Recreating the event Yue had at Eastfront Prison was not as easy as Ronan had imagined.

Once again, with two adjacent rooms, they attempted to recreate the event. The experiment should have been easy to perform, but it was anything but simple.

Yue pressed her hands against the wall for several minutes while concentrating, trying to hear the voices from the last time.

Finally, the akajsi girl gave up.

"This is silly and useless," she exclaimed in annoyance amidst the darkness.

Ronan then got up from his seat and walked to the room's window so he could discover her. The girl closed her eyes from the light that abruptly hit her face.

"I guess I won't have a chance yet to see what happened," Ronan said. "It's a pity, but I trust there must be some explanation for it."

"Like what?" asked the pointy-eared girl.

The man shrugged.

"Most of our talents show up in critical situations," Ronan explained as he tapped the wall a couple of times to notice the boy on the other side that he should return to the room. "The whispers you and Fynn hear are only born in battle. My talent for changing faces only appeared when I wished to hide my own face."

The girl, with good introspection, said, "When the prison thing happened, I really didn't want to be there. It was dangerous; I didn't feel safe because I had no place to escape..."

"An escape mechanism," Ronan pointed out. "An escape tactic that your mark has to run away from trouble. That's fascinating."

Ronan's fascination with that ability was genuine, like that of a sage making a unique find. But, on the other hand, Yue was confused still, doubtful of it all.

"Maybe we also can't conduct some experiment because you feel too safe here," Ronan expressed with a smirk. "Maybe the little girl knows nothing will happen to her while her mentor is around and lets her guard down easy."

"Fuck you," Yue quickly spat. "I don't need you to take care of me."

Ronan laughed quickly as he walked to the door after hearing the knocking on it.

"I know you know how to protect yourself, girl," Ronan exclaimed. "However, don't think you can do it all alone."

Fynn appeared on the other side of the door, curious about what was going on in that room.

"What happened?" asked Fynn. "I never saw you go through the wall."

The akajsi girl sighed in annoyance and crossed her arms simultaneously, "I couldn't do it."

"She just needs practice," exclaimed Ronan.

"Oh, I see," said Fynn, who soon smiled wider. "Now, can we just go down to the docks and see the sea?

The marked man snorted and buried a laugh by the boy's excitement. Sometimes it was hard for Ronan to comprehend such things; sometimes, he felt like his time as a fish out of the water had happened so long ago.

"Be ready and go light," the man ordered, "Greenkeep is a heavily guarded city, so don't go in your armor, or you will arouse suspicion."

Ronan let the marked children go so he could have a moment alone. So far from resting, he was trying to settle some of his thoughts and ideas where they belonged. His letters had not been answered by his colleagues, Kyrus and Rawani. The whole situation was strange.

Sitting at his desk, surrounded by his books and papers stuck to the wooden and thatched walls, he looked at everything he had been collecting on that trip through Mizuna. In the center, he had a map of the Mostarde region, with its most important cities marked; Lastrel, Brimeshield, Eastfront, and Sunhold. Its forests and hills were marked and marked with ink and scribbles he made to point out various places he had visited.

On the one hand, the marked man doubted whether he should send them across the sea, alone, as he had done.

Those who had taken him from the Thalian Kingdom were a merchant fleet that did not ask many questions; they often made it as far as the ports of Adhaz without even being detected by the Empire of Mordia. It was the best way for them to reach safety, and he convinced himself that this was the case.

However, he also felt that he was being selfish. He didn't plan to accompany them because he had to corroborate various facts about where they had entered. If only he had had the time to travel to those hidden corners, perhaps he would have accompanied them.

That, no doubt, was a vile lie, but Ronan was trying to convince himself that perhaps he would have accompanied them. The marked man cared a lot about his work, sometimes more than he should, which always brought him many consequences.

In the other room, the pair of marked teenagers were dressing like ordinary people. No weapons, no armors, but always gloved.

