A WEEK LATER, with a few more denarii and wasted hours spent on such a small effort, Tomas now sat on a box in an alleyway, waiting for the man he now knew to be named Pierce. After reaching out to one of his more trusted contacts, Kit, Tomas learned that the information Li had given him hadn't been entirely false. Pierce had been there the past few days before Tomas had gone there, but had stopped the very day Tomas had looked for him. Kit, who had a lot more connections in the underground, had helped Tomas by arranging a meeting between him and Pierce for a small price.

Hunched over his legs, elbows on knees and chin on hands, Tomas bitterly thought about how he could've avoided spending all those denarii if Pierce had just kept up how he'd visited Niaga for one more day.

As the spot Kit arranged for Tomas and Pierce to meet at was in the alleyway behind a café of sorts, the scent of food and coffee hang in the air even though that of snow dulled it. Though Tomas's mind was primarily focused on his woes, part of it noticed the scent of food and his stomach rumbled slightly. It was a feeling Tomas was used to, so he ignored it.

"So, are you this Daren I heard about?" a voice asked, finally pulling Tomas out of his thoughts.

Lifting his head from his hands, Tomas looked over to the man who'd spoken, taking him in. Pierce was a tall, skinny man whose stature almost matched Tomas 's own--either he'd never had much of an appetite growing up or lived on the streets for a significant amount of time. He had a long face like Yasmine and the same olive skin tone, but those and their skinny frame was where the similarities ended. While Yasmine's hair was black, Pierce's hair was light brown. Yasmine had always been all smiles and friendliness, but Pierce had an air of detachedness that gave Tomas a strong feeling that the man was like him: controlling and watchful of his own reactions. A glimmer at the man's ears caught Tomas's eye and, when he looked, he was that Pierce wore small, silver hoop earrings. That combined with how the redness around them and Pierce's ragged-looking clothing told Tomas that Pierce's recent coming into Vadera had given the man a bit of extra wealth.

Tomas took in everything of interest about Pierce's appearance in the matter of a second before he put a friendly smile on his lips, pushed himself off of the crate, and went to his feet, holding out a hand to Pierce. The contents of the drawstring bag at Tomas's hip jingled as he moved and Pierce's eyes went down to it for a second. Tomas didn't miss that.

"Yeah, I'm Daren. And you're Pierce, I suppose?" he asked, though his voice was confident, something that Tomas did purposely. Though he wanted to appear friendly, he also wanted to show that, despite being fifteen and young by the standards of most, he knew what he was doing.

With a nod, Pierce stepped forward and shook Tomas's hand, meeting Tomas's eyes with his brown ones. "Yes. I was told you know my sister, Yasmine?" he countered, his tone dismissive.

A faint, real grin grew on Tomas's lips. This guy is watching himself, he realized, and despite how a normal person might have been weary with such a realization, Tomas was delighted and amused.

"Yup. I don't suppose that she told you about me or that we had a deal? I got what she wanted with quite a bit of difficulty, so I hope she'll still take it off my hands," he said. Tomas pulled his hand from Pierce's, moving it instead to the pouch that hung on his hip.

Pierce withdrew his own hand as Tomas did his. His eyes went to Tomas's hand as he laid it on the pouch, his expression turning thoughtful. "Ah, yes, she did. How much was it again?"

"An argentum was the price we agreed on," Tomas replied, a wicked grin growing on his lips.

One argentum wasn't much money in the long run, but as it was worth five denarii and was enough money to feed him for a few weeks, Tomas was glad to get it. Especially when he'd spent nearly that much just trying to make this deal.

Surprise flickered on Pierce's expression and his eyes widened slightly, but he corrected his expression quickly. "Alright," he said, putting a hand in his pocket, bringing out a silver argentum coin and holding out his hand, coin in palm.

Not missing a beat, Tomas untied the strings of the pouch from the hoop on his pants, scooped up the coin, and placed the pouch on Pierce's hand. He gave Pierce a mock bow as he pocketed the coin. "Thank you very much, sir," Tomas said with a grin firmly pressed on his lips, watching as Pierce opened the bag to check its contents.

