Two Coins and A Quake

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Sometimes I wish I'd managed to get more than two pennies from begging that day before the earthquake. Other times, I'd wonder what would have happened to me if I never got them in the first place.

"Please sir, anything you have will help." The gentleman in the neat, well tailored brown suit walked right past me, completely averting his eyes and ignoring my voice. I scowled at his back and moved on to someone else. If Wise had been with me he would have badgered me for missing such an easy target and, looking back at the man, I realized that he would have been right. The man completely fit in with this huge city and with the way he looked away, he was practically begging to have his pockets picked. The only problem was I couldn't pick a pocket to save my life—it just didn't feel right. Wise would say that type of attitude was being naïve; that we had to do whatever we could to survive. I moved on with a sigh.

The day was bright and sunny; a nice warm afternoon that wasn't too hot, other wise the multitude roaming the streets of downtown Irre would be too cranky to even consider giving a street kid a second of their time with or without any actual additional help. I walked around for a while surveying potential helpers—or "Sods" as some of the other Burrow kids call them—before spotting a nice looking lady standing at a road a few metres away, waiting for one of the horse drawn carts to pass. Since there was no way to tell if she actually was nice or not, I just crossed my fingers, hoped for the best, and walked towards her, considering how I would play it as the distance between between us grew shorter.

Wise said that sometimes you had to do more than just ask for things. You had to make Sods want to give them to you. A good story, a bruise or two, heck even some mummery or costume of any kind was better than being rejected because you were just another street brat. I hadn't had any luck with good old fashioned begging today and I was too dirty to play separated child. My long, golden hair was such a tangled mess that it surprised me that birds hadn't started living there, my ivory skin was patched with soot, dust, dirt, and whatever that blue stain was. Clearly, I needed a bath. The only things dirtier were my clothes: my faded, sleeveless, knee high dress was once yellow but now I couldn't tell what colour it was trying to be; and the blue leggings I wore under the dress were a little tattered, sewed here and there with whatever thread I could find. There was no way I could use that tactic so it was better to go for helpless street girl since, technically, that's what I was.

I slowed down, using the time to hold my breath so that by the time I reached her and let go it would look like I had just been chased. I also needed to look as sad as possible. Without a moment's hesitation the memory of the day mom, dad, and Nia were burned alive crept out from that dark place I usually kept it hidden and sure as salt, tears began to roll. Even after all these years, everything about what happened was still so painful: The fireflies buzzing amongst the flames like distant stars next to a great, orange sun; my pathetic self watching as three good souls were turned to ash, their screams puncturing the once tranquil night; and the red haired Rrist. The pyrokinetic nightmare that decided to spare my life. I felt another tear roll down my cheek and quickly wiped it away because there was no more time to dwell on that. When I was sure that I was collected enough for a convincing performance, I ran towards the lady.

"Ma'am! Ma'am!" I grabbed her by her purple dress, dirtying it a little. She turned towards me, surprised, then a little disguted (which wasn't unexpected) but despite the crease on her forehead, the fact that she held eye contact with me instead of looking at her ruined dress told me how concerned she was.

"Y-yes. What's the matter?" Her voice was smooth and rich, perfectly in balance with her thin model-like frame. She didn't removed my hands from her dress and that was a good sign.

I paused and looked over my shoulder before answering. "A-a bunch of really mean boys took all my food from me. I-I couldn't get away. They were too b-big." I sniffled then snuck a peek up at her. I had her attention that was for sure. And from the look in her striking caramel eyes, I had her sympathy too. " And I—I haven't eaten anything today." My parents always stressed the importance of not lying and so I never did (unless I absolutely had to). Technically, everything I had just told her was true because a bunch of really mean boys did steal my food—a few months ago—and the half of an apple I had this morning barely counted as a meal.

"And where are your parents?" Her voice was gentle, not accusing, " or any family members?"

