34. The Dress
The palace was a colossal, arching structure, built with domes, gardens, turrets, shining marble floors, and even multiple naturally flowing mountain streams cutting through portions of its many halls. It was a challenge for Tifse’s father to keep it well maintained, but the current king did sometimes use it as a vacation home in the cold season, and paid a portion of the upkeep, since the lakeside city saw less rough weather than the seaside city he normally lived in.
The guards out front each stood at attention as Tifse approached at the head of the group. She was haggard and road weary compared to when she’d departed earlier that year, but still recognizable as the twelfth daughter of the house of Bontifur, out of twelve daughters total.
As they entered, one of the two guards stayed outside, and the other went in ahead of them, likely to tell Tifse’s parents that she had returned with two dragons. Maybe Tifse could lie and say that she had been chosen by two dragons? Would that help at all? No, that was stupid.
Safraxi stopped to stare at the relief sculptures carved into the wall. “I thought your family was small peanuts or something. This place is… fancier than I expected.”
“It’s more like the palace is lent to us from the king, and we just have to manage upkeep.” Tifse shrugged. “We are a relatively minor family, with a smaller territory, but we control a few iron mines in the mountains, and we help my cousins manage their emerald mine, so we get a cut of that.” She was savoring the chance to have a regular conversation with her dragon again. At this point anything at all felt like a blessing from Tiamat.
“Your entryway is almost bigger than the manor I lived in before.” Safraxi snorted and pushed forward into the hall. “Lent or not, it’s probably nicer than the king of Tiskin’s place. Though it’s been…” She had to think hard to remember when it was she went as a child. “… Sixteen years? Since I’ve been there? We were supposed to be visiting again when we… got lost in the storm. The trip had to be canceled. The point is I don’t remember the palace of the king of Tiskin very well, but it was not as fancy as this place.”
“That sounds a bit familiar. Heh.” Tifse needed to push any attempt she could to talk with the dragon and remind them of their commonalities, even if it felt weird and forced. “The um. The part about your trip being cancelled. I mean. I would-”
“Tifse! You’re back!” Another voice called from a side hall in Stefaian. Another desert fox ran out from the archway and swept Tifse up into a hug.
“O-oh, Sel’Ifis! It’s uh- it’s good to see you too!” The smaller fox chuckled back in her native language, clearly uncomfortable as she was lifted off her feet.
Safraxi got a good look at the other fox. She was tall, a normal height really. She probably stood only an inch or two above Safraxi’s height as a biped. “Wait, Pipsqueak, are all desert foxes not short?”
“Of course we’re not all short!” Tifse fought to get her feet back on the ground without seeming too distant from her older sister. “You weren’t short as a rat, why would I be short because I was a species of fox that’s smaller in the wild!”
“Which of these is your dragon? I didn’t expect you to actually come back a rider! Congratulations! You really needed a win!” Sel’Ifis squeezed Tifse’s fuzzy little cheeks before finally dropping her sister to examine the pair of dragons before her.
Safraxi quickly shifted to her rat form with draconic eyes and took the eldest sister’s hand, before planting a gentle kiss on it, just like Ylexi had taught her to greet noble women when she was a child. She couldn’t believe she was bringing these skills out again. It felt surreal. “That would be me, madame.” She changed the conversation to Mercani. She could get the gist of a conversation in the language through Tifse, but couldn’t speak back for her life. “I am Safraxi.” As her eyes opened again after the kiss they centered on an odd orange marking over the noblewoman’s wrist, it looked like a sun. She would need to ask Tifse about it later.
“Ohoh, a gentle-” Sel’Ifis squinted at the rat a little harder, confused at the masculine greeting, “woman? I am Sel’Ifis, eldest of the Bontifur family and heir to our land. I hope my little sibling hasn’t given you too much trouble.”
“Oh, not at all.” Safraxi lied. “It will be an honor to make your family’s acquaintance.”
Tifse stared at the back of Safraxi’s head in confusion. She had no idea that the former urchin was even capable of comprehending decorum, let alone performing it. Suave and Safraxi did not belong in the same sentence.
“Right, yes.” Tifse made a forced grin at the display. “Is Father here?”
