Dinner was grueling. After waiting more than an entire day for food, I almost didn't care about the overly seasoned soup and the stale bread covered in amica jam.

My mind was elsewhere. It was underneath the wood pile on the porch where I'd stashed the patched boots. It was beyond that, somewhere in the trees, on a strange boy who had to be searching for his shoes.

"Salem."

The sound of my name brought me back. I looked at Alastair. "What?" I snapped.

"You've been rather quiet this evening."

"Isn't that what you prefer?" I rolled my eyes and aggressively scooped up another spoonful of stew.

"Thank you for gathering the fruit," Alastair said softly. He hadn't said that when I'd returned with a ruined shirt and stained pants.

"I don't know what I'm going to do with all of them now," Hannah giggled. "Donny's brought me two full baskets. You've brought me one. Now we're drowning in amicas."

Sera patted her arm. "You were going to make pies. We can sell them at the market."

"Oh that's right!"

I almost slammed my head into the table.

Throughout the rest of the meal Alastair watched me when he thought I wasn't looking. I shoveled in the rest of my food and left without being excused.

Sera tottered after me "I'll show you to your room," she said pleasantly.

"I'll find it on my own." I slung my empty sack on my back again.

Sera put her hands on her wide hips. "Alastair said you don't respect your elders."

"I don't respect anyone," I corrected. "I don't care if they're a stupid classmate or old enough to keel over dead." I threw her a leer over my shoulder before ascending up the stairs.

A squawk sounded behind me and I chuckled. "You truly are a terrible child," she whispered.

I stopped laughing but didn't pause. "I know."

The room at the very end was empty, save for a mat on the floor with a pillow and blanket. And on the far wall a large window showed out to the front of the house. Dropping the bag by the pathetic bed, I strode to the window and looked out. The night had dampened the sky with a thick navy, but hadn't completely overtaken it. There was a spray of stars, but I couldn't even see the moons.

My fingers fluttered on the ledge. I had to wait.

The trees of the orchard on the outskirts of the lawn were dark and shadowy, but I didn't see any movement. Would he come now? No, the others were awake. He didn't want them to know he was there. He would wait too.

Voices from downstairs traveled up. I couldn't hear what they were saying, but it was no doubt about my brief interaction with the fat grandma. Alastair would probably make me go out again tomorrow and fill three baskets. However, I didn't feel as angry about the notion as I had before.

I kept my eyes peeled until I heard the creak on the steps and quickly tore off my shirt and leapt onto the cot, covering the blankets up to my chin. I turned away from the door as I heard it crack open.

Alastair sighed and then closed the door.

The next stretch of time was painful as I waited for the rest of the house to settle. After what had to be at least an hour of silence, I slipped back up and over to the window. Night had fallen officially. Dark sky, eternities of stars, but it wasn't pitch black. Both moons were mostly unseen, but Tantia's pale blue light bathed over the yard, lighting it up perfectly for me to see no living thing slinking across the grass or hiding in the trees.

I pushed the window open a little, stuck my head out, and turned it upward to see the full face of the larger moon. I couldn't see Elluare from my angle, but she had to be somewhere out there.

That was the story after all. The Tale of Two Moons. It was one of the many fate tales. There were versions of it on every land.

The tale was about the fate of space, Tantia. A great and powerful being, ruler of the stars and galaxies above, fell in love with a human woman, named Elluare. But it was forbidden for a fate to fall in love, let alone, with a human. So he could never act on his desires, and neither could she. If they expressed their love, Elluare would be struck down by the other fates. However, the two of them found a way to spend eternity together. As long as they didn't show their affections beyond deep friendship, the fates could not condemn the woman. So the two of them were always by each other's side, never crossing that fatal line.

It was like a man and woman, standing side by side, so close, but their hands couldn't even brush the other's.

I shook my head at the great specter that peaked over the rooftop. "You're a sad soul. It's pathetic to go so far to receive so little."

Tantia glimmered. And what are you expecting out of stealing a nameless boy's shoes?

"I don—" My brow furrowed. "Shut up."

The fate's laugh laced itself around me.

I closed the window with a snap and shoved away from it. Ignoring my imaginary conversation, I tossed my shirt back on before dashing to the door and easing it open. It squealed a little, but I didn't hear anything from the others. After closing it, I squinted at it, a little surprised that Alastair hadn't put a lock sigil on it.

