“You’re not permitted entry to the festival without an invitation,” a guard told Nora and Dyasen as they stopped in front of him.

“We lost ours,” Dyasen said evenly. And Nora had to think that was actually a plausible explanation — he did look like the sort to lose things.

“I’m very sorry, but even if that’s true, I am not permitted to let you enter the festival!”

Dyasen rolled his eyes. “Just let us through.” And suddenly, he seemed much more intimidating. Nora found herself warily eyeing the sword on his back. She glanced at his hand hanging by his side, seeming like it could snap up and draw the weapon in a second.

The guard glanced at him, a look of fear crossing his face, and stepped back.

Dyasen turned to Nora, jerking his head for her to follow. “Come on.”

Eyes wide, she shook her head.

He rolled his eyes again, smacking his forehead with his palm. “Ask me if I’m using my ERA.”

...oh. She cleared her throat nervously. “Are you using your ERA?” she asked in her best demanding voice, using her own on the question.

“Yeah, I am,” he answered, and as she watched, the intimidating aura faded. “Now let’s go.”

Nora glanced at the guard, who was frowning at Dyasen again. Quickly, she followed him, hurrying past the guard and into the keep’s walls.

It was much more friendly inside, at least on the surface. People — mostly well-dressed — wandered about, chatting with each other or sampling the various goods displayed around the square. More people were trickling in and out of the inner keep, a large stone structure that had tried to make up for its cold, imposing design with little colored flags and streamers hanging at various intervals. Lord Leneha clearly had done her best to make the festival as welcoming as possible.

Dyasen and Nora were ignored. Nora because she was known by a number of these people and looked like a local, and Dyasen because right now even Nora couldn’t be bothered to give him a second glance.

“Stop, everyone stop!” a voice cried suddenly, and slowly, the bustling quieted. “No one is allowed to leave! Her Lordship has been assassinated, and we must find the one responsible!”

The bustling came back in full force, except now it was more along the lines of utter chaos as people pushed past each other, trying to get to the exit or steer clear of the guards now making their way into the area.

Shocked, Nora looked at Dyasen, who just pursed his lips and sighed.

“What…” she struggled. Lord Leneha, assassinated? But…

Then a scary thought came to her. Dyasen had hinted at Lord Leneha’s potential replacement. And his teammate — who was someone who killed people — was here on a mission.

The blood drained from her face. “It wasn’t…”

His eyebrows shot up and down quickly as if to say ‘It was,’ then continued into the crowd. He was more notable now — she presumed he’d lessened the amount of energy he was using — but no one paid him any attention anyway. They quickly moved toward the edge of the square, where the guards hadn’t gotten to yet.

Nora wasn’t sure what to think. Dyasen seemed to think highly of his teammate, but… Nora had thought highly of Lord Leneha, and now she was apparently dead, and for no good reason Nora could think of.

“I see you’ve got a tag-along,” a voice said from the side. “How surprising.”

Dyasen turned, and Nora saw a grin spreading across his face.

She followed his gaze to see a person dressed in possibly the coolest outfit she’d ever seen. They sat on a barrel of some sort of liquor, lounging back against the wall behind them, so that one of their white leather boots hung not quite to the ground. The other was perched up on the barrel with them, and a gloved hand rested on their knee, the white leather standing out against the solid black cloth that made up their pant leg. Their sleeves were black as well, and their shirt was patterned black and white, matching the cape that sat loosely underneath them. Even their short hair, which was spiked straight up above their head, was ice white. The only thing colored was a bright metallic blue earring that wrapped around a portion of their right ear — exactly the same one Dyasen had.

“I sure do,” Dyasen said to the person. Nora knew him well enough to hear that he was being almost forcefully cheerful. “This is Nora Sefares. She’s coming to the capital, and yes, she knows what we are. Nora, this is Hexis.”

Hexis looked at Nora, then held up a gloved hand without leaning forward. “Hexis Cansedara. Assassin for the Sheer,” they said. Their dark coppery eyes bit into Nora’s as if daring her to look away.

Nora stepped forward and shook their hand hesitantly. “It’s… nice to meet you.”

They regarded her for a second as if they didn’t believe her.

And Nora wasn’t sure whether she believed herself. Maybe she could give them a chance, even if they’d killed a renowned influence on her town and her life. Maybe they could explain themself. Dyasen had said they were a good person at heart. But… they’d killed Lord Leneha. It just wasn’t something Nora was willing to let go that easily.

Dyasen sighed. “How long do you think it’ll be before someone points you out to the guards?” he asked the assassin.

Hexis set their jaw, glancing to where the guards were making their way through the square. They watched a noble as he frantically raised his arms, getting patted down roughly by a guard as another barked questions at him. Nodding to the man, Hexis quietly said, “He knows it was me.”

