Paloma opened a hidden vault box and unlocked it with her key. Astoria inspected the empty bank as Elias took rounds around to keep guard. It was small, but far bigger than any home at Valdor. "Ah, here's the contract," Paloma announced, holding it up, and handing it over.

Astoria grinned. It was cleverly designed by her and approved by Paloma, who specialized in contracts in the bank. Below, the six Council of Viscount members had signed their names. "Splendid."

She nodded. "Thank you, Astoria. Now, what else did you want to speak to me about? I know you didn't just bring Elias all the way over here just to check if the contract was safe."

"You know me too well." Her lips tugged upwards and she handed back the contract. "I want to know if your bank holds the record of someone by the name of Sunna Silvers. Madam Sunna was my guardian, but there was no trace of her in Valdor."

"I can check the bank history files, but if Madam Sunna lived in the Slums, it's unlikely she visited this place." Paloma locked the contract back into the vault box and slid it in place. The boxes were metal and shiny to show off the kingdom's wealth. The woman wandered off as Elias came back.

"Did you do a sweep of the place?" Astoria asked, amused.

"Very funny." He looked around. "Where's Paloma?"

"She's fetching something for me, it's about a file of Madam Sunna." Sunna was an old, squat croon who was an exiled oracle. She lived in Viscount for most of her life until she uttered a prophecy that wasn't to King Julius' and Queen Caprina's liking, so she was banished to the Slums. "Sunna passed away a few years ago, but I just know she wouldn't leave me to figure things out on my own."

Elias cocked his head. "She was the woman who gifted you with witchcraft?"

She flushed. "You wouldn't say gift, I learned it, okay, Elias? And it's not witchcraft, it's the ways of the Darklings. Show some respect." The Darklings. She knew the Darklings should be on her mind, but she didn't want to be reminded of her constant failures.

I can't just get it right, Astoria's hands rolled up into shaky fists. I can't fail Valdor, I only have one chance. Elias noticed her distress. "Hey, don't worry about it, Tori. You can handle it."

She swallowed hard. "What if I can't summon the Darklings?"

"Then we'll try again and again." Elias turned around, sweeping back his curly black hair. Astoria tried her best to believe him. Paloma walked back into the vault, holding a file, beckoning them over to the waiting room of the bank. The curtains were closed to avoid any sightings.

"Here you go, Astoria," Paloma said, handing it over as she took a seat. Astoria took the seat opposed to her while Elias stood blandly. Astoria opened the file, seeing it only had Madam Sunna's birth certificate, but never her death certificate.

Her full name was Sunna Cecil Silvers, an orphan who was sent to the Viscount Orphanage at birth. Madam Sunna came to the banks earlier in her life for a few funds, however, shortly after the Abernathys announced her banishment to the Slums, the old prophetess took out quite a large sum of money—9,000 croixes.

On Aperire 7th, a day before Astoria's birthday. Astoria still fondly remembered that experience but knew it wasn't the time to dwell. She flipped the file to face Paloma, pointing at the cash-out. "Do you know anything about why she bought that many croixes?"

"Didn't work at the bank by the time of her banishment."

Drats, Astoria was disappointed but nodded. Then Paloma spoke up. "It could be likely that she had a hidden vault box here though, Astoria." Her eyes lit up and Paloma went on to explain. "I bet Madam Sunna didn't trust the Viscount Kingdom's banking system after she left for Valdor, but she must have hidden something here since Valdor isn't the safest place either." Paloma walked back into the room with vault boxes, Astoria and Elias followed her.

Finally, Madam Sunna will help me, Astoria thought. Paloma looked at a list of older vault boxes, finding one that hadn't been opened in years. She took it out, unlocked it, handing it over to Astoria. She grabbed the only object in there—a poster of Madam Sunna. "What the hell?" She was in disbelief.

There was a cartoon drawing of Madam Sunna with bubbly letters saying 'Free oracle telling at Moonstone Stage, official prophetess!' and that kind of stuff. She flipped it over, seeing Sunna's writing on the back.

Dear Starshine,

The world is vicious, but we will climb mountains.

—S. C. S.

Sunna Cecil Silvers. Astoria knew Madam Sunna too damn well to know that she wouldn't just put graceful bullshit. She folded the poster and tucked it into her bra, seeing that Elias visibly blanched. "What? Dresses don't have pockets, fool."

Paloma grimaced. "I'm sorry your findings weren't helpful." She locked back up the vault box, sliding it back inside. "Well, I'm exhausted and I need to actually lock up. If you two don't mind showing yourselves out."

"Oh, yes, of course. Thanks, Paloma." Astoria turned around, walking through the empty bank alongside Elias. He held the door for her and she muttered a thanks. She was upset—why was Madam Sunna being so vague with her?

