Amelia was raised by every member of the camp alongside two boys. The eldest of their trio was Opus, a tall buff child that joined the bandits as soon as they would let him. The youngest was Cal, scrawny and fearful. Cal started training under the medicine woman Riah as soon as he could stand. Amelia trained.

When Opus was taken under the wings of the bandits Amelia fought tooth and nail to follow him. She developed a new skill, scaling trees. She flew through the branches and brought back her first haul at twelve, a pocket purse filled with gold. The leader of the camp Gwenni, an old woman that had very little hair, persuaded her against joining the bandits instead training her to be her right hand. At least that's what Amelia believed. The king ruled all and made her life difficult. She learned through Gwenni exactly how little supplies they received from the grace of the king. Amelia learned how to hold her own in an argument and how to deal with the king's triangles. Gwenni worked her even harder.

"The Yani have told me about a family. The mother is pregnant and her daughter and son are not fit to help her. You must find them and bring them safely to camp." Gwenni said in her soft drawl. "The Yani want you to keep a particularly close eye on the daughter. She is vital."

The Yani are hooded figures that act in times of great need. They were rumored to have direct lines of communication with the gods. They were rumored to be gods. The Yani trained young boys into calming their minds and mastering not only their body but the magic that flowed through all people. The trainees were called Yannum. If the Yani had sent her this quest, Amelia could not refuse. It was the highest point a markless person could get to join the Yani and getting a mission from them was no small triumph. Amelia nodded carefully. 

"Where can I start my search?" 

"The Yani did not say. A Yannum will greet you at the gate he is to accompany you on your quest." Gwenni leveled a careful gaze at her.

"I can do it alone," Amelia said in a sour tone.

"Of that, I have no doubt. However, one cannot go through life alone. Most especially when the king's triangles may be looking for this family." Gwenni stood on her shaking legs. "This is your chance, Amelia, your chance to be more than this camp, be more than a bandit."

"What if I fail?"

"You don't fail, Amelia, you fight. I have raised you to be a fighter but deeper than that, you were born fighting." Gwenni hacked. "Go now, send Cal to me."

Amelia bowed with a straight back before strutting out of the grand tent. The camp was packed and hard to navigate. Amelia had long learned that shoving could get you a black eye but was also the quickest way to get through the crowd. She shoved her way to Cal's tent where he was fixing the cut above Opus' eye.

"Good, you're both here," Amelia said.

Cal pushed a bowl of dumplings and meat toward her. "Aren't we always?" 

Amelia grabbed the bowl. "I've got a mission, a serious one by the sounds of it."

  Opus gently pushed Cals working hands away from his head. "What do you mean serious?"

"The Yani sent it," Amelia said taking a bite of dumplings and chewing softly. "And I will be traveling with a Yannum."

The two boys sat back on the cot. They processed the information. Amelia continued eating. When she had finished she stood and turned only to be engulfed by two pairs of arms on either side. She felt a smile split her face and she turned to hug her two brothers. 

"We know this is an insane opportunity for you but please, come back. Yannum never come back to visit their families." Cal said softly.

"When have you met a Yannum or their family?" Amelia said skeptically.

"He's right." Opus grunted, "Don't you dare leave us."

Amelia hugged them back with a soft smile, "I could never leave you two."

Cal broke from the group hug first, moving quickly he gathered a few items from his tent. He laid out bandages, cloth, and two small jars with liquids in them. He wrapped everything in the plastic tarps Opus had stolen for the mediteam. The package was small about the size of the bottom of Amelia's rucksack. He pushed the bundle into Amelia's hands.

"That is everything you should need for basic cuts and injuries. I trust you and your Yannum will be able to at least make it safely back." 

Opus moved to stand behind Cal, towering over him. "You should go pack before sundown. I'll keep him safe."

Amelia nodded and cast them one more glance before leaving the tent. The camp had started to gather around fires. Dances and chanting had begun and ale had just started to flow. Amelia powered through to her tent. It was small and unassuming with very little space. The important part was her actual home, the tree perch. She had built her tent directly under a strong and tall oak. Amelia had spent three weeks building her perch. It was nestled up against the trunk of the tree and had all of her sleeping supplies in it. After several instances of her being forced to scale the tree just to retrieve her rucksack she started leaving it in her tent. She grabbed the sack now, shoving her kit from Cal at the bottom. Next, went a spool of rope and a sleeping pad made of twined grass. At the top was a canteen of water. She changed into a rough shirt and slid a leather vest over top. She strapped two small knives onto her forearms and one to her left bicep. Amelia pulled on pants made of stitched jeans and pulled two pieces of stiff leather calf pieces before putting on her belt. Her belt held two long knives and a small hidden pocket for gold. Leather boots Opus had made her specifically for climbing hugged her feet. Two leather gloves from Cal went next. Two long knives were then strapped to her back before her rucksack was thrown on. 

Amelia left quickly, scaling trees and swinging from branch to branch and dropping down in a roll right up to the gate. She scaled it quickly and fell from the top of the structure. Her shoulder hit the ground hard but she rolled swiftly kicking up into a stand. She caught her breath before she heard clapping and her hand went for the knife at her shoulder.

"Woah!" a black-garbed figure walked out of the tree line. The setting sun illuminated the face of a boy appearing to be just a few years older than her. His hair was blonde and hung down to his shoulders. He held his hands up. His black tunic has several straps holding several carefully engraved blades. On his arms were series of looping black tattoos. The most disturbing thing to Amelia, however, was the black rectangle on his forehead.

By general rule, bandits didn't attack rectangles without provoking. Rectangles lived generally hard lives that didn't need further issues. Amelia gripped her knife but relaxed slightly no longer on offense. 

