It was late summer, the end of vacation. The last rays of the hot summer sun illuminated the city getting ready for night.

This light encountered two figures. Or rather, people. Two brothers.

One of the brothers, a tall boy, about 16 years old, with red hair tied in a high ponytail, green eyes like bottle glass, round glasses, and freckles scattered like poppy seeds on a table, stood leaning against a wall. His tanned skin gently reflected the sun.

His name was Troy.

At the time, his brother (with whom, unfortunately, he had no blood ties) was sitting on the wall swinging his legs.

Troy's brother, whose name was Ivan, was a cheerful 14-year-old, who mostly had comic books in his head. Ivan had green eyes, freckles on his cheeks, and a rather unusual haircut. Ivan's brown hair led a life of its own, looking more like jerky spikes than hair. Ivan's skin was the color of chocolate and even caramel in the sun.

Ivan finished looking at his new shoes, which his father bought him for his good grades, and looked at Troy, wiping the glass of his golden glasses in his shirt.

"How much til sunset?" He asked impatiently.

Troy raised his glasses toward the sun to look at whether there was any dirt on those glasses.

"To my eye, less than an hour. We'll have time to go home and have dinner and bring the green chairs from the garage."
He said then put on his glasses and blinked a few times to make his eyes adjust back to them.

"Eh... Shit... How long can you wait for a night of shooting stars?"

"Watch your language. You're 14 years old and you swear? I feel disappointed."

Ivan stopped shuffling his feet when he heard his brother's comment.

"At least I don't speak like someone from the last century," he said.

"Listen, kid, I got an award for a beautifully recited poem."

"Yeah, right." The 14-year-old rolled his eyes. "For reciting a 4-word poem probably from the ancient times."

"Shut up," Troy said and ruffled Ivan's hair. "Changing the subject, do you want to go to the bakery for a butter roll with icing?"

"Sure," said the 14-year-old and jumped off the wall.

Once they were under the old building, painted pink with dark brown wood, the logo of a bakery above the door, and slightly yellow glass windows made of single panes. The pink paint, though it was falling off in some places, matched the window display well.

Just as the boys were about to enter the building, they heard the overturning of the trash cans behind the building.
Troy grabbed a board leaning against the wall of the bakery, And with one hand stopping Ivan, he walked slowly toward the noise.

Something that emanated heat and looked like a ball of light flashed quickly before his eyes. After a moment, he dodged when he saw a speeding staff flying towards him.

"Little guy, come back! Right now!" The staff owner shouted in a weird accent. It wasn't a local accent. She must have been from abroad. Maybe she was a refugee? Troy looked at her. It was a brown-haired girl, maybe a year younger than himself. She looked really angry and annoyed with whatever that flying ball of light was.

"Comeback you little sh-"

"HEY!" Troy yelled stopping the girl.

The brown-haired girl stopped in surprise, and the glowing spirit ran away. She looked at Troy and then clenched her staff in fists. She took a few breaths to calm herself down and looked at the red-haired boy.
She was still pissed, especially since her staff spirit had escaped. After a short moment of silence, she spoke.

"What do you want from me?"

Troy was surprised by her question.

"Uh... To not swear?"

The girl rolled her eyes and put her staff on her back.

"You know what you just did? You stopped me from catching a spirit from my staff!"

Troy looked around. He scanned the metal trash cans, the remains of apples rotting under the wild apple tree growing between the sidewalk and the street, and looked at the wall of the bakery. He saw a light moving towards them. After a moment, they both turned and saw Ivan holding a glowing ball in his hands. Only now did they see a face resembling fairy tale characters or maybe a kitten's muzzle.

"Look Troy, what a cool little creature!" Ivan said, squeezing the sprite. The brown-haired girl approached Ivan and extended her hand towards the creature.

"Could you please return this creature to me? I'm its owner and it's an important part of my staff. Unfortunately, it broke during the fight and the spirit flew out of it."
The girl explained. Ivan nodded and turned the creature to face him. "I'm sorry but you have to go to your owner. It was nice talking to you Hikari."

"Do you understand what he's saying?" Troy and the girl said at the same time.
"Yeah. What don't you understand?" The 14-year-old looked at them surprised. At that time, the sprite flew into the cracked crack in the staff. When it disappeared, the teenager tied a ribbon on the crack so tightly that the wood wouldn't break again.

"You know, not many people understand the language of the ancient spirits."

Troy looked at the girl and crossed his arms. The girl was talking nonsense. But who knows? After all, how is he supposed to explain the Ghost that was running away from them? And why it was running away from this girl? He didn't trust her.