Shaking myself, I skipped down the stairs as quietly as I could and froze when I got to the bottom and saw Alastair snoring peacefully on an old settee beside the fireplace. I swallowed and inched over to the door leading out. My bearded guardian's nasally breathing didn't even change. I let out a soft breath of my own as I closed the door behind me.

Chilly air contrasted heavily with the wretched heat of the day. I wrapped my arms around myself, squinting again, waiting for anything to twitch or for any faint sound besides the normal evening rustle. There was nothing, so I crept to the woodpile, keeping my ears sharp. I dug through and reached the shoes. I tossed them to the bottom of the steps, off the porch. Ducking down behind the wood, I waited again.

The shoes were in sight from the trees. When he came to the edge, he'd have to run out in the open to get them.

With my breath trapped inside, I watched the forest-line until my legs ached from being crouched so long. Eons of bated silence that might not have been as long as it felt slipped by. My sore ankle from jumping out of the trees flared hot as I kept weight on it.

Where was he? These had to be his only pair of shoes. They were too mangled and sewn over. If he was a runaway as he claimed, he'd need these. He'd come for them.

But he didn't.

A half-hour came and went. It was nearing an hour and the pain had traveled up from my leg into my hip. I adjusted, trying to stay quiet. If he heard me, he might not come out. He could be waiting me out.

Frustration finally beat me. I stood up and marched—but that turned quickly into angry limping—over to the edge of the deck and descended. I picked up the shoes and tramped to the end of the shadow cast by Tantia being behind the house.

I lifted the pair of boots and swung them around my head. "Oi! I've got your filthy shoes, you sniveling wretch! I assume you want them, so come and get them!"

Still there was nothing. I let out a hiss between my teeth right as a flash of movement finally caught my eye. A shadow, not in front of me from the orchard but from my feet, flickered. I looked down and saw it again. A round shadow emerged from the straight cut line of the rooftop's. A head.

I whirled around in time to see him spring from the crown of the house like a deranged cat. He silhouetted across the enormous pale sphere, sailing over the face of Tantia and landing right on top of me. My head slammed back hard into the long grass, and for the second time in a matter of hours, I found myself lying on my back, completely breathless.

I gasped up at Blue's crookedly grinning face. His fluffy hair was a mess and his pale cheeks were flushed. Even in the dark his bizarre eyes had a backlight behind them, glowing through, darker but still that severe blue. "Honestly," he coughed, sounding almost as winded as I felt, "if you were so desperate for another licking, you could have just said so."

It took me a moment to find my voice. "Get off!" I spat out the end of the red scarf that had found its way into my mouth and shoved at him. He surprisingly rolled off without threatening to slobber all over me. I pushed myself into a sitting position. "You know there's far more sane ways of making an entrance," I growled.

"But they aren't any fun." Blue took the boots that had been knocked from my hands when he'd made impact and strapped them to his feet.

"Is everything some kind of game to you?" I asked.

He stood up, brushed himself off, and walked back to the trees.

I jumped up and followed him.

"I know I don't know you well," he said, "but who doesn't love a good surprise from the guy they stole from?" He stretched up his arms and continued without turning to see if I was behind him.

I wrinkled my nose. "Who said I wanted you to show up at all? I stole from you to get it in your head that you shouldn't mess with me."

Blue threw back his head, laughing again. He did that a lot. "Oh, yes the wretched shoe thief. I'll be sure to keep my distance. Weren't you going to smash my face in or something?"

I thought about it, I ground my teeth silently. "As a runaway, I figured this was a better way to get through to you. No shoes, no—" I stumbled over an upended root as Blue led us off the traditional path of the orchard, and cursed.

He smirked at me, finally glancing back. "No running away?" He said lightly. "So you could keep making a fool of yourself by trying to beat me?" He put a hand over his heart and gave an over-the-top shiver. "I'm trembling."

My lip curled. "You honestly think you can just get the jump on people far above you and get away with it?"

Blue chuckled, "Yes," and then turned back to face front,"But in this case, I was the one above."

The corners of my mouth unconsciously twitched up, but I smothered it down with an eye roll.

Ahead of us, the trees thinned and I caught sight of a clearing where the light of both Tantia and Elluare merged on the grass, making the green look like a field of silvery lilacs.

We pushed out from the bushes and I saw the shimmery brook running steadily across the field below from a small drop off.

"Home, sweet, home," Blue spread his arms. "Well, for one last night anyway."

"You're leaving?" I started.