More tears welled up; I didn't have to force or fake it, just remembering them had that effect. The lady got the message without me having to say a word.

"Oh," she muttered then opened her purse and started digging into it. " I don't have much change with me as I'm headed to the bank myself."

I sniffed. " O-okay, " I replied, turning to walk away.

"No no no. Come back." She called after me;another good sign." Give me a second. Let me see what I can find here. There's bound to be something."

I turned back and watched as her search continued. She was a foot or so taller than me with had short black hair. She also looked younger up close than she did when I first spotted her; she was probably in her twenties or so. Her caramel coloured skin matched her eyes perfectly, which only made them more striking. After a few minutes she exclaimed and pulled out a couple of coins. She held them in her closed fist for a second and muttered something. She then held her hand out to me and opened it. My heart fell. Two small bronze pennies, each worth one tenth of an Ari.

"I know it's not much," she said, seeming to sense my disappointment, "but it's all I've got on me that I can spare for now. Plus," she leaned closer, dropping her voice to a whisper, " I did something to them. Made them good luck charms of sort."

"How?" I hoped I sounded less sceptical than I was.

She shrugged. Her hand was still out, a couple of cuts traced her thumb and part of her palm—Probably from cooking or something. "It's my soul's Crux." She said, her voice still a whisper but there was a light dancing in her eyes.

A Crux? There was a chance she actually did have a magical ability. They weren't rare or anything but I still doubted. Was she trying to make me feel less sad about the amount of money? If I tell her I did some magic on it, the kid will feel better. That's probably what she was thinking. Well I wasn't fooled but I needed the money regardless, no matter how little it was. At least It would be enough to buy a small loaf of bread to share with Wise. I grabbed her hands with mine, collecting the coins and then bowed my head in thanks.

"What's your name?"

"Minerva." I was supposed to lie. Or at least not tell the complete truth. It was a kind of fail safe. Give a name close enough to yours so they could find you if they wanted to help but far enough from it so they couldn't find you if they wanted to do the opposite. Looking at her kind eyes and warm smile, I decided against that fail safe. "My name is Minerva."

"What a lovely name. I am Alice." I nodded again.

"Where do you live? I-I mean-"

"The Burrow. With all the other homeless kids in Irre." Again, not a lie but not the complete truth. Wise taught me that it was the best way to answer strangers' questions. One of our earliest lessons after he found me that day.

"Well I can not say I know where that is. I am a little new to this town after all. Lovely place. I'm particularly excited to visit the towers of the Government Palace." I responded with silence.

"I-I will try to see if I can get you anything from time to time." That was unlikely but I nodded anyway. I muttered another thanks and turned to walk away.

"I...I know what it is like to lose family. I wish I could help you more." She muttered almost to herself.

I continued walking away. Not only would it be extremely embarrassing to burst into even more tears in front of her, it would have also raised too much attention. Better to pretend like I didn't hear what she'd said. I'm sure Alice watched me for a while as I walked back down the street. That was another one of Wise's lessons, how to know when you're being watched or followed. I turned the corner and looked at the two pennies in my hand, wondering how long it would take Ms Alice to notice that the cuts on her hands were healed. She probably won't realize it was me.

The thought of going to the Palace Square to meet up with Wise came across my mind but I decided against it because it was a bit too early. Although I loved the sight of the rose gardened Palace Square, the pennies would be too meagre for today's score, magically enchanted or not. Chuckling at the prospect of bringing only two coins home, I settled on a man and woman walking hand in hand towards me after a quick look around. They were young and hopefully that meant they'd be more willing to spare some change. I started walking towards them, tucking my earlier earnings into the pocket in my leggings. I thought about who to directly beg from—the man or the lady? I made a decision, took a step forward, and then the world started shaking.

