Lila felt the most like herself when she was doing something her friends would call ‘reckless’. 

“Hey, get back here, you brat!” Lila couldn’t help but laugh at the stereotypical shout let out by the guard that had only just realized that she had stolen from right under his ugly nose. The documents were just sitting on the governor's desk, practically begging to be taken. That and the small pile of gold that now filled her pockets would certainly not be missed by anyone, especially not by people who would just shrug at the missing sum. 

One of those coins would have fed her family for a month. They had several dozen just lying on the desk. Maybe it could pay for her boat home, back to Evira. It was worth a try. 

Besides, running away from the authorities of an overly-prosperous merchant town was incredibly fun. 

Lila had always been light on her feet - much to her advantage, as she dashed into a corner she had almost missed, away from view. The pile of crates was just tall enough to hide her as she climbed a rain pipe up to the town’s rooftops. She gasped as a crossbow bolt flew past her leg. 

“Hey! I need that leg to run away from you, a*shole!” 

At that moment, the guard called for backup. Lila’s smile widened; the fun was just beginning. 

What idiots, she just had to jump to the next roof to get away from a possibility of being shot. 

Lila hopped from rooftop to rooftop. One house had roof tiles painted with gold. Of course, she took one to add to her stash. Maybe rain would leak through the roof now? Oh, whoops. How unfortunate for rain to destroy their million-gold carpets. 

Eventually she passed by a bakery’s chimney. The fresh cakes smelled good enough to almost stop her in her tracks entirely. “Smells amazing!” She called down the chimney before continuing her run, until the buildings became too far apart to jump. No matter, she seemed to be over a market square. Lila dropped down into an alley and put her hood down, letting her curly red hair loose. Best way to blend in was certainly not wearing a dark hood. 

Silent as a shadow, she made her way through the crowd. One man seemed to have been bothering a woman who was trying to get away. Another was trying to get a vendor to lower their price, despite clearly being able to afford whatever they were selling. 

Lila brought her lips to her dagger, kissing the blade before cutting their coin purses loose. F*ck them, and anyone like them. 

They were too conceited to notice, anyway. 

Still, Lila felt like she hadn’t done enough. She approached the woman who was being bothered. “Sylvia! So good to see you! Do you mind if I show you something real quick? I could really use your expert opinion on something I made!” 

The woman looked at Lila with only a mild confusion before following her out of the crowd, away from the man trying to force her sympathy. As soon as they were out of sight, ‘Sylvia’ knelt to Lila’s height. “How can I ever thank you?” 

Lila shrugged “I stole that twat’s coin purse. Your silence about that to the guard is more than enough payment for me.” 

By the time the woman had understood what Lila said, she had already disappeared back into the crowd. A rich child dropped a sweet roll, bemoaning his loss. Lila took the roll for herself - she was not one to waste such a snack. 

“There! After her!” 

Ugh, would they never leave her alone? Lila turned to the guard and bowed at her waist before falling back into the crowd, weaving through it like a fish in water. 

It was almost too easy to confuse the guard, to stand behind one of them, and take a dagger from their belt. She could always use the extra. For good measure, she used it to cut that guard’s cloak, just enough for it to almost fall off, making him trip. 

“Good Moonmother you guys suck at your job!” She snickered before all but walking out of the town, back to her companions, feeling more victorious than she ever had. 

Unfortunately, her companions did not share her excitement at her success. Their ‘disappointed parent’ lecture was one she had heard a thousand times. 

“Guys, I got the documents though. I did what you asked me to do!” 

“We asked you not to aggravate the guard!” 

“I just made a fool out of them, nobody got hurt. Well, maybe their egos did-“ 

“Lila-“ 

“Look, the ones I stole from were a*sholes who deserve much worse than seeing their coin purse go missing-“ 

“Lila!”

”No! You can’t expect me to do my job which is stealing from someone YOU don’t like, and then get mad at me for doing that and more! Why do you guys get to decide who gets a lesson and I don’t? You asked me to steal, you have no more moral high ground than I do!” 

“We didn’t mean-“ 

“Shut up.” She tossed the documents on the ground. “Here’s your information. Now, I’m going to eat my victory sweet roll in peace while you guys argue about something-something politics and morals.”

An hour or so later, one of her companions sat down next to her. “I think we need to make a deal.” 

“Ew” 

“One that will be good for everyone. Just… can we agree, that you can steal, only if one of us gives permission? It’s just gold to you, but at that level, there could be some serious consequences.” 

Lila blinked and let out a scoff. “‘Just gold’. Right. All four of you grew up in some kind of comfort. The one guy who didn’t fell into it in some palace. ‘Just gold?’ You guys have no idea what ‘just gold’ is to people who don’t have any.You don’t know what it is to see a silver piece on the floor and fall into a thankful prayer because it means you’ll have enough food for the week for the first time since the drought hit. You don’t know what it’s like to realize that a part of that silver needs to be used to pay for transport to get to a whole different town to even get that food. If all I did was steal this bastard’s extra coin, it means I did nothing to them.” 

Her companion sighed. “Did you at least make sure that gold was all that was in those purses?” 

Lila rolled her eyes and opened the purses. “See? Gold, gold and silver, gold and some - ooh, some emeralds, nice. And finally- oh.” 

In the purse was not gold, silver, or even copper. It was a vial of sorts; a clear glass with a dark option swirling on the inside, looking like a night sky with a thousand stars. It’s cork was sealed with a blue wax, with the nation’s royal crest on it. 

“The f*ck is that?” The Druid of the group took the flask in her hands. Not a moment later, she chuckled. “Damn, good find.” 

“Well, what is it?” 

“This little potion here allows the one who drinks it to come into direct communication with any of the gods for one minute. Rare stuff, wonder why the royal family condones it.” 

“Maybe they side with the gods giving us troubles?” 

“Well, who gets it?” 

Lila gaped at the question. “So you guys go all ‘oh don’t steal stealing’s bad’ but now that it’s convenient for you everybody wants what I stole?” She took the potion and tucked it into her cloak. “For now, nobody has it. I’m keeping it away from everyone until we find the right way to use it, got it?” 

A muttered agreement, a silence until the sun set and Lila’s watch began. 

Yet, she wasn’t upset. Her skills had always been subject of judgement and controversy. 

Watching people who didn’t need to steal to live be faced with their own judgement and morals was half of the fun.