A whip cracked – a sharp, distinct noise that rose above the cacophony of the street. Two riders crashed into a cart being led by a donkey, causing the horses, cart, donkey and all the respective people previously attached to the former to become a giant pile of confusion in the middle of the main thoroughfare. Like wasps at the end of summer starved of sources of nectar, people of the street descended onto the sweet fruit that toppled over; of course, some folk tried to help out those in the accident, as the cart driver had become pinned under one of the horses and it looked like one the rider’s bones were showing through his arm. That did not stop the looters from grabbing what they could, most having seen or dealt with worse in their own lives, anything they could take would likely improve their lives for a week or a month – or potentially even, their life.

Saika watched from a side alley, having had already spotted the patrolling guards making their way before the accident happened, she knew it was a narrow chance she’d escape. The guard’s whip cracked again, this time catching one of the looters, ripping through their patchwork robe cutting the upper arm, making them drop what they were carrying. Then like a pack of starving mongrels finding some other animal’s litter, it was a quick, bloody sight. The looters that weren’t fast enough ended up on the ground either in chains or not likely to get up again. The horse then was lifted so the driver could be pulled out and the guards began directing people around to get help and keep people moving past them.

Saika saw the driver’s leg and gave a small prayer to the Tribune that it would heal better than hers. Then she set her cane forward and started making her way down the street from where the guards had come, turning into another narrow alley. She slowly moved forward, listening if there was anyone still running – she had thought she’d seen one escape and head this way. Most of the noise of the street was drowned out, there was something ahead, so she continued forward.

The alley turned slightly then started moving down underneath two buildings, making her sit down and having to scoot through. It continued down, wet and covered in many things she did not want to consider, and she saw a flash of something moving at the bottom. As she moved down, a scent crept in, starting out as dampness and moving into putrid. She looked up and saw many small openings in the buildings above. This time she prayed to Precre for luck: hopefully no one would be using these for a while.

It was slow making her way down, the cane did not always get purchase, slipping off the slimy stone. A few times she fell, her free hand getting covered in the muck. Up ahead she saw a grate and a platform past it, an end to the path that did not come in time. A splash came down from above, catching her head and back, she held her breath for a moment and tried to slide forward. She got to the grate and had to breathe. The smell overwhelmed her as did the knowledge of what just fell upon her, forced to lean over and let out what remained of her meager breakfast. At least the grate was there; she wouldn’t have to walk through her own mess. 

Saika rose and walked onto the platform, it turned and descended again. It was dark down here, only a slip of light was making it through the maze of buildings and pathways above. Ahead she saw a dim light in the darkness and she continued her descent towards it. The steps were uneven, but she was able to slide partly on the wall to keep herself quiet as she went down.

There was chatter that became easier to hear as she approached where the light was, there was some turn ahead.

“Open it, come on.”

“I’m trying, it’s not as simple as the doors down here.”

“I think it’s more likely you were lying about how quick you could open a lock, good thing we didn’t wait around back up there.”

“Shut up and it’ll go faster.”

“I can’t believe the guards got there so fast, they’re fucking everywhere, I hope Nasver visits them.”

“It smells like the Foul visited you, now be quiet.”

“That’s not me, you probably tracked shit along with you, you’re never careful enough.”

“I said, shut up.”

She heard something metal hit the ground, then the sound of shoes shuffling. Two men fell over just in front of her, they were hitting each other, but the one on top grabbed the other’s hair and smashed it onto the stone. It then went quiet. The man on top sniffed the air and slapped the other on the face, saying, “you’re the smelly wretch.”

He started turning his head towards Saika. She quickly grabbed her cane in two hands and swung it at his face, knocking him over. He started to get up and she came down again with all her weight, making her fall over. She rolled back quickly to look, he was slouched over the other not moving. Using her cane to get herself up to her feet, she got up and walked over the two men. A half broken lantern sat onto the ground next to a small wooden box and some metal tools. 

Saika picked them up and looked at them, they were far too crude to work on such a small lockbox. She tossed them to the side and picked up the box, placing it in her bag underneath her cap. She knelt down next to the men and pushed to roll the one over, patting them down quickly. Both had a small coin purse with some silver, she grabbed it all and got up to kick the lantern over.