Living in the city of Irre, with it's coal mines to the south and east, we were no strangers to the regular tremors that hit the city every now and then. What happened that day was not a tremor. Grabbing on to a nearby lamp post to keep my balance, my eyes flew to the quivering expanse of earth underneath me. It was only a matter of time before the cobblestone road cracked. The screams of men, women, children, and animals as they were knocked off their feet while trying to find whatever cover they could. The ground's growling reminded me of Baker, whose stall was just a couple blocks away, whenever he was in one of his rare bad moods. Dogs barked, trees fell, horses neighed, people yelled. It was the yelling I couldn't stand, closing my eyes to try and ignore what feelings it brought up. Downtown Irre was in total chaos. I heard a cracking sound above me and barely reacted in time to dodge the lampost as it fell to the ground. So much for keeping my balance. I crawled to the side of one of the overturned carts and waited there for what felt like hours. The quake picked up intensity, becoming more and more violent before it all stopped suddenly, dying down almost immediately.

I stood up slowly and looked around at the complete mess surrounding me. People, Horse drawn carts without their horses, and all sorts of other random objects lay on the crack covered road. A woman somewhere ahead of me screamed, and looking towards her, a gasp escaped my mouth. The lady was knelt beside a cart, trying in vain to pull it off of her partner. They were the same couple that were walking hand in hand a couple of moments ago. The buildings were in an even worse condition than the people and the roads. The tavern on the left of where I stood had completely collapsed and it wasn't the only structure that had. A lot of the buildings were as cracked as the road, those that weren't had been reduced to piles of rubble. My eyes glanced past the direction where the Palace was. Or rather, where it should have been. I looked again and still couldn't see the Palace or any of the Towers, not even Tower Fav, the tallest of the Palace Towers. But that wasn't supposed to be possible. The Tower that could be seen from almost everywhere in Irre, day or night, clear skies or stormy was no where to be seen. It was a watch tower of sorts but Wise said it was also to remind the people that the palace was there. An inspiration for loyalty. A threat of sorts. Wise always had the dumbest ideas when it came to stuff like tha- Wise! Without a moment's hesitation, I took off towards the palace square and hoped that he was okay. What was that quake?

I ran and hoped that it wasn't another Rrist. Please not another one. I'd seen what they could do. While most people had magic that was relatively passive or weak, a few people got stronger, more destructive souls.Terrorists, or Rrists as they were more commonly called, were people who used their soul's magical ability, or Crux, to create huge levels of chaos and panic. Explosions. Storms. Poisonous gases. Fires. Earthquakes. They were demons who used their souls as weapons of indiscriminate mass destruction. No one knows why they did what they did. I clenched my jaw as I ran. If a Rrist decided to suddenly attack the palace, it wouldn't just be bloody, no one would be spared. Peasant or royal, adult or child. But then, after burning down our house, everything and everyone in it, why did the red haired Rrist look down at the crying nine year old girl, that cat like grin on his face, and let her go?

The Government Palace Square was a large square area paved with white limestone. Its sides were lined with shrubs, different coloured roses sprouting from them. Beautiful fountains depicting a statued winged man holding up the royal flower stood at the centre and corners of the plaza. Water spouted from the rose and from around his feet, falling in shimmering arcs. It seemed like his stone wings were made of never-ending rose petals. Facing the entrance of the square were the gates to the palace; tall gates made of white iron, gleaming with a once undefeated pride. Behind them stood the Government Palace, the biggest and most beautiful building I'd ever seen with my eyes. A huge castle made of white and gold with 7 tall towers, multiple arcs and balconies. Banners of golden wings and roses on white. It was breathtaking, no matter how many times I saw it. I turned left at a junction and looked at the ruin that was once the Palace Square. This time yesterday, it stood as it always had. Now, the sight of everything when I got there still took my breath away, but for completely different reasons.

