“Would you care to explain, miss?”

Many words seemed to flow through Oriana’s mind at that moment. Some of these words were filled with vitriol and anger, others were dripping with anxiety and angst. All of these emotion packed words seemed to clutter her mind. Amidst the expanding vocabulary in her head, one word seemed to stand out the most. 

Shit. 

As her face mushed into an incomprehensible ball of anxiety, Lucian’s iron stare seemed to only grow more and more impatient. It should have been easy to explain her situation to him, it should have been relieving to tell the young man that his ‘boss’ decided to use her as some sort of test dummy to bring corpses back to life. But as soon as he opened her mouth…nothing came out. Why couldn’t she say anything? Why couldn’t she tell Lucian the truth? Why was she standing in front of him like some idiot?

As much as she wanted to blame Altan and accuse him of using magic to prevent the truth from coming out…even she knew that wasn’t the case. 

Perhaps because if she did tell Lucian…he wouldn’t believe her. She certainly wouldn’t have either. So all Oriana could do was swallow thickly, and reel her mind for some sort of outlandish explanation. 

“That’s because…” Oriana let her eyes drift away, before she focused into the colored sheet above the doorknob  “Altan misunderstood the situation”

“He misunderstood?”

Oriana then nodded lightly “Yeah, he…did. I was trying to find more bandages since I was bleeding out again. I’m not familiar with magic, so in a rush, in my haste I changed it to the wrong color and accidently went outside…”

Although Oriana wasn’t entirely confident about her explanation, it seemed to at least grab Lucian’s attention. The young man paused for a moment in thought, letting his thick frown soften.

“Why didn you just tell Mazel or Mr. Altan to get you more bandages then?” He prodded.

“I would have, if they were still in the lounge-“ Oriana frowned “I don’t know the layout of this train-heck-I didn’t even know I was even on a train! A-all I know was that-that I needed some more bandages, and fast, and-and they were somewhere!”

Lucian then peered down quizzically, and began to mumble quietly “That still doesn’t make sense, then why-”

His line of thought was quickly cut off by a few soft taps of the door. Moments later, Mazel’s raven colored bob peeked carefully out from the door 

“Dinner’s ready Lucian!” The mousy girl announced cheerfully.

“Mr. Altan wanted me to finish copying the log book,” Lucian frowned, as he pointed to the countertop 

“Then bring the book over here! Your food is going to get cold-“ Mazel blinked as soon as her wide eyes drifted towards Oriana “Oh, you’re here too? I thought Mr. Altan told you to rest…”

Oriana responded with a rather tired smile ‘I guess I should have after more delicate and weak…’ she internally realized.

“I’m feeling better, thank you,” Oriana then softly replied.

Mazel’s eyes seemed to light up in joy at the news of her (oddly fast) recovery “That’s good to hear! Why don’t you join us for dinner?”

“I’m not that hungry right now, and I…” she then peered to the side, and let her eyes focus on the mess of antiques she had left in her wake “I need to clean up a bit…”

“I’ll clean up,” Lucian quickly announced. He carelessly stepped past the woman, before drifting his eyes down onto her. His pink eye was narrowed and sharp, looking down upon her as though she was the scum of the earth. 

“You should go back and ‘rest’ anyways,” Lucian did little to prevent the malice from sharpening his tongue. In spite of Mazel’s presence, he made his disdain for her loud and clear. So, as Lucian began to carefully pick up the various antiques Oriana tossed aside while ‘cleaning’, she was left in a stupor. 

The last thing she wanted to do now was make even more enemies. It was only a matter of time before the young girl also turned an evil eye towards her, she assumed. 

Maybe she was the problem. 

Oriana was hungry, to say the least. 

After she was swiftly tossed out of the antiquities shop, she was left to aimlessly wander the living room yet again. With nothing to occupy her mind, she…grew ravenously hungry. Her nonexistent stomach didn’t rumble of course, but an aching hunger stuck her body like a bolt of lightning. As much as she tried to fight it, as much as she tried to sum up the feeling as a figment of her imagination, she couldn’t ignore the feeling. She needed to eat something, anything.

Soon, she found herself in the kitchen inhaling bowls of a thick vegetable based soup. Although the soup itself was a bit salty in her opinion (Something else she didn’t think her new body could process), she found herself polishing off quite a bit of soup. One bowl turned into two, and two turned into three. Even as she finished off yet another bowl, she…couldn’t shake the feeling that she was still hungry. 

Starving, perhaps. 

’I still feel like I’ve hardly eaten anything….i don’t understand how I even have an appetite but…I can’t seem to satisfy myself…‘ Oriana thought, before releasing an audible sigh. As frustration grew within her, she sharply pushed away the empty bowl in front of her. 

‘I need to focus on something else…’ she determined, before drifting her attention to the door ‘Or something I was trying to do before that kid got in the way…and that orange slime ball…’

She clenched her fist under the table, letting her eyes narrow ever so sharply. As much as Lucian annoyed her, she couldn’t blame the young man. He was doing his job after all, and she didn’t know what lies (and perhaps truths) Altan fed him. Considering that she was now locked out of the antiquities shop, she could only assume Altan (under Lucian’s recommendation) used some sort of incomprehensible magic to lock her out. In addition to the young man’s general suspicion of her as a thief, she…felt like she was at a standstill. 

Clatter!

Oriana instantly snapped her head up, and tugged her eyes to the source of the ear shattering clatter. A thick, defeated frown sat upon Mazel’s face as she hovered over a mess of dishes. Filthy plates, pots, and bowls seemed to be eager to jump out of the sink, and spread various food bits across the counter and onto the girl’s wrinkle free clothing. It seemed no matter how hard she scrubbed the dishes and soaked them in water, the porcelain surface was still coated in a layer of unmentionable filth. 

