At midnight the streets of Batavia were nearly deserted. No one walked by the light of the moon for fear of what lurked in the shadows. The full moon in particular kept the people of Batavia indoors. The moonlight filled the streets with silver light, drawing the warm colors from the walls and leaving the city looking like charcoal painting. Yoshiko found it quite beautiful, looking down on the street from the rooftop as she crept carefully towards the next house. She easily kept her balance despite the slickness after the rain. To her the aftermath of the rain just left the city more beautiful. Above it all, away from the stench of the street and after the hustle of the day left the city quiet, she found such peace and beauty she never wanted day to break.

Concealed by her grey cloak she hurried along, eager to find her target. She had seen the family that lived there leaving early that afternoon with bags and suitcases, clearly leaving. She had been eyeing the neighbourhood for days, hoping for an opportunity. Finally her day had come. Movement down in the street caught her eye and she crouched down to be less noticeable. Looking down she found a man leaving one of the houses. He was carefully looking over his shoulder and trying to be quiet. Yoshiko figured he was on his way to or from his mistress' quarters. As the man walked down the street in the opposite direction of where Yoshiko was heading she let out a breath she hadn't realised she was holding. It would be easier to creep along unnoticed without someone heading the same way.

Just as she was about to keep going she spotted more movement in the dark. This time is was something on four legs, something furry silently creeping out of an alley opposite of the man's house. Werewolf, she thought, surprise mixed with equal parts disgust and interest. She had heard there was a small pack of werewolves in Batavia, but had never seen one. They were rare outside of Europe and Yoshiko hadn't quite believed the rumours. Seeing the creature with her own eyes she couldn't help but wonder how they had gotten there.

The wolf suddenly turned it's head and looked up at her, baring it's teeth. Even from so high above him it was terrifying. The sharp teeth gleaming silver in the moonlight, the eyes, so unlike human eyes and the mere size of the beast. It was enough to make her want to scream for help. She bit her tongue and met the wolf's gaze, trying to look as unafraid and defiant as she could.

"I have no quarrel with you, wolf," she tried to tell it without speaking. "Go on your way and I will not bother you."

The wolf held her gaze for another horrid second. Then he broke off in a silent run after the man. Yoshiko was amazed at his speed and silence. She allowed herself another minute to let the chill of the meeting pass. She didn't know what she would have done if he had attacked. Would she have screamed for help? Ran off? Tried using her magic? She wasn't sure how well her powers would work when she was this scared or if they'd work on werewolves the same as mundanes. A shout that ended as soon as it began told her the wolf had caught up to the man. Shaking off her fear she kept going, lightly jumping from the roof of one house to the next.

After passing a few more alleys and having calmed her fear of the wolf, Yoshiko finally arrived at her destination. The house was small, but well-kept. There was no light inside that she could see. She took a deep breath to focus and gather her magic before the gently unhooked the latch of the window and imagined it opening. From her perch on the roof across the street from the house she could see the bedroom and most of the parents' bed through the now open window. It was empty.

Yoshiko took a deep breath and a few steps back. Running lightly over the roof she jumped across towards the house. Landing with her upper body inside and her lower body outside knocked her breath out of her and she silently thanked whatever deities were around that she hadn't chosen an inhabited house. The window was very narrow and she found no other way of entering than to put her hands on the floor and use her arms the wriggle in. Again she thanked the deities that no one was around to see her struggle.

When she finally managed to get her feet in she brushed the dust off her loose pants and surveyed the room. The room was darker than it had been outside, without the moonlight. She resisted the urge to use her magic, too scared of attracting unwanted attention.

From what she could see the room was quite sparingly decorated. They were clearly less well-off than the neighbourhood would suggest. Finding nothing of value in the parents' bedroom, except some rather nice jewellery she didn't think would be missed right away, Yoshiko kept going.

After searching the entire house and finding little of value Yoshiko felt defeated. Sure she had wasted her time she went back up to the parents' room to close the window and her back out. Then she heard it.

It was a small sound, just a creak of the floorboards, but it sent chills down Yoshiko's spine. She was sure she would be found out, sure that she would be forced to use her magic on three innocent mundanes because she had decided to break into their house. Silently cursing herself she turned and walked into the parents' room, hoping to not find anyone. She couldn't imagine what Ares would do to her if he found out that she'd left witnesses.

Swallowing her fear and all the other emotions that welled up in her, Yoshiko scanned the room looking for anything that could tell her if someone was hiding there. Not finding anything she looked under the bed. Nothing. She checked the hall again, but found nothing. At last she saw the dresser in the corner. The door was ever so slightly open and she could have sworn it had been closed when she entered before. Creeping slowly closer she prepared herself for what she might have to do. If she found the family or some servant or poor child she would need to silence them, whatever it took. She felt the magic crackling at her fingertips as she stepped closer, raising her fist to strike.

