She can see the smoke wafting from his mouth. His red eyes are glaring at her as he laughs maniacally. “Oh, you think you’re free, lanai hama?” he sneers. His translucent skin seems to blend with the shadows as they stretch towards her.

“Nai, nai,” she cries, moving as far back as she can. She doesn’t want to be touched by the daemin. The shadows keep moving towards her, engulfing her legs then moving up her body. She can hear the screams as her own as she is slowly being swallowed by the shadows. No matter how much she fights, how much she runs. She’s slowly going to be caught by the shadows and swallowed.

~

She belts out a scream, jerking up. Her grey eyes dart around, on edge. Where is she? She looks around the room. It’s… different. It doesn’t smell. The room isn’t white with a long window. There is no cot and even the floor looks comfortable. She looks down to see a thick blanket of some kind. The bed is soft too. She could spend forever in it. Falling back into the bed, she sighs.

She sits back, finally becoming more cognizant of her situation. Her eyes look around the room, trying to get a sense of where she is. The last thing she remembers is seeing that… Umbram talking to her with his grimy grey hand around her throat and then her jumping out of the tall building. Her breath hitches. The man said she was part Umbram. Her? Umbram? That was so absurd she could laugh until she was crying.

Aria shakes her head. “Nai, Aria. Focirè. Niàn erie?” she begins whispering to herself, trying to figure out her current location. It is a bit difficult, when one doesn’t really know much about the faireborne lands of Allanus. After escaping that place, she had been running for days, fighting exhaustion and the effects of that gas she had inhaled. Which wasn’t helpful at all since she also had wounds from jumping out of a building!

The sound of the door clicking alerts her and has her straightening her back. Preparing for whatever danger enters the room. She narrows her eyes, readying herself for conflict as the door slowly creaks open.

A head pokes itself through the opening, revealing a small child with a wide grin on his face. Aria raises an eyebrow, confused. “You’re finally awake! I could feel your mind racing instead of the dull drone it’s had for the past few days,” he explains. His brown eyes seem to glow as he continues to grin.

She nods,” Nao Arim.” He cocks his head to the side, confused.

“What?”

“Oh, uh. Good morning,” she stammers, a bit nervous. This is the first time she has been around anyone nonthreatening in years… she isn’t going to know how to handle calmer situations.

Suddenly the boy stumbles in, followed by another one. This one definitely older, but he looks so similar that Aria has to blink in order to make sure she didn’t see the boy grow instantly.

“Evritt, you are blocking the door. I have to check her health vitals remember?” the taller boy says. He adjusts the lenses on his face and then pulls his curly hair back into a ponytail. His brown eyes assesses her as he slowly moves toward her. “What do you remember?” he asks.

She furrows her brows, thinking about his question. He is speaking slow enough that she can follow but it is still a bit difficult. “Remember… like remier?  Where am I?” she asks back.

The boy raises an eyebrow,” Uh, are you speaking Allani? That is an olden language, not even taught in academies anymore! That is so cool!” Realizing his excitement, he clears his throat,” You were sleeping for three days. You snuck into our house one night and then passed out from sickness.” Hearing this only sends a flurry of embarrassment through Aria. How unseemly of her to do this and to be so weak as to be at the mercy of these two… strange people.

She clears her throat,” Oh… I was not any trouble, was I?” Her grey eyes look hopefully to the both of them. She feels terrible that she had inconvenienced them and it would be worse if she was worse than pleasant.

Elias chuckles nervously. This girl seems very… strange to have been a prisoner. He doesn’t trust those remorseful looking eyes or her slumped figure that has the weight of the world pressing down on it. But for the moment, she hasn’t tried to seriously harm or kill them, so he will tread lightly. “Nothing worse than normal, miss. We just nursed you back to semi health. It is still going to be a little bit before whatever was in your system leaves completely. Which is strange. These are very strong and heavy toxins you had in your body.” He continues talking, diving into the analysis he did on some of her saliva. Which loses the attention of both Evritt and Aria.

“Sorry about him. He goes on very technical tangents that nobody understands but him. I’m Evritt!” the small boy chirps. He grins. Now that he’s getting a good look at the girl, Evritt wants to help her. She just seems… tired and lonely. He even moves closer, excited to speak to her.

She looks at him, confused at his, well their kindness. She is an escaped prisoner and they are still helping her. The other is still talking not even seeing that they both began ignoring him. She turns to the little one. “Aria. Aria sae naesi.” she answers, her eyes glinting at the boy. Strange. He is definitely a faireborne, but he has abilities not normal to them. “You are faireborne, yes?” she struggles to ask. After years of minimal use of her speech, she is struggling to have a simple conversation, especially when it isn’t in her native language.

Evritt nods,” Yes. We are faireborne. At least that is the technical term.” He cocks his head to the side. She is definitely strange. But in a good way! It isn’t everyday that they meet someone who refers to them as faireborne. It’s almost taboo.

Elias finishes his long explanation, finally seeing that they stopped listening to him. He looks over at his little brother, who asks,” Are you faireborne? You are using the proper terms so I’m assuming you’re probably a bit high up on the social status.” He rolls his eyes, feeling a bit insulted.

“You both didn’t want to wait until I finished to start introductions?” he asks in a huff before glancing at the girl. Her grey eyes seem way more intimidating than when she was tackling him in their kitchen. Maybe it’s because she is conscious now. She tilts her head towards him, waiting.

