#naith

KRIZ

Ya know, I think I was a pretty happy kid. I don’t remember my parents much, but who does, when they die when you’re that young, right? Right. Yeah, they died. I never figured out how it happened, or why, but one night this… loud-ass noise woke me up and when I tried the door, it… was way too hot to open. The knob, ya know? My dad sat with me that night, when I fell asleep, so I guess he left his cloak and his dagger with him and, well, when I couldn’t get outta my room it just kinda hit me that… my parents couldn’t either. I guess I really didn’t think about anything in the moment, just grabbed the stuff my dad left, hopped out the window and… ran. Without looking back. Which is pretty stupid but I was… scared.

That’s the only time you’re ever gonna hear me say that. I was a kid, cut me some slack.

So yeah, I ran. Found myself in the next town over, in the middle of some traveling troupe’s camp. I think I literally collapsed there, at their fire, early in the morning, so when they woke they just… found this little kid lying in the dirt in a raggedy shirt with a too-big cloak and a knife. If you don’t think that’s fuckin hysterical, then I dunno what is.

They all took care of me and asked me all these questions but… I really didn’t know how to answer them, so I didn’t. They kept me around for a while, took me traveling with them all the way to Orwake and by then I left to be with another troupe, and then I joined up with a really cute merchant named Brocine and… I found myself in Orwake all over again.

And then I just. Couldn’t take it. Following the same Fate-given paths, going through the town after town, all of them the same. Sure, I met a couple people on the way. Like Lorca, or Railu, or Matilda and Brat, but… I knew it just wasn’t for me. I didn’t want to be stuck in the same place all my life. So I just… kept the things that mattered to me and left.

I followed those paths for a while, until I noticed where they branched off, like, the least bit, and then I followed that. And then I went off the paths altogether. After a while, I started going from town to town, asking about the regions and what they typically stayed away from… ya know, like small-town legends? And then I just… did it.

I guess that’s how I got myself into the Hollows. I figured, after a while, that if I could tackle the small “dangerous” stuff, why couldn’t I do the big ones? And they really aren’t that bad! Honest! Sword to my throat, I swear, if you’re not in those woods for a test of courage or whatever the fuck, most of the stuff will leave you alone.

NAITH

What’s there to know? I grew up alone, well… mostly alone.

We lived in the same orphanage. Did everything together, slept, ate, worked… we even ran away together. We thought it was best if we just… left, just the two of us, going to a different town, making a living on our own, even though we were still children. It’s a wonder we didn’t starve.

We stole everything we needed, everything we could, really. We got really good at it. And when I started spying on those magic lessons, we got even better. I sat by that old window for days, picking up the basics of a class we didn’t have the money to take. I remember hoping that my stomach didn’t growl loud enough to blow my cover. I learned a lot, and we used that knowledge together. But, even then… it wasn’t enough, for both of us.

We were older, and angry, when I realized that no matter what we did, we would never have what we wanted. We’d never have our stomachs full or clean clothes or a roof over our heads to call our own or hear someone other than ourselves say “I love you.” And we clung to each other and we cried and we cursed Fate and… it hit me, then, that Fate was out issue. And if we somehow got around Fate and our die, then, well, nothing would be able to stop us.

It took years of studying those magic classes and experimenting and being so close to giving up. I was so focused on getting this right that… I didn’t realize that we were growing distant, and we didn’t talk as much, and… and sometimes we spent nights not seeing each other.

When I figured it out, the spell, I took both our die and spelled them and we… were so happy. The first thing we did was persuade a barkeep into giving us free drinks and a room to stay in for the night. An actual room. We hadn’t slept in a bed for so long…

And when I woke up in the morning… we were no longer together. And I didn’t think anything of it until I got wind of the attacks, the rumors of it just being one rogue…

So it’s my fault. And I did this. And I know that all of it was wrong but… can you blame us? For wanting more? For wanting better? For hating the thing that held us back, that held everyone else so close and dear and… I can’t say I did anything wrong. But this is what I have to do now.

The rogue is in the wrong, okay? Not me. If you wanted some… I don’t know, epic tale, some journey story, some, some, I don’t know, legendary, virtuous fairytale, then this isn’t it. I’m just cleaning up a mess someone else made, all by themselves.

I’ll stop the rogue, and make it up to the people that were hurt. We aren’t we anymore, but that doesn’t mean I’ll stop acting like it.

BRAT

Oh! Hi! I’m Brat! I’m Matilda’s daughter and Kriz’s best friend and Rowwen’s app-ren… aprend… apprendice… apprentice! I can’t… really say that word right. But I’m trying! I’m eight!

I lived with Matilda in Rendale for a while when I was really little. I don’t really remember much about when I was there. I remember being in Matilda’s belly, though! People don’t believe me, but I do! It was really warm, and everything was kind of… red, a lil’ bit? Most of the time it was really loud, like a whole buncha bands played all at once! It hurt my ears real bad. But it just hurt a lot. I remember hurting… like I was burning. But it’s kinda funny, because Rowwen’s real careful and makes sure I never get hurt…

I remember Kriz, though!! He stopped by at the inn and always made me laugh and had the best stories! And we played together a lot! I remember making Matilda’s cups fall off the bar by just moving my finger, and Kriz would laugh real hard. But… when I was supposed to be sleeping, I heard him and Matilda yelling at each other a lot. I don’t think I’m supposed to know, so don’t tell them!!

I think I was three when Kriz woke me up one morning and said that I was going with him. I was really, really happy because Kriz was always doing such cool stuff, and he carried me on his shoulders a lot and we made a campfire next to the trading road and slept outside…

And then he brought me to Distell and told me to be good for Rowwen, and that he would be going on without me. I cried. A lot. And Kriz hugged me and hugged me and said he was sorry, and when I stopped crying, he told me that he would take me with him, but only if I was good for Rowwen and did everything he told me and learned a lot.

So, I stayed. And Rowwen’s really nice but… he makes me learn a lot. And that’s not a bad thing! It’s just… he gets mean, when I don’t do something right, and sometimes he yells a lot and it’s just… scary. I end up going to Lorca’s house when that happens, because Rowwen gets really scary even when he’s done being scary-scary. Lorca’s nice, though. He gives really good hugs, and he always makes me special candy when I spend the night.

As the mercury rises, the shirts come off.