiacus," she said. "It's surprising how many costumes they have, and for so many different occasions..."

Vachna turned his head to look at her. "Isn't that the place with all the waterfalls on the buildings?" he asked. He'd only ever heard of the lush city of Asiacus, he'd never actually seen it.

"Yes," she replied. "It's a beautiful place Asiacus, a beautiful place."

Vachna looked up at her, she was wearing the blue dress he had given her and her face was streaked with mud, her hair frizzy and wild. He, on the other hand, wore a simple grey shirt with dark blue denim jeans, ripped and muddy in some places. They both wore the same sandals they'd had on before -- there was no reason not to, right?

Banghr spun around in her frock, seeming satisfied with the outfit. "Well," she took out a bronze compass out of a pocket and glanced at her watch, "we'd better get going."