Ray’s group was the last to leave the estate, but they ran most of the way, stopping only twice. By the evening of the fifth day, they had already passed the other children’s groups and stumbled to a halt inside the town gates.

  Jon collapsed to the ground, chest heaving. “Finally… Teqa. Did we really have to run the entire way? We could’ve just taken it slow and been here in six days like everyone else.”

  The scent of spices, fragrant flowers, and sweat filled the dusty air of Teqa. Distant hammering rang through the crowds of people walking around Ray’s group. Murmurs and loud calls of merchants followed suit.

  Teqa, the town under Acacia. It’s… crowded and annoying. Ray frowned at the thought. Maybe I have gotten used to the silent Korax estate.

  Elaira’s scream broke his thoughts.

  “It’s gone — my mother’s necklace.” She cried, tears flowing down her face. Sera rubbed her back, and Jon asked, standing up, “What necklace? You never wore one.”

  She didn’t answer and simply cried. Ray scanned around. “What does it look like?”

  Elaira whimpered, “It… has a crescent-shaped ruby with a silver chain.”

  His eyes wandered through the crowd, and his ears listened to every ?murmur.

  A thief would be in a hurry. And with such an exquisite item, even more.

  Ray noticed a man whose grin tugged higher on one side, teeth flashing briefly before disappearing. A faint throb beat at his neck — too quick for someone strolling through the market — a red glow cast on his hips.

  Ray vanished into the crowd, his eyes fixed on the man, and his ears focused on his heartbeat. He grabbed an apple from a stall.

  With a precise movement, he grabbed the necklace from the man’s side pocket, replaced it with an apple, and smacked him across the face before vanishing into the crowd. The man crashed to the ground and frantically looked around before realising that the necklace had become an apple.

  The vendor spotted him, snatched the apple from his hands, and called the guards.

  Ray appeared near Elaira and knelt. “Here you go,” he said with a warm smile. Elaira’s red eyes lit up as she grabbed the necklace and hugged Ray, still sobbing. “My mother gave it to me before she died. To me, it is more important than my life.” She tightly hugged Ray, “Thank you.”

  “Keep wearing it; that way it will be easier to protect,” Ray said, rubbing his hand on her head. Elaira nodded as she let go. Wiping her face, she stood up. “Listen here, forget what you saw today. It never happened.”

  Sera chuckled while Ray and Jon sighed.

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  The guards dragged the man who stole the necklace as he kept screaming, “THE NECKLACE TURNED INTO AN APPLE!”

  Laughter filled the market for a while before it returned to normal.

  Sera smirked at Ray as he chuckled.

  The market stalls began closing one by one as the sky darkened. Jon scratched his head. “Now what? Where should we go? To Acacia? Maybe we should rest at Teqa for today? What do you guys think? I think—”

  “Let’s rest here tonight.” Sera interrupted.

  Jon cleared his throat. “Yes, yes, let’s rest here today. That’s what I was going to say.”

  Elaira nodded in agreement as they all turned towards Ray. He sighed, “We do not have denars, and we’re short on Lis too.”

  Jon slumped on the ground, Sera scratched her temple, and Elaira frowned.

  A cart rattled past Jon, its driver shouting in some tongue he didn’t recognise. “What language is that?”

  Sera glanced over her shoulder. “Faruqian. He’s probably from the southern continent.”

  Jon blinked. “Wait, there’s another continent.”

  Ray pulled Jon to his feet as they continued through the scattering crowd.

  Sera sighed, weaving through the crowd. “Yes. Faruqa to the south, Osparion to the west, and Vargard to the north.”

  Jon pointed eastward, toward the horizon, just visible past the rooftops. “And over there?”

  “There’s nothing,” Sera replied flatly. “Just ocean.”

  Ray’s voice was quieter, almost lost in the fading market noise. “That’s what the king says.” He kept his eyes on the street ahead. “But… I read once about an eastern land where they don’t have knights at all. They train differently — martial artists, they’re called. They don’t use Harmony; they have something else entirely.”

  Jon opened his mouth, but a drunk beggar crashed between them, interrupting his thoughts.

  “Do ye have any coins? Denars? Silis?” The beggar grunted on the dusty road. The dirt was clinging to his clothes. “Ye wouldn’t happen to have some Siliu, would ye?”

  Jon frowned. “We don’t have a Liu, nor do we have any Lis.”

  The beggar grabbed his ankles. “Then ye have denars?”

  Ray knelt beside the beggar. “Look at us. We are children, and you expect us to have Liu? Even Lis?”

  The beggar opened his mouth to say something, but Ray interrupted, “Even Denars?”

  The beggar frowned. “Ye must’ve something to eat?”

  Ray shook his head. “No, we don’t, but…” The beggar’s frown deepened as Ray continued. “If you tell me where you’re from and I’ll get you some food maybe even Liu. Not Lis, mind you, but Siliu.”

  The beggar glared at Ray and stood. His drunkenness disappeared immediately. “How did ye figure it out?”

  Ray smirked. “Two things. Anyone living on Aestoriah never says Siliu or Silis; we only say Liu and Lis.”

  The surrounding crowd scattered as night fell, leaving the beggar and Ray’s group the only ones on the dusty street under the dark sky.

  “And the second?” The beggar wondered.

  “The way you speak.” Ray’s smirk widened.

  After a moment of silence, the beggar’s laugh rang heartily through the silent streets of Teqa.

  Jon, Elaira, and Sera immediately tensed up and surrounded the beggar.

  “I like ye, brat. What’s yer name?” The beggar said, taking deep breaths.

  “Ray.” He replied.

  “I am Sun Oh Tian.”

  Jon tilted his head. “Son of Tian? Okay, but what’s your name?”

  Ray and Elaira exchanged a look while Sera face-palmed.

  “My name is Sun Oh Tian,” the beggar repeated, louder.

  Jon frowned. “Weird name. Did your father, Tian, not think it through? What if he has another son? You’d both be Son of Tian—how would anyone tell you apart? Seriously, what’s your actual name?”

  Sera groaned and walked away. Ray sighed. Elaira plopped onto a cart, humming a melody like she’d seen this before.

  The beggar seized Jon’s collar. “It’s not ‘son of Tian,’ brat. It’s SUN. OH. TIAN!”

  Jon gasped, “Oh!”

  “Yes! OH!” The beggar grunted.

  Ray laughed, and Sera shook her head in disbelief. Elaira’s stomach rumbled, and she turned red. Jon and the beggar turned to her. She immediately punched both of them and said, “Listen here, Ray, Jon’s hungry.”

  Jon and the beggar lay on the ground as the dust flowed in the night breeze through the lonely market.