The inexplicable coldness in my body receded minutes later. I felt like I had been thawed from a block of ice. They had me lie down on a bed to rest. I didn't really get to see what happened after because I unknowingly fell asleep. I only stirred to the sound of my mother and Laksa talking. As I had been dozing off that time, I did not remember much—even though I was truly tempted to listen in.

"Hellenia, your daughter is not like any other child who walked through those doors. It is a good thing I was the one to evaluate her, otherwise, I don't know how things would've gone. Keep this to yourself. We'll see how things turn out for her."

"Alright."

"I don't think it'll be wise to call on the healer here to look at her, though."

"It's okay. Kora is in Oblivion. I'll get him to check on Evyionne."

"Indeed." There was a pause. "Well, it seems we have no more problem here."

"Actually...I need to check on something. Would you help me? It is very important."

I fell asleep again. When I came to, there was a disturbing shake that rattled my bed. I woke up startled by the commotion. For a second, I thought there was an earthquake—at least, my dream told me there was. And I was convinced about that possibility until I saw a head ducking under the bed I was lying in. A green dress sparkled under the light, taking refuge under the covers.

Footsteps echoed and someone knocked on the door.

"Excuse me?" The knobs turned and a head poked in. I exchanged stares with a man. A very familiar one too.

It was that steward from before. The arrogant one. I believe Laksa called him "Steward Anson."

I rubbed my eyes sleepily before staring at him, wondering what he came for. Was it for the stowaway under my bed?

He cleared his throat. "Have you seen the girl I was with?" he asked.

I debated what to answer—whether I should say yes or no.

"Did you hear my question?" he repeated, mildly irritated at my silence.

"I'm sorry," I said. "I don't think so. I was sleeping this entire time."

He didn't seem convinced. He looked around the room for anything suspicious. Eventually, he decided I wasn't worth his time and closed the door.

After some time passed, I felt the stowaway shift from under the bed.

"You can get out now," I said.

"Thank you!"

I eyed her again, taking my time to examine her closely for the second time around. She was as I had first seen her—except more disheveled. The prim and proper little girl of a while ago had turned into an utter mess. My guess was that she'd gotten that way from running around.

"So...why are you running away? Who was he?" I asked. I felt entitled to knowing at least, considering I had helped her.

"That man?" She sighed. "I really don't like him."

"Yes. He seemed very arrogant," I said.

"I know!" she exclaimed.

"Where are your parents?" I inquired.

"Well, it's not like they can simply come out and accompany me." She rolled her eyes and sat on the edge of the bed, playing with her fingers as she did. "They're way too busy at the moment." Light flowed into her face and she brightly smiled at me.

"Why? What do they do?"

She didn't answer and instead said, "Can I stay? Let's play a game!"

"What about that man?"

"What about him? I don't like him," she said, placing both hands on her waist and flying forward to land face first on the bed. "Ughhhh. I'm so sick of it. Please let me stay. Let me stay and I can keep you company. How about it? Isn't that a baggage?" She perked up, putting her chin on her hand with her elbows propped on the bed. She gave me a blinding smile.

A baggage? Sure. It might be. Definitely.

"I don't think that word means what you think it means. In fact, that didn't make any sense." I gave a sigh. I wanted to send her away, but I was bored and there was no sign of my adoptive mother anywhere.

"Which one? Baggage?"

"It's bargain."

"Ooh. Good to know!" she exclaimed. "So. Can I stay?"

"Who are you anyway?"

She gave a wide grin. "I'm Erenol."

"Evyionne."

"Evy—what?" she stuttered. "Never mind. Let's stick with that." Her pigtails bobbed and she twirled some strands around her small forefinger. I knew she was technically my age (my biological one at least), but I could not see her as anything more than a child.

I frowned disapprovingly.

"You can't make my tongue be tired," she said, taking a hint of my displeasure. "Anyway, you can call me Eren. Won't that be great? We'll be instant friends!" she enthusiastically exclaimed.

"Say my name and you can stay," I challenged.

It was her turn to frown. "Evieeeeyoohnnn."

"Nope."

"Eva—ugh!"

"Not that either."

"Urggggghhhh. Say it again for me, please?"

"Evyionne."

"Evahyuhn!" She raised both fists victoriously after belting out the syllables with much difficulty. "I said it right. I said it right, right?"

I raised both brows skeptically.

