Amelia stared at the girl's mark with mixed emotions. Thya continued to undress and Amelia looked away to not seem rude. Thoughts raced through her mind at miles a second. There weren't any circle marks that she knew of. After a few minutes, the water around her stirred. Thya looked at her worried and embarrassed.

"I was born with it. My camp made me cover it in order to keep bad spirits away." She said.

"It's strange but beautiful," Amelia said softly. "You should be proud of it."

"Oddities are not something to be proud of. If I had been born to a marked woman she would have smothered me."

"But you weren't. You were born to a loving mother who loves you no matter what shape you have." Amelia rested her hand on the girl's bare shoulder. "Be proud."

"Hilla has given me the option to choose whether or not I cover. I think it will be easier to cover to avoid the people who don't think as openly as you do."

Amelia nodded. "If that is your choice then you may bathe with me whenever you like. I could even allow you and your family to come to the river with me. It is further so no one from camp likes to use it."

"Thank you for your kindness, Amelia," Thya said shyly.

"While we wash, we should discuss what our tasks will be," Amelia said seriously, beginning to wash the dirt from her arms. "Tomorrow I will wake you at dawn and we will walk to the city. We will paint rectangles on our arms and begin to sneak meat and bread and whatever else we think the camp may need."

"I've done such things before. You may be shocked at what I am able to steal. Don't underestimate me." Thya responded dunking her head into the water and beginning to rinse her long flowing hair.

"Your covering won't be questioned. There are a few religious women that wear it that way in order to preserve modesty." Amelia said and Thya nodded.

They finished cleaning themselves and dried off. Amelia tried to keep her eyes from traveling down the beautiful girl's body. She awkwardly cleared her throat and looked towards the sky finding the Orion constellation that she was fond of. She smiled and recalled the story Hilla had told her.

Orion was a hunter and was in some stories the only man Artemis was fond of. One day he and his hunting wolves killed one of Artemis' sacred deer. Artemis was not a god to cross. The goddess of the moon in a rage of fury turned Orion into a deer. He was ripped apart and eaten by his own hunting dogs. Amelia liked how it told a tale of respect for other people's property. She supposed now she was Orion, stealing from others. At least she was doing it for her people.

The next day she crawled out of her tent and was greeted by a fully dressed Thya. The two grabbed a handful of berries and a flask of water to share through the day. Amelia threw on a satchel and put a few layers of cloth at the bottom so it would look relatively full already. She covered her hair with a cloth, her hair had always been sheared short out of convenience. The women in the village had always encouraged her to grow it long but she never felt the need to. The two girls began their journey toward the city stopping outside of it to carefully paint the rectangles. They wandered through the city. Amelia saw a rectangle at a fruit stand not paying attention. She quickly swiped two apples into the satchel and walked calmly to the next stand controlling her breathing and trying not to look guilty. Thya stole the change purse of a rhombus so the two of them could actually pay for most of the food.

Halfway through the day they walked out of the city and stored the food they had collected so they wouldn't suspiciously be carrying food fit for thirty people. Amelia had bought a crate using the rhombus' money and stored the food in that covered with underbrush. 

They walked back into the city. Amelia distracted a rhombus by asking if he knew where the nearest public restroom was. Thya swiped one of the three change purses tied around his waist. The girls began going into shops buying meat and cheeses. Thya encouraged Amelia to buy a large bag of flour for the camp. At one store Amelia saw Thya staring at a bottle of clear liquid.

"Whats that?" She whispered in Thya's ear.

Thya was startled. "It's nothing. It's just a bottle of alcohol. Our old medicine woman kept a bottle to give to mothers during the birthing process and to clean her tools."

"Shyra doesn't have any of that. She uses only herbal methods. It's healthier for the babies."

Thya nodded and took Amelia's hand. "We should head out soon. But grab a basket from the weaver by the edge of the city. It will look normal the next time we come."

Amelia grabbed a basket and paid for it with her remaining coins. The weaver was very thankful. She was a rectangle with a deformed leg. Amelia smiled at the woman before taking Thya's hand and heading out of the city. They continued holding hands. Both of them scared of what it entailed but neither wanted to let go. They stopped as they grabbed the crate and didn't speak of it. Kids rushed them as they entered camp Amelia smiled. She told them that tomorrow she'd bring the kid who did the most clothes washing a cake. The few kids in the camp seemed satisfied and ran off. The girls dropped off the food and the people cooking cooed over the flour they'd been able to buy. They split up after, Thya went to her family and Amelia went to Cal.

Cal was in the middle of treating one of the children with a scraped knee. He looked up at her and flashed a quick half smile that didn't reach his eyes. Thya sat in the corner of the large med tent until her friend sent the child away.

"How'd it go?" Cal asked wiping his hands clean.

"Really well, Thya knows what she's doing." Amelia said. "Will you be helping Shyra with the birth?"

"Yes. In the words of Shyra I 'need to get over it and steal myself because one day I'll have to do it all on my own'. She always talks like she's going to die tomorrow." Cal said rolling his eyes.

"Yeah." An awkward silence fell over the two.

"I'm going to miss him," Cal said softly.