"You know where I live. I can assume you've already told the ladies I—"

"I didn't tell them anything," I cut in. "I swear I haven't spoken a word of you to anyone."

Blue shrugged. "It was still a good enough excuse to get out. I've already stayed here too long. That's the price of my existence." He treaded over to the edge of the grass and leapt off.

I stood, stunned, waiting for the splash that never came.

"Are you coming?" His voice carried upward.

I scampered over to the rim and glanced down. Fairy boy blue was completely gone. There was a ledge, several feet down that kept above the riverbed, but that was all. I jumped and landed crouched, inwardly wincing at the pain in my sprained foot. When I straightened, I turned to see where he'd gone, but something snagged the back of my collar and tugged. I slipped and flung my arms around to try to regain balance, but with another pull I toppled backward into the dark.

I groaned as rocks dug into my spine and blinked up at the dark dirt ceiling that was woven through with roots above me.

Blue's head suddenly replaced that image. "I get the impression you like stargazing."

"What?" I rubbed the back of my head that had hit the ground pretty hard.

"You have this tendency to always be laying on your back. You must enjoy looking at something," He said with that twisted smile of his.

I rolled my eyes and shoved his stupid face out of my way and sat up.

We were in a small cave or carved out indention in the dirt above the water. It wasn't as cold as I would have thought, being by the water. It didn't go in too deep, so the two of us were a little cramped. Blue sat cross-legged, with his back against the far wall, while I sat to the side with my knees pulled up to my chest.

"This is where you've been staying?"

Blue nodded. "The season has helped so I don't get too cold. The river leads up to a fall, which is good for water. There's a few small animals that are easy enough to hunt, but fires are hard to keep secret, so I can't do that very often."

"So you resort to stealing harmless old ladies' amicas," I guessed.

"It was quite the prime living space for a boy on his own." Blue nodded. "Thanks for ruining it."

"No problem," I muttered and picked up one of the fruits that rolled over by my feet. I bit it and gagged. "What the—" I let the light from the opening shine on the amica and saw the dark blotchy marks littering it. "This is rotten!"

"No, it's not," Blue insisted. "It's bruised. Rotten amicas can make you sick. I'm not an idiot."

"It tastes like you're an idiot." I threw the bad fruit out of the cave and heard the splash. Glancing over to the small pile of amicas that he'd stored, revealed that every single piece was darkened in some way. Then it all hit me. I hadn't even thought it, but it was so obvious now.

"You're the ghost!"

Blue cocked his head. "Am I? I'm not just a ghost? I'm the ghost. I must be important to have 'the' placed before me."

"You are a selfless freak is what it means," I snapped. "You've been the one who's been taking care of the old bag's orchard. Trimming the branches and harvesting. You've been giving them all the good fruit, while you've only taken the bad ones so you won't feel guilty or something. That's so stupid. They wouldn't notice if you took a few good pieces."

Blue smiled, the light from Tantia outside, bounced off his eyes making them more blue, which shouldn't have been possible. "You don't know how to insult me, Salem. I take pride in being a selfless freak." He bent forward in the best bow he could do in the confining tunnel.

I rolled my eyes. "They think you're Hannah's dead husband."

Blue straightened up. "That's quite flattering. He must have been a very good-looking man. Is she beautiful?"

"She looks like she's one-hundred years old."

Blue sighed. "Sadly, just a little too old for me. I'll take eighty, but no more."

An unfamiliar sensation bubbled up from my stomach and into my throat. I coughed hard to stifle it, but part of it escaped. It was a laugh. I only laughed when someone was hurt. I chuckled when people were horrified by me to add to their mortification. But this had been a casual comment, a stupid joke. But through it, this thing had easily stolen it from me.

I gaped at him, but he wasn't paying attention. He was staring out of the hovel. "Where should I go next?" He murmured, probably more to himself. "Maybe I should stow away on a ship and leave the four kingdoms all together. I've always wanted to travel to the other lands. Venth is pretty diverse. We've got people hailing from all over, but we only have pieces of their culture. It'd be quite the adventure to actually go there?"

"Do you hate your family?" I asked.

Those bright eyes darkened. "Not at all. I love them very much."

I wanted to ask again why he'd run away, but I had the feeling I would get the same answer.

Blue rolled onto his knees and crawled past me, toward the exit. "Come on, you should probably be getting back."

"Why?" I followed him out.

Blue climbed back up, easily and then stretched down a hand to pull me up.