"You know, you're really pretty," Erenol—or Eren—told me. "Like...really weird pretty. How'd your skin get like that? Did you stay under the sun too long? I saw gardeners stay out in the sun and they got very dark after a while."

"I was born like this."

"Ohhhh! I know! I know! Did you come from the West like the others? You're not like the others though."

"Yeah, I guess you could say that," I whispered. "But I've never seen that place." In truth, I knew about it, just not as intimately as I should. "I grew up here. My mother raised me."

"And your father?"

"I don't know who he is," I replied.

I had to stick with the story. My adoptive mother never told me I was adopted—just that my father wasn't Erindalian.

She nodded. "You're like me. I don't see my father at all. My mother? Well...she's not feeling good." Eren breathed deeply and looked down. She drew shapes absentmindedly on the sheets. "Where's your mother? Wasn't she like that...really pretty lady from before?"

"I don't know," I said. "I had to sleep here and when I woke up, she was gone. I'm sure she'll be back later. She told me she's taking me somewhere."

Eren's eyes brightened. "Can I come?" she asked.

"What about that man?" I pointed out.

"I don't want to go home. I hate it..." she trailed off. "I don't want to go back at all."

I sighed. I felt a little bad for this kid. "You can't go with us. People will think we're kidnapping you or something."

I decided not to have her elaborate about it any longer, staying silent and looking out towards the windows. The room they put me in had previously been occupied by me alone. Right now, that wasn't really the case. Taking my silence as a cue, endless chatter began going off in the background like an Armalite. I retreated into the sanctuary of my mind, blocking out the sound with a wall of thoughts.

Damn. This girl was a blabbermouth.

"What about you? Why are you here?" she asked.

I smoothly slid back into reality. "I was not feeling well," I told her. "For what reason do they do the test anyway if they're not going to tell you about the results until you grow up?"

I managed to tone down my fervid desire to know about mine from affecting my voice. After that episode in the testing room, with all those peculiar visions of the in-between and that goddamned amber-eyed guy, my curiosity had skyrocketed. I was already making conclusions about this all. If what happened back there happened to have something to do with my so-called 'three fates,' that would mean it would pretty much be a part of my future—but what and how?

"They have this guidance stuff," Eren said, pulling me back to reality. "They tell...like...some people who promise to keep it a secret until you're all grown up. To help gay us, but not tell us," Eren said.

Gay us? That didn't sound right.

"Sometimes, I don't really get old people. They always say they can't say it because it's not safe. What's so not safe about it?" she continued.

"What are the three fates anyway?" I asked.

"Are you kidding?" She crossed her arms and turned up her nose almost haughtily—like she managed to one-up me somehow. "How can you not know about the three fates?"

"This is the first time I went out," I said with a shrug. "My mistresses don't tell everything. I can't read every book in the world, you know."

"Haha, then let me tell you! My governess practically hampered this into my brain!" she enthusiastically climbed onto my bed, inching to my side.

"There's three fates for the three dimensions—mind, body, and soul," she began. "They're usually atrrutubed to the seven dragons of the moon and the serpent of the sun. The moon's phase during that time will determine your second fate—the body. The moon's phase when your mind blossoms to consciousness is your first fate. And the last? Well, the fate of the soul is forever the same."

"What about the serpent? How do you get classified under that?"

"Mm." She tapped her chin. "Ooh. I don't remember. It was a little harder than the moon stuff though, so...haha. But I remember the people of the serpent from the West side, are the only ones able to inherent it because they are the people of the sun or something."

The door opened. My adoptive mother came in with a book in hand. "Evyionne," she softly called, smiling warmly at me before her eyes went over to my new companion. "Oh, I see you made a friend. Are you lost?"

"Wow." Eren's eyes twinkled. "Your mother is really beautiful. I get where you have the hair!" she exclaimed.

"Why, thank you," Hellenia said with a laugh.

Truth was, she wasn't really my biological mother. Hellenia doesn't know that I know.

"You were that girl from before?" my mother asked. She gently shut the door behind her and went over to my bedside. "What about the man you were with?"

"I lost him."

I looked at her, knowing she was lying—well, technically she was telling the truth. Just not in that sense. Eren gave me a pointed stare while pressing her lips thinly and ballooning her chin. I gave a deadpan. For all I know, she looked like that fist baby meme and I was a Kevin Hart with the brow raise.

"Alright, you two, what is it?" Hellenia asked while chuckling. "Do you mind telling me your name?" She gave Eren a smile.