Whoops… maybe that was a bit too much sauce. He chuckles nervously,” Sorry, I snap when I’m nervous. I am Elias. And you said your name is Aria?”

Aria nods, enjoying the personality differences between the two. As an only child, she has never experienced this. So it is interesting to see.

“Ok, now that we have been introduced. Back to my question. Are you faireborne as well?” Evritt asks. He almost leaps on the bed in anticipation. His dark brown eyes look intrigued with this new person. Especially since he has had to hid inside the house for most of his life. It’s nice to see someone who isn’t his genius brother for once.

She chuckles, a bit more relaxed than when she had awoken. “Nai. I am Eliari.”

Elias’s eyes widen and he nearly stumbles over air. Evritt furrows his brows,” Eliari? Which clan is that?” his older brother turns to him, incredulously.

“You have never heard of this clan? Are you serious? Mother and Father used to tell us those tales of people one with nature. Able to create a balance between land and man. One of the Older Clans from the Ancient Times!” then he points at Aria,” And you, are Eliari? That is so cool!” Aria stiffens, a bit uncomfortable. Tales? Her people has been reduced to being in story tales… that is not very pleasant.

She nods, seeming to sink in the bed further now. Her eyes gloss over as she holds in tears, remembering the screams and the torment of her clan. With those screams comes the looks of disgust and the words shouted at her.

Evritt quickly picks up on her change in mood and gulps. “So, anyway. We will go prepare food. Elias had bought clothes for you to wear and there is the bath area, for you to refresh yourself and all of that. Afterwards, just follow the noise of Elias talking and you will find the kitchen. With that, he quickly grabs ahold of Elias and tugs him out of the room.

“Why did you pull me out, little brother? I had questions,” Elias pouts.

Evritt rolls his eyes,” Unlike you, I can sense her change in mood and I am being courteous. She needs time to herself at the moment.”

Aria sighs. Is this how far she had fallen? Granted, her life wasn’t the happiest, or the most loving. But this quite literally could be the lowest point of her 21 years of existence. And to top it all off, the daemin seems to think she is part Umbram. Impossible. She refuses to believe it. She stands,” I don’t believe it. It can’t be true.”

She moves into the bath area and marvels at the interior. It is just so cozy. The tan and green colors are very earthy and the little spots of blue just add a cool tone to it. She begins to clean herself. Maybe she can scrub off the years of filth she’s accumulated and then the lies of that Umbram. She is not. She can’t be. She has no bloodthirst, no malice. Her eyes aren’t even red! They are as grey as steel, just like the Eliari.  While the Eliari are born with varying shades of dark brown skin, thick black coils that are never to be shorter than shoulder length and grey eyes, Umbra are born with pale grey skin and bloody red eyes. Their hair normally varies from blue-black to dark brown. So, there is no way that Aria could be any part of that clan.

She sees a bag laying next to the sink and tilts her head. So these must be the clothes that she was given. As she changes into the clothes, she keeps chanting. Trying to reassure herself. “I’m not Umbram. I am not, I refuse to believe it.” She even stares at the mirror. Of course, she isn’t. But… what if it’s a possibility? It could explain why she was an outcast. It could explain everything.

Her heart begins racing at the thought. Why is she even entertaining this now? She can’t deny that there may be a chance. She was told her mother died giving birth. She had run away from the village, then stumbled back, pregnant, telling no one but anjuhwo and anja about her ordeal. She has to know.

The longer Aria stares at herself, the more she sees the impurities. She may just be making it up in her head, but her whole clan saw them so they must be there… somewhere. Her eyes fall on some shears in the midst of her silent meltdown. She doesn’t deserve anything Eliarin. She isn’t worthy.

~

“Ayai,” the brothers hear Aria greet. They both glance up at her, surprised at how different she looks when clean and not as sick. Dressed in the sleeveless tunic and the boots they got, she looks like she’s going into battle. Her hair, which was knotted from years of being in braids, is now cut very short. The middle of her hair is still kind of long, hanging against the side of her face.

Evritt raises his eyebrows,” You look different.” Only to be elbowed in the side by Elias.

She nods,” I needed a change. Um, thank you for your hospitality, but I really must go. I am sure you may have figured out, but I am bound to bring trouble and it is better if I don’t stay too long here.” She watches as Evritt’s face drops. Elias sighs.

“I mean, she is right. It probably isn’t the safest to stay here,” Elias agrees. Evritt glances at his brother, almost hurt.

He stands up,” But you have to eat! And you’re still not fully healed yet. Wouldn’t it be better to stay just one more day? Elias is the smart one. He knows I have a point.” Elias blinks, a bit shocked. Did his little brother just kiss up to him like that? And he knows he’s right. But housing a fugitive is not the smart choice, especially when you’re housing an ajin as well.

“Ev has a point, Aria. Though it is risky, you want to be fully functioning when you go on a long journey like yours. Who knows when you’ll meet someone whos is nice and charming like we are,” Elias says, completely changing his tune.

Aria raises an eyebrow. She doesn’t want to argue with children; that’s preposterous. Though they have been very accommodating, and she does need to rest more in order to be able to keep moving. “Alright. One more night,” she resigns herself.