“He’s out for the week on business, he should be returning tomorrow.” The older fox took Tifse by the shoulder and began leading her further in. “I’ve been entrusted with the estate until he returns. That reminds me, though. Have you been associating with any untoward individuals? Someone by the name of Arxet?”
Safraxi and Tifse both went rigid as the name came in contact with their ears. “Uh- yeah, but we haven’t… exactly… spoken in a bit.” Tifse side eyed her sister. “Where did the name come up?”
“Oh, some sort of hired detective from up north came into the city just after Father left. He started asking a lot of questions about you, and this ‘Arxet’.” She crossed her arms and glared pointedly. “For now I had him locked up until we could find his reason for poking around where he shouldn’t. What trouble have you gotten yourself into? The prisoner said that this ‘Arxet’ was a criminal, a coldmarked thief no less! I thought you were better than the rest of them.”
“I-” Tifse sputtered at the accusation. “Arxet- was just…”
“Another student at the academy.” Safraxi took over for her. “He’s dead. I killed him myself. Arxet was kind of an annoying bastard. Where is this detective? I want to speak with him.”
Sel’Ifis’s eyes widened a bit, she was clearly intrigued. “He is in the dungeons. You’ll have to tell me more about this Arxet, though. Why were you associating with a criminal, even if you were both in the academy together? Why would this investigator chase you down? What did you do? Did Arxet pull you into something?”
“Nothing!” Tifse was too caught off guard to think of a proper lie. “I just- let us talk to him and we’ll figure it out!”
“Hmph. Very well. You know the way. And please, wear something more appropriate when you’re back. Armor within the palace is quite… unbecoming.” With that the taller desert fox stepped out of the garden and through another door further into the palace.
“Who the hell is trying to track you down, Safraxi?” Tifse turned to the dragon in rat form in concern. “How did they even know to look into me? We barely talked before you became a dragon!”
“How the hell should I know?” Safraxi rubbed her head and thought hard. “I don’t think I pissed off The Roots bad enough to warrant an assassin or anything…”
“An assassin! Why is there an assassin after you?” Tifse began marching to the dungeons in the southern wing of the palace.
“Just said that probably wasn’t it. Try to keep up, Pipsqueak.” Safraxi read ahead on the route the fox was planning, through the link, and skipped ahead of her, using her longer legs to gain speed . “You really are a pipsqueak even among desert foxes, eh? Never woulda guessed!”
“Would you just shut it and stop with the jabs until we figure this out, it could be serious!” Tifse tried to pick up the pace behind the dragon. “The guards won’t let you down into the dungeon without me anyway, jackass!”
Safraxi slowed down enough for the fox to catch up and beat her to the guards. They allowed the two of them in without any trouble, even handing Tifse a key after she asked them to stay upstairs. Unfortunately, though, the stairwell was far too narrow for Idami to fit in. “I’ll just be in the garden. I’ll call if I need you.” She sighed before turning around.
The tight underground passage was a stark change from above. The palace made ample use of natural light and lightly painted or well polished stone to keep each room feeling bright, large, and welcoming, but the dungeon made use of none of these. The walls were carved out of the darker stone that the palace used as its foundation, and there were far too few torches. Tifse had never actually been in the dungeons before. As much as her parents locked her up as a teenager she had never been put here, only ever in her room. She didn’t know what to expect from this point onward.
After they made it to the landing below the stairs, Safraxi pushed past Tifse to stalk down the corridor, checking each cell until she finally found the one she was searching for.
Past the bars of the third cell a moosefolk was chained to the far wall. They appeared too weary to stand, and their fur was a mess. They were draped in the garbs of an Utsnari of the mercantile class: A loose, thick, lined linen coat with once colorful, now worn, embroidery around the sleeves and collar, and a pair of roughly woven and heavily patched trousers below.
It was perfectly pitch black in the dungeon until Tifse put up a light spell so she could make her way down as well. Initially, Safraxi couldn’t quite make out the face as the strange shadows were cast across it. They looked familiar, but she couldn’t quite place it.
“Who’s there? Come to drain more water from a stone?”A rough, weak, and dehydrated voice rasped from inside.
Safraxi immediately knew who she was looking at as she heard the voice. “Alguis?” The name barely came out as a whisper.
