Elizah was seated at the piano and playing one of the songs she’d learned from her mother while Micah stood and watched how her fingers went across the keys quickly and with a gentle grace.

“You missed a note,” Micah said as he pointed to the sheet of music.

“As if you know how to play,” Elizah said with a short laugh.

“Is that a challenge?” Micah asked with laughter dancing in his eyes.

“It’s all yours,” Elizah stood up and offered the chair to her brother.

Micah settled and was about to set his hands on the keys when there was a knock at the door.

“I’ll get it,” Elizah said as she rushed over to the door and opened it. Her step-siblings and stepfather were waiting outside.

“Mama, they’re home,” Elizah said as she went over to the kitchen to set the table for dinner. She ushered them inside and closed the door behind them.

Micah managed to grasp Elizah’s arm and asked, “Where are you headed?”

The humour of their earlier conversation had disappeared from Elizah’s eyes, replaced by what seemed to be fear.

“I’ll explain later,” Elizah managed to whisper as she hurried back to the kitchen.

“Who’s this young lad here?” the man who entered asked as he walked up to Micah.

Micah stood up from the chair near the piano and looked at the man who now stood in front of him.

“I’m Roxanne’s first-born son. She hasn’t mentioned me?” Micah asked in an even tone.

 “Roxy, you brought the other ungrateful bastard home again? I thought we already had enough mouths to feed in this house, and now you brought this one back as well,” The man was shouting.

Elizah visibly winced as she walked over and placed the boiling stew on the table.

“He came home after many years, this is still his home after all,” Elizah softly said.

“Watch your tongue, young lady,” The man said with a glare in Elizah’s direction,” Oh, so he wasn’t strong enough for the troops so they sent him back. Serves him right.”

The man continued as he sat down at the table.

Micah’s face, which was initially surprised, now started to grow slightly annoyed, and he began to say,” I’ll have you know-”

“Please don’t start a fight,” Roxanne whispered to her son, “Elizah will explain later.”

Micah slowly sat down with a grim expression, and the rest of the meal continued in silence.

Roxanne signalled for Elizah and Micah to leave the room as soon as the plates were cleared.

Micah gave a questioning expression but followed his sister out of the hall and into Elizah’s room.

“Who is that man?” Micah asked as soon as Elizah shut the door behind her.

“Shh. Keep it down. We don’t need stepfather yelling like a madman after us,” Elizah said as she settled on her bed.

“That’s stepfather?” Micah asked in disbelief.

“Yes, he’s had one of his bad days at the market, so he’s a little hot-tempered, he’s not usually like this,” Elizah lied.

Every day is like this, Micah, she wanted to say, but she knew that would only cause trouble.

“Okay,” Micah said with a yawn, and his gaze was wary, “I’m really tired today so I’m going to sleep early.”

He settled on the other straw mattress that was set for him.

“Good night Liz,” Micah managed before he began to snore as he fell into a deep sleep. Elizah smiled momentarily before reaching over and opening the book she kept under her bed and began to translate. It was what diverted her anger when days were like this. The script was challenging, but it was interesting to understand the passages in the story.

She had been translating for a while when she finally decided to close the book for the night. Her thoughts weren’t on the story but far beyond. It had grown late, and it was almost the dead of the night. But she could still hear voices outside.

Elizah was surprised by the loud noises since it was so late and everyone was usually asleep by then.

It was a heated conversation, by what bits and pieces Elizah managed to hear. One voice was undoubtedly Roxanne’s soft and gentle voice, but the other was the more loud one. It sounded like her stepfather’s voice, but the voice wasn’t clear enough to recognize perfectly. It was a man’s voice but was very heavy and slurred for it to be anyone Elizah knew.

She didn’t want to go outside to see what was going on in fear of what she might see. She lay atop her bed, just lost in thoughts as the sounds grew louder, wondering what might happen as a result of this conversation.

A cloaked figure went down to the archives through the main entrance without being detected. The books were still left in their places from when the last person had used them. Some of the pages were left open.

The person sat down, went through the books on the table, and observed the writing and torn pages.

“How did you get past the guards?” a voice suddenly came out from the archway.

“You know my tricks,” the seated person replied calmly.

“It happened today if you want to know. His type is a battle type but he doesn’t know it,” the seated person said.

“So everything’s going according to plan?” a person near the gateway said and stepped forward.

“One half is. The other half, we don’t know what to expect yet,” the seated person answered and closed the books.

“But…” the other began.

“It’s no longer safe here. We’ll meet again when the plan’s finally into the next stage. Until then nothing is for certain,” the seated person stood up and walked up to the other person.

“So we shall,” the other said, and they headed their separate ways.