Without thinking, I reached up to take it but froze midway. Then I slapped his hand away and snapped under my breath that I could do it myself. I didn't look at him when I got to the top and strode ahead.

"Like I said before, you don't have to leave," I said. "I didn't tell anyone about you. And I won't, I swear."

"What do you swear on?" He asked.

I jumped over a prickly bush and my bad foot caught on the vines. I staggered and shoved away the hands that came to steady me. "What are you talking about?" I brushed myself off, self-consciously and continued forward.

"People swear on something that has meaning to them. It makes a promise more profound and genuine. It holds significance."

My steps slowed as my mind reeled back. What did people normally swear on? I thought of my cultural history studies. The bulbous goat had talked about how different customs from the other lands had holy and sacred things that they laid their lives down for. They swore on their gods or fates.

Ixthens worshipped something called the Great Beast. Orthians were split. Some bowed down to the god, Hawaas the connector, and the others had festivals for Kybaa the strong. They were the equivalents to the fate of spirituality, Lelkiah, and Alon, the fate of the physicality. Of course, the Chaos children served Lord Chaos.

But I didn't bow to any fate or god. I had no feelings toward any deities. But Blue wasn't asking about anything that philosophical. It could be a person that meant something. A boy that had moved from Emrin last year had sworn on his mother's life that I would pay for unraveling his nicest set of dress clothes down to a nest of string. But I didn't have a mother, let alone if I would care enough about her to swear on her. Alastair was all I had and I couldn't swear on him. I didn't know what I felt about him. Sometimes I hated him. Sometimes I didn't. It was the most I felt for anyone.

Perhaps an object that meant more to me. There was a little girl that swore on her dolly that she would be the most beautiful woman in the world someday, but that promise felt like it had no weight at all. It was stupid.

A hand rested on my shoulder making me jump. Blue smiled and shook his head, stepping ahead of me. I jogged so that I walked beside him and opened my mouth, but I still hadn't found any words.

"It's alright," the pale boy said. He glanced up at the stars and then craned his neck back and forth, scanning over the black.

I looked forward. The blue sphere of Tantia was visible through the trees ahead. The yard of the house was also in view. To the side of the larger moon, another was finally in sight. The smaller, more distant orbit was a pale pink. It looked like she was right beside the fate, even if Elluare was thousands of miles away from him.

We were too close to the cottage. I wanted to pull back my pace, but I didn't want to fall behind him. However, it was his steps that slowed. I turned.

Blue kept looking at the sky. "A storm is coming in fast."

I followed his gaze. A lot of the sky was obscured by the trees, but from what I saw, it looked as clear as glass. I glanced back at the two moons. There were no clouds, just the rays of their light joined with the stars.

"What makes you say that?"

Blue looked at me and spoke quickly. "When you've been on the run as long as I have, you pick up on weather patterns." His tone shifted to one that was not as light as it was before. "Look, the storm that's coming is going to be a bad one." He rolled his shoulders as if he could literally feel it creeping up his spine. "You have to get everyone out of the house and get out. Head east."

I shook my head. "What are you talking about? Is this some scheme to get the house now?"

Blue flashed a quick half-smile. "Selfless freak, remember?"

"Where will you go?" I asked.

"They say the eye of the storm is pretty safe," he replied and shook his head. "I can't tell you. I'm sorry."

I spun on my heel and marched to the edge of the trees and stepped out into the open. "Why are you apologizing? It really is none of my business."

"Promise me that you'll save those people? Promise me you'll get them out of the house before morning?" His voice stung me from behind.

I remained silent.

There was a long sigh, a soft gust of wind as he finally reached a slight sense of frustration. "Goodbye, Salem."

I swallowed hard. I didn't know his name, and I never would. "I swear on the storm that I won't tell them about you."

There was a rustle in the plants behind me. "The storm?" I could hear that warped smile in his voice. "Storms are wild, dangerous, and unpredictable. You want to stake a vow on that?"

I straightened up, my fists closed at my sides. "You said this one was a big one. That means it's also powerful and strong. And I love storms. Isn't that what matters?"

Blue didn't respond.

A weak current of air brushed by—not much of a sign for the impending danger he foretold.

"Grey," he whispered. "My name is Grey."

I snorted and clapped my hand over my mouth to stop the sound. I had been calling him Blue in my head the whole time, but apparently all I needed to do was swap it out with another color. I turned around to look at him, my hand still over the pirated smile. But the trees were dark and empty.

The boy, named Grey, was gone.