“You know nothing of dance? Of drawing, or reading? How sad! How does a brute such as you even know how to speak?” Alleendelle queried. 

Kaz felt endlessly restless and annoyed at her line of questioning. What does a human peasant know of what I have seen…? 

He frowned. But then… I suppose I do know very little, other than fighting… 

“Do you know how to read?” Alleendelle continued. 

Kaz shook his head sadly. His eyes stung, but he allowed no tears to come out. Why should I be upset? What’s the point in knowing how to read? Father taught me everything I need to know, verbally. 

But, even as he thought it, he knew it wasn’t true. Like Jan, he had no idea humans and elves lived, and was told they had gone extinct long ago. 

Alleendelle gave him a sympathetic smile and patted his head very gently. “I can teach you. When you know how to read, it opens up so many possibilities, after all!”

Kaz pursed his lips. Lamley, he admitted, “I’d like that.”

Kaz went silent for a time, occasionally listening in to the conversation between Alleendelle and her caretaker. It was very different from the conversations he had with his own father. 

“What would you like for your sixteenth Birthday, Allie? More books? A new dress?” James asked.

Alleendelle paused for only a second before replying. “Books. Books are good.”

He groaned. “I wish you would act like a regular girl. You’ve only had that one dress for months now! Yet you still choose books. I remember when you were five-years-old and instead of new shoes you wanted a book! It’s a good thing I decided to take matters into my own hands and get you the shoes instead. Your old ones were full of holes.”

He had never had conversations like that with his father, nor did he know what a Birthday even was. He frowned deeply, feeling like he had missed out on something important. He remembered a time when his father had appeared to him, when he was prepping to defeat a bear that had stolen the cave where he had lived.

His father had appeared to him in the form of a giant, blue eye, and said to him, "Are you really planning to kill a bear armed with nothing but a spear? Use your brain, you fool. That beast won't be taken down by even a dozen jabs, if you even get that far. What did I tell you about ranged weapons?"

Kaz searched his memory, and replied, "They are essential for taking down big targets."

"What else is essential?" His father pushed. 

Kaz smiles and licked his lips. "Traps."

"Right. Make traps, and lure the bear into them.

As Kaz walked with Alleendelle and James, he wondered if his childhood was normal, or if Alleendelle's was. To try and clarify, he asked, "What is a birthday, and does everyone have one?"

Alleendelle and James exchanges glances, looking baffled. "Of course everyone has a birthday. They come around yearly, and mark 365 days since the person was birthed."

"I see. Dad said it was my 14th birthday…" Kaz murmured.

"Just a few days ago? We need to get you a present!" Alleendelle said excitedly. 

Previously, they had been walking through a peaceful part of town with very few people passing by. Alleendelle sprinted to a highly populated part of town, where they looked at dozens of stalls. 

At all the noise, odors, and bright colors, Kaz immediately felt defensive. He prepared a sneeze, and James shouted, "Keep your sneezes to yourself!"

Like an animal, Kaz huffed and snorted, looking left to right frantically, he couldn't concentrate on anything other than self preservation. Sweat pooled on his forehead, his heart pounded wildly. 

Alleendelle finally realized what was happening, and her soft voice soothed him just before he blew out a violent sneeze. "I know there's a lot of people, but I just want you to get you something nice for your bBrthday."

Kaz inhaled his sneeze, and went silent. He sighed. "I am sorry. Being surrounded by so many things that could potentially be hostile frightened me."

"No worries, I understand. Now, what would you like…" Alleendelle approached one of the stalls, muscling her way past screaming children. At the stand were stacks of colorful fabric--one of them depicted the god of thunder. 

"It's dad! I demand you get me that fabric, peasant!" Kaz squeaked excitedly.

Alleendelle rolled her eyes. "Very well, My Lord."

She asked the man behind the stall, "How much for the god of thunder fabric?"

"Three coppers." The man behind the stall said. 

