The next morning, I tried to wake up early since I have promised to accompany Rowan to the city center so he can sell whatever he found from his so-called “treasure hunt” in previous weeks. As his best friend in the dorm, I won't reject Rowan's offer. But I always wonder why Rowan wants to risk his life to get a few junks that barely have any value even for Jack&Jill, an auction store that accepts any kind of things from past civilizations. I realize that Rowan is a little bit different from any other boys I know, aside from being kind and friendly, he always wonders about everything, often asks ridiculous questions about the history of Elyphian and Mortan. He also has a different approach to "our way" of surviving after The Great War. Nevertheless, his androgynous face, wit, and physical strength are top-notch in our orphanage, so people respect and adore him. In short, he is like a leader and role model here.

Rowan is running through the hall with his long legs and came into Ilios room. His blue eyes looked bigger and more enthusiastic this morning. His sleek short brown hair looks untidy and a bit wet.

“Ilios, Look what I found today from my treasure hunt. I got a jackpot! You should be envious of me.” Rowan said.

“Hmm… what? Show me…” I respond while thinking that he is only bluffing again.

He then shows me a pile of junk that comes from his shabby bag on top of my clean bed. I dust it off and shake it to the ground right away.

“Hey, what are you doing Ilios! You could break it.” He speaks to me angrily.

He looked down and bailing, trying to reach something from that pile of junk. I watched him take out three boxes and one cylinder of theirs. He explained to me that it’s some kind of material that is used by females to make her face prettier. If I am not wrong, it’s called makeup, and only rich people from higher classes, especially females, use it.

After The Great War, the central government divides us, Mortan, into three districts, one is for the male population (Dallas district), then there is female population (Madeline district) and the last one is for the higher class (Gwendolyn district). We live separated by sex since then and do what we’re assigned to, a field/heavy worker for males and light/housework for females. Interaction between the sexes are limited and have a ruler of their own. We live surrounded by high walls, and only several people from Gwendolyn district can use their pass to go outside the wall.

Rowan said that the small boxes consist of powder to make our face looks fresher and hide any pimple, while the cylinder one used on lips to give some color to our face. These things are strange for us, male, who works in the field and doesn’t have any reason to apply this to our face. But, this makeup can be sold for a lot of money in Madeline district for sure.

“How about the expiration date? I think it can't be used anymore if it's from old civilization”.

“Oh well this is kinda new since I found it somewhere unusual, I think I still can sell it pretty high to Jack&Jill.” He said.

More explanation about Jack and jill, it is an auction shop in Houzz where the owner might buy everything from you at a fair price. The store also sells a lot of limited and high-quality items, including perfume, silk, and jewelry. It is run by a happy couple, Jack and Jill. Jill comes from an influential family who have both power and money, while Jack is coming from Cordville. Both of them are quite famous because of their romance. Their love story about how Jack proposes and persuades Steins family to accept him as a member of the family is told from mouth to mouth by drunkards in a lot of bars at Houzz city center. It takes a lot of courage and guts to face Steins' family refusal. They don't want to acknowledge someone from Cordville to be a part of their family. Jack almost lost his life, fighting for his love.

"Let’s go, I will treat you to some nice meal and drink too. I’ve always wanted to visit one of the bars in the city center. But it’s too sad to go alone, so I’m bringing you with me.” Rowan said.

Several questions are still bugging my mind, for e.g: How Rowan knows all the information about the make-up thingy or how the boxes look kinda new, not like the usual garbage that he showed to me before. But Rowan's invitation is hard to resist, so I will brush aside my thought, wore my best clothes, and went with him. No sane man will refuse this offer, looking at how expensive to afford beers and meals from a nice bar in the city.