The magnificent Palace had been reduced to rubble and each and every one of the formerly magnificent towers were brought down. The once proud gates had been thrown off their hinges and now lay on the ground like one of the cripples that begged for alms on the steps of Temple a few blocks away from the Burrow. Only the statue on my left still stood; the other fountains had been decimated. A huge fissure ran from the Palace, through where the central fountain once stood, stopping a few metres from the entrance. How could this much damage happen? Rumour had it that the Government hired some pretty strong Crux users as a counter measure against Rrists or any other potential source of danger to the Palace or its inhabitants. Wise said they even hired Rrists as a counter measure against Rrists. If all that was true, then how could any of this be possible? I looked around, hoping that Wise wasn't one of the bodies lying amongst the rubble. Not wanting to get near the fissure in case it decided to open a little wider, I stood at the entrance and called out.

"Wise! Wise!" Nothing. My pulse quickened a little as I moved into the square, stepping over the shard of a stone rose.

"Wise!" I called again but still no reply. Why wasn't he answering? He was supposed to be there waiting for me. Did something happen? "Victor!"

"Sheesh. What're you doing calling that name for? I was on my way already."

I couldn't believe the drawl that replied. I turned and saw Wise standing there, hands in his pockets and that lazy smile on his pale face. He shrugged at me, who was still stuck in disbelief for the few seconds before I ran at him.

"Where were you?!"

"Huh? At the gates." He gestured. "Y'know? The usual. Pretty boring." Wise drew out the word 'pretty' the way he usually did. "Got a couple of quarters before that guy came past and blew open the gates with some pretty crazy wind. A crux maybe." another shrug, " Then he walked right past the guards and into the palace."

"Was he-"

"Dunno but I don't think so. A Rrist wouldn't just walk up to the front gates like that. Plus the way the guard reacted. Almost like they knew he was coming. Never thought I'd see the day palace guards would tremble in fear. Figured he was bad news so I moved over there." He pointed over his shoulder at an alley across from the palace square." Would have gone farther but meh." Another shrug. "Next thing I know, there's an earthquake coming from the palace." he finished with a yawn.

"What did he look like?"

"Huh?"

"The Rris- I mean the man. The one that blew open the gates." Why did I wanna know so badly? There was no way it was the same man as before, after all, this one used wind on the gates, not fire.

"That look on your face." Wise was looking at me, an expression of mild concern had replaced the grin. "I doubt it's the same person. This guy used wind, not fire, plus I'm not really sure I bothered to look."

Wise managed to endure a few moments of my most skeptical look before he continued with a sigh. "Ugh fine. What a pain. From what little I saw," he paused, putting a finger on his chin in mock concentration. "He was tall and had this really quiet, really intimidating sort of vibe. Also had silver hair—or was it white?—and light brown skin if I saw right. Uh... He had this long black cloak with silver cuffs on." Wise shrugged. "Unless you'd like to know how many teeth he had or what size boots he wore, that's all I've got."

I nodded. The description didn't match what I remembered but then again, how much of that was actually true? And even if it did match, what could I possibly have hoped to have done? So it wasn't the same Rrist but it still made me wonder what kind of soul would be able destroy the Palace all by himself?

"Ey." Wise was snapping his fingers in front of my face. " You ready to go yet? Or do you need to find more clues. I coulda sworn I had a magnifying glass around here somewhere."

"Ha ha." I said dryly while taking one last look around at the wreckage. More people had found their way to the Palace, either looking for others or simply curious as to why the Towers were missing. The cacophony of gasps and moans in despair was getting louder and louder. "We could go back to the Bunker..."

"Or?" I'm pretty sure Wise knew what I was going to suggest seeing as he was the one that thought it up in the first place. Why only use your Crux for two of us? He'd said so about half a year after I had shown him what I could do; what my soul could do.

"Or," I continued, "We could go to the Burrows. There're bound to be a couple of kids in need of our services. I heal and you stand there and look good."

"Pfft. Sure. Just cuz I don't have a Crux."

"Yes you do. Maybe it's your...uhm..."

Wise turned and started walking away. I hurried after him. "So, are we going?"