The people in the caravan where Idda now traveled had given them more clothes for their journeys. Some were extravagant, like a vest of shiny fabrics they had given Fynn or a long, green dress they had given Yue.

"Do you plan to wear that dress?" asked Fynn curiously.

Yue tied her hair in front of a mirror and looked at her friend. Then, she looked at the dress among the clothes they had been given.

"If I wear that, I feel like I'll be seen coming from far away," Yue replied. "And you, will you wear that vest?"

Fynn showed some disgust at the color and design of it. It also had shiny colors like Yue's dress.

"I didn't want to refuse. It was a gift after all," replied the marked boy. "But you could wear another cloak than that."

Yue sat on her bed, and as she adjusted the laces of her travel boots, she looked at her cloak.

"I don't want to get rid of it. Not yet," exclaimed the akajsi girl.

"Why?" asked the boy.

She replied, "Someone gave it to me."

Fynn was confused at that, "What, who?"

Yue looked away and replied, "It was a strange gift."

"I thought you said you stole this stuff from a house in the woods."

"I didn't steal everything," Yue replied. "In the house, there was a little girl. She saw me dirty and ragged and ran inside to give me the cloak. I think the bow and arrows were her father's, and I stole them while she was out of sight."

Fynn watched Yue and tried to hide a terrible reality he realized upon hearing those words. But, at that moment, Fynn preferred to keep that other part of the story that he soon remembered when he spoke with Idda in her hut.

"The girl must have seen you in great need," the boy exclaimed with a hesitation, lowering his gaze to his new travel boots and tying their laces.

Then, there was a small and awkward silence.

"Fynn," Yue called to her friend. "Do you still want to go to Adhaz?"

That question was a bit off-putting, and there was a certain astonishment on Fynn's face at her, "W-Why do you ask?"

Leaning back on the bed, the girl shrugged, "Do you think they'll help us? I feel it will only bring us trouble..."

Fynn lowered her eye and watched his hands. It was funny how something like his mark, the first few days in that place, he never seemed to take her eyes off this one. Now, sometimes he even forgot he was there.

"Ronan told me that the situation in Adhaz was bad," the boy replied. "He said that those who rule are not doing things right."

"It doesn't look like anyone is doing things right," Yue pointed out in an atonic voice.

"No, I don't think so," the boy sighed and interlaced his fingers. "I don't know if it's our best option either. But maybe it's the best among the worst."

The boy soon smiled, and that smile rubbed off on Yue.

"You're dumb," Yue exclaimed.

Then, the akajsi girl got up from her bed and sat next to her friend. After a few moments of silence, she rested her head on his shoulder.

"We'll be in this together, don't worry," said Fynn, not looking at her friend.

"You promise?" asked Yue with a lump in her throat.

Fynn nodded, and with moist eyes, he nodded. "I promise."

Moments later, the scarred children came unglued as they heard Ronan knock on the door. Fynn wiped his tears, and Yue cleared her throat.

Ronan entered the room and saw both children ready to leave.

"Are you both ready?" asked Ronan with a smile.

Both teens confirmed him with a nod. Then, both walked with him out of the room and then out of the inn.

They went into the cobblestone streets of Greenkeep. The town was not as big as Eastfront was but perhaps as extensive as Sunhold was. The whole city was like a vast gray stone fortification, and the smell of the fishy docks was almost enormous. The town was also known because plants, trees, and vines were always growing out in all the houses and buildings. Amidst the dull colors and rotting straw, plants flowered and gave them strong and striking colors.

That afternoon, Ronan wanted to give them a moment to relax; he would provide them with an afternoon to see the bazaars and their merchants, artisans, and sellers of strange objects. Then, he would take them around the docks where the great ships of Mizuna's navy were anchored and another of the boring cathedrals in honor of Lithal.

That day, he wanted to spend time with them as the trio would be staying only a short time in that city, as they were only a day away from arriving in Lastrel.