Elias stated the obvious when they were out the door in the dead of night. "You're clearly not happy." The nightly breeze wafted past them as they walked back to the Border. "Sunna called you Starshine, didn't she? Why?"

Astoria, annoyed, pointed to the starry sky. "Because my name is Astoria which means 'of the stars' or 'starry one.' Pick your poison, Eli." She would have kept a straight face if Elias hadn't tripped over an uneven step of the bricked street. She laughed as he scowled. "I shouldn't be laughing, but here I am."

"Well, that's what Madam Sunna's translation is, but Astoria also means 'hawk.' I think my translation is just better than Sunna's." Astoria allowed a sly smile, knowing that Madam Sunna would just absolutely murder Elias for disagreeing with her. I miss Sunna, she thought.

"Well, if you think Hawk's better, I'll call you that."

Elias blinked blankly, taking longer strides, his hands behind his hand. "My name isn't Astoria."

"Yeah, but you're calling me that which pisses me off."

"Foul mouth, huh?" They had arrived at the threshold, the perfect town square of Viscount had disappeared and transformed into a forest. Huge trees hung over them and Astoria knew that she just needed to get closer to the De Vil Manor to shadow-travel them back there. "So... You never told me much about Madam Sunna."

Astoria stiffened. "She died five years ago, that's it." And she unknowingly raised me to be the future assassin of the Viscount Council members, she wanted to add. "Sunna taught me ways that she could never quite do, and by teaching me, it drained her. Then one hot night on Augien 21st, she passed away in her sleep. I found her in the morning and had to bury her in my backyard. I even hosted a small funeral for her, which seemed fittingly."

"Damn, that's hard, sorry." They crossed the Border and Elias hung his head low.

"What about you? Any sob stories worth a while?"

"I had my mother's funeral, it wasn't much fun either. Father was so busy with being Advisor Lennox that he forgot that he was also my father, he didn't even show up to Mother's funeral." Elias sighed loudly. "I remember the day so clearly, there were some people, but none of them knew my mother. It was raining and all that water masked my tears. I like the rain now."

They arrived at the streets of the Slums. Even at midnight, it was bustling with life, unlike Viscount. Astoria wrapped the faux fur coat around herself. The folks of Valdor didn't know about the manor by the sea, but there was clearly talk about the De Vil Manor on the street.

"You probably shouldn't have worn something so flashy, you look like every other rich girl coming back from Yarrow Bar," Elias snorted but Astoria pointed out that he wore a suit. Elias took some funds out of his account to pay for some of their clothing, but most of them were crafted by Paloma.

"Let's just find a private alley," Astoria muttered, taking Elias' hand. They traversed through the crowd until she pulled Elias into a dark alley. A girl, a few years older, stumbled out, laughing.

"Have fun," she giggled drunkenly, walking off. Astoria rolled her eyes, but released Elias' hand. They wandered further, away from the heat of the crowd. The alley was narrow, but enough to hide. She placed her hand on Elias' shoulder.

Think of Sunna, think of Sunna, Astoria said repeatedly to her. The way that Madam Sunna taught her was that she had to focus her breathing and stem from the ground. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Shadows snuck up her legs as she opened her eyes, seeing Elias flinch. He was still getting used to the feel of shadow-travel.

The shadows consumed them both until they were no longer in the narrow alley. Instead, they were in the De Vil Manor. Elias coughed, backing away. "God, that still feels funky. I better get some sleep, I advise you to do the same."

"You're so strict," Astoria chided. "But if you insist."

They walked past Astoria's throne and up the stairs behind it, the moonlight spilling from the window panels. They arrived in the hallway and Astoria turned to Elias, placing a hand on his shoulder. "Hey, thank you for getting that file for me from Abernathy Castle, I know it isn't easy."

"I'm your loyal henchman, this is my job."

"You do so much for me." She smiled slightly. "And for the Slums," Astoria hastily added. Elias snorted, heading to his room, next to hers. "Good night, Starshine." God, it was a mistake to tell him about Madam Sunna's cheeky nickname.

"Night, Hawk."

"You really hold onto those grudges, don't you?" Elias entered his room and so did Astoria. She sighed, closing the door and grabbing Madam Sunna's poster. She angrily threw it on her bed, grumbling.

Why would she leave me this? Astoria slipped off her dress and took a white nightgown off her hook. She changed, pinning up her raven black hair in a bun. She went to her bed, a large bed with a mesh canopy. A girl can dream, can't she?

She plucked back up the poster, placing it on the nightstand next to her. Astoria settled into bed, yawning as she stared at the ceiling. Tomorrow, she thought, I will kill the council members.

Just like how Madam Sunna wanted her to.

༻༺✧༻༺

Astoria walked through the streets of Valdor in rags, heading near the Border. She was a tall girl at eight years old, a year after her mother died at seven. "Happy birthday to me, happy birthday to me," she mumbled as she passed through the forest.

