The sun had fallen below the horizon for another night. Iwasoto and the rest of the Shimajima were now cast in darkness, but modern Terran inventions had made the fear of the night obsolete. Street lamps, headlights on cars, and lightbulbs in homes shining through windows illuminated just about everything manmade, including the walls that surrounded Iwasoto. Having long lost their original purpose as a defensive fixture, they were now used as a pedestrian street to get around the city as well as being viewpoints for the hills and sea that surrounded the city. One roughly 500-yard section that was cordoned off specifically for the Yeupisian guests teemed with people, some bored but not expressing it out of respect to their hosts, others quite openly excited.

  “What’s taking him so long?” Ilias said with a grumble in his voice, leaning against the stone wall. “The Shogun man told us he’d bring Stefan here by… well, I don’t know when, but he should definitely be here by now.”

  “Knowing him, he got himself into a mishap and is trying not to make it a problem for someone else,” Anwen, who stood next to her brother spoke with a giggle. “He’ll show up, though. He wouldn't just bail out on us.”

  “What, is he the man of the hour or something?” Ivan said as he strolled by, overhearing the discussion between the two siblings. “It’s like you guys are gonna spring into action the moment you guys see him.”

  “Cut us some slack, Ivan! My wrist hurts from having to write down the transcript of our—or really, yours and Captain Rohan’s meeting with the ministers. Let me tell you, you could’ve said what you wanted to get across with way less words! You’re acting like you wouldn’t wait for your family member to have a bit of fun after such a grueling day.”

  “I need to make them at least think like I know my stuff!” Ivan shot back. “I’m a soldier, not an influential merchant or something. Just because they don’t understand what comes out of my mouth doesn’t mean they can’t tell how much I have to offer. And nice try with that family argument—I have none. Anyways… what the hell is taking him so long? We kind of need him here with him being, you know… the stronger Reserve user between us two?”

  “You definitely could’ve said that with way less words.” Ilias shook his head. “You said all that nonsense just to have the same question I had.”

  Defeated, Ivan slumped against the wall, sliding down until he reached a seated position.

  “I really can’t win here, can I? You guys are the children of the toughest man who’s ever walked Terra, after all.”

  “Say, Anwen,” Ilias spoke after a short bout of silence interrupted only by shuffling feet and chatty voices that faded as they passed the trio. “What do you think Pops is doing right now?”

  “Why the sudden question?” Anwen wondered, before the boy answered wordlessly by pointing at Ivan.

  “Ah, right. Thanks, Ivan.” Anwen rolled her eyes. She didn’t appreciate him mentioning her father in front of Ilias when she was never fully comfortable speaking about the man to the boy.

  “Hey, I’ll leave. No harm done. I’ll go see what Vanny’s up to.” He said, sounding not at all offended as he left the vicinity.

  “Vanny?” Ilias had never heard the name before.

  “Short for Bhavana,” Anwen answered promptly. “About Gareth, well… I think he’s sitting in a cell somewhere on Titan.”

  “I know that much is true,” Ilias said. “Before you guys came to Chitran, that’s all I heard on the loudspeakers the paleskins had on their patrol Crafts. But what do you think he’s doing, doing?”

  “Reading a book or something. He’s a very curious person, just like you. I imagine there’s not much else you can do after you’ve been arrested.” Anwen said, still trying her best to avoid the boy’s question. She didn’t want to tell him the most probable truth—that Gareth was either already dead or waiting to be killed.

  “Oh, come on, Anwen. You know that ain’t all there is to it. My mom said he was, like, the strongest Angel ever. There’s no way a man like that is just sitting on his bum with a book in his face.”

  This boy can put stuff together really well, Anwen pondered. His age is deceiving. What point is there in hiding what I know damn well the old man’s doing?

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  “Fine. Do you really wanna know what I think he’s doing?” Anwen asked, her voice stern so as to convince Ilias to not ask more questions.

  “Of course I do.”

  Anwen already had an answer formulated in her head from the moment Ilias had asked his question, the answer to the question he was really asking. She was sure about it because there was no one on Terra who knew more about him than her, with the exception of Manisha.

  “I think he’s carefully creating a plan to escape. A really careful plan, considering different contingencies. As much as I know he wants to do it all alone, he can’t because the Titanians are really scared of him and have security beefed up as high as possible. But for that reason, I think he has a friend somewhere who’ll help him. They’ll work together and beat the hell out of the Angels and when he comes back, the first thing I’ll make him do is introduce him to you and tell him what a damn loudmouth you are.”