As he peered into the bag, taking in the beads of various types, glass, bronze, gold, and silver, Pierce's eyebrows eyebrows knit together, but he pulled at the strings and closed it. The man gave Tomas a curt nod as he looked up at him, but he didn't seem at all amused by Tomas's mock bow. "Is this all?" was all he said.

"Yeah. Yasmine would ask me for random things a lot, like those beads. I don't suppose you'd be interested in doing the same? Your sister, at least, thought that I had pretty good prices," Tomas said. Now that he'd handed off the beads he'd collected from various sources, he was a lot less tense--he'd worried that Pierce wouldn't have bought them and all of his efforts had been wasted.

Showing how he was more comfortable, Tomas backed up until he felt the crate behind him, sat down on it, and grinned up at Pierce. Tomas's movements seemed casual, but he was acutely aware of each and every one of them--and they all had a purpose. A friendly smile rested on Tomas's lips as he put his arms behind him, leaned back on them, and met the man's eyes. Pierce stared back, his lips pursed slightly as he thought, considering Tomas's offer.

"What do you sell?"

"Just about anything you could ask for, as long as it isn't expensive or huge." It was easier for Tomas to steal the less expensive stuff, otherwise it'd be more closely watched and protected.

Pierce hummed and looked to the sky as he thought about it. Keeping his easy grin on his lips, Tomas leaned further back, giving the man time. If he could get another contact in Pierce, Tomas would make a lot more money than he would steal in the amount of time it took for Pierce to think.

"How about you just show me a bit of what you get and we'll see what I want from there?" Pierce asked. His eyes were still focused on the sky as he spoke, but he lowered them and gave Tomas a faint grin as he finished.

Unable to believe that he heard Pierce correctly, Tomas paused and let Pierce's words sink in his mind, trying not to get his hopes up. However, after finding that he couldn't figure out what else the man could've said, a slow, wide grin grew on Tomas's lips. Pushing himself off of the crate, Tomas jumped to his feet and held his hand out to Pierce. His eyes were bright as he said, "how does meeting back here next week sound?"

Faint grin remaining on his lips, Pierce took Tomas's hand shook it firmly. "We'll see what I decide then," he replied.

Smirking and matching Pierce's grip, Tomas nodded a bit too enthusiastically. "Well, I look forward to seeing you then, Pierce," he said. Releasing Pierce's, Tomas shoved his hands in his pockets, gave him a farewell curt nod, and headed out of the alleyway. Behind him, he could hear Pierce's "agreed" followed by footsteps crunch in the snow, heading away from him.

As he heard Pierce's heading in the opposite direction, Tomas slowly let out a breath and let an honest, hopeful smile grow on his lips. Maybe Yasmine's leaving is good after all, he thought, falling into a calm silence.

The moment he stepped out of the alleyway, into the street, Tomas leaned against the wall of the store behind him and searched the faces of the other people. After seeing that none of them were looking at him or noticed him, Tomas smiled, kicked himself off of the wall, and continued on his way home.

Due to the setting sun, the streets were emptier than usual and most shops closed--the few that were open already had candlelight flooding through their windows. There were occasional groups of people that Tomas came across on the streets, but those were few, far between, and with five people at most.

Vadera, the city Tomas currently lived in, was a steadily growing one. It sat right against the lake Cypsh, which was the main reason that it was growing as it was. Since a decade before, trade had begun going through its roads, which first brought attention to it. Afterwards, people started moving there due to how it was next to the lake. This resulted in enough trade to get trade from other cities lying on the river that flowed through Lake Cypsh, including the capitol city, Reolas. Despite its rapid growth--or perhaps because of its rapid growth--Vadera still lacked the one thing the larger cities needed: electricity and cameras. It was this fact that made it so ideal for the black market that grew in it. Tomas even took advantage of the black market--and had actually moved there because of it. It was how he lived and ate.

