Chapter Four.

It was almost day break, which meant, time for Fiora to go to bed. She was tired, stressed and if it wasn't for her occasional charity smiles, no one would ever noticed. No one, except for Aiden. He was not specifically trained into mastering the art of human feelings, but he sure could read Fiora like an open book. Her face were covered in a few dark spots round her forehead and Aiden guessed for it to be charcoal, perhaps from the cooking. It also wasn't hard for him to read through her emotion and concluded just how tired she was, just by the way she smiled. Not more than a few minutes at the riverbank, when she smiled, it was so peaceful. It was like watching sunset when on a gloomy day, or watching a baby laugh at a very redundant reaction. Her eyes squinted and her lips majestically wondered into a nice curve, revealing just about enough white teeth. It was natural. Her messy brown hair shone impressively under the night sky, and even as they were already packed up into a bun, they still clearly called out "Elegance." Her eyes were piercing and intimidating, like an erupting volcano that you could only admire from afar, because you know how dangerous  things could advance to once you got too close. 

Still, Aiden wasn't scared of the threat. He was rather astonished and wanted to know her even better. She slouched and when she walked, it was almost like she was dragging her foot rather than walking. Her pace appeared as a slow walk with quite a heavy steps that he had to wondered if she'd even eaten at all. Of course she only disregarded his attempts to his inquiries and let it trail off after he persistently bombarded her with questions. They shared their good nights then (or you could say good mornings) and both departed. Although, that time, they agreed to met early before noon for a brief meeting with Ropert-man.

Fiora got home, and as she normally would do every other day, quietly went straight for her room. She would usually crawl into her tiny bed and slept till whenever her body woke her up. Lately, as she had started with her new challenging tasks, and no matter the amount of pestering questions shed always got from Aiden, she still wouldn't leave the house until it was late at night. She also never uttered a word as to why she preferred going out only at night. Aiden was usually in charge of the food preparation, assisting the women cooking and running any quick errand that might be needed. He also bragged about his swordfighting skills, so it made Fiora worried less about when things might get messy and some thugs wouldn't want to cooperate. 

But that day was quite different. When she arrived at the doorstep, she heard Gregoria secretly weeping and Clement hushing her to quiet down. She slammed the door open and met Gregoria in a slouching position, vomiting what looked like blood into a bowl while Clement gently petted her back. Fear gripped her heart as she rushed forward to understand the situation even more. Sif wasn't present and little Randi was crying on the chair in the corner.

"Fiora, go to your room." Sif ordered as quietly as he could, not making his voice boom and thunder to frighten Randi even more.

"What? Are you insane?" She asked, reaching for Gregoria until Clement shoved her off before her hands even touched her. 

"Leave now. Don't make this matter worst than-" 

"Father!" Sif raced in with a small flower in his hands,  "I've got the leaf thing you asked me to... get earlier." His voice trailed off as he sighted Fiora in their midst. He wasn't used to her being around anymore. Once upon a time as he grew, he considered her an important woman in his life. Now, he only thinks of her as a threat. A dangerous plant that could rip off its toxins at any moment at all, poisoning every and anyone around it without any remedy or cure. 

"Make a fine paste out of it. You know how it works already!" Clement yelled out in frustration and Sif got to work. Gregoria's eyes were already as red as blood itself, and she had bled a lot. Dab of blood still lingered around her lips, and her groan in agony increased further. "Fiora, leave quietly. Go outside, just leave." Fiora didn't know what to do again. She was heartbroken, but it wasn't only because of Gregoria's state, she was being casted out again. They called themselves her family, but lately, they seemed to had forgotten what exactly the word family meant. "Get out!" Clement's voice erupted, and Randi's cry grew louder all over again.

She watched in disappointed and anger, and couldn't bear leave Gregoria in that manner. Sif was out of the kitchen with a pasted plant in his hand. He quickly gave Clement the paste, who immediately started feeding poor Gregoria it's content. Sif's eyes stared at Fiora and when her gaze met his, her heart sank. His eyes were cold as ever, yet a little forlorn. His thick brows furrowed in confusion, and his eyes shifted uncontrollably. He hated being in a position like that, and she knew it. How did they become that way? A trickle of tear ran down her cheek, and it may have not been half enough to show just how much devastated she was, but she had promised herself not to cry anymore on things she could not change. It was hard, it was almost impossible. That time, she could not hold the tears from rolling down her face, and the tightness that gripped her throat from speaking. Sif's slightly shifted his gaze few inches away from her and would not even blink back any regret or any form of hurt. She stared one last time at them all, Randi helplessly scared of what might become of her mother, Sif staring very still at the cracks in the faded painted wall as if it would just come back alive to when it still used to be polished neat, Gregoria desperately fighting for her dear life as Clement managed to feed her whatever it was that filled the small bowl. 

Then she ran outside.

In the midst of all the calamities, Clement's gaze briefly met with Sif, and he gestured him to go after her.