The walk back up was slow, she had to wedge her cane in the breaks between the stones to get leverage. She crawled up underneath the weird alcove and sat at the top looking down, deep breathes forcing themselves on her. One of the men, the one the other had beaten, had stumbled onto the grate. Their eyes met and she got up. Charging through the alley way, her cane thudding on stone rather than its usual tap, she looked back to see if he had already caught up. She hadn’t out ran anyone in a long time. Between the sound of her cane and her heart beating, she didn’t notice the murmur of the street picking up. It was with a thud against a guard that she realized how far she’d gotten.

“By the gods, you wretch,” the guard said, stepping back and looking down, “you’d better get back to the undercity before I figure out what you just got all over me.”

“From the smell of it, I think she got shit all over you,” another guard said, waving his hand in front of his face, his other on the hilt of his sword, “go on and turn around, we have enough trouble up here today.”

Saika got down on one of her knees holding the cane with both hands, “please, I work in the upper city, some men blocked my normal way and chased me, I had to climb up the sewerway to escape.”

“Bah,” the second guard said, “we’ve heard it all before.”

“No, no, I do.” She quickly started patting herself, pulling out a token after a moment. She said, “here, this is my pass to the lord’s estate.”

The first guard grabbed it, holding it close to his face before turning it so the other could see it, who shrugged at him. He tossed it to the ground and said, “be on your way then, I’m sure he’ll beat you for showing up to work as you did, it’ll save us the trouble.”

“Thank you, Tribune bless you,” she said, getting back up after grabbing the token. Saika shuffled past them into the crowd looking back at the alley, not seeing anyone in there.

People on the street gave her space and looks of disgust as she went by. She went up some stairs and around a thin platform that went behind a building, to a small door underneath an archway between two buildings, banging on it with her cane.

The door opened a few moments later and an asesh stuck his head out, saying, “Saika, what happened?”

“Let me in first,” she said, moving past him as he gave space. “Can you get me a bucket of water?”

“Sure,” he said before heading down some stairs.

Saika wiped her hands off on a clear spot in her robe and carefully took the box out, setting it down on a table. She then peeled off all of her clothes and tossed them in a pile. The asesh came up with a bucket of water, he saw her and looked away, setting the bucket at the top of the steps.

“Saika, could you not have waited?” He said, having had stepped back down a few steps.

“You’ve seen me naked before,” Saika said, dipping a cloth into the bucket and wiping her cane off.

“When we were kai, by Zacsoth,” he mumbled to himself, “so what happened?”

“I saw someone make off with something from some horses that crashed into a cart in the confusion.”

“And what? Was it a cart of shit that had knocked over you?”

“No,” Saika said, wiping off her arms and legs, “I followed them, through a sewer between two buildings down.”

“You went to the lower city?” It looked like he had almost turned to look up. “What were you thinking?”

“It didn’t go all the way down. I’m not entirely sure. I wanted to see.”

“You wanted to feel like you did before.”

“Maybe, don’t you miss it? The thrill of grabbing something and dashing off, the chase, knowing you won.”

“Where did it get us? Would you say your leg won?”

Saika scoffed and said, “I won today. Stop nagging me and get me your old robes.”

He grumbled as he walked back down the stairs. A few moments later, they were thrown up to the top of the stairs. Saika walked over and put them on, thankfully he had always been bigger than her, as they were almost too small. She put her dirty things in the bucket and called out, “you can come up now.”

He walked up, looking at her he said, “I think one of the other’s left a skirt down there somewhere.”

“This is fine,” Saika said, moving over to the table, “this is what I got from them.”

“How did you get it from them?”

“Well, they started fighting and I took it in their confusion, like they did from the cart.” She laughed and said, “I almost got beaten on my way back, I ran into one of the guards, they were so mad but I think they let me go because they’d only get more on them if I did anything.”

He rolled his eyes, “to answer your earlier question, no, I don’t miss it. I’m always worried one of them will remember the urchin I used to be and toss me back down.”

“Well maybe with this, we won’t have to worry about that.” She touched the box and pointed at the lock, “it seems well made, whatever is inside must be valuable.”

“We would probably get caught even trying to sell whatever it is.”

“Well we don’t know until we see it.” She looked at him, “come on, get you tools, I know you haven’t forgotten.”

“Give me a minute, I had to hide them so the other’s wouldn’t accidentally find them.” He said, before going back downstairs.