"Really?!" Stars appeared in Ivan's eyes.

"Wo wo wo wo. Ivan, don't believe her. Magic is impossible. She probably had some trick or something to interest us. Although we Ivan. We had a nice chat, we-"

"Tajana. Tajana Lisowska"

"Yeah... Tajana. We have to go." Troy said and started to push Ivan towards the street to get as far away as possible. However, he did not notice that a car was coming towards them as they entered the street. Tajana, seeing this at the last moment, hit the ground with her stick and fist, creating a path for the car with stones above Troy and Ivan's heads. The car stopped and, seeing the sudden rise in the road, drove slowly along it, thinking that it was passing through a viaduct.
The boys stood in the street terrified and amazed. Troy was the most terrified of them and Ivan was enchanted by Tajana's powers.

"Watch where you go." She said, pulling back the stones and rocks and pushing Troy and Ivan onto the sidewalk by the apple tree.

"You saved us! Thanks, Tajana!"

Ivan said, then looked at his older brother.

"Yeah... Um... You know what, it's time for us to go." The older brother said, dusting himself off.

"It was nice meeting you, but we have to go home. You know, dinner and stuff."

"Fine. Then see you tomorrow!" The girl said enthusiastically.

"I don't know if we can. Ask your parents to give you their phone number, maybe our parents can talk and we can meet up then?" Troy suggested, tilting his head slightly. He shuffled his feet on the concrete of the sidewalk, looking at the bakery. On the door was a hanging sign with the word "closed". Guess they have to give up on ice cream today.

"I- I kind of don't have parents..." Tajana said, slightly embarrassed.

"I lived with my older brother, but there's been no contact with him for a while... He left for the army." She said, and the boys understood her. After all, they had a father in the army. And Troy felt a slight sympathy for Tajana. But he still wasn't convinced about her. She could be lying, even if her facial expressions and gestures showed that she was embarrassed and sad about it.
But Tajana could still be lying. Troy sighed distrustfully and looked at the door of the neighboring building - a clock shop. Thanks to clocks there he knew that it would soon be 5 p.m.

Tajana was standing for a moment, waiting for them to go while thinking about another evening alone. Her expression saddened a little, which Ivan noticed.

"Troy, Mom will agree to let her stay with us for a while," Ivan said.

"I doubt..." Troy replied.

"But we can always ask Mom. Maybe she will understand?"

Troy sighed. "Yeah we could ask Mom, but I'm saying I doubt she'll let her stay."

And after two hours, all four of them were sitting in the garden.
Ivan and Troy's mother's name is Georgia, but everyone calls her Gina. She looked to be in her late thirties or early forties. Her dyed red hair was mixed with grey. In her hair, she wore a headband that held back her bangs. She was dressed in a white shirt and a red skirt. She had just returned from work and the weekend had just begun for her.

"It's not a problem, you can stay as long as you want darling." said their mother, and Troy hearing his mother's proposal clenched his teeth.
He was very unhappy with Tajana's stay at their home. She was probably an illegal immigrant or homeless, judging by her dirty and torn clothes.
And she could have made up her "sad story". But he had no intention of arguing with his mother. He's got a lot of nerves anyway, whether it's at work or hearing on the news about more suspicious moves by the Diamon Empire's army right on the border.
So he slid his ass lower on the plastic green chair and looked up at the planes in the sky. Ah yes, zero shooting stars and just flying planes in the night sky. Too bad you can't make wishes to them, it would have been so much better.

"It would be fun to pretend that planes are shooting stars. Like they did in Morrigan and Lycorus series."
Said Ivan fascinated by the view.
Troy looked at him with a slight smile.
"And you still watch those Rastinkanian shows? I thought only our grandma was watching them."
Troy laughed and despite the darkness, he could see the anger on Ivan's face.

"Oh, You're so evil," said the boy and he nudged him in the arm. After a while, Tajana came to them in new, clean clothes. Troy recognized that they were clothes from their mother's youth, in which she was in the photos in the album. It annoyed him a little. However, his mother was glad that the clothes she no longer wore could be useful to someone.

"Thank you for letting me stay with you. I'm in a difficult situation." She said, and Troy glanced at her.

"How difficult?" He asked mockingly.

"I told your mother. And I don't have to explain myself to you."

"How am I supposed to believe you that you're not lying to us? In my father's absence, I'm the one responsible and taking care of the family," he said proudly but also trying to piss Tajana off and force her to explain. However, the girl had another idea.

"Two words. War and army."

Troy and Ivan perked up at the mention of the army.
"Oh... Well, our dad works in the military. He's a sailor. I don't know about ranks, but he's high enough to manage the entire warship." Ivan said joining the discussion.

