𝕭𝖚𝖗𝖓𝖊𝖉 𝕾𝖊𝖈𝖗𝖊𝖙𝖘 (𝕯𝖗𝖆𝖋𝖙 𝕿𝖜𝖔)

𝕮𝖍𝖆𝖕𝖙𝖊𝖗 𝕾𝖎𝖝

Nazifa

I didn't know how long I'd slept.

I didn't even recall falling asleep. I sat up in alarm when I realized that Killian was nowhere to be seen. I groaned, wrapping an arm around my middle. "Killian?" I grunted, dragging myself to my feet. I hope he wasn't hurt.

I took a minute to lean against a tree. It hurt to breathe. I'd only felt like this once before. The man had been really angry that day. I could still hear the sickening crack as my body hit the wall. I squeezed my eyes shut. Thinking about that just made my chest hurt even more.

"Nazifa!"

I opened my eyes and saw Killian hurrying toward me with a bucket. "What are you doing?" He asked, eyes widening in alarm. "I wasn't finished yet." I frowned. "Finished with wha—" Killian pushed me to the ground, with a surprisingly strong grip on my shoulders—for a ten year old.

"Killian?" "Shh." He locked eyes with me. "Just trust me." I sighed and laid back onto the ground. "I can't believe I'm doing this." "You're so dramatic." Killian muttered.

He lifted his hands, letting them hover a few inches above my rib cage. I frowned. What was he doing? I gasped when his hands started.....glowing? "Killian?" "Shhh. Let me concentrate." I swallowed and laid back. Seconds later, the pain in my ribs disappeared. How had he......

I sat up just in time to catch Killian as he slumped toward me. "Killian?!" "I'm okay...." He breathed. "I've.....I've never done that on some one with broken bones before." I wrapped my arm around his shoulders and pulled him closer, burying my face in his fluffy white hair. I sat there, leaning against a tree while Killian caught his breath.

"Are you alright?" He nodded and lifted his head from my chest. Our eyes locked and I saw his cheeks turn red. "Quit staring at me!" I shouted, shoving him off of me. "You weirdo!" "I-I'm not a weirdo! You're a weirdo." We fell into an awkward silence. I started down, picking at my nails, and I could hear Killian scratching in the dirt.

"So, uh, how did you know you could do that?"

I was desperate for something—anything—to break this awkward silence. Killian looked up, a shadow crossing his face. "You've never lived in an orphanage, have you?" I shook my head. "No, but considering where I did grow up, I would've opted for the orphanage." Killian's eyes widened and his face paled, he shook his head quickly. "No, you wouldn't." I frowned. What had happened to this ten-year-old in the orphanage to make him so apprehensive about talking about it?

I mean, yeah, having dead parents wasn't fun. But..... Killian had been quiet for some time. "Killian?" He flinched slightly when I touched his shoulder. I drew back and let my hand fall onto my lap. "You don't have to talk about it." He stared at the ground. "Do you....do you think talking about it will help?" I smiled softly. "Sometimes it does." He looked up at me, gray eyes filled with determination. "Alright, I'll tell you about my past. Only if you tell me about yours." I bit the inside of my cheek.

A loud noise from behind us made me jump. "What was that?" Killana asked, eyes wide with fear. "I don't know." I whispered. I slowly crawled to my feet. "We should go." Killian nodded and began packing up stuff.

It wasn't long before we had everything packed up and were making our way out of the forest, or what we thought was out of the forest. Everything looked the same. And I didn't feel right. My vision was slightly fuzzy and I knew I wasn't walking straight. Killian knew too. He was ten, not stupid.

"You look drunk." He said, flatly. "Thank you." I muttered sarcastically.

✴

Killian kept me in the corner of his eye the whole walk out of the woods. It felt as if it took years. But it had probably only been a few hours. "Where are we?" Killian frowned, looking out across the flat—seemingly endless—plains before us. "I don't know." He looked up at me. "I've never left Orlam before." Right. Of course he hadn't. "Let's just keep walking. We're bound to find civilization soon."

As curious as I was, I didn't ask Killian about Kailani. She hadn't mentioned him and he hadn't mentioned her, so maybe they didn't know the other existed. It wouldn't be completely unbelievable.

"Look!" I followed Killian's pointing finger, there was a large clearing up ahead with a few little houses scattered across it. Killian looked up at me, eyes bright. "Let's go!" I grabbed him by the back of his shirt, halting his movements. "Hey! What are you doing?" I turned him around and held him by his shoulders, staring into his eyes.

"We don't know what type of people are over there. They could be hostile." His eyes widened and he twisted in my grasp, trying to look over his shoulder. "Oh. I hadn't thought of that. So, we shouldn't go over there?" I bit my lip and looked around. I spotted a large stick and walked over to the clearing it was in to pick it up.

"No, we can go check it out." I turned back to Killian, clutching my staff tightly. "But we should be careful." Killian nodded and picked up a stick that'd been on the ground a few feet away from him. "Alright."

Cautiously, Killian and I made our way to the clearing. A few children ran past us, stopping a few feet away to stare at us. Killian pressed closer to me. "Why are you scared?" I asked in a whisper. "You're older than them." Killian clutched the fabric of my shirt tightly. "Yeah, but they....they look weird." I chuckled. "They look weird?" He nodded and moved to walk on the other side of me. "Their eyes." I chuckled quietly.

I noticed a boy about my age sitting outside of a small house, cleaning some vegetables in a large pot of water. Maybe we could stay with him!

I grabbed Killian's hand, startling him, and started dragging him toward the house. "Where are you going?" He asked, struggling to keep up. "There's a house over there," I muttered, slowing my pace so that I wasn't dragging him behind me. "And a boy sitting outside. I'm going to ask if we can stay with them for a while."

I was slightly warry, but too tired to think of some other alternative.

The boy looked up when we approached and I was really hoping he spoke Basic. "Hey. I know this is kind of weird and you don't know us, so I would totally understand if you said 'no'." I took a deep breath. "But do you think me and my......" I trailed off and glanced down at Killian. My what? "...brother! My brother and I could stay with you and your family for a few days." He stood up and gestured for us to follow him.

"I live alone," he said, stepping into the house that I realized was just one big room with a bed and one-wall kitchenette. "I don't have any family." "Don't you get lonely?" Killian asked. The boy smiled ruefully. "Yeah, sometimes. But it goes away." Killian nodded and continued to watch him, somewhat suspiciously. I pushed him behind me and stepped closer to the boy.

"Oh. Don't mind him." I smiled politely and stuck out my hand. "My name's Nazifa." He stared at my hand for a second then reached out with his and shook it firmly.

"Kai."