The head of the figure inside shot up to meet her gaze. Tifse had caught up with Safraxi now, and the little ball of light in her fingers gave everyone on both sides of the bars a good look at one another.
The moose had grown up. They were no longer the scrawny older teenager that had taught Safraxi how tolie and steal, as a dumb and naive kid on the streets. Their shoulders were broad and bulky, and their fur had darkened since they had least seen one another as well, instead of the dark woody tan Safraxi remembered, the moose’s fur was now almost as dark as loam. It looked as if they’d grown antlers at some point, but cut them off and bandaged the nubs.
After a moment of the two studying each other the moose slowly pushed down and got back on their feet to better glare out at the two of them. “That ain’t been my name in a long time, Arxet. You look… different. What, did you bleach your fur to hide your coldmark?” Safraxi’s coldmark had grown so far now that her darker fur wasn’t visible without her taking her armor off.
Safraxi flinched slightly as the old name was spoken. “I haven’t been Arxet for a bit either. It’s Safraxi, now.”
“Oh, so you made some progress. Congratu-fucking-lations.” They walked as far as they could before their chain caught, trying to get a closer look. “It’s Magli now. Guess we both realized some things.”
Oh. Safraxi was unprepared for that relevation. She wasn’t the only one to realize she was a girl late, was she? “It’s… a nice name.” She averted her eyes. Guilt was gnawing, no, tearing at her insides. She’d hoped never to see the moose again after what she had done to her years ago. She wasn’t ready for this.
“Is that all you have to say for yourself? Bet you’re feeling real smug, ain’t you? Got me locked up again. What are you, a rider now? Surprised they let trash like us in.” She leered from inside, still straining against the chain behind her.
“Who… is this?” Tifse was wary to speak up. This was already an emotional and intense moment for her dragon, and she didn’t want to make a misstep now of all times, but these two had some kind of history she was woefully behind on. She needed to know what was going on if she was going to help.
“He- I mean- Sh-she, is my old… teacher.” Safraxi grunted back, uncertain how to describe their relationship.
“Oh, is that all we were? You called me big bro all the time back in Arghold! We were family until you sold me out for that bounty! You’d be dead if I hadn’t taught you how to fend for yourself!” The moose snarled. “Talk to me face to face, why don’t you? Get these bars out of my way!”
“I don’t know if…” Tifse started, but before she knew what she was doing she was taking the key and opening the cell door. It felt as if her body was moving of its own accord and she was just watching through her own eyes, but it didn’t feel entirely as if it weren’t her.
“Yeah, fine.” Safraxi stepped toward the cell door and past Tifse. She didn’t seem to notice what was happening with her rider at all. All her focus was on Magli. Just as she stepped past the threshold Tifse reached out and plucked her dagger from Safraxi’s belt and then shoved her into the cell, locking it behind her. “WHA- TIFSE! I DIDN’T- GIVE ME MY SWORD BACK!” She turned and shot her hand out at the fox, but Tifse ducked in perfect time and scrambled out of the way.
“A dagger is not a sword!” Was the only reply before the fox walked out of view, back down the hall.
Tifse was beginning to feel panicked. As she made it to the bottom of the stairs she felt more like herself all of a sudden, whatever had come over her had passed, but she still didn’t understand it, and that had her on guard.
“Trust me.” A little voice pleaded from the depths of her- no, from Safraxi’s mind. “I know it’s scary. But this will work.”
The fox had no idea what to make of what had just occurred, but the voice felt… familiar, on some level. Was that one of the versions of Safraxi? She sounded childish, and not in the dragon’s usual angry and immature way. Regardless, the dragon seemed to have some kind of plan. It might be for the best if Tifse let it go and waited to be called back. She sat on the steps and waited, trying not to get in the way.
“So, even your rider buddy knows you belong in here, eh?” Magli taunted and returned to the back wall.
“She- no way!” Safraxi shook the bars hard enough to make the ancient groan with strain, but even her draconic strength was not enough to bend or break them. “IF YOU’RE TRYING TO MAKE UP WITH ME YOU’VE GOT A FUNNY WAY OF SHOWING IT, PIPSQUEAK!” She roared down the hallway. She couldn’t shift here in front of the moose. Her being a dragon now was supposed to be a secret from people in her old life she couldn’t trust.