Tajana smiled. "Maybe he knows what is happening with my brother... He also is a sailor."

"You can ask him when he will be back tomorrow." Said Troy and he put his hands under his head and looked at the stars. Ivan did the same.
The evening passed quickly, the trio went to bed, Troy and Ivan to their rooms and Tajana slept in the living room on the brown leather couch.
She was only given a blanket and a pillow, but that didn't bother her.
Still better than lying on the floor in too small flat.

The next day, the boys and Tajana were sitting in the kitchen. The kitchen was painted yellow with beautiful brown wood and glass cabinets. The lamps were made from butternut squash and made the room feel warm. The trio was sitting at the brown table next to the window drinking milk and eating pancakes.
Ivan squirmed at the taste of the watery milk. Due to the worrisome situation on their country's border with the kingdom of Diamon, prices in stores were rising, hence they had to drink watered-down milk. He looked at Troy who also struggled to swallow the seemingly milk. Only Tajana did not complain, on the contrary, she praised the meal.

"I wonder why you don't mind the milk." The brown-haired boy asked. The girl looked at the glass of milk and licked her lips.

"Because it's regular milk?" She asked embarrassed, taking another bite of the fluffy pancakes.

"No? This milk is diluted with water." Said Troy and Tajana looked at him annoyed.

"So what? The important thing is that you can drink milk. Even if it has more water than usual." Said Tajana, slightly uncomfortable and disgusted, then decided that she would take the dirty breakfast plates to the sink and wash them. When she wanted to start with the sponge, the boys' mother stopped her.

"You don't have to clean. You're our guest." She smiled, but Tajana started cleaning the dishes.

"I have to repay you for dinner, lodging, and breakfast somehow."

"You don't have to-"

"I have to! That's what a good guest does." She said.

After washing all four plates, she sat down on the sofa. A moment later, the brothers joined her.
They watched Ivan's favorite series and then went to wander around the city. These brothers showed her the city and introduced her to their friends from school. Ivan and Troy's dad, whose name was Francis, had a very delayed return home because tensions on the border continued to rise and he had to have consultations with the king and the prime minister about taking further action on the border.
So he wasn't due back until two and a half weeks later.

Trio was spending time with each other for these 2 weeks and thanks to this, they became closer to each other and became friends. In the meantime, Gina, Mom of Troy and Ivan, knowing Tajana's story, was thinking about applying for the right to be a foster family for Tajana. Just to take care of her until her older brother comes back.

A few days before the school year started, the trio was sitting in an old metal garage where a broken car was parked. Troy was trying to fix it and put it back together, but it was still far from a working car.
Tajana and Ivan were sitting at a table near the radio, painting each other's nails with toy nail polishes, while talking about their favorite musicians.

"Yeah, I also love Frontboys Road. By the way, you're a few days younger than Troy, does that mean you'll be in the same class?" Ivan asked and Troy looked out from under the car. "It looks like it. However, the principal has not yet said anything about it, so it may change."

"I know, I know" Ivan replied and leaned against the wall and looked at the magazine they got the toy nail polish from. On the cover was a couple, a blonde with curly hair, a world-famous singer - Listen and her fiancé rapper Felipe Howard. Felipe was well built and had a slightly tanned complexion and dark blond hair. He was very much Ivan's type and Ivan had a crush on him. But a narrow circle of people knew about it. The family and the teacher at school. He didn't even tell his classmates about it, a bit afraid of their reaction. They weren't his type and were simply classmates.

Tajana glanced at the boy and then asked "Are you okay Ivan?"

The green-eyed man looked at her, pulling away from his thoughts, and smiled slightly.

"Yeah... I was just thinking about what other singers I know."

"Hmmm, okay. Do you know... hmm... that rock band called Masłom?" The agagrianirl asked.

"No. But the name sounds cool." He replied and looked at Troy.

"Do you have a favorite band, Troy?"

The 16-year-old came out from under the car where he was standing in the mechanics' pit.
"Honestly, I listen to music but I don't think about what band is singing it."

"Oh okay, but-" Ivan started but his brother stopped him."Oh, my favorite song is playing!" Troy said and turned the radio up.

The song was about probably Ella in Elle or something. No one knew because no one knew the language. The song was flying along and just as the chorus was about to come on, suddenly they heard a radio interlude like before the news.
Ivan looked at the clock, but it was not yet a full hour for there to be news.
After a moment they heard:
"From the last minute, the Diamon Empire attacked the Finbay border." This was followed by further music announcing the news. The trio turned up the radio.

