~ Chapter 6 ~
Last Night Under The Stars

Zora stopped at the edge of town, Lilly was right behind him; he turned to see her gazing up into the trees. The wall and giant door were unable to hide the massive oaks; Zora put his hand on the wooden door, it was smooth in texture.
“Do you like the forest?” he asked, turning back to look at her, she shook her head in response.
“No, I’ve never been, I’ve only ever been around the town, but they’re so big I can’t help but stare.” She replied, tearing her eyes away from the trees above, “The festival starts an hour after dusk, so we should start making our way back at dusk.”
“Yeah.” Zora grunted as he pushed open the door; Lilly just nodded absentmindedly as she walked through the door. Her gaze had yet to stray from the trees; Zora was a little more focused on the forest floor.
“I’d love to find some rare artifact, get some extra pocket change.” He said; Lilly looked down from the trees before responding. “Why do you need some extra pocket change, hmmm?”
“I don't know; I got a pretty girl in my life, maybe I'd wanna buy you something.” He replied, glancing up at her, he’d just picked something from the dirt, “Is that so wrong?”
“Oh, you’re still gonna do that?” Lilly asked, her eyes sparkled with anticipation, “Thank you!” He nodded and stared at the object in his hands, his fingers digging into its dirt shell.
“I found an old medallion, probably worth a couple of gold coins,” He said, dropping it into his pocket, “Come on, I think I hear a stream up ahead.” Lilly nodded, standing up to follow him, but instead, her ears twitched.
“Someone is following us.” she whispered, quickening her pace to keep up with him. Zora nodded in response but kept walking, and Lilly followed in pursuit, her ears still picking up the faint crackle and rustle of someone tracking them.
“Um, Zora-” Lilly began, but he put his hand up, silencing her as they kept walking, then before she could react, he shoved her against a tree, his hand over her mouth. She looked into his eyes; they were calm; she stayed silent.
The sounds passed by, they waited for a short while in the silence.
"I think we're good." Zora whispered, stepping back, the sound of the stream trickling in the background. The wind chasing the leaves through the treetops.
Lilly took the lead, heading towards the water. When she pushed the underbrush aside, it opened into a small clearing with a pond. A cliff was straight ahead, and a waterfall trickled down the rocks and into the pond.
"This place is so pretty." Lilly breathed in awe; she skipped down to the bank and peered in. The water was clear; fish flickered in and out of visibility as they swam around the pond.
Zora sat down beside the water as Lilly skipped around the pond, trying to catch fish. He just watched in content amusement.
His mind drifted; he'd been so focused on saving his sister the past few months that all his plans of rebellion and a brighter future for the world he lived in had taken a back seat. Now, a chance stood before him, a string, a single thread for him to pull. If I keep following, keep pulling, this thread will I be able to unravel the entire empire? What a thought.
"Hey, we should have brought food for a picnic or something." Lilly broke into his thoughts; she had stopped her hunt and was now sitting beside him, her head leaned on his shoulder.
"Yeah, maybe we'll come back here someday." Zora replied it was a nice feeling, being so carefree.
"I have a bad feeling about the person who was following us, so we should start tomorrow." Zora spoke up.
"you're right, waste too much time, and they'll catch me for sure." Lilly agreed, "Alright, the sun is setting, so let's go have fun on our last night of leisure." Alex nodded as they both stood up and stretched; Lilly yawned as Alex led the way out of the clearing.