She had heard that the folks of the Viscount Kingdom stayed away from the Border, claiming that the forest was too wild and eerie, but she knew the truth. The folks were scared of the Slums, meaning they were scared of her and everyone else. Astoria De Vil wondered who she would steal from today, she only stole things she knew that no one would miss—some bread, a few rusty croixes, and others.

As she passed the Border, she was surprised to see two castle guards near there. She backed away, trying to hide in the shadows, but it was too late, they had seen her. "You!" one of them shrieked.

Oh, great, Astoria thought. "I-I just was wandering—"

"Little girls don't wander," the first sneered.

"God, Copper, let the girl go," the second groaned, looking too tired to deal with the first guard and Astoria. Copper left his position to go grab Astoria by her arm and she screamed. "Copper, stop this madness."

"She's a thief, Ire!" Copper hollered, yanking Astoria out of the shadows. She stumbled as the guard dragged her to Ire. Ire was a lanky, tall man who was middle-aged. He had shiny brown skin as he shook his head. "People from the Slums are dirt."

Copper himself was a man with faded ginger hair and a speckle of freckles. "Let me go, you bastard!" Astoria yelled as Copper tugged on her. She stomped on his foot, he winced but didn't let go. "I'm not a thief!" In fact, she was, but castle guards didn't have any evidence against her.

"Look, we're here to watch out for Sunna Silvers, not some little girl who was just in the forest. I bet she was just lookin' at some pretty flowers, weren't you, dearie?" Ire asked a sparkle in his eyes. Astoria was taken aback by Viscount folk who showed her kindness.

"Yes," she said, going along with the lie. "It's my birthday and I wanted some flowers. Valdor doesn't get any good or pretty flowers, the Border is as close as I could get." Copper swore, but released Astoria. "Thank you, Ire. And Copper," she hastily added.

"Happy birthday, miss." Ire nodded. "You better run back to Valdor for that birthday party, right?" Astoria nodded quickly as well, running back into the forest of the Border. That was a close call, if Ire didn't have mercy, Copper would have thrown Astoria into the slammer.

As she ran hurriedly back to the Slums, wafting through the crowd of peasants. Debt was at an all-time high, everyone was anxious to get any kind of croixes. Astoria was so distracted that she ran into a woman, falling back. Her head hit on an uneven bump and a pulse shot through her as her mind went black.

༻༺✧༻༺

When Astoria woke up again, she was back in her house, now run-down and rank with nasty smells. She was on the sofa, realizing that there was a fire running in the fireplace. She touched her head, wincing, remembering that she blacked out.

Who brought me back home? Astoria wondered.

"You're awake," an old woman said, unsmiling. Astoria shrieked, terrified and shocked, jumping off the sofa. She sat on a three-legged stool, having dark brown skin with graying black hair in a hair wrap. "Relax, Starshine, I'm not a punk." She spat on the floor and Astoria wrinkled her nose. "I am Sunna Silvers, but you'll refer to me as Madam Sunna."

Astoria vaguely remembered her name. "Why are you in my house? And how do you know where my house is, witch?" She knew goddamn well that witches didn't exist, but with Madam Sunna's crooked teeth and wrinkled hands, she would reconsider.

"I'm an oracle, well, ex-oracle now. Got the boot from King Julius and Queen Caprina." Sunna stood up from the stool, heading over to Astoria. Madam Sunna was a squat, short, but also grumpy woman. "I used to be a prophetess for the Viscount Kingdom until they exiled me to Valdor yesterday."

Astoria gasped. "You're from the Vicious Kingdom?!" She backed away, horrified. She never trusted those folks, those rich and foolish folks. "Get out of my home, you stalker!" Madam Sunna merely laughed, baring her crooked and yellowed teeth.

"Astoria, calm down. I had a prophecy that I was supposed to come here for some reason, fate is never quite clear." She settled onto the sofa. "But I don't need fate to tell me where you live, honey. You smell like smoke." Madam Sunna gestured to the fireplace. "And your home is one of the few that has a fireplace and was empty."

"That's just a hunch," Astoria scoffed.

Madam Sunna pointed at the hole in the house's roof. It showed the starry sky and Sunna said, unsmiling yet again, "That is a sign of fate, Starshine." Astoria hated nicknames, they were signs of trust, and she wasn't going to trust a stranger. "I'm here to look after you, and maybe you'll look after me too."

Astoria didn't trust Viscount folk, but she was certainly interested. "I have nothing left," Madam Sunna grunted, "but you have an empty house that I can look after as well. We'll be as thick as thieves. Besides, I still have some tricks from my old oracle days that might be useful."

"I suppose there is safety in numbers." Astoria crossed her arms.

Madam Sunna chuckled. "Alright, let's clean this dump up."