“Ah... I see.”

The drum of Toadfish filtering in through the window fills the room until Avarice broke the peace. “Did you enjoy Winters Solstice Eve, yesterday?”

“I did.”

“I’m glad.” He said pleasantly. "Now, I hope you don't mind but I need to go remind a client of their due date. You don't want to come."

"And after you return, oh merciful lord?"

"Well, a courtier has been begging me to take their youngest son as an apprentice. Lady Lilkia hopes to turn her boys into warriors."

"For a price?" I made an exaggerated gesture.

"That is the price, Ignais always needs more warriors for the war and I have time to spare, if you can believe it."

"Excuse me- War?"

By the time I said anything, Avarice had slung his bow over his shoulder and locked the door behind him. How rude.

The first thing I'd done once he'd left was try the window. Locked. So were the others and soon I found myself with nothing to do but watch snow pile lazily on bare tree branches; it was dusty and sparse this day.

I’d never known this, the first month it had been a breath of fresh air compared to the oppression I was accustomed to, the freedom was enlightening .Now, in Avarice’s absence, since I’d discovered who he really was, the once peaceful quiet was a torture beyond reason. I needn’t worry myself with fear of abduction, The Fallen had assured me, but still I did.

Some minutes passed before I noticed a pair of beady black eyes peeking through the opening of a hidden nook in the corner. I froze, heart lurching, as a small creature skittered out and under the bed. The thing sprung at me, latching onto my ankle and scrambling up my leg. I shrieked, fruitlessly swatting at it until I tripped over my own feet and landed on back. It stood on my chest now, it was more draconian up close, armored in olive green scales.

It squeaked at me, spitting harmless sparks of fire and coughing up puffs of white smoke. More scrambled out from their hiding place, some happily crawling up under my sweater while others cooled around my ankles. Where do these creatures come from anyways?

I spent the following four hours fighting to scarf down the food Nihasa brought me, the little dragons still made off with nearly a third of the platter. After wrestling each other for the bits they'd stolen, they trotted back over to scale my legs. The immediately clawed their way up to tug on the ends of my hair and nuzzle my wings. Then door swung open.

"What a surprise, I thought they'd disdain you forever." Avarice cooed. "Ready to go Zaki or do you need some help?"

"I can handle it." I say as I miserably fail to do exactly that.

Avarice sighed and moved to help peel some of the dragonlings hanging just out of reach. "I'm sure the room will be trashed by the time we get back."

"Ah, Lord Avarice, I see you've brought along your pet." Lady Lilkia.

"Hm, I don't think 'pet' is a good word for what he is. You see, he bites."

"So, you've found yourself a new intimidation tool? How wonderful, perhaps you should let me borrow him."

"I'm not deaf, you know, and I love no one seems to care how I'd feel about being passed around like a collectable." I cut in.

"He bites." Avarice teased, draping an arm across my shoulders. "but in all seriousness, I think we've wasted enough daylight, Lady Lilkia."

The lady briefly left the chamber to retrieve a young boy, no older than 17 at most. He kept his head down, intimidated by a certain someone, until his eyes found me. The timid facade had vanished in those few fleeting seconds it took for him to notice me, replaced with a deluge of questions directed at Avarice, who appeared quite amused with the situation but withheld answers.

"What's your name kid?"

"Kigam, Sir."

"Well, Kigam, the sooner we leave, the sooner we can get started." Avarice made a 'come here' sort of gesture. "Try to keep up, it would be pretty embarrassing to be out-flown by a Niceoan."

I sat by, knees tucked to my chest, and watched Avarice show the boy to better hold the bow and shoot birds mid flight. He's pretty good with the kid, I realize. I also realize that he's been glancing back every few minutes as if I thought I could out-fly him. Every time after I noticed, I gave him a seething glare. Honestly, with his talent, he could have a much more honorable career raising soldiers rather than his current loan-shark business.

A stray arrow punctured the tree mere inches from my face, scratching the side of my ear.

"Hey! Watch where you're aiming!"

Avarice and Kigam looked at me confused. Then Avarice went pale upon studying the "stray arrow" and whipped his head from side to side in search of something. "Find cover." He ordered, drawing out his bow.

Kigam stumbled over to a copse of trees, waving for me to follow. Begrudgingly I did for the sake of self preservation. Avarice, however, bunkered down behind a small boulder on the edge of the cliff. Scanning the vast forest below, he became suddenly alert and let lose a few arrows before stumbling away.

"Fly!" He choked out, prompting us to obey immediately. Rising from the cliff's edge behind him was a swarm of Lerverii, firing at us from so close above. Except, there was no safe way to take off so we elected to run like our wings were on fire; Avarice pausing to cut down a handful of panel-wings.

One of the bug creatures zipped by Kigam, felling the boy before I could yank him back. Instead he keeled backwards, conveniently right into my waiting arms, red blooming across his throat and already spluttering from his mouth. Immediately I clapped a hand over the wound, draining a good deal of my energy to seal the damage but the Lerverian blade had cut quite deep and the boy was practically suffocating on his own fluid. Kigam went limp.

“AVARICE!” I slurred. By the time I'd called out, he was prying the boy from me.

“No,” His voice cracked, shaking the body as if to wake them up. “Don't go-"

“Avarice-" I latched onto him, slowing his movements. "Avarice stop it!”

“No! Not like this, not to another Lerverian rat!” He kept on muttering even after the winter drained the body’s warmth away completely in his arms.

I only squeezed his arm, not knowing what else I could do, afraid I’d be slapped if I tried to do more. It's strange to see him, of all people, like this but I suppose I've seen stranger things in Ignais.

Avarice ceased suddenly, pushing the child back into my arms, freeing up his arms. His bow appeared in his hands and knocked with a stunning six harpoon arrows. In a moment, all six Lerverii lay unseen through the trees, writhing in their own blood; their squeals echoing. Then we were flying, the corpse still bundled in my arms, Avarice's arms hooked under my arm pits.

We stood in The Fallen's sitting room, separating us from her private chambers. She appeared in the door, taking in the sorry pair before her, raising a single speculative eyebrow in reaction to the swathed thing cradled in Avarice's arms. He dropped his gaze and she sighed, floating over to relieve him of his burden. A dense silence fell over us after she disappeared back into the other connected chamber and I found myself distracted by the unusual decorations I'd neglected to investigate the last time I was here.

“I know, you don’t want to stay.” Avarice said plainly, shattering the tension. "You went for the window this morning."

“Cloud Spire is worse.”

“Where then?”

“Anywhere but here and Cloud Spire, somewhere quiet and safe for my sister.”

“Have you considered that she might want to stay in Cloud Spire?”

I made an amused sound. “I go where she goes, If she wants to stay, I'll figure something out.”

“I think you're too concerned with your sister's wellbeing. I think you're letting others decide who you are.”

"Ugh, despite what you 'think,' I'm not having an identity crisis."

He only gave me a disapproving look and proceeded to change the subject: "I didn't realize how close we were to the Hive today. Kigam's blood is on my hands."

"What do the Lerverii want from Ignais?"

"They want our territory, they grow stronger everyday and without the Goddess, they'll succeed. Which is why we've been so much more active lately, we're looking for something."

I opened my mouth to respond when the Goddess appeared from the other room, cradling a small dragon, which she placed into Avarice's waiting arms. Then, at noticing my stare: "This was Avarice's idea."

I gawked at him now.

"Yes, they're all children." Avarice explained.