"The latest reports indicate that there was fighting between soldiers at the border near Tom Town. 16 wounded and seven killed, including 2 children. The Prime Minister and the King are convening an urgent meeting on state security. We know from unofficial sources that the border village of Woda was also attacked, where temples were bombed. There is no information on civilian casualties so far. We will keep you informed live."

The woman said on the radio. The trio took the device that they were carrying and ran into the house, where Gina, the boys' mother, was on the phone with her husband.

The woman stood leaning against the wall with her home phone and its cord in her hand. Her voice was serious and slightly brittle, but she answered her husband's questions with complete and cold composure and asked him questions as well.

The trio put the radio on the coffee table and looked at the TV that was on. They were talking about it on every channel. After 5 minutes, the mother ended the call and walked over to the children watching the news, and camera shots of the military journalists. They were showing how sudden the attack of the Diamon Empire soldiers was. When the reporter finished speaking drowned out by the explosion, Troy turned down the TV and looked at his mom.
She sighed and said.

"Dad called. They have a meeting in an hour but they already know it's an invasion and that they're ordering an evacuation immediately. Dad told us to pack up as soon as possible because in about two hours they'll make a public announcement that this is war and that civilians must evacuate. And then there'll be even more confusion."

She said and Tajana in a slightly panicked voice asked.
"Do we have a place to escape?"

Gina calmed them down.
"We're going to go to Rastanki. That's where I'm from, and that's where my boys and I often go to visit family and spend our vacations. I'm going to call Aunt Anna and Uncle Henry right away to make arrangements for us to stay overnight. You guys go and pack your things. Take clothes and valuables with you." She said then everyone set off to pack, while Gina called her sister.

After an hour if not an hour and a half of packing, everyone was ready and with 5 suitcases they left the house.
Gina held their cat under her arm, and they walked first to the train station. Despite the yet-to-be-issued decision to evacuate civilians, the station was already filled with people and the trains were overcrowded.
The old train station had just been renovated. The city and county emblems, which had fallen and cracked sooner, had returned to the walls. On the outside, the building was gold-colored and resembled a castle. Inside, in addition to the beautiful vaulted white high ceilings, there were bright green walls. On them hung advertisements, information, and various timetables. People hovered between them, looking for information about their train. There was a really heavy traffic. The queues to the ticket counters were long, but fortunately, Gina caught up and started the queue at the just-opened ticket counter stand.
The room was noisy, which disturbed Troy a bit, so in the meantime, he plugged and unplugged his ears as if he were a child.
After getting tickets, the children and their mother separated, after all, it was not the first time they had traveled by train when the station was busy. During the holidays, it was even busier. However, they did not know that there had been a sudden change in the train schedule and two different trains were standing next to each other.

Gina ran to the first train with all the suitcases. She told the children to choose a compartment to sit in because she would be sitting in the front to help her blind neighbor with the tickets.

The trio stopped in front of the train and began to rummage through their pockets for tickets. Ivan was the first to find a ticket, but it fell out of his hands and onto the floor. Before he could bend down to pick it up, a brunette walking next to him knelt and handed him the ticket from the floor into his hand.
Their eyes met for a moment, and Ivan blushed slightly. The unknown boy looked at Ivan then at Tajana after a moment, who was arguing with Troy about who would sit by the window. He smiled slightly when he saw Tajana but looked at Ivan and said politely, in a rather high-pitched voice for a boy:

"Oh, you're going to Rastanki. It's a nice place." The stranger said, then stood up from his knees and dusted himself off.
His face was small, his eyebrows were straight and thick, and his eyes were larger than any person Ivan had seen in his life. In fact, for Ivan, they were the most beautiful eyes he had ever seen... And he stared into them for 2 minutes before he woke up and timidly spoke to the boy.

"Yes... Yes. Heh"

Ivan laughed nervously which caught Troy's attention, but seeing that the stranger was about their age - he focused on continuing the argument with Tajana.

When the boy left and entered one of the less occupied carriages, Ivan, fascinated by him, wanted to follow him. And since fewer people were pushing into the carriage than the first ones, he considered it an opportunity for a nice journey to Rastanki In a sparsely crowded carriage. 

So he ran to the entrance of the carriage, then waved to Tajana and Troy, who were slightly pushing each other at the bench. When they saw Ivan calling them, they immediately ran to him. After 10 minutes, they were sitting in the compartment, Tajana and Troy facing each other at the windows. The train moved slowly. The trio were talking to each other and did not notice that the strange boy was watching them through the compartment window. But oh well, maybe he just knew them?