Zora pulled the giant wooden door closed; Lilly was standing at a stall when he turned around, he walked towards her, and as the conversation came to his ears, he got quite annoyed.
“Sorry!? That's not going to cut it, mister, I want to buy this, and you say sorry!” Lilly was saying; her tail tip twitched in annoyance.
“Yeah, I don’t serve Lithians, sorry, go find another store, you filthy rat!” The man replied, his sorry dripped with sarcasm. As Zora walked up, the man looked over at him, and his entire attitude changed.
“Hello sir, how can I help you today?” He asked politely, grinning with a smile of crooked yellow teeth.
“Oh, nothing just here to get my rat.” He retorted, grabbing the sleeve knife that Lilly was trying to buy; he tossed half its price at the man and started walking away, Lilly was right behind him.
“Here.” Zora said to Lilly as he handed her the knife; she smiled and nodded her thanks. Their house was right around the corner; Zora opened the door for his companion as they entered. Heading down the hall, Zora opened the door to their room. Ashley wasn’t in her room, but that was fine; Zora crossed to his bed and pulled a traditional festival dress from under it and tossed it to Lilly.
“Bought this for you, thought you’d wanna wear it to the festival.” He said, pulling out a traditional festival robe and slipping it on over his current attire, easily concealing his light armor. While he was getting ready, Lilly had slipped into the bathroom. She now emerged wearing the dress, it’s beautiful array of colors made her look gorgeous and would go well with the colorful festival they were about to attend.
“Come on!” Lilly exclaimed, opening the door and beckoning him to follow, “the festival will start soon.” She turned and disappeared out the door, Zora in pursuit.
They exited the house to see two men making their way down the street lighting the street candles; Lilly didn’t even stop to watch, she led Zora in a mad dash down the road; they were headed to the park on the north side of town. At the speed they were going, it didn’t take them long to skid to a stop outside of the park; Zora paused to stare. The whole park was lit up. There were vendor stalls set up in multiple convenient spots, people milled about among them, several open areas had been filled with different activities, and a makeshift stage had been set up on one side.
“This is gonna be fun!” Lilly exclaimed, dashing into the crowd. Zora followed, sighing in exasperation; she was like a little kid excited by the pretty lights. He did his best to keep up with her though, not wanting her to be alone if an imperial officer were to show up, she stopped in front of a stall selling cotton candy.
“Hey, what do you sell?” She asked, glancing at the different colors and signs.
“You stupid, I sell cotton candy, says so on the sign.” The man replied, pointing to the sign above him. Lilly looked offended at that, but she brushed it off and smiled before replying
“Oh, how much for one?” The man glared at her and pointed to the sign again, noticing a couple of numbers, she took a guess. “I’ll take one blue.” She said, the man sighed in annoyance and handed her the cotton candy.
“That’ll be four silver coins.” The man said Lilly pulled out her money, but before she could give it to him, Zora grabbed her wrist.
“Hey, it says two silver, not four.” He said, frowning, “Do you take pride in ripping your customers off.” The man just grumbled angrily, taking the two silver he shooed them off. Lilly took a bite of her cotton candy as they walked, her eyes lit up.
“Yum, this is good!” She said, taking another bite, “by the way, thanks for the assist.” Zora nodded, his face lost in thought.
“Can you read?” He asked suddenly, stopping to look at her, she blushed and shook her head, “No, I never learned, I didn’t need to know how to read to be a thief.” She replied, “But it looks like I’ll have to learn.” Zora nodded as they continued towards the center of the park.
Lilly wanted to stop and try every one of the festival games along the way. It took forever to reach the fountain at the center. Once they reached it, Zora sat on its edge, taking a break from all the walking.
"This is so much fun." Lilly exclaimed she was eating fried fish on a stick. Something she'd picked up along the way. She suddenly paused and turned to him.
“Hey, hold out your hand.” She whispered, Zora did so and she laid a lock of her hair in his hand, braided with beads and colorful stones. It had been made into a pendent, a silver cord had been attached to it.
Zora smiled and slid it around his neck.
“Thanks.”
"Where to next?" Lilly asked; Alex gazed around, standing up on the fountain's edge to gain some height. That's when he saw it; the stage was lit up.
“Let’s go check out that stage, I saw it from the entrance, but there weren’t any lights on.” Zora suggested, pointing towards the stage.
“Sounds great.” Lilly agreed, and they quickened their pace, only slowing down once the crowd got too thick to push through.

Footsteps echoed down a dark alley, around the corner ran a Lithian cat; he kept glancing over his shoulder like prey running from a hunter. He turned and twisted down endless passages, suddenly he stopped dead. Ahead of him stood a boy, about seventeen, his sword drawn.
“No!” The Lithian exclaimed, "I won’t go back.” he turned to run, but before he could take a step, a blade pierced his neck. His knees slammed into the ground as he coughed up blood.
The boy put his foot on the cat’s shoulder and ripped his sword from the cat’s neck. The sound of the dead lithian hitting the hard ground echoed throughout the dark alley.
Magnus Gravestone tied a rope around the stray Lithians torn neck and dragged him into the night.

Lilly and Zora stood side by side at the front of the crowd, no one was on stage, but apparently, something was about to happen, at least that's what Zora assumed. A few moments later, a couple of imperial soldiers walked out onto the stage; they held up signs. Seeing one of them having Lilly’s picture and slave number, Zora quickly grabbed Lilly's hand and pulled her into the crowd.
“Hey, did you bring your cloak?” He whispered urgently, she shook her head, “I didn’t expect to be hunted.”
“Of course.” Zora replied, sighing, “We’ll have to sneak out, come on!” He grabbed her wrist, and they both pushed through the crowd, making slow progress towards the edge. Finally, he pushed his way out and began checking his surroundings. It was an open stretch to when he felt a prick in his neck, and suddenly everything started to get hazy. As he slumped to the ground, he could only watch as an Imperial soldier dragged Lilly away.