“I hope you aren’t lying to me” 

Oriana paused upon hearing those words. They weren’t dropping with malice or accusation in any particular way, but his words still made her feel unsettled. So much so, that thick frown formed on her face. She wasn’t insulted as much as she was dumbfounded by such a statement. She couldn't exactly be surprised by such an accusation, seeing how she nearly threw herself off a moving train in an effort to escape the man’s clutches. But…it still felt like an unreasonable question to her.

“Why would I lie about the life of a child?” Oriana firmly asked, as though she was dumbfounded someone would lie about such a reason. 

Altan on the other hand…was clearly taken aback. Beneath his glasses, his golden eyes seem to flicker open. For a brief moment, anyways. Soon, his face seemed to drift into something else, an expression that even Oriana was taken aback by. 

Amusement…?

Altan carefully rolled up his sleeves tightly, pulling them to just above his elbow. He then turned his head to a small, tattered table shoved in the corner of the engine room. A mess of various papers completed covered every square inch of the table, ranging from randomly scribbled notes, to crudely sketched drawings. 

“Would you be kind to pick up a rune in the pile of papers over in the corner?“ He asked, as his hands gripped the edge of the door of the furnace “I’m looking for the one that resembles a compass, going…south”

Oriana briefly glazed her eyes across the giant mess of papers littered across the table. She sighed briefly, and threw the man’s coat onto the table, before she began to carefully sort through the various sheets. Some sheets were yellowed and flakey from age, others were lightly coated in a layer of black soot. Regardless, by the time she found the piece of paper with the presumed rune, her fingertips were stained somewhat of a grey-black color. 

She narrowed her eyes as she studied the piece of paper in her hands. Unlike the other pieces of paper that covered the table, the sheet has a certain thickness, akin to stock card. It was rough against her fingertips, perhaps even more coarse than the man’s coat. It felt like she was running her fingers against the surface of tree bark more than she was a piece of paper. Although Oriana didn’t know what a rune looked like (or what it really was for that matter), she found herself studying the drawing intensely. Etched on the page was a constellation, resembling a large circle with a few dots representing the point of the needle. A few other various lines and shapes were also drawn onto the page to connect the dots into a defined shape, but the rune overall portrayed a compass.

Orisna lifted the page “This one?”

Altan snapped his head around, his eyes relaxing in relief “Yes, exactly,”

He snatched the sheet of paper from her hand, and made his way back to the open furnace. Oriana peered past his shoulder in interest, letting her empty eyes draw into the orange warmth of the tender burning. She turned her focus back to the man, hovering the piece of paper over the burning flames. The fire licked the edges of the paper, curling the edges of the sheet until they turned a charcoal black. Moments later, he tossed the sheet of paper into the burning coals, and let the sheet be consumed by the warmth of the flames.  

"Quite the fascinating rune in my opinion,” Altan softly murmured, refusing to tear his eyes away from the burning piece of paper “They say that those who were lost in life let their dark souls ascend, to become reborn as the constellation that leads them towards a newfound purpose”

“Vol..untas…”

Those words left Oriana’s lips with difficulty, as though she recited an unknown word off the page of a book. She couldn’t quite figure out why but…it was like something unlocked in her head, like some distant memory that was lost within the ocean of her thoughts was finally fished out to the forefront of her mind. Although she knew little about runes…something about the constellation in the rune was drawn from bright back a distant memory from her childhood. 

When her mother was away attending to the lady of the house, Oriana would find herself locked away in the servants quarters. There, she would read any book the master and the lady would permit her mother to borrow, and there…she would study the constellations in her spare time. She recalled Voluntas with some amount of difficulty, the great compass in the sky that would travel south with each passing season. But, she was fond of it for a particular reason:

It told her that there was more to her life than following in her mother’s footsteps, more to life than just being a servant to someone else’s dreams. 

Altan raised his brow, letting his innate attention snap to Oriana. Even he appeared clearly surprised by her random incantation of the constellation.

“You even know the name….” He said in nearly a whisper. 

“I…guess I do…” Oriana muttered awkwardly, at a loss for words. She didn’t have to justify herself, as her thoughts were softly interrupted by a bright ball of flames. 

Snap!