A moment of silence passed. As Safraxi turned around to stare down Magli again the moose seemed stunned by the volume of it. “How are you so loud?”
“Practice.” Safraxi planted her back against the bar and snarled. “So, why the hell are you chasing me down, huh? Want payback? You’re not going to get it. I’ve got a lot of new tricks now. I don’t need you anymore either!”
“Right, you’ve clearly got everything under control.” Magli mocked. “What, did you spend the gold you earned stabbing me in the back to get your body changed?”
“What? What are you talking about?” Safraxi scowled. “I blew that gold on… stupid stuff.”
“Oh! Stupid stuff? I’m so glad you got to enjoy it, kid. Do you remember? Do you remember what they do to thieves who get caught in Arghold?” She withdrew her hand into her coat.
Safraxi froze up as the moose called her ‘kid’. The situation had started feeling unreal, too wild to consider possible, but hearing Magli call her ‘kid’ again after eight years made everything sink in all at once. She felt as if her guts were being put through a grinder. “I-I remember…”
Suddenly the moose surged forward, the chain clattered to the ground. Safraxi barely caught Magli as she tried to pin the rat to the bars behind her by her neck. She shoved her right arm into the rat’s face, spitting with fury. “THEY. CUT. YOUR. HAND. OFF! Are you listening to me, Kid?” The hand that once bore Magli’s coldmark, a row of icicles hanging down from her knuckles, was gone. All that was left was a swirling, uneven patch of scabbed fur.
The dragon had forgotten that she had learned lockpicking from the moose in the first place. Of course she would hide a few picks in her clothing and get out of the cuff at the most opportune moment. Safraxi could easily throw Magli off of her. She had the strength for it. But she was in such a mental mess she couldn’t even process her own thoughts long enough to take action. “I’m- I’m sorry- I’m- I-” When had the tears started? She could barely sob the words out through the mess in her mind.
“YOU’RE SORRY?” Magli shrieked into her face. “You got me, and a dozen other kids like us arrested, mutilated, and scattered to the winds, after ALL OF THE WORK we did together to make our lives better. And you’re SORRY?”
“I didn’t- I don’t-” She could barely even remember doing it. She couldn’t remember why. All she remembered is leaving the city afterwards. The actual deal she had cut with the city guard, and the lead up to it were all a blur. “Why don’t I remember?”
Magli hesitated for a moment. The pressure on Safraxi’s neck, though never actually great enough to shut her windpipe, eased off. She studied every inch of Safraxi’s features for a moment. “I taught you to lie. You think you can just say ‘I don’t remember doing that’, and get away unscathed?”
Safraxi finally brought her hands up and shoved the moose as hard as she could. The bars rattled and groaned at the force of her propelling the woman away from her. Magli barely kept on her feet before slamming into the back wall of the cell. The rat was struggling to control her breathing. She couldn’t even see with all of the tears forcing their way into her eyes. She knew what she did was wrong, but why couldn’t she remember doing it or why? “What happened?”
“I should be asking you that myself.” Magli grunted and rubbed the back of her head after she’d been practically hurled across the cell. “You shouldn’t be able to pack that kind of punch.”
“So don’t fucking touch me again!” She sobbed and clawed at her face. These tears needed to stop. Why wouldn’t they stop? “What happened before I- before-” She couldn’t bring herself to say it out loud. Her shame for her actions was only magnified into horror and confusion as she racked her mind, trying to understand what had happened eight years earlier. “Why did I turn you in?”
“Shouldn’t you be the one to know that?” Magli spat back, still not convinced. “You can’t tell me that you did it for no reason, or just for money. That wasn’t the kid I knew back then!”
Safraxi was trembling. She was furious, scared, and guilty. She couldn’t separate out her thoughts cleanly. Her simple streams of thought had been dumped into a drain and were forming a whirlpool in her mind. The fear was building, but she couldn’t tell whether she was more scared of the fuzzy patches in her memories or the words being slung at her.