****

"Help us, we're hungry." Cried a young girl who was recognized to be Revna. 

"No, silly you! You sound like an actual beggar." The other voice corrected. 

"Asmi, we are beggars." Revna reminded. "We're supposed to sound like actual ones."

"No no, we're elegant young ladies-"

"Who are only twelve years old with no parents or families. Let us be realistic here." They both thought for a while, then Asmi's eyes flustered open in satisfaction. Revna only rolled her eyes and scoffed. They were twins and they'd been surviving quite well on their own for as far as five years ago when they only seven. Life hadn't been easy for them and by chance after several months of traveling, they heard about the Central City and found their way into it's premises. It wasn't an easy task, but with lots of luck on their side, and their smart tactics, they seemed to has managed just fine. 

"We-"

"You two there!" A boisterous voice thundered right before poor Asmi could divulge her amazing plan. They stopped and turned back to find a tall inauspicious bald man glaring terrifyingly at them. "Who are you, and what are you doing here in the middle rings of the City?" He inquired, his arms akimbo.

Both girls exchange a slow glance, then one thing and one thing alone crossed their minds. 

Run.

****

Aiden met with a family, very set of nice people, and he'd been managing in their hut each time it was dawn whenever the time for a shut eye came. Then he was also placed in charge by Fiora to maintain the order at the time of the day when she wasn't around. If he wasn't resting at their house, he was somewhere enjoying the village all by himself. He hadn't quite explored that particular area of the Central City. It was indeed a meager hometown and not many people would believe that those same people existed in the Central City. 

That morning after he and Fiora had departed, he was heading back to the lovely family's hut, but something caught his attention. A perfect gift for Fiora. He noticed some men gathered around a corner, taking about something, but his attention was drawn the moment he heard them mention the name 'Rupert.' 

Few minutes later, he'd already gotten the information he wanted to hear and was about to set course for the land of sleep because he was wholly tired. The entire vicinity was quiet but not in the complete silence zone. It was silent with the absence of a lot of people, only a few men preparing for their early morning jobs. The majority were already asleep. Then he spotted a lady in tears rushing towards the outer gates. Her hair was still tight up in a loose bun, and those beautiful eyes were so weary and tired. Where was she heading to?  She trotted out from the lower gates and kept on wandering. 

"Fiora?" He ran towards her, stopping her from moving any further because she just struggled with him, hiding her face from him. "Slow down, slow down. It's okay." He said, calming her down. Her eyes were already puffy and red, and her tone broke and trailed off as she tried to speak.

"I'm - I'm fine." She finally managed to say.

"Okay. I understand." He lied. He didn't understand a thing. How a woman who seemed so strong and bold, tense up like that. "I understand. I understand." He kept repeating himself until her breathing pace balanced and slowly went back to normal. He tried to hug her, but he wouldn't dare. Instead, he just held her hands tightly gripping them with care. He was still talking when he noticed a slender young man behind Fiora. He had black long hair that dangled freely on his shoulders and pale blue eyes that intimidated others around him. Almost like a godlike representative from the heavens directly. His expression changed from angst and stretched out to an audacious long frown. He quickly let go of Fiora's hands and straighten up his pose. "Uh, your brother is around." 

Fiora turned and her face tensed. "Sif? What are you doing here?" She asked.

"I uh, followed you but you ran pretty fast for a woman." He confessed.

Aiden watched them both talked like immortals. What he wondered about the most was how they both talked about running and yet non of them seemed tired at all. 

"But you seem to be just fine already." He said, as if waiting for a contradicted reply.

"Yes-"

"No." Aiden quickly said before Fiora could manage a reply. "I don't think she's fine actually." He implied.

 She slapped him on his arm."Shut up, needle head!"

"Ouch!" 

"I'm fine, thanks for checking up on me." She replied coldly and then returned her gaze back to Aiden. "Stay out of my business!" 

Aiden couldn't really understand her, and for his sanity, he tried not to. He'd just be a good loving friend and nothing more. 

"Alright then. But I need to speak with you." Sif said. "Also, I'm to bring you back home." He quickly added.

"It's alright. I can find my way back home-"

"I don't care. We're going home together." He firmly replied.

"Uh, sorry to cut in, but I've got some news." Aiden said to Fiora.

"Personal news, right? Just for the two of us, alone." She asked, and he wondered what she was trying to imply. Was she suddenly trying to seduce him in front of her brother? He replied with a spurious smile.

"Hurry up with your business then. I'll be waiting for you." He said and walked away.

"Tell me." Fiora uttered.

"Sorry?" 

"What news have you got? Tell me." She explained, talking slowly like he was a dummy.

"Oh. Right. It's about Robert man." 

"What about him?" 

He looked around with care, then advanced forward to where she was standing. She asked him what the problem was again, then he started to spill. "We might have a problem at our hand." She paid all of her attention towards him, and then he spoke. And as she listened, her whole face screamed one thing. She became dumb-founded.