"She's mean," Issa pouted as soon as the door shut behind her, crossing his arms over his chest. When Maizah kneeled down to address him, she noticed his eyelashes were dampened with tears that had yet to fall. 

"Issa, what's wrong?" Maizah asked, cupping his cheek. She nodded toward Jacinth. "You can't possibly be sad you'll have to see less of that asshole, right?"

"Lyn!" This time Kamaria scolded her. "Don't curse in front of Issa."

"He's seen and heard worse."

"That doesn't mean he needs to hear or see it from you."

"I don't mind it..." Issa said.

"No one cares," Jacinth swiftly replied.

"See?" Maizah said with a grin. "She sucks and you'll always have me."

“You won’t eventually leave, too?”

“We were born in the same Omen, Issa,” Maizah said, gentling her voice. A mercy she granted if only because her brother seemed truly afraid. “I’d have no reason to. I’ll always be here.”

"As opposed to me?" Jacinth scoffed, sending Maizah one of her infamous annoyed looks. "It's not like I'm going anywhere, either."

"You'll be all the way across Faetronia."

Jacinth paused as if she was only now realizing that. As if she hadn't walked the entire land and couldn't feel its length in the ache of her legs. She looked at Kamaria, then at Issa, and finally at Maizah as it sank in like a heavy weight in her chest. Her eyes began to water, too, and Maizah rolled her eyes and held her arms wide in invitation.

Jacinth accepted it, pulling her close. 

“This is really weird,” she muttered, sniffling a little.

Maizah wasn’t certain if she was talking about her future with the Teio Omen away from family or the fact that they were hugging. She didn’t ask. She didn’t tease, either, because it didn’t feel like the time.

"We should go to sleep," she said. "You have a big day tomorrow, and you already know how strict Teio is."

“How often do you plan to visit Ataraxia?” Jacinth asked in a quiet murmur, pulling away from the embrace and regarding her older sister warily. 

“I don’t know.” Maizah shrugged. “Whenever I have time.”

“As if you’re ever busy.”

Maizah flicked Jacinth hard on the forehead to which she responded with a wince and a quiet curse. 

"Keep this up and I might be inclined to never come back here at all!"

"As if anyone's buying that!"

"Hey!" Maizah's attention shot in the direction of the origin of the exasperated call. An old woman was poking her head around her door, her expression undeniably exasperated and her eyes sunken. Tired. "I'm trying to sleep! Aren't Teios supposed to be decorous and—"

She trailed off, taking in the colors all four of them were wearing and the cloaks around Kamaria's and Issa's shoulders. The black and red along with the omen symbols embroidered in the cloaks— the gentle curves and twists of a fire — made it clear where they had come from. The old woman's face wrinkled further as her expression twisted in disgust. "Furoa? What are members of the Furoa Omen doing here? No wonder—"

"Sorry, ma'am!" Maizah interrupted her, guiding Kamaria and Issa away from the scene and into a room a little down the hall. Jacinth followed behind them, cupping a hand around the right side of her face and turning her head away where the woman couldn't see as she did so. Maizah chewed at her bottom lip, calling back to the woman with a tone as lightened as she could manage. "We'll only be here for the night!"

"I don't want to hear another word from any of you!" the woman called back. "You don't belong here, anyway."

She'd murmured that last part, but Maizah heard it loud and clear. Which, by extension, meant Kamaria and Issa had probably heard, too. She sighed, hoping at the very least her siblings had grown old and wise enough to realize the old woman's words meant nothing. That, despite her words' hurtful intentions, they didn't actually have to feel the sting.

They ended up sleeping in separate rooms; Jacinth, Kamaria, and Issa in one room and Maizah alone in the one nextdoor. It was only because Maizah knew herself better than anyone, and she knew she probably wasn't going to get much sleep. No matter how tired she was or how much she kept yawning. This was undoubtedly nerve wracking for Jacinth— she understood that— but it wasn't as if Maizah was faring all that much better.

This was a big change. None of them had ever been separated from family for long periods of time. It wasn't as if Jacinth was going to be gone for just a week, or a month, or a year. Jacinth was going to remain in Ataraxia until the day she died if all went well. The only way that might change was if she ended up marrying someone of a different omen, but that wasn't exactly likely. 

Practically no one who was a member of the Teio Omen married out. Marrying out of the Teio Omen meant marrying down, and who in their right mind would choose to do something like that when they could just... not? 

Surrounded by clean smelling scents, broad, light walls, and sturdy, well-crafted furniture probably worth more than Maizah's entire life, she understood that the Teio land she was trespassing on was nothing at all like the land back home. People like Violetta and Zinnia would never know the struggles of that kind of life. Jacinth had only gotten a whiff of it, and now that was going to be wasted away. 

She, too, would eventually forget where she had come from.

Maizah clutched a pillow to her chest, picking thoughtlessly at its threads. She was being ridiculous. Jacinth was family, and she would always be family no matter where she was. No matter what she forgot. No matter who surrounded her. She was family.

Simple as that.

Maizah could only hope, glancing over her shoulder through the window and at the bright moon that cast shadows around the room. 

She wondered if it'd always seemed so far?