“Fucking answer me, kid! Was it just the mo-”
Safraxi had crossed the room faster than she or Magli realized was possible and slammed the moose into the back wall. Its tail felt painfully pinched in the plates around the base of its back, her rat snout was no longer visible in between her eyes, instead a few blue-green scales curving around to a snubby nose filled up the center of her vision. “WOULD YOU JUST TELL ME INSTEAD OF JUST MAKING STUPID, USELESS, VAGUE DEMANDS OF ME! USE YOUR WORDS LIKE A FUCKING ADULT!” One of the many perks of being a shapeshifted dragon is being able to project your voice far more than anyone else would be able to. “GET IT THROUGH YOUR SKULL OR MY FIST WILL INSTEAD!”
Even Tifse’s ears down the hall were ringing at the yell. In the cramped stone champers below the palace the sound had nowhere to escape to and echoed far too long. She was questioning more if she, or whatever had come over her before, had made the right decision. What was Safraxi doing to herself? The fox could tell it was the version of Safraxi in control now who had sprayed Rubis with ice and dragged Audirei in her jaws by her head. What if she hurt Magli?
“Fffuck,” The moose gasped in Safraxi’s grip. “You’re going to dislocate something! Put me down and I’ll tell you!”
Safraxi released her grip, and the two of them stumbled and collapsed to the ground almost simultaneously. It felt more draining than usual to get that angry. Her legs were shaky. The last ten seconds felt hazy. Why did she keep forgetting?
“How the hell did you turn into a snake?” Magli flexed her arm, grimacing as the joints stretched. “My ears are ringing after that scream…”
Oh. So she was a snake this time? Things made less sense by the day. “One question at a time.” Safraxi groaned. She could barely push herself back into a sitting position. The bottom of the cell was filthy. It seemed as if she had knocked over Magli’s fecal bucket in her rush to grab the moose.
“You seriously don’t remember, do you?” Magli groaned and moved into a more comfortable position. “Get out of that filth, kid. The other side of the cell is cleaner. Come on.” She stood and pulled Safraxi to her feet. “You don’t remember the dress at all?”
Arxet grunted as they hauled the fourth crate into the room. They and Alguis had made a good haul today. Another older and more put together looking street kid had posed as a merchant looking to buy a whole shipment of garments to take into Narovir, and had entered fierce ‘negotiations’ with another major trading company in Arghold. Meanwhile, Arxet and Alguis had slipped by, stolen a shipping manifest form for some other convoy leaving that day, and swiped an entire cart of textiles.
Each of the crates probably weighed half as much as Arxet did. They were growing fast now, as a fourteen year old tends to, but was still small and lanky compared to most of the other kids. They couldn’t seem to put muscle on for the life of them. They’d been away from home nearly three years now. For many nights, they still cried themself to sleep, but they were becoming less and less common. Some days they didn’t even think about their old home. They’d found a new one after all.
“Nice going, kid!” Alguis grunted as they pushed through the door and dropped down the fourth and final crate. “We haven’t had a haul like this since we hit that ministry carriage! Shame we didn’t get to see their reactions this time.” The older moose leaned down to tousle Arxet’s fur. “How’d you even think of this?”
Arxet beamed at the praise from their hero. This was the first heist they’d planned almost entirely themselves. A lot of the kids in Alguis’s ‘circle’, as they liked to call it, were getting older and bigger, and their clothes were getting smaller and more threadbare. Clothes could only be passed down so many times before they fell apart completely. A new stock was desperately needed. “I’ve been camping out a bar that a lot of the caravaners drink at! The owner pays me a copper a day to scrub the tables down with a wet rag. I heard a guy talking about his shipment moving out tomorrow, and that he was moving clothes!”
“By Tiamat we’ve got a little genius here!” Alguis grabbed the crowbar and began prying the first crate open. “Help me sort these out. We should sell the finer stuff and hand out the rest. The money we get with it we can use to buy other clothes, food, maybe even…” The moose trailed off.
“What’s that?” Arxet took the crowbar next and tried prying their own crate open. However, the little rat lacked the muscle or body weight to get it.
“Nothing. It was selfish anyway. Here, you’re holding it wrong.” Alguis came in behind Arxet, and put their hands over the rat’s. Arxet’s heartbeat picked up for some reason at the contact. Their eyes glanced down to the coldmark over Alguis’s knuckles. The moose’s coldmark looked like a row of icicles, just like Arxet’s. Something about their marks matching made the rat feel strangely warm and fuzzy inside. It was almost like having a family resemblance.