A pair of golden-green eyes with big round pupils looked back at her. The tension of the magic immediately left her hands, making small cracking sounds and leaving a burnt smell.

"Hi, kitty," she cooed, crouching down and extending her hand. "I'm not going to hurt you, baby. I thought you were someone else."

Opening the door of the dresser completely she felt the relief washed away by shock. In the dresser there was no cat. Instead she found a small boy with eyes like a cat.

—-

"Come in!" Ares called over his shoulder after hearing footsteps approaching his door. He didn't need to turn around to know that it was Yoshiko who stood in his doorway. He told himself it was because he was exceptionally good at sensing people, but it was really more that the twins would be all over him asking what he was doing before he could have finished telling them to enter. "Did you have a successful trip, Shiko?"

"Yes," the girl answered timidly. So much of her strict upbringing still lingered in her. Ares turned away from his potions to look at her. He could tell she felt guilty for needing something. Her head was bent, and she was looking at the floor rather than at him. Her submission made him feel powerful, but somehow guilty. "The family had left the house."

"But?" She looked up at him. Her eyes never failed to take his breath away. All the universe was in them, shining to him from within her.

"But there wasn't much there," she answered, her eyes looking away from him and over at the vials on the shelves. The room was filled with shelves of books, scrolls and vials of different sorts. A table stood against the wall behind Ares, overflowing with more vials and bottles. The room always smelled like magic. In a corner stood the bed where Ares slept, it was quite the lucrative arrangement as he never needed to go far to get to work or to bed after work.

"Why don't you come in, Shiko?" He gestured to bed, eager to have her relax. She shook her head, but raised her eyes to his again. With a shaky breath she opened the door more, revealing a small child standing next to her. The child clung to Yoshiko's pants, little fists balled in the navy fabric. Ares guessed it was a boy by his short hair, and he was young, Ares didn't imagine he could be any older than eight unless he was very small for his age. The child looked filthy, and was so skinny Ares was sure he could have snapped the boy's arm like a twig. Neither the boy nor Yoshiko would look at him.

"He was all alone in the house, Ares," the woman began, talking fast. "I found him in the dresser when I was about to leave, but I couldn't just leave him there, you know that. Look at him, he probably hasn't eaten in days."

"He probably hasn't taken a bath in weeks either," Ares replied, not quite angry, but there was an edge in his voice. "But there are hundreds of children in Batavia who haven't eaten or bathed in days,do we take all of them in? Why is he different?"

"Because he is like us!" The defiance in Yoshiko's voice was unlike anything Ares had heard from her. She met his own gaze, saw the confusion and nodded towards the boy. Ares' expression softened as he got down on his knees to get a better look at the child. At first the boy wouldn't look at him, but when Yoshiko bent down too he finally looked at Ares and he understood. The golden-green eyes were unmistakably the mark of a warlock.

"Get him some food and take some blankets and pillows from the twins," Ares sighed, giving in. Strays were Yoshiko's great weakness and she was his. "Maybe he'll be useful someday."

"He can stay?"

"He can stay," Ares smiled at Yoshiko's great joy. She beamed at him and moved toward him as if to hug him, but stopped herself and instead took the little boy's hand and turned to leave. The boy just looked confused to Ares, but he had never been good at understanding children.

"Thank you," Yoshiko mouthed over her shoulder as she lead the boy out of the study and down the hall.

"Yeah, yeah," Ares mumbled, rolling his eyes. "And give him a bath would you? He smells!"

—-

Dawn was just breaking as Yoshiko finally got to bed. The boy was sleeping on top of the pillows and blanket next to her bed. She had put them down to go find a mattress or something soft for him to sleep on, but when she got back to her room the boy was already asleep. She had fed him some soto, which he wolfed down so fast she regretted not feeding him sooner. He was very agreeable and followed her like a duckling following it's mother, but never said a word. Yoshiko didn't want to push him, not yet, but his silence assured her that his story was not a pleasant one. When she had drawn him a bath her suspicions were confirmed. He would not go near the water. She tried everything she could, different temperatures, putting her arm in to show it wasn't dangerous, but nothing helped. He stood as far away from the tub as he could and would not move an inch, no matter how much she pulled at his arm. Eventually she had given up and decided that bathing the boy would be a problem for another day.

When at last she was in her bed looking down at him sleeping sweetly she couldn't help but wonder what could have happened to him that made him so scared of the water.