Xanthy found Nyxis back in their given room. She didn't know what compelled her to follow Nyxis but here she was, pushing the door open. The door closed behind her in a quiet thump.

Nyxis had his head on his knees on a corner. His satchel lay discarded beside him.

"Hey," Xanthy stalked closer as if approaching a wounded ipleex.

Nyxis flinched. His head snapped up. Something like fear and suspicion flashed on his face. "Oh, it is just you," his expression relaxed.

Xanthy smiled and crossed the distance between them. She dropped next to him and sat cross-legged. "Are you alright?"

Silence.

She glanced at Nyxis to find him toying with the strap to his satchel. What was even inside that thing? A sigh clawed its way out of her mouth. "Look, I know we just met but it would be better for you to speak about your troubles," Xanthy stretched her legs and let her skirt pool over her feet. "I hear it lessens the load."

"It is...nothing," Nyxis shook his head and opened his satchel. Xanthy had a brief glimpse of vials and strange equipment.

"Why did you follow us into the room?" Xanthy reached up and twisted a lock of hair with her finger. "You could have stayed away like you planned. I thought you are just hitching a ride until the Temple."

Nyxis scoffed. "I lied, of course," he took out a handheld mirror from his satchel and frowned at the face reflected in it. "I knew there was something going on between Furloth and the textiles. I just have to wait for the right time to get to the bottom of this. And...it just happened to be now."

Xanthy knitted her eyebrows. "Why would you not trust your father?"

"He is not my father," Nyxis brought down his mirror to look at her.

Oh.

The light from the lamp flickered weakly. If possible, it dimmed and plunged the room in a dark orange tinge. Xanthy laid out her hand towards Nyxis. "You got a spare fairy potion in there?" she jerked her chin at his satchel.

Nyxis raised his eyebrows. "I could make you some," he shoved his hand deep into his satchel and began rummaging.

"Why would you learn how to feed the fairies? They are your enemies."

"Fairy, Human, Half-blood. It does not matter," Nyxis shrugged and drew out a mortar the size of his palm. That's...actually genius. "We must help every person we could regardless of what they are."

Xanthy pursed her lips at that. It's true. Over the course of a few weeks, she had realized that not all humans hate fairies and half-bloods. Not all fairies wanted humans gone from the map, either.

Fairy, Human, Half-blood. They're all the same. So why were they trying to destroy each other? Why did the purges exist?

"Who are you, Nyxis?" Xanthy blurted.

His hands paused from pounding a pinch of small, dark seeds. "I..am no one," he gripped the pestle and half-heartedly began driving it against the seeds. "Why would you want to know about that?"

Because she's looking for someone to trust. Because everyone seemed to have ulterior motives other than helping her. Instead, she opened her mouth and said, "Nothing," she pressed her back against the cold, stone wall. "What will you do now?"

Nyxis sniffed and muttered under his breath about an ingredient lacking in the mixture. He rummaged inside his satchel again. "I am not sure," he answered as he drew out a vial containing a colorless liquid. "I am afraid that people are going to be hurt if I do not do something."

Dread coated Xanthy's gut. "This is war," she breathed when she realized the gravity of the situation. She inclined her head at Nyxis's direction. "People are expected to get hurt."

"Which makes this all the more harder," Nyxis cursed as he transferred a small amount of the grounded seeds into a clean vial. "Because I wanted all of this to stop as well. At the same time, I do not want to lose them."

Xanthy's eyebrows met. "Lose who?"

"People important to me," Nyxis answered flatly. Then, he shook his head.

"Why would you lose them?" Xanthy drew her legs to her chest and hugged her knees. "Are they in the army?"

Nyxis dunked a different type of herb into the vial he's holding. "No," he sighed and passed Xanthy her potion. "They are everything this coup stood against."

Xanthy took a sip from the vial. She gagged when a rotting taste touched her tongue. "What in Umazure is this?" she coughed as she wiped the sides of her mouth free from the substance's influence.

"Oh, sorry," Nyxis dunked his head and snatched the vial from her hand. "I forgot to add in the flavor. Which one do you want? Pumkess?"

Xanthy clicked her tongue. "Anything other than those bland starch produces," she tapped her chin. "Ajilte, perhaps?"

"Got it," Nyxis nodded and rummaged around his satchel while Xanthy thought about his answer.

"Why would they stand against the coup?" Xanthy scratched at the skirt draped over her knees. She should get a more comfortable outfit...but where and how?

Nyxis clapped his hands over the vial and muttered a spell. The contents of the vial bubbled before crackling and turning colorless in a few seconds. He handed the vial back to her.

Xanthy raised an eyebrow and repeated her question. "Why would they stand against the coup?"

"Because they are the very ones this coup wishes to end," Nyxis snapped. Then he sighed as he averted his eyes. "I am Nyxis Helgase. Second in line to the throne of Cardina. The tyranny Vikara and the others talked about is my family."

The potion didn't quite reach Xanthy's lips as she froze mid-swig. "You..." her hand set the vial down on the marble floor. "You are the prince? Why did you not say anything?"