"What! What is this? Why are you trading--"

Alleendelle shoved Kaz into her bag before he drew attention to himself. She gave the man the copper, then moved on.

Alleendelle moved away from the stall, and Kaz popped his head out of the bag again, panting heavily. "What was that? Why did you trade such nonsense for my father?"

Alleendelle looked at him with a pitying expression. "Don't you know what currency is..?"

Kaz thought about lying, as he didn't want her to know how little he knew about the surface of earth, but then he recognized that the more he knew about this world, the more likely he was to succeed against his twin. He swallowed, and then said with a sigh, "What is currency?"

Alleendelle looked down at him, her face still baffled, but she cleared her throat and said kindly, "Currency is what we trade for valuable goods. For example, if I wanted to trade for an apple, I would give the man at a stall a copper, because that is what we have determined the worth of an apple is."

"Worth of an apple…?" Kaz related. "Apples don't have worth. You just eat them."

Alleendelle wore an expression that told him she had no idea what he was talking about. "Well, in order for society to be run, we have to be compensated somehow."

Kaz waves his hand. "Silence, wench. You are confusing me."

Alleendelle made a face, but changed the subject. "Look, there is a stall selling candies apples! Have you ever had one?"

Kaz raised an eyebrow. "No… what on earth are you talking about? Apples cannot be candied." 

"Oh, but they can be, Kaz!" Alleendelle exclaimed. She ran to the stall and bought an apple, and then she left the crowd and continued on her way.

She found a spot of town overlooking the ocean, and sat down on a bench with James sitting next to her. Kaz felt the ocean breeze on his face, and looked out on it curiously. 

For the first time in his life,he felt an immense sense of peace wash over him as he watched the ocean waves lap at the shore. The sound delighted his ears, and he forgot all his troubles for but a moment as he looked upon it. 

His father had mentioned the ocean once, and when Kaz had asked what it was, he didn't want to answer. He gave a vague response, but he failed to mention how absoutely beautiful and relaxing it was to look at. 

He looked away, feeling let down. Why wasn’t he more specific? I guess he didn’t think it was important. 

“Here’s a piece of the apple.” Alleendelle said, cutting him off the tiniest of pieces and handing it to him on her pinky. 

Kaz ate it with a sour expression on his face, but as he ate, he couldn’t prevent the smile that bloomed on his face. He devoured the rest of it quickly, and admitted, “That was the most delicious thing I’ve ever tasted! I’m so used to only eating meat and veggies! What was that delicious thing again?”

“A candied apple.” she answered. “And I’m glad you like it. Happy Birthday.” 

They enjoyed the view for a little longer before setting out again. An hour passed, and at the fringes of town, they saw a temple coming into view. At the top of the temple was a spire in the shape of a thunderbolt, and Kaz smiling approvingly. 

Abruptly, he heard footsteps scuffling behind him. Kaz squeaked, “Stop! There’s someone behind us.”

Allendelle whipped around, and , all he saw was a brittle wind sweeping past the cobblestone pathway, lifting leaves off the pathway and causing them to dance as it did so. 

Suddenly, out from behind a bush off the cobblestone path, Shiske appeared, hands turned up. “It’s me, and I am merely here to ask you some questions.”

Kaz shrieked upon seeing him and inhaled air through his nose. Alleendelle pinched his nose between her pinky finger and thumb. “Wait! Hold on, we should hear him out. But, I must remind you, Shiske, that you agreed to let him go.” 

“Of course, of course. Well… Jan was saying that you would be able to contact your father to ask about his mother–that you may be able to contact him to take Jan back up to Paradise.” Shiske said.

“I would never contact him, even if I could! I want to become a full god! And you’re never going to convince me otherwise. Now leave before I blow you to bits!” Kaz growled. 

“So you can’t contact him…” Shiske’s hand lingered on the hilt of his blade. “If I threatened you, would he step in to rescue you?”