As she watched the girl struggle…a rather…tainted idea popped in her head.  It was highly immoral, but it was an idea after all. The only idea she had, unfortunately. 

But…it couldn’t have been that sinful of an idea if it was to help her and her daughter. 

‘Oh May the high priestess Magdalia have mercy on my soul…’ she prayed ever so silently, before she stood up. 

“Here, let me finish the dishes. I’m making most of this mess anyhow,” Oriana announced to Mazel.  She carefully plucked the sponge from the unblinking girl’s hand, and began to aggressively scrub the bowls.

“Oh! Oh uh, thank you miss-“

“Oriana is fine,” Oriana gently interrupted. 

“I guess you really are feeling better!” Mazel smiled brightly “ I was worried Lucian was uh…well… put you in a bad mood…he can be a bit uh…combative….”

Oriana had a few choice words in response regarding the young man, but…she decided to keep those thoughts. firmly to herself “It’s fine. I may have said something that ticked him off anyways. And I know regardless I’m a stranger here, so...I can handle some hostility”

Mazel’s mousey and cheerful face seemed to drop in response “I see…”

“But on a similar note…how would you describe…Altan?”

She seemed to blink back “Mr. Altan?”

“Yes, how does he er…how is he normally like?”

“He’s nice! He’s been kind to me ever since I started working for him, not to mention he’s been patient with me with my magic lessons,”

Oriana took note of Mazel’s soft, kind smile. It seemed as though her expression softened like a cloud the further and further she talked about the man in the red coat. 

“So you’re talented in magic too,” Oriana released a soft chuckle “How lucky”

A thick, pink blush instantly covered the girl’s round cheeks. She quickly snapped her head downward, to hide the growing color upon her face “Y-yeah I guess I am…”

Magic seemed to be quite a common ability on the train, Oriana thought. Although she seemed to eagerly burn bridges with Altan and Lucian, knowing that Mazel knew magic…it only convinced her more that the girl was the key to getting off the train once and for all. 

“I…have a question for you”

Oriana was instantly snapped out of her thoughts “Hm?”

Mazel’s teal eyes pointed downwards in growing thought “Something hasn’t been sitting right with me, something about the detour. Mr. Altan is accommodating and all but…he rarely makes a detour for the train, let alone for three days to the middle of nowhere. I tried to ask him but he was vague about it…”

She then firmly looked up to Oriana, as though she was gathering every last ounce of strength to ask her question “So if you don’t mind me asking…what happened?”

Oriana…paused. For quite a bit. actually. There were many ways, countless ways she could have answered that question. She could have told her Altan was performing necromancy on random corpses. She could have told her that she was some undead creature who was close to rotting into the earth. She could have even truthfully told her that she was planning to escape the clutches of her boss. But…one answer stood out above the rest

I…I lost my daughter…”

“Y-your…” Mazel’s eyes instantly snapped wide open, wider than the dinner plates that were tossed carelessly into the sink. Her body became stiff, frozen in place as she struggled to comprehend the woman’s simple answer. 

“We were separated during a…robbery,” Oriana carefully thought “I only woke up a few days after Altan found me, so that's why the detour was so sudden…That’s why…I wanted to find something in the antique shop earlier to help me find her…”

”Oh, like something magical?” Mazel tilted her head curiously “Mr. Altan can probably help you find a rune to-“

“I-I’m sure he can, but- I really want to see what I can find in his shop first!” Oriana haphazardly cut off Mazel.

“Then…” A thick, uncomfortable expression then filled the girl’s face “That’s stealing…”

“Not if I pay him back…after I find my daughter…” Oriana released a thick sigh “Even if it is considered stealing…doesn’t the life of a person matter more than a trinket Mazel?”

Apart of Oriana felt ashamed, horrible even, for leading the young girl astray for her own gain. She felt like some master manipulator, carefully choosing her the most tragic words to convince the naive girl to do her bidding. Although it was for a greater purpose, it didn’t erase the guilt. 

“I…ok…” Mazel released a sigh of defeat. Without another word, she drifted to the door. Her small, smooth hands began to carefully twist the inner of the doorknob, and switched the color card to a bright, sunset like orange. 

“So what are you looking for?” Mazel asked, stepping inside the antiquities shop. 

“O-Oh just…” Oriana instantly snapped her head to the countertop, tucked in the back of the shop “Something defensive…”

“Something defensive…” Mazel carefully repeated “Ohh, I think I know! Give me a moment-“

As soon as Mazel scuffled off deep within the depths of the shop, Oriana made a break for it. She quickly rushed to the countertop, and swung the thick, glass side with even more haste. Hee frantic eyes quickly jerked across the various small objects that were neatly nested within the red velvet lining of the space. As she searched further…her face dropped to the ground. 

There was nothing. Everything, all of it was needless junk. Piled within the countertop space was nothing more than rusted pieces of jewelry, and old coins. In fact, there appeared to be more rust on these objects than actual metal. Even as Oriana did eventually select a somewhat helpful object to help her in her endeavor, it was still beyond any sort of repair. She carefully inspected the specked knife in her hand, rusted to the point where the blade was duller than a used butter knife. The leather hilt was unraveling at the seams, exposing crudely and incomprehensibly scratched out symbols on the metal. Maker’s makers, Oriana assumed.

As Oriana sighed in defeat, a strange glow began to omit from the only small window within the shop. She at first assumed the strange, soft light was from her imagination (perhaps from the lack of sleep), but the glow became bright and far more dense with each passing second. She instantly furrowed her brows and drifted her eyes to the glowing window. Then it hit her.

It was fire.