"Yeah," he replied, the lazy grin back on his face, "just as long as you promise to actually charge them for our services this time."

****

The first time I entered the Burrows, I thought I'd never be able to get out and maybe if Wise hadn't been with me, that thought would have been a reality. Even after 5 years, I still felt a little uneasy whenever I was underground. Once, the Burrows were a network of tunnels that were once part of Irre's sewer system. Over the years, better methods of waste disposal were invented and the sewers were abandoned. "Then a bunch of homeless kids found it and named it the Burrows," Amber told the stories the same way; with a snicker and a light shining in her brown eyes. " Some say that it's because they thought of us homeless kids as rabbits for slaughter with nowhere to go. Then they found a burrow we could all go to."

Amber was a fellow Rabbit who knew all sorts of facts and tid bits about almost any topic. History? Ask Amber. Mathematics? Amber probably knows. Science? Most likely, that interesting fact you know, you learnt it from Amber. It wasn't a Crux, contrary to what many of the other kids believed, Amber just had a very good memory. She was also nice enough to sit down and keep explaining the fact until you understood, if you were really interested in learning it. If only her twin sister Naiad could be that nice—or nice at all.

The crowd at the Burrows wasn't as big as I'd expected. "It's not that I was hoping that there'd be a lot of injured people but..." I trailed off.

"Yeah yeah I know. You need the practice. You say this everytime." Wise and I walked through the tunnels, eating some of the bread he bought at Baker's stall on the way. " 'I need to make my Crux stronger.' Yada yada yada. What's the big deal anyway? You've had it for like—what?— six, seven years?".

I chewed on my bread instead of answering. There was no way I could bring myself to explain my fixation with making my healing abilities better— Not even to Wise. We got to the central aqueduct, a large dome like tunnel that was 50ft wide and twice as high that was lined with multiple aging pillars, their grey stone a dull mossy green in most places.

"How many?" I'd counted at least twelve injured kids in this room.

"I dunno. A couple." Drawled Wise in response as he walked to the nearest pillar, sat on the ground with his back leaning against it then gestured at the room with a flick of his wrist. "Go on. Just tell them where they can find me if they feel like being grateful."

"Sure thing." I said with a smirk on my face and began walking to where a bunch of kids were lying down in pain. I was half way there when the sound of her voice stopped me in my tracks.

"Ugh. I guess it was too much to hope that you died in that quake." Naiad. I turned to her and sure as salt, she was scowling at me, standing next to a couple of buckets of water.

"Well," I replied, trying my best to mirror Wise's nonchalant voice. "While miracles do happen, I think you used up all your personal miracles when you got a Crux. Nice hair by the way."

She bristled at the comment, her freckled cheeks turned slightly pink. Her brown hair was soaking wet, the way it always was whenever she used her soul's ability. Naiad could purify water and before I came to the Burrows, she was one of the most important kids here. That was why she hated me. I went from just another rat to a rival to someone people went to instead of her. Bad water was dangerous but since my Crux could heal its effects, and Naiad charged a little too heavily for her services, people started coming to me, only buying water from her when I wasn't around. I didn't mean to take any of her customer and though I had apologized many times, she continued hating me. Naiad was already a mean person to most people but to me, she was downwright ruthless.

She quickly glanced behind me and I failed to hide a smile. So she still had that crush on Wise. That was another reason she hated me because, even though everyone else knew Wise and I were like siblings, Naiad refused to take that. "At least I've been busy. Where've you been? Do you know how many injured kids have come looking for you?" She put a bit too much fake sincerity into those questions but I still felt bad.

"Yeah, whatever." I started walking away with full knowledge that she had won this round. It didn't matter though because there would be plenty more spats but right now, I had work to do. With the resolve to make up for my absense, I walked up to the first group of injured kids and cracked my knuckles. I knew she was still watching, so I put extra bravado into all my actions. The kids' faces lit up when they saw me and I smiled back.

"Who's first?"