By the time Tomas had reached his home, the sky was painted with such vivid colours of maroon, coral, citrus, and navy blues that he couldn't help but stare up at it with a wide smile and think of how he would draw it.

Unlike the homes of most people, the entrance to Tomas's was none other than an alleyway. This alleyway was the one that Tomas now walked through, his mind filled with thoughts of how he was going to try to draw before he went to sleep. With a lazy wave of his hand, Tomas pushed aside the blanket he'd long ago duct taped to the walls to section off his home. The place Tomas called home would've been considered pathetic by anyone else--only an alleyway sectioned off with blankets that had more blankets for a bed, no roof, and his few possessions laying about in plastic containers.

Oh, and a cat that visited.

Sighing softly, Tomas lowered himself onto the filthy blankets he called a bed and took off his shoes, putting them down at the foot of his bed. Once he took off his shoes, Tomas laughed softly, threw himself back onto his bed, and stared up at the sky. If I try to draw the sky, I probably won't have enough time, he mused, a faint smile coming on his lips. But all the more satisfying if I manage to do it!

Grinning widely, Tomas sat back up, crawled over his bed, and reached for the containers containing his coloured pencils and his sketchbook, grabbing them up and returning to sitting in the middle of the blankets. He quickly opened them up, pulled out his sketchbook and the right colours, and set to colouring.

Long ago--six years to be precise, a long amount of time for him--Tomas had stolen a sketchbook without actually knowing what it was. Later, when he opened it up and saw the drawings inside it, each curve somehow adding to the larger picture and making it look beautiful, Tomas had been amazed. After stealing a pencil, Tomas had begun tracing over the art, later moved on to redrawing the ones that'd already been there, and began making his own art, developing his own art style. Now, six years later, Tomas was quite the artist and used drawing to let out his emotions.

As the last of the light faded, Tomas sat back from his drawing, looking up at the stars that refused to give off enough light for him to see by. I'll have to see how it looks in the morning, he thought. Closing the sketchbook, he carefully set it in its container and started putting the coloured pencils in theirs.

Tomas was just closing the container for the coloured pencils when he heard a soft meow from the curtains ahead of him. He looked up just in time to see the curtains ripple in the darkness and the lamplike eyes of a cat staring at him.

"Cinna," Tomas murmured amusedly, absentmindedly pushing the containers off of his bed and clicking his tongue. "C'mere, Cinna," he told the cat.

One day, when Tomas was on his way home, he'd found Cinna on the street. She'd just been a kitten and, unable to resist, he'd given her some food. Since then, she'd followed him and made her way to his home often enough for Tomas to call her "the cinnamon cat" due to how her fur was the colour of cinnamon. Eventually, he'd shortened the name to "Cinna" and there they were today.

Even in the darkness, Tomas could make out Cinna's confident and graceful movements as she meowed again and prowled toward him. The moment she was within reach, Tomas leaned forward, grabbed her up, and hugged her close to his chest, cuddling her. Cinna didn't meow in protest or fight to get free, she only purred and rubbed her face against him.

Feeling at peace in his heart and mind, Tomas laid back on his bed, putting his head on the pile of blankets he used for a pillow as he pet Cinna absentmindedly. The sound of her purring soothed him and the rumbling it caused as she laid down on his chest was familiar enough to make his eyes heavy.

Petting his cat behind her ears, Tomas stared up at the stars, the brilliant lights in the sky. If he'd been a poetic type or known many more words than he did, Tomas would've loved to write poetry about the stars. They were endless, and even though they were so far away, they were a constant, beautiful thing that never ceased to amaze him and made him feel like he had some anchor in the world--that there was something he could always rely on.

For all of his life, Tomas had felt a love for the stars.

Slowly, soothed enough by the sight of the expansive sky--the black velvet littered with glitter that stretched above the world--and the purring of the cat he loved so, Tomas fell into a deep sleep.