With Alguis’s help, the top popped free with no issue at all. The pair gasped as they laid eyes on the contents. This crate was filled to the brim with the finest, most vividly dyed textiles that Arxet had seen since they were home in Tiskin. The teenage rat jumped right in and began rooting through, digging out sashes, blouses, dress shirts, and even undergarments, flinging them around the room as she went.
“Woah, hey! Don’t get it dirty, kid. We’ve still gotta resell this stuff!” Alguis did their best to catch things as they were haphazardly hurled aside, laughing as they went. After only a few of the garments were removed though, Arxet stopped short. Her hands were trembling, gripped tight over a blue dress she had started to pull out. As the light caught it from the window the fabric seemed to sparkle and shine like the finest jewels. It was the same style as one of the dresses her mother had worn for years, with a white lace collar, a long blue skirt with soft black cotton lining to rest around the heels, and golden yellow thread embroidered around the sleeves and chest. It was stunning, possibly even nicer than anything in Ylexi’s collection.
Alguis watched for a long moment, not wanting to disturb the rat. “It’s pretty nice, yeah.” They eventually approached and pulled the rest of the garment free, and helped hold it up in front of the sun in the window.
“Yeah…” Arxet was still trembling as she beheld it. The thought of selling such an artifact was horrifying to her. “Do- do we-”
“Do you want to try it on? It was your heist, you deserve something nice as a reward.” One of Alguis’s hands came down to rest on Arxet’s. “It might be a little big for you, but you might look nice. You never know.”
Arxet’s cheeks flushed in an instant. “B-but it’s a dress, dresses are for-”
“Dresses are for whoever wants to wear them.” Alguis informed her as gently and patiently as they could manage. “The same people who make those rules are ones who spit on us for having a coldmark. Are you gonna let them tell you how to dress? I know I ain’t.”
“Yeah…” Arxet scrunched up her nose at the thought. “Yeah! She doesn’t get to say what I wear anymore.” The rat began stripping off their clothes right in front of the moose. It wasn’t unusual. None of them were particularly used to having privacy.
Once she was out of her filthy, plain, and worn tunic and trousers she pulled the dress down over her head and down past her hips. It felt… right. Her heart felt ready to fly out of her chest with excitement. Her eyes misted with tears. She couldn’t tell what she was feeling or why.
“Hey, kid. You good?” Alguis leaned down into her vision with a comforting smile. “Remember, no matter what, you’re still a part of the circle. Okay?”
“I- y- yeah.” Arxet nodded. Her whole body was trembling. Alguis’s face was so close to her. She felt. Happy. So happy. Was it because of Alguis?
She leaned forward until her lips met her hero’s. In response the moose’s eyes bulged, and they pushed her off. “W-woah, A-Arxet, I- I love you, but not like-”
The fluttering of Arxet’s heart had shifted into something more painful, more terrible. Their trembling intensified as they began ripping the dress off of themselves. “That didn’t happen!”
“H-hold on. Kid, let’s not be hasty.” Alguis reached out to put a hand on the kid’s shoulder, but the younger urchin slapped it away.
“Get away from me!” Arxet threw the dress to the ground and started grabbing at their older, more familiar clothes. Their heart was beating so hard, and their head was pounding. It felt like a spike was being driven between their ears.
“Kid! Hold on! You’ll always be a part of The Circle, but- but-” Alguis seemed desperate to salvage the situation. “I-I’m almost eighteen, you’re barely-”
“I said get away from me!” The rat screeched. These were just excuses. They should have known Alguis was faking. The moose didn’t care, no one cared. They had to leave now before something worse happened, before they got hurt again. They were out the door before Alguis could make another attempt to talk to her, putting on their clothes as they ran.
They had to get away. No one could know. They couldn’t let Alguis chase them down. What if they tried to track them down? Arxet could still hear the moose yelling after them, trying to find them. The rat was terrified. They couldn’t let Alguis catch up.
Their eyes landed on a poster, one of many nailed to posts around the city. “Reward: Criminal Ringleaders of ‘The Circle’. One gold reward for useful information.” They dashed for the poster and ripped it down. This had to be it, the only way to keep safe. As long as Alguis could track them down they wouldn’t be safe. This was the only way to buy them time to get out of the city, and get the money for a new life.