"It's Eren, ma'am!" the girl replied with a salute.

My adoptive mother gave Erenol a subtly discerning stare. Beneath that guise of warmness, it seemed to me she was giving Erenol the 'do-I-know-you' look. "Nice to meet you. Evyionne and I were just about to leave. Do you want to come with us on our way out? We can help find your steward that way," she offered.

"That would be a great idea!" Eren exclaimed.

I gave her a pointed look, but said nothing. I slowly got out of bed as my mother gazed down at me in concern. "Are you fine now, darling?"

I nodded. "Yup, I'm good. How did my test go?" I asked.

"Your test went just fine," she told me. She didn't even stutter answering. The lie was smooth. I knew better though. "I'll tell you more about it when we go home."

"Didn't you tell me we were going somewhere else after this?" I pouted. If she took me home so soon, I would be dearly disappointed. I was particularly low maintenance but I had needy bursts to explore outside once in a while.

"Mm." She smiled. "Alright, then. If you insist. I do have something to show you."

Eren looked at the both of us, playing with her fingers and zigzagging her ankles in place anxiously. The saddened look on her face reminded me of her recent confession about her mother who seemed to be in bad health.

"You can come with us," I said, offering her my hand. "We'll go look for that man on the way."

She lit up.

My mother cluelessly looked between the two of us. I gave her a smile and looked at my new friend.

"Okay...I suppose it won't hurt."

Holding her hand, we all filed out of the entrance Sir Laksa had led us through when we came in. The Sunset Corridors seemed much prettier on the way back. Erenol was as fascinated as I was the first time I came through this path.

"Where's Sir Laksa?" I asked my mother.

"He had important business to attend to. He told us to be on our way without him," she replied.

"Oh, okay." I looked forward. "I didn't get to say goodbye though."

"I'm sure he knows you wanted to say goodbye." Hellenia patted my head.

I caught Eren look at the both of us with pursed lips.

"Eren," I said. I didn't want her to feel out of place or uncomfortable so, for the sake of bringing her out of the silence, I began a small talk. "Where do you live?"

"Mmn..." she trailed off. "I think they called it...Dragon's Square."

"The Dragon's Square?" my mother echoed.

I looked up at Hellenia. "What's there, mama?" I inquired.

"Nothing, Evyionne," she said. "Well...the Dragon's Square lies in the very middle of the city. It's a little far from where we live, but not too far."

Hellenia paused shortly, causing us all to halt in our tracks. Eren looked up at my mother, swallowing quietly. My mother, at the same time, opened her mouth, seemingly tempted to say something as she gazed at Eren's face before deciding against it.

She then sighed, brushing back her ear to reveal her communicator. She slid her finger up the spine of the dragon around her earlobe and said, "Leiran Mernol." After a few beats, the ruby-like jewels on the eye of the dragon glowed and my mother began speaking. "Leiran? Hm." She gave a light smile. "I seemed to have found someone. No. Yes."

Eren squirmed. I held her hand tight and gazed at her reassuringly. While she looked like she wanted to bolt, she met my eyes and stilled herself.

"We'll be in front of the statue in around two hours." She paused to let the other party speak. "No. We're not taking a ride. We'll be walking." She laughed. "It will be fine. I have my ways. Do not question it and just be there. Mm. Thank you." Hellenia then cut the line. "Well, girls, the statue is a long walk from here, but we have time. I assume you'd like to go see some things on the way?"

The life came back in Eren's eyes and I couldn't help but smile too.

"What's the statue?" I asked.

"It's a sight to see. I wanted to show it to you. I assume Eren too will love to see it."

"I already saw it a lot of times, but it'll be fun with Evy!" she exclaimed.

"Alright." My mother laughed. "Come on, you two. We have things to do. It will be a long walk, but we can stop by for snacks on the way!"

I must admit I was quite impressed by my mother's subtlety. I was sure she caught on to something—I wasn't sure what though. I deduced a few things from the information I was presented just now. The Dragon's Square was quite an intimidating, powerful name to be called a place. From what I know so far, 'dragon' held a degree of prestige. Eren must come from a prominent background to be living there—as already expected. This 'Leiran Mernol' my mother called must be someone just as important to be turning over Erenol to.

Ooh. But wasn't he the captain of the Dragoons? Sir Laksa mentioned it before, right? I believe he was also the one who'd helped us earlier!

Wow, if she was that sortof person, then this girl really wasn't simple.