"Me too. He was like our brother."

Cal blushed. "He was a very different thing for me."

Amelia turned to her embarrassed friend, "You two..."

"It wasn't serious. Just the occasional kiss and moonlit walk." Cal said looking at his hands.

"And neither of you told me?" She said before realizing. "I thought Opus was shagging Francis?"

Cal's face changed to one of fury. "He never told me. I caught them together one night and he just claimed what we had was nothing, just petty fun."

"I should have hit him harder."

"I'll still miss that rotten bastard," Cal said.

"Sometimes you have to end something even if it breaks your heart." Amelia said.

Cal nodded. "So the new girl?"

"Yeah, she's really ..." Amelia trailed off and Cal smirked.

"Alluring? Interesting? Beautiful?" He suggested playfully.

"Piss off." Amelia smiled.

"What's with the head covering?"

"Just modesty. A woman at her old camp taught her how to tie it and she believes it protects her from evil."

Cal nodded and shrugged. "To each their own. Send someone when dinners ready." He laid on the woven rug on the ground.

Amelia made her way to the men and women cooking and began to help one of the women make dumplings. It was a delicacy she and most of the others had never had before but now they had the four to make them. The entire camp had two milk cows and five chickens some rhombus donated to them. The eggs would sometimes be added into soups because there was never enough for everyone to get a satisfying portion.

She brought a large bowl of the dumplings and meat to Thya's mother.

"There's no need to thank me. You should rest as much as possible." Amelia said and the woman gave her a tired but thankful smile.

Amelia returned grabbing herself and Cal smaller bowls. She dropped his off with minimum teasing and sat next to Thya and her family for dinner. After draining the last bit off broth from her bowl, Amelia was tackled by one of the small children.

"Darwin?" She guessed. The small boy giggled and climbed off her before sitting next to her.

"Miss. Amelia? Who are these people?" The boy asked her quietly.

"They just traveled here. This is Thya, her brother Lance and her pregnant mother..." Amelia trailed off.

"Grace." The woman smiled.

"You're a kid like me!" Darwin said pointing at Lance who nodded.

"Excellent observation there, squirt." Amelia teased.

"You know one day I'm gonna be taller than you!" Darwin said sticking out his tongue.

"Is that before or after you get married to Yani?" Amelia smiled.

"Ew girls are gross! I'm going to live alone!"

"I'm gross?" Amelia said pretending to be hurt.

"Not you."

"Thanks, Shorty. Go back to your father and help clean the dishes. Take Lance with you."

As the child ran away Amelia turned to the mother-daughter duo. "His mother died during the labor of his twin sister. He was the only one who made it. His sister was a ghost child." The woman nodded somberly.

Ghost children were children that were born dead, whether they were early or not. Whenever the camp had a ghost child born everyone pitched in to help the family grieve. The men would gather around a bonfire where the body of the child would burn and they would sit until dawn singing a hollow tune. The children made leaf toys that were thrown in the fire so the child had something to play with. The women slept altogether and stared at the stars. Amelia remembered tying the tiny doll made of twigs and dried grass. She remembered watching it burn and hoping the spirit of the twin enjoyed playing with it.

Thya spoke up, "There was the birth of a ghost child at our old camp. Our custom had the entire camp singing into the night."

"I'm sure the child's spirit appreciated it," Amelia said softly resting her hand on top of the other girls.

Thya nodded her covering shifting and moving along with the movement. She adjusted it nervously. The group ate dinner quietly and Amelia was the first to leave heading to get a verbal list of items from one of the elder woman that knew what could easily be made. She eventually fell asleep to the smell of burning wood and the feeling of hard earth on her back.

The days bled into each other. Amelia became closer with Thya as they continued working together. They brought back enough food that some days they didn't have to go out. Those days they stayed behind and helped a few women with laundry or planting as the camp had begun to try farming and gathering its own food from that. One day as Amelia and Thya were heading back from the city, Lance came sprinting down the path.

"Ma's in labor!!" He shouted repeatedly.

Thya dropped the baskets she was carrying and sprinted past him, holding her covering so it didn't blow off. Amelia scooped up her baskets and walked back to camp with the boy.

The camp was silent except for the screams and shouting coming from Shyra's tent. Amelia kept Lance occupied. She watched him and Darwin play together but she kept glancing at the tent. She prayed to her ancestors that everything would go okay.

Come nightfall Thya walked out of the tent holding a small baby wrapped in a blanket. Tears ran down her face. Amelia's breath caught fearing the baby was a Ghost Child. Then the baby let out a tiny wail. Tears continued to flow down Thya's face.

Amelia strode towards the girl. "What's wrong?"

"It- she- We- Look!" Thya pushed the child into Amelia's arms.

The baby squirmed and cried. "She's fine, Thya."

"Look at her arm!"

Amelia gently picked up the flabby arm and saw the small neat square on the child's skin. The breath was knocked out of her.

The peacemakers searched the camp once a year for any babies of rank. They would steal the baby and give it to a family in the city. They claimed 'so it could be raised properly". They had done so many times before. Thya's sister would be stolen from her family.