They didn’t have any other option. No one else could know.
“Oh gods, fuck, I-” Safraxi could barely croak out the words. She was wracked with sobs as she finally recalled the events of that day. “I- I- all of The Circle. They really got all of you. All of our work…”
“Yeah.” Magli dropped her down against the wall in a cleaner corner of the cell and glowered down at the younger woman. “I don’t even know what happened to most of those kids, but I’ve tracked some of them down over the years. A lot didn’t make it. Some, like you, fled to other cities and kept living on the streets. Some of us even found ‘respectable’ jobs eventually, like me. Without the cold mark being visible anymore, people treated me better.”
“And it’s all my fault.” Safraxi wailed, face in her hands. “I’m worse than the guards were. I betrayed all of you and went to live the high life for a year. I didn’t even do anything with the money. I wasted it all. I’m a monster!”
Magli seemed to hesitate some. Her rage was simmering down. Safraxi was seeming more like the scared little kid that she’d taken care of all those years ago. “You were the spark that lit the pyre, kid, but they were the ones that built it to burn us. It could have been worse. I told them you were the real leader, heh,” she scratched the back of her neck and forced a grin. “They would have executed me if they found out it was actually me. You probably shouldn’t go back, even if they wouldn’t recognize you now.”
A snort broke through the tears. “Me? The leader? I was like three years younger than you.”
“Yeah well, I told them you were small for your age.” Magli bent down to put a hand on her shoulder. “Look. You’re an asshole, but I don’t think there’s such a thing as an unforgivable asshole. I thought I would show up and you would brush me off and try to run off again, but you look like you actually regret your bullshit. So, what are you gonna do about it, kid?”
“Do- do about it?” She flinched some at the touch, unsure at the intentions behind it.
“Yeah. You caused a lot of people a lot of pain. What are you going to do to make it right? You can’t help the ones that are dead, but you can still try to make some positive impact in the world.” She lifted Safraxi’s chin to meet her gaze.
“I- I don’t-” Safraxi was struggling to think straight. Her head hurt so much. The memory still felt like a hot brand pressed to her consciousness. It felt raw, like someone had ripped off an old scar to reveal the festering flesh below, and it becoming exposed to the air made the pain all too fresh again.
“She wanted to build an orphanage.” Tifse whispered from the bars. Her own cheeks were stained with tears. The resurfacing memory had torn through her own mind just as much as Safraxi’s. She had struggled just to make it back down the hall with how shaky her legs felt. “In Tiskin. She thinks about it sometimes.”
“Hah. Maybe you take after me more than you thought. Eh, Kid?” Magli sank down into a squat. “It’s a good idea, but do you actually have a plan for that? That’s gonna take a lot of money.”
“… Was- was gonna go back to Tiskin. Try to take over. I never told you, didn’t- didn’t want people to hate me. I was born a noble. Before I was thrown away.” Tifse’s presence had helped her to calm down enough to collect her thoughts through the festering storm in her mind.
“We wouldn’t have hated you. A starving kid is a starving kid, no matter where you’re from. But that plan’s… bold.” Magli seemed uncertain at the concept. “If you can actually think of a real plan for that I’ll come along and help. But-”
Safraxi had shot up from her sitting position to pull the moose into a bone crushing hug. “I-I-I’m so happy you’re b-b-back!” The sobbing was starting again with greater intensity. “I m-missed m-m-my big sister.”
Tifse and Magli both stared down at Safraxi as she bawled her eyes out into the moose’s grimy old coat. She had shapeshifted again, this time into a little tigress like she had with Amjazel. She looked as if she couldn’t be any older than nine or ten.
After a moment of confusion Magli’s arms slowly came down and wrapped around the child before her. She could never stand to turn away a kid in need. Tifse unlocked the door and came in to join as well, whispering sweet comforts to her dragon. The fox could recognize that this was the same presence who had taken over her body just long enough to lock Safraxi in the cell with Magli. She still didn’t understand what was going on, but she was at least sure that the other presences had good intentions with her and Safraxi, if they could even be considered separate from the dragon.