Turning to another noble, they continued, “And so does she.”

“And so d-”

“Hey! That’s them! The assassin!” the person they’d been about to nod at cried, raising a shaking finger in their direction. “The one in the white and black!”

Nearly the entire square full of people turned in Hexis’ — and therefore Nora and Dyasen’s — direction.

Nora tensed, fully expecting the other two to leap into action, or make a run for it, or something, but the only thing that happened was that Dyasen’s eyes turned to Hexis, waiting.

Hexis let out a sad sigh. “If it weren’t for people’s own stupidity and irrational fear, I’d have been pointed out a full minute ago.”

“Alright, quit moping,” Dyasen ordered, apparently having had enough of that.

Smiling just slightly, Hexis climbed to their feet. They moved with a sort of powerful grace; every little movement spoke of the fact that they knew their own power, and knew how to use it. Even Dyasen didn’t do that, and Nora had thought he moved like a warrior. They really are the real deal, aren’t they?

“Right then,” Dyasen continued. “Shall we get out, or shall we wait for these guards to give us a ride back?” He jerked his head at the guards who were now quickly closing in on the group, weapons drawn.

A little more light entered the assassin’s eyes. “Let’s just leave,” they decided. “I need to walk for a bit.”

“Then leave we shall.” Dyasen offered them his hand. “Nora, I’m going to put a lot of power in this one, so just make your way to the exit on your own, and we’ll meet outside. We also won’t know who you are for a bit, so… be careful.”

As Nora nodded in understanding, Hexis pulled the glove off of one hand and tucked it in their belt, before putting the now-bare hand in Dyasen’s.

The guards reached them and roughly grabbed Hexis’ shoulders, trying to tug their hand from Dyasen’s, but they both held on, shoving the guards off. Nora backed up quickly, pushing into the crowd of people. Her heart pounded in her temples as she watched her new friend and his companion struggle against more people than she thought they could hope to fight.

And then… confused muttering, because the guards had the wrong people. Instead of grabbing the assassin, they’d grabbed two random passers by who were holding each other’s hands in fear.

“What do you want?” one of them snapped — a man with curly light brown hair and emerald green eyes.

But where did Dyasen and Hexis go? Nora thought, looking around as anxiety trickled into her limbs. Right. I’m just supposed to go outside, because… Dyasen was going to use a lot of power on this one. Which means he’s using his ERA, which can change how people… oh. As her brain found the explanation, she glanced back at the two people, who the guards had just released with a few grunted apologies. Green eyes and copper eyes. She couldn’t recognize them, but using information she already had, she was able to put the pieces together, and then she had to stop herself from laughing aloud.

Nora followed the two strangers as they made their way toward the keep exit. The crowd didn’t pay them any attention, and after taking only a moment to glance around, it took Nora herself a good few seconds to find them again. Geez, that’s not even fair.

“Hey, you!” a voice barked, and hands grabbed her roughly.

She shrieked, squirming.

“Do you know anything about Lord Leneha’s assassination?” the woman who’d grabbed her demanded, spinning Nora around to face her.

“I-  No,” she stammered. It’s okay, she told herself. I’m innocent, so they’ll figure that out and leave me alone. “Do you know anything about it?” she asked, pulling energy with the question.

“All I know is that an assassin made their way into the keep and assassinated the lord, then somehow disappeared into this crowd. But we’ll find them, mark my words.” The guard shook a finger in front of Nora’s nose.

“Well, it wasn’t me!” Nora told her, doing her best to look confused and scared. It wasn’t hard, since that was exactly how she was feeling. “I love — loved — Lord Leneha as much as anybody. I’m from FelSar, so I know firsthand that she was a kind and fair lord.”

The guard nodded, seeming satisfied with her answer. “You’d better get out of here, then.” She gave Nora a rough push, and Nora stumbled away, hurrying toward the keep’s exit.

Relief flooded through her the second she made it under the stone archway. She quickly turned away from the road, walking through the dry grass toward a few lone oak trees about thirty feet away. There were some people there already, though, and she almost turned away to find a different place to wait, but then something about the people changed, and she realized who they were.

Nora ran over, a grin spreading across her face despite herself. Dyasen looked rather smug about the whole thing, and Hexis seemed considerably more cheerful — and friendly — than they had before. It would have been hard to believe that they’d killed Lord Leneha, if it weren’t for the constant intensity burning beneath their gaze.

“We really got out of there with hardly any commotion at all,” Nora said, only half believing it.

Dyasen and Hexis bumped fists, then turned to Nora at the exact same time, fists outstretched and waiting.

What is with these people? Uncertainly, she raised both her hands, curling them into fists and pushing them against the waiting ones.

Dyasen said, “Eh,” and Hexis said, “We’ll work on that.”