  “Hey, Anwen.”

  “What is it this time, Ilias?” Anwen said, almost out of breath due to delivering her detailed answer.

  “I think he’s here.” Ilias said, pointing to where a crowd of people had formed not far away on the wall.

  “Wh-Who? Gareth? There’s no way—

  “Not him, ya shmuck! Stefan!”

  “O-Oh, right!” Anwen, putting an arm around her brother’s shoulder and pulling him along toward the crowd. “Time to show him the gift we got him!”

  “So the bird really just came onto your hand and ate from it? Without being told to? Damn, the animals here are different.” Rohan, one of around a dozen people encircling Stefan, said in wonder after hearing his watered down story.

  “Yeah,” Stefan chuckled. “It was a little scary at first, I won’t lie, but—

  Tugs at both of his arms prevented him from speaking further. Perhaps a silver lining was that he no longer needed to deliberate about what parts of his encounter to leave out, as he was being taken in a different direction, quite literally. Anwen and Ilias pulled him away from the crowd to somewhere relatively secluded.

  “Huh. You guys seem excited,” Stefan snickered. “More than the others. What’s up?”

  Anwen’s heart fluttered at the sound of him realizing that he knew her excitement was different from the other Yeupisians.

  “Well, uh, it was originally Ilias’ idea but—

  “We decided that we wanted to give you something.” Ilias cut his sister off, eager to reveal the news to their cousin.

  “Oh? What, a stack of documents in a language I can read four words from at most? What could you guys have gotten me from a meeting with the ministers?”

  The boy noticed Anwen’s form trembling slightly, one of her arms hidden behind her back. He understood what she was doing right away but was too shy to show what she held in her hand. Ilias decided to pull her arm out in front of her, and in her hand was a small, wooden doll without limbs. Its design was simple, with simple lines for facial features and floral designs to signify a kimono on its torso.

  “You guys got me a little doll? From where? It’s… really cute.” Stefan said, inspecting it after Ilias put it in his palm.

  “It’s called a kokeshi doll,” Ilias explained. “The ministers gave everyone one of these when the meeting ended, but I thought we should, umm… borrow one. Just for you! Ain’t it nice?”

  “I really like it, Ilias,” Stefan smiled, not giving a single thought about the fact that the ‘gift’ he was given had been stolen. “Thanks so much, and—why is she acting like that?”

  He had caught Anwen through the corner of her eye, her head turned away from him, clearly trying to hide her face.

  “Oh, yeah, um,” Ilias said, standing on his toes to whisper into Stefan’s ears. “You see how the doll’s got pink on it? Look at Anwen’s kimono. Put two and two together and you can tell which one of us chose that doll in particular.”

  Stefan glanced at the doll before taking a quick look at Anwen’s outfit. It was no coincidence that they were both the same in color.

  “D-Don’t listen to him, Stefan!” Anwen cried with her head still turned. “I just thought it looked pretty. There’s nothing else to it!”

  Ilias and Stefan responded by bursting into laughter, although not quite for the same reason.

  “Ah, well, I appreciate you guys for getting me this,” Stefan said as he calmed down. “It means a lot. By the way… why? It’s not like there’s something to celebrate about me right now.”

  “It’s because, well…” Anwen said, her head returning to facing her brother and cousin, while not quite making eye contact with either. “We gave it some thought and realized that you might’ve never gotten a gift before in your life. So why not? You know you deserve one, so I’m really glad you’re not rejecting it.”

  No, that’s not right, Stefan’s immediate reaction was. I had a gift before—the dagger Aunty Manisha got from Gareth. I have it tucked underneath my kimono right now. Anwen doesn’t know about it. It’s best it stays that way.

  “Uh, yeah,” Stefan said, a lie that he spoke within a split-second. “This really is my first ever gift. There’s no way I’ll ever forget this.”

  “Ooh, Stefan’s acting shy!” Ilias said like any bratty child of his age.

  Before Stefan and Anwen even had the chance to launch profanities at the boy, a guard approached them. He wordlessly pointed in a direction, asking them to turn themselves that way, so they did. Standing before a crowd of people now gazing at him, he stood with his spine straight and a polite smile across his face.

  “Thanketh thee all so v'ry much f'r thy patience. I can bid yond thee art all v'ry fain to beest h're, as am I,” the Shogun said as his eyes moved across the audience. At the same time, Stefan felt that the man’s eyes were on him just a bit too long. “Without furth'r ado, alloweth us starteth the showeth, shalt we?”