"Who are you?" She asked icily.

"My name is Eli! I'm your Yannum. I mean you no harm, Amelia." The boy kept his arms raised. 

"Why are you marked?" 

Eli rolled his eyes, "I was born this way, you know like how you were born gay and Trenton was born in a boys body when really they're female." 

Amelia had decided something right then and there, Yannum were annoying. She stowed her knife. "Lead the way, Yannum."

"It's Eli." He looked her up and down skeptically. "Try to keep up."

Amelia narrowed her eyes at the comment and watched as Eli grabbed the branch of the nearest tree and started to swing from branch to branch. Amelia climbed and swung faster passing him and waiting a few times. Eventually, when the stars and moon were the only sources of light, Eli dropped onto a road and Amelia followed suit. He held a finger to his lips and touched her forehead softly. A rush of wind flew over her and she looked down to find her body gone. When she looked up, Eli was gone too. She opened her mouth to speak but something grabbed her hand before she could. She looked down at where she felt her hand should be and her eyes tried to focus in on the two, barely there, shimmers, like a leaf split just so slightly. 

Eli pulled her along and she stumbled trying to get a hold of the situation. After a few stumbles, her eyes finally focused on the shape of Eli walking ahead of her and she was able to keep pace. They came upon the city and Amelia held Eli back. She'd heard nothing about crossing through the marked territory. Eli pushed his face close to her ear and she stiffened.

"Walking around it will take too long. We need to go through or we will be too late." He whispered. He pushed closer, "You can't fail this mission."

Amelia pulled away from him before walking purposefully into the city. The dirt path beneath their invisible feet slowly changed to stone. The doors and windows were all shut tight. A guard was asleep at his post, his triangle clearly visible. Amelia felt Eli hit her shoulder somewhat roughly and she looked up to see him jump to the rooftops and start running. She braced herself before jumping and grabbing the edge of a roof and throwing herself up. A grin broke across her face. She ran and felt the wind in her hair. Her feet pounded against the flat rooftops and her chest burned. This makes her feel alive.

Eli looked back at her and was stunned to see her keeping pace with him, letting him lead. He smirked and pushed a little harder. The magic slid from his forearms and his feet sped up. He eventually slowed down only to see that Amelia wasn't three roofs behind him. She had pushed passed him. 

Amelia smirked and crossed her arms. Eli grinned and motioned to the edge of the roof. Off the edge was a twelve-foot drop and then the city fence. Amelia studied it. The other side of the fence was obscured. The nearest tree had one solid branch two feet above the fence. She studied it before backing up and taking a running leap. She threw her hands up and reached for the branch. Her right fingers grazed it but couldn't find traction on its surface. She was in a free fall through branches. She forced her eyes opened and time slowed. She reached out for a different branch and grabbed it swinging from it to another branch slowly losing her momentum and finally tumbling to the ground in a roll. She pushed herself up and looked at her arms where small scratches forming. Her invisibility must have worn off. When she looked up she saw Eli slowly coming into focus regarding her with a puzzled expression. 

"How the fate?" he narrowed his eyes at her. He muttered something before a line of ink on his hand lit up, "I get it, Micheal! Come on, If we don't move now we'll be too late."

He started running through the trees. Amelia couldn't stand just flat out running but pushed herself to keep pace with the strange Yannum. 

"Soon we'll come upon an opening in the trees. Do not go in and do exactly as I tell you!" Eli shouted over the rushing wind. "Climb into the trees and wait for a girl with blonde hair to exit the hut. Get her out of there as fast as you can. Leave the rest of the family to me." He turned and grabbed her arm. "From here on out your mission is to protect that girl. Got it?"

Amelia nodded and kept running. Eli slowed and pointed ahead. There was the break in the trees. She started to scale the trees. Eventually a small, poorly made hut came into view and more worryingly a group of five triangles armed to the teeth. Eli walked slowly behind them making no noise. Amelia watched with bated breath. A triangle walked up to the shack and banged on the paneling. 

A severely pregnant woman stepped out and her arms were grabbed on either side. Amelia bit her lip wanting to shout for Eli to do something, but the Yannum waited. Next came out a small boy who began kicking at the triangles holding his mother. When a soldier raised his hand to slap the boy he found a knife stuck in his chest. The owner of the knife was a girl with long red hair. Amelia dropped and rushed to the girl. In the corner of her eye, she saw Eli pinning one guy to the ground with his foot and another was lying unconscious behind him. A triangles blade caught her arm and left a long but shallow gash. She flipped and kicked out, knocking him down and landing on her feet before hitting a female triangle in the face. She rushed to the girl. Amelia grabbed the girls arm and came face to face with the bloodied knife. The girl looked stunned and then confused. 

Amelia grabbed her and looked at the small boy. A triangle had their foot reared back about to land a kick to his head. Amelia remembered what Eli had said but she grabbed the boy anyway and hauled him over her shoulder. He started kicking and screaming but Amelia held firm. She grabbed the girl by the elbow and started running dragging her behind them. 

"My mother!" The girl cried. 

"The Yannum will save her! Just run!" Amelia shouted. 

The two girls started sprinting for the forest. Amelia adjusted the boy so his face was buried into her shoulder and ran straight through the thickets of bushes. The girl pulled her in a direction and Amelia followed. The girl ran straight for a small alcove of rocks and Amelia followed her into it. She set the boy down and he ran for his sister.

"Who are you?" The girl asked hugging her brother close.

"I'm Amelia and- holy fates"

For the first time, Amelia caught sight of the girl's forehead. Her brothers and mothers had been bare but the girl had her hair covering her forehead at all times. Amelia's eyes were locked on the clear perfect black circle marked on the girl's forehead.