With a snap of his hand, orange flames surged past Altan’s fingertips. His hair snapped backwards from the sheer force of the thunderous tinder filling every square inch of the furnace. The moment the intense flames licked the rune, the furnace exploded in an array of bright, dazzling lights. Oriana felt like she was nearly blinded by how bright the furnace started to hurt, as though she was starting directly into the depths of the sun. As soon as the blinding light began to flicker out, the flames within the furnace burned a cool blue. Oriana had hardly any time to react however, as the train suddenly jerked to the right. It was so forceful in fact, she found herself thrown against the wall of the furnace room like a sack of potatoes. The thump of her slamming into the wall immediately caught Altan’s attention. He slammed the furnace door closed, and rushed to Oriana’s side 

“Ah, m-my apologies-“ Altan hovered over Oriana as she carefully stood back up to her feet “A-are you-“

“I’m a bit banged up but I’ll be ok,“ she interrupted, before briefly patting her abdomen “I’m still in one piece for now…but uh…thank you,”

“I should have warned you about that…” Altan released a thick sigh as he snatched his coat from the table. 

Slam!

The door suddenly whipped wide open. Mazel suddenly burst out from the door, lunging into the furnace room as her attention was focused on an older, cream hair colored teen. Oriana couldn’t quite get a good glance at the boy with how well hidden he was behind a large shelf of antiquities, but she surmised he was the ‘Lucian’ that was mentioned by the mousey girl previously.

“I-I said I’ll go Che- huh?” Mazel blinked in utter confusion “Mr. Altan?”

“We’ve had to make a slight detour to accompany our new guest,” Altan threw his coat back over his shoulders “We’ll be heading back to Narcis forest for a few days,”

“A-a few days?” Mazel stuttered, which earned a swift nod from Altan. 

“Yes, We’ll have to rearrange the schedule ever so slightly. If you would be so willing, please drop Mr. Kastiel a call to tell him his clock will be delivered late…” He then frowned, pausing ever so briefly “Give him a discount if he happens to complain,”

“And the schedule?”

“Tell Lucian to draft a new schedule, and call the traveling merchant’s guild to publish it for our dear customers,”

“I’m already on it!” A loud voice emerged from the room, presumably Lucian. 

Altan then sent an unusual warm, softened smile towards the mousey girl’s direction “Lovely, thank you Mazel,”

It was then Mazel sent a swift nod to the man, and soon disappeared into the maze of shelves of the man’s so-called antiquities shop. Altan then shut the door, and opined the door once again to reveal his cozy, and cluttered office. Altan carelessly walked inside as he undid the bundle of hair in his ponytail, letting his thick hair flow free once again.

“Feel free to sit in the lounge, perhaps relax for a bit while we head back to the forest,” Altan stepped behind his ornate desk “Remember to turn the doorknob to enter the you desire. Except for my office, of course,”

Oriana briefly stepped into his office, hovering close to the door “I see…simple enough…”

“If you have any questions, please come to me. And as a favor…” Altan lifted up his sharp eyes to meet Oriana’s “Please refrain from telling Mazel and Lucian regarding your…situation. We wouldn’t want to expose the children to that now would we?”

“Of course…” Oriana sighed. As she turned around to settle into the lounge however, she was swiftly interrupted. 

“Oh, and one more thing,” Altan picked up a piece of paper from his desk, continuing to let his eyes focus on Oriana “I hope you do realize that after we pick up your daughter, I still expect you to be on my train. I have plenty of tests to run on you to ensure your survival, so I hope you are not betraying my kindness”

She paused for a brief moment, letting her eyes narrow ever so slightly “As long as you help me find my daughter, I’ll do what I need to”

“Then I’m glad we are on the same accord.” He replied with that same, softened smile, a smile that seemed to unsettle Oriana. It all felt so…fake to her, even as naturally as his sharp, seemingly charming smile came to him. In spite is his so-called “willingness” to help her get her daughter back, there were still plenty of caveats. He wasn’t doing it out of the kindness of his heart in her eyes, but rather…

Just to make sure she wouldn’t run away again. 

Bit, that didn't matter to Oriana, not in the moment anyways. As soon as she had Selene back in her arms, she would run from the train as fast as she could, out of the clutches of that orange haired toad.

Even if she was a disgrace to the church of Magdalia. 

People love hearing what they want, don’t they?