“Hey, Raoul?”

  The boy turned—or rather, he attempted to, but the girl sent a stern but comforting palm to nudge him back forward. She giggled.

  “Don’t move, silly. It’ll ruin the hairstyle. Wait until I’m finished.”

  A sigh of accepting tolerance lifted off his lips, and he instead focused his view on the overflowing vista before them. Even after hours of playing with the other kids, he always felt he needed to make time for the two of them. Her presence was as comforting as his own mother’s, but without the weight that always came with it—the quiet expectations, the careful watching, the way affection was never given without concern trailing behind it. With Idri, the comfort simply existed. It asked nothing of him. He could sit, be still, and let the world drift by without feeling like he was being shaped into something he hadn’t agreed to become.

  Her fingers tangled in his hair. She reached for a small hairbrush between a lone red tulip and an extended root of the tree they were leaning under and against and ran the soft bristles across his locks. A few caught the brush for only a moment before she tugged it free.

  “Mm-mm-mm…”

  It was a habit of hers to hum that tune when her mind was occupied by something she found great interest in. It was like watching an artist at work fervently painting on a canvas for hours on end, completely shut off from the rest of the world and only snapping out of their flow when they were finished. Only, her concentration never lasted that long.

  Raoul had to stop himself from physically swaying to the imaginary beat that was brewing. He instead lingered on how the wheat fields below them extended like an endless painting. There, he thought to himself. A diving swallow turned, gliding along the sea of golden and the wind that carried it across. This was their secret base, a place where the two would sneak off to when there was time. The aged tree of oak provided great cover from the descending sun while they perched on the steep hill of green.

  “Hey, Raoul. Are you listening to me?”

  She had been tapping his shoulder for a dozen seconds now. The hallmarks of mild irritation flared on her lips, but it was hard for Raoul to find any reason to be afraid of her anger at that stage with how forced she was making it out to be. The puffy cheeks did no good, either, only serving to highlight how her very image radiated angelic radiance.

  Without turning, Raoul nodded slightly. “I’m listening, Idri. What did you want to tell me?”

  The displeasure on her face faded away in an instant, replaced only by a beaming smile.

  “You really should take better care of your hair. It’s got a lot of split ends. See?” She held up a free hand, of which there were a few stray strands of his dirty-white hair that clung to her fingers in wraps. She then held that same hand to her right temple, just a few inches off from her own hair. “I’m glad we’re matching, though. It’s like we’re twins!”

  “Right, but mine’s more dirty. It’s not pure, snow white like yours.”

  “White is white! When I first transferred into our class, I was really glad to see that I wasn’t the only one with white hair.”

  Raoul huffed, his tone lighthearted and jovial. “Is that why you decided to come up to me first, shy as you were?”

  “Exactly. I really wanted to have at least one friend, so I’m really glad you decided to be mine. I was always jealous of how the other girls would do each other’s hair. They wouldn’t let me join! But at least I get to do your hair now, and you mine. And we have two other friends who’ll watch.”

  A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  She pulled away with a flourish and admired her work. “Do you still have the mirror I gave you?”

  “The really ornate one made from mahogany?” He nodded, lifting from his pants’ pocket said mirror, of which was just barely half the size of his hand. The hardwood frame perfectly encapsulated the clear reflection the oval glass in the center beamed. “I do. If you’re done, I guess I’ll see how you did.”

  He inched his head a few degrees off to the side and held the mirror a hand’s length of distance away from his left temple. His disheveled hair, of which held the same shade and tint as sun-bleached bone and was commonly left to hang unabated past his shoulders, now had its ends neatly bound by a hair tie into a bun that settled right where his crown was. The locks on his side were swept behind his ears, helping to emphasize the square shape of his face.

  The mirror flashed in the sunlight, catching sight of the smug girl behind him, her face curled up in pride at his new hairstyle. A delighted smile found its way onto his face, and Raoul couldn’t help but nod in approval at the new look.

  “I like it. Feels more… free, in a sense. Maybe that’s just the load on my neck finally feeling the wind’s breeze again after a while. Hehe.”

  “It’s super cute!” Idri shook her head up and down rapidly. “I think you should keep it. We can show it to Avil and Cali when they get here.”

  The rays of the sun receded for a split second. Raoul’s peripheral vision caught strewn in the recesses of its reflection two figures, their backs hunched over in an attempt to sneak behind them without arousing any suspicion. Avil’s footsteps were silent as a mouse, barely audible were it not for the crunching of the leaves beneath his heel. Calliope made less than half the effort, choosing to simply mimic the former’s movements without possessing the skill to flow with it.

  “Well, looks like they’re here already.”

  Raoul turned and stood, raising a hand to greet them.

  Avil’s brows furrowed at how easily he was spotted, but he sighed a sigh of resignation. “Guess I can’t beat your awareness. What was it? My footwork? My breathing?”

  He quickly unbuttoned the hickory waistcoat he had donned and slipped out of it, tossing it over his shoulder without much thought. Underneath it was left the porcelain dress shirt, its sleeves rolled up halfway to his elbows. A few measures of dust and dirt clung to the nonetheless lavish piece of clothing, and the green-haired girl to his side—Calliope—reached over to slap them off with a few clean strikes. Half-used to it, he struck out a palm for Raoul to high five.

  “Neither, actually,” he replied, meeting his hand with his own in a slap before releasing. “It was Cali who gave you away. She may be skilled in providing you backup, but that doesn’t translate to emulating your skills one-to-one. Her heels were noisy.”

  Hearing that, the emerald to his side bowed and shook her head. “My apologies, Master Avil. I neglected to change out of my uniform.”

  Avil too shook his head. The fingers on his right hand moved to fiddle with the double-layered silver monocle on his left eye. The clicks and clacks of antique machinery sounded, and he looked to her with an apologetic look. “Nah, that was my fault, too. I got all too excited to get here early that I forgot to head home to change. Next time you can remind me.”

  In contrast to the high-class casual Avil sported, his maid was all but, sporting the bare minimum that noted her as someone of her master’s entourage. While evidently a few years of age above Avil, she kept to a conservative fashion, fancying the lengthy maid uniform with its frills and long skirt and pure white headdress that framed her bright head.

  “Very well. I shall endeavor to do so the next time. However, I would confess that I would prefer to stay in uniform if possible.”

  “Why’s that?” Avil asked.

  “It is highly effective for my work despite being so stuffy. There are a multitude of pockets scattered inside and outside of the dress, including in places where even you wouldn’t venture to look inside. I keep most of my knives there.”

  “Okay, timeout. I don’t think I need to hear anymore.” He frantically waved his hands in front.

  From under the shade of the tree Idri giggled, and then patted the spacious cub she and Raoul had been sitting in not too long ago, encircled by the massive exposed tree roots. “Hehe, you guys are cute. Come sit! We wanted to talk about something. It’s about all four of us.”

  Avil’s eyes naturally turned to Raoul. He sent a soft elbow to his side to draw his attention. “I thought you called us here, really. Any idea what this is about?”

  The bunned boy didn’t do much beyond shake his head. “Your guess is as good as mine. She told me she wanted to have everyone present. Avoided any question I posed and simply told me to wait until you and Cali arrived. I guess we’ll have to see, won’t we?”