Nyxis rolled his shoulders. "What difference would it make?" He deposited the remaining grounded seeds from the mortar into a new vial. How many empty vials did he even have in his person? "I would not aid in my family's ruin."

Xanthy stuck her bottom lip out. She took a sip from her vial. Her toes curled from the explosion of ajilte sweetness in her mouth. Mm. That's more like it. "How did you even end up at the bakery, anyway?" she asked. "That is a long way from the Palace."

"It is a long story," Nyxis shut his satchel with a slap. "One I am not sure we have the time for."

Xanthy snorted, dunked her potion in one gulp, and stood up. She strode towards one mattress and began hauling it towards Nyxis. The boy chuckled softly. He looks better when he's smiling. "What are you doing?" his amusement shone through his voice.

"I...am," Xanthy shooed Nyxis away from his place and pushed the mattress against the wall. "Trying to give us enough time to hear your story," she grunted as she began dragging another. "Before our backs hurt or the cold seep through our skin and eat away at our lungs."

Nyxis laughed this time. "That is not how it works!"

"What are you, some kind of doctor?" Xanthy snorted.

"You could say that," he stepped forward and helped her drag the mattress atop the one she already fixed. Xanthy dusted her hands. There, a makeshift couch complete with a backrest.

Xanthy settled on the mattress, pressed her back against the upright mattress, and patted the space beside her. "Now, tell us your long story," she smiled up at him.

"You are impossible," Nyxis chuckled as he shook his head. But he climbed in after her and rested his head against the mattress behind him. "What was your question, again?"

Xanthy slapped her fist into his arm lightly. "How did you find yourself in a bakery?" she repeated. "That is my question."

Nyxis exhaled. "My mother tried to kill me," he admitted. "That is why I needed to run. Do you regret asking, now?"

Indeed, Xanthy's stomach twisted. But she steeled her nerves and shook her head. "No, go on," she waved her hand at him. "Why would she attempt to kill you?"

"I came at the wrong place at the wrong time, that is all," Nyxis rubbed his face then proceeded to muss his dark hair. "Perhaps born and raised at the wrong place at the wrong time, too."

Xanthy snorted. Nyxis had no idea how much of that applied to her, as well. She removed her boots and set them outside the mattress. "So you ran away from home because the Queen tried to kill you. Then what? Furloth found you?"

"That is pretty much it, yes," Nyxis folded his hands atop his stomach. "After I almost died because I do not know how to survive in an environment where everything is not handed to me on a platter."

"Must be tough," Xanthy muttered. Her own life reflected back to her. The times she went to sleep with her stomach demanding food. The storms and draughts she lived through. None of them were good memories.

Nyxis sighed. "It has its moments," he turned to Xanthy. "I left that place to live for myself. Looks like the past came biting back when I least expected it."

"You do not have to go, you know?" Xanthy played with the hem of her skirt. Who knew the seamstresses could execute this type of stitch? "You know how to brew potions. Perhaps you could live off being a local doctor?"

"I could," Nyxis agreed. "But I would never be able to live the guilt down whenever I see people oppressed due to my mother's edicts. It is hard enough now."

Being related to someone causing hardship to others. How could anyone live the guilt down especially after witnessing it first hand?

"I never knew my parents," Xanthy blurted. Nyxis glanced back at her. "They not only abandoned me in the Disfavoreds, they wiped my memory and left me to fend for my own."

Nyxis cursed. "You are from the Disfavoreds? Oh, gods. I am so sorry," he massaged his temples. "I am sorry."

Xanthy laid a hand over Nyxis's hand. If any of them was surprised, they both didn't show it. "It is not your fault. Do not worry," her palm was warm against his skin. "My point is, we are not supposed to be responsible for our parents' decisions. The things we have faced and the things we are facing which are not the product of our own decisions should not be held against us."

"So, do not apologize for the purges and the Disfavoreds," Xanthy raised her eyes to meet Nyxis's emerald ones. "None of it was your fault."

"Are you going to storm the Palace and kill my family?" he asked.

Xanthy shook her head. "No, I am saving my friends. What happens to your family is not going to be decided by me. I will not kill anyone," her breath hitched. "...anymore."

Thankfully, Nyxis didn't ask more into it. Instead, he twined his fingers with Xanthy's. "Thank you," he whispered over the ringing in Xanthy's ears. "For listening."

It took all of her to refrain from yelping and pulling away. With her heartbeat loud in her ears, she forced her tongue to unlatch from the roof of her mouth and blurt out, "Anytime, Nyxis," she nodded at him. "Are you going to be alright?"

Nyxis's smile was the saddest she had seen him flash her way. "I will try to be."

No one said anything but they both knew that their souls ached for the things they wished were different and the things they wished they could change. Their hands remained intertwined between them with the distance lessening every minute. It was as pure as can be and Xanthy would trade anything just to have this moment of peace with a friend.

They stayed that way for a long time, just existing for each other, feeling for each other. Xanthy hoped nothing would ever change between them.