The trio soon made their way through the city in search of a place they could call home, which turned out to be on the popular sections of the city. Popular as in population and not in wanted. This was to be expected, because there were more places to hide and less guards went around that section of the city, decreasing their chances of being found and subsequently sent back to the church or kicked of the city.

While they were looking for this place Gabriel realized the big difference that existed when one compared normally walking around the city to walking with this particular purpose. One spent much more time looking at details such as the quality of the road or the number of shops which usually goes unnoticed.

They also spent more time looking at other people, their physical characteristics and their behavior to see if they could be prey for them or if they should clear the way for the individual in question. Most people didn’t fall in either of these categories, as they weren’t too rich or too dangerous for them.

Kupi had actually already stolen a silver coin and a small silver bracelet from a passerby, which would help them live for a couple more days if they were in need.

Now you may be asking why Kupi is so attracted to silver coins and other silver objects, and it stems from his species. During those days where we lived on the streets, we had more time to talk to each other and he had been starting to tell me his life. Kupi was actually a Tonn.

Now this doesn’t mean much to the average reader as they are a hidden race, whose members rarely leave their tribes deep within forests or high up in mountains. The Tonn are a race which from birth to death look like children, be it size, voice or behavior, they can’t easily be distinguished from children.

How this species still exists today is an interesting question with a boring answer. Kupi had told me that they live very hidden, so they aren’t attacked by any possible predators, and they live off of the land, via agriculture, so they don’t have problems feeding themselves.

The Tonn have an interesting quirk which make them useful identifying fake silver coins. It is that they are instinctively attracted to silver in any shape or form in may come. This supposedly stems from their experiences as a species, when they still didn’t hide themselves and had to fight against others.

On the zones where they lived there were riches in silver and this was the main metal they used for their crafts. During centuries their minds tuned with the resonance of silver, making them easily detect silver by the sound this makes.

And it is also this sound which has small hypnotical properties for them, giving them an urge to get a hold of the item the sound originates from, although most Tonn’s can control this. Kupi was a Tonn that used to live on those villages but after a fallout with the rest of the population he decided to leave it for good and started wandering around.

He quickly realized that most people treated him like a child, staying on the superficial and not peering too close into his personal story, so long he acted sad and reserved about it. It was this way that he traveled from town to town, utilizing the goodwill of people to stay alive and when people started suspecting some things due to his never-increasing height, he simply moved to another town and started the process anew.

Now you may be thinking that I am betraying him by telling you this, giving out his plans of action and making his life a bit more difficult, but Kupi himself told me that he felt glad that he could say it to someone else and I think that he’d have agreed for it to be written here had I asked him when I had the chance.

After a full week living on the streets and ‘working’ Gabriel now knew much more about Kupi, but he still had multiple questions about his life and relationships before he left the village. Sadly, Kupi didn’t want to talk about those things.

Throughout these last seven days Gabriel and Kupi had worked together as partners in crime, while Arabelle stayed at the tent protecting their property and also preparing food. This was partly enforced by Gabriel, who was leading the group, but Arabelle herself also liked cooking and knew that if she left it to someone else the food would be barely eatable.

This day hadn’t been that good for Gabriel and Kupi, only managing to get a pair of silver coins and the rest of their burglaries ended up failing either because they were about to being found out, were found out or because their target had escaped their sight before they managed to get the good stuff.

So, they made their way back home at the time most people did so, as to not attract suspicions of the guards or workers at certain shops, which would add a risk every time they attempted a crime on the zones these people were in.

Of course, most people didn’t have a perfect memory and would most likely forget about their faces after a few days, they would probably remember two kids in poor clothes stealing and that would limit the search to a handful of kids, of which many didn’t walk around the zones they worked at.

Now, turning into the alley they resided in, they were met with a shocking sight. Their tent had fallen down and Arabelle wasn’t in clear view of them. Most of their possessions that they left outside the tent, because they were uncomfortable to sleep with, were gone or significantly looted.

Rushing to the remains of their home they realized that Arabelle was still there, hidden below the materials that were left off the tent they had build previously. Gabriel quickly uncovered her and looked around her body to check for injuries.

Luckily all she had were bruises and superficial wounds which were only dangerous if they got infected. Unluckily, they were in one of the dirtiest places of Destin, significantly increasing the risk of infection. And usually, the cost of healing oneself was much higher than what it cost to prevent the infection. In an ideal situation they’d go to the church and get a safe place there, but they clearly wouldn’t be accepted, so they would have to find another option.

Staying where they lived clearly wasn’t an option, considering what had happened while Gabriel and Destin had left, but they also didn’t have many options. Getting out of the city was a no-go in Gabriel’s opinion and they didn’t have the option to both rent a hospital bed and a house… Gabriel was deep in thought when Arabelle woke up, strained and tired. She looked around and saw the remnants of their ‘house’.

- I want to stay here. – was the first thing Arabelle said after she woke up and looked around. She knew that Gabriel would seriously consider leaving the town for a safer place, albeit inside it was safer than outside, in Arabelle’s opinion.

Gabriel and Arabelle started a staring contest, with no party intending to lose, as it was a battle of wits, each trying to showcase that they were sure of their decision and that it’d be the best for them.

- I don’t want to sleep here, to be honest. Maybe on the next corner? – Kupi broke the silence with an attempt at a joke, which didn’t make anyone laugh but it managed to lower the tension in the air.

- Alright – Gabriel gave up, but he wasn’t intending to come out with a full loss. – We’ll stay in Destin, but with a few conditions. – He had to pause for a second to describe them correctly, because Arabelle would try to go around them to do what she wanted. – First of all… - But Arabelle cut him off.

- Always you and your conditions! Can’t we just live life as it comes? Why does everything have to be organized? Look, you were the one who was leading us and look where it got us! – Arabelle showcased the remains she had been knocked out on – Why don’t we try something else; it’ll probably work better than what you expect!

- And the next thing you know, we are in a worse situation without any plans to improve our situation, all because we do what you recommend now. – Gabriel retorted – We need to plan things out!

- Heyheyhey – Kupi intervened in the heating discussion, specifically to Gabriel, who was grabbed by the shoulder and carried a few meters away from the discussion by Kupi himself. – This is a good training opportunity, getting into situations you don’t like is common for thieves and managing to get out of any unplanned situation is a useful skill that you need to learn to be successful in life. Let’s try what she says, at least for a few weeks. – Kupi tried to convince Gabriel, not only because he believed it would be better for his skills as a burglar, but mostly because relationships were important and Kupi didn’t want Gabriel to commit a similar mistake to what he had done when he left his home.

- Augh, fine! – Gabriel grudgingly accepted and the three of them started recollecting all they could use from the remains of their home and left for the city in search for a better place.