Saika went over to the door to make sure the latch was secure. None of the others should be back until night, but she didn’t want anyone to come in. He came back with a small roll and set it out on the table, opening up to all the picks and other tools their mentor had given them. He began working on it, testing a few of the tools to see what would work, his fingers slowly remembering what to do. Saika saw him smiling. It had been a year or so ago that she had got maimed by a noble for trying to steal something, he had given it up with her. Thankfully a priest who took pity on her and believed them about being siblings found them a place to work.

There was a quiet, but sharp click that filled the small silence of their concentration. He stood back and said, “well, you open it.”

Saika walked back over and lifted the lid quickly. Inside, the box was lined with a soft silver fur and it was filled to the brim with gems. She grabbed one that was in the middle, a cloudy blue gem that was bigger than the rest. She held it up to the light, there was a dark fracture in the middle, with the bright blue all around. The asesh grabbed one of other gems to look at as well.

“Saika,” he said, “I’ve seen the lord with some gems like these, he traded them for a whole box of gold. There must be thirty times as much here.”

The gem Saiki was holding seemed to shimmer the longer she held it up, like the fracture was moving. She turned it around in her fingers, but could not tell if it was actually moving. The asesh was saying something to her, Saika clasped the gem with a fist and asked, “what did you say?”

“I said, with this, we could probably buy our own land outside of the city and even afford a slave or two.”

She looked at him, frowning and said, “what do you mean we and our?”

“Oh,” he grimaced and said, “I just thought, I guess, we’re old enough now, we could go our own ways.”

“No,” Saika said, grabbing the gem out of his hand, “I’m going my own way.”

She put the small gem back in the box and closed it. He went to say something, but she grabbed her cane and went to strike him. He ducked back out of the way and the cane bounced off the railing.

“Saika, what are you doing?”

“I found it all, it’s mine.” She swiped at him again. 

This time he moved behind the table and said, “We’ve done everything together Sakai, we always split what we got, different roles in the scheme.”

“There was no scheme this time, I went through actual shit by myself to get it.” She yelled. He tried to reach out to grab the box and she slammed her cane on top of it. “Leave it alone.”

“No,” he said, he had started crying, “if you wanted to split up, you should have just said so before, not when you suddenly didn’t need me anymore.”

“I never needed you,” she spat at him, “you were just a stupid boy who followed me around, now you’re a useless man.” 

His face reddened and he jumped over the table, knocking her down. Her cane fell to the side. He grabbed her wrists when she tried to punch her. She had always been able to overpower him, but he was almost tarwan as well, she no longer had the advantage. She screamed in rage and then bit one of his arms.

He let go of both her wrists, grabbing his wound. She got a few hits in. He grabbed her wrists again and this time used his full weight to push them down to the ground behind her head. She tried kneeling him from behind but he didn’t budge. He let go of one of her hands and started prying at the one holding the gem. She hit him in the side as he pried open her hand, unable to get him to stop.

He got it from her and rolled off. Holding it up to the light, he looked at it. Saika got onto a knee and yelled, “Give it back.”

She grabbed the arm holding the gem. They struggled for a bit, then she pulled his arm towards the railing. His hand hit the rail, causing the gem to fall. They both stopped to look. They could hear it falling down the stairs, pinging off each step until it came to a stop beyond their sights down below.

Using the railing to lean back against, he used both feet to kick Saika back, knocking her back into the table. It fell over and dozens of dull, little thuds murmured around her as the box of gems had been knocked open. She grabbed the back of her head and then tried to stand up using the table, but it rolled and made her slip again. 

The asesh had run down the stairs, so Saika crawled over to her cane and slowly propped herself up with it and the railing. Red splotches on the railing made her notice that the hand she used to touch her head was a little wet. She grunted as she moved forward, going around the railing and making her way down the stairs by leaning on the wall for support.

He was standing there, holding the gem up to the light. There was a shadow around his face even though the gem was entirely translucent but for one little speck in the middle. Saika moved forward, slipping occasionally. The shadow grew darker around the asesh, Saika was able to get right behind him, propping herself against the wall. Once again, she grabbed the cane in both hands and held it high, using one leg to push herself forward off the wall as she swung.

There was a crack as her cane went through the shadow followed by a loud, piercing ring. For a moment, it was dark and she could not see as she fell, but she felt herself land on the other. There was no movement. Saika crawled over top and pried the gem from his hand, it was now clear. The blue cloud and dark fracture not to be seen, even as she rolled over to hold it up to the light. Still, she smiled and held it closely before laughing.