Fugitive of the Sky

Chapter Twenty-One: Glowing Sunlight Specks

Her breath caught in her throat and Aqie choked. He— what— why? At least he was asking this time, but why would her hunter ask her to give her kaprae to him? It was her— She'd made this the last day Mom and Dad were alive! Since her hunter hadn't even given her the Scrolls back, or her bag, or her other clothes, she didn't have anything else left from them.

Her hunter looked up, his face creased, and he held out his hands to her like he was pleading to explain. Aqie shoved her kaprae behind her and pinned it to the wall. "I know you really love it, but please—"

"I'm not letting you take my kaprae away!"

"Firot thinks I lied about you being a slave and he's demanding fifty gold stones—"

"No! I'm not going to!"

"I wouldn't ask you if I had anything else to give, but—"

"You can find some other way! You did it before!"

"Can't you just make another one?" the hunter asked in desperation. "I just need fifty gold stones. I don't really want to take your cape."

Aqie stared at him in horror. Did he really think kaprae were just pieces of clothes?! You made your kaprae once. At your coming of age. It was full of joys and memories and the wonder from your newly activated identiae in your kranais and it was the mark of being the children of Adonai and you couldn't just make another one. That was like getting married to a different person twice!

"How can you even ask that?" she choked out. Tears started to come, again, which wasn't fair because before he came she'd been crying because she missed Mom and Dad, and he was already so sad that he'd killed someone and he really wanted this but she couldn't give him her kaprae. He shouldn't even have to ask.

"Please..." The hunter shook his head and trailed off. "I don't know how to make you understand."

"You don't understand! Our kaprae are the sign we're Adonai's people!"

The hunter jerked back and went pale. "Tele," he murmured and rubbed his hands over his face. "Maru will be so angry..." He shook himself and grabbed the candle, breaking it from the wax on the floor. "I'll be back."

He did come back, again and again and again. Each time he asked the same thing. Aqie began to dread his visits to her prison. It wasn't fair that he kept asking and he was so, so, guilty and so pleading all the time! Sometimes she almost wanted to give in, but then she'd see Dad giving the stone to her as the clasp for her kaprae and Mom coloring it just like she'd asked and she'd remember her promise not to let anyone take her kaprae away and she'd say no. He'd ask, he'd beg, he'd bargain, he'd plead, and then he'd go away and come back again.

Footsteps by the door again, and the undoing of the lock. It wasn't time to get food, or what he thought her identiae was, even after she'd told him, so he was probably back again. Aqie groaned and wished there was something to throw at the door. "I ALREADY SAID NO!"

The lock clicked and somebody new came down, shutting the door firmly behind her. Aqie stiffened and scooted back, pressing her kaprae against the wall. It didn't glow as brightly as it used to, because her skin was so hungry she'd accidentally eaten some of it. Her stomach still twinged at the thought.

It was the woman who'd opened the door when the hunter first brought her home. His wife who'd been angry when she found out she was a Larkwing. What was she here for? Was she going to try to kill her like a hunter?

The hunter's wife stopped on the last step and held the candle high, examining her with a pinched face. Aqie stared back. She didn't have a sword. Did that mean she wasn't a hunter? And what was that weird dress? Or was it a shirt and a skirt? How come she didn't trip over it when it went all the way down to her ankles?