The town had grown substantially, and now sprawled over nearly half a mile of ramshackle houses, stores, and storage barns. Dio and Dunya were making another supply run and since he had been free, she had invited him. She had even given him some money—supposedly to make his own purchases, but Dio knew it was meant for groceries.

There seemed to be more Guilders mixed in with the population, or maybe he was just noticing them more. The other townspeople no longer gave them such a wide berth, and in some cases even mixed freely with them. Dio spotted the young girl in the orange vest from before haggling over prices with a woodcutter, and a middle-aged woman walked down the street deep in conversation with her neighbor, a Guild woman of similar age.

Dio tried to stay away from the Guild members. If one of them recognizes me…they'll raise the alarm, and the whole town could turn against me. Me and my friends.

A middle-aged man, hat pulled low over his eyes, had spread out a blanket next to the bakery, laden with jewelry and other sparkly things. Dunya glanced at it curiously. Dio, attracted by the shining metal, stopped to look.

The man's head tilted down, and Dio thought he was asleep until he cast his eyes upwards. "Oh. Did you want to take a look at my wares? Only the finest quality, I promise."

Dunya eyed a set of jasper earrings appreciatively. Dio cast a cursory glance over the jewels—such things didn't interest him much. Although they are nice and shiny. If this guy can afford to sell things like these, why hasn't he built a store yet? Hey, this is…

Although the man's merchandise was mostly jewelry, there was one item set apart—a straight-bladed knife with a guard shaped like a half-moon and a hilt wrapped in brass wire. The blade did not completely fit the sheath.

"That knife…"

The man blinked. "This old thing? It's brought its owners nothing but bad luck. I'm not even sure it's sharp anymore. That'll be ten Claudia."

Dunya laid a hand on Dio's shoulder. "Do you actually want that?"

Dio nodded. I'm not sure why, but that knife feels…important somehow. I want it. "You said it yourself—it's old, probably rusty and quite probably bad luck as well. Three Claudia."

"Three?! This thing is a family heirloom; I couldn't possibly let it go for anything below seven Claudia."

Dio's eyes narrowed. "Five."

The vendor met his gaze and flinched. "Fine. Here, take it."

He reached for the knife, but Dunya got to it first. "I'll hold on to this for you, Dio. You'll need both hands free to carry groceries."

He pouted, resisting the urge to point out that the sheath came with a belt clip. She avoided his gaze. No matter how much better he had supposedly gotten, she did not entirely trust him with sharp objects.

&

Luciola sighed heavily. One of the many purchases Daphne had made at the fair was a large bottle of hydrogen peroxide, which she had insisted on using as soon as possible. Therefore, she had decided to do his hair. And he, in a moment of weakness, had agreed to let her.

He shifted in his seat, and she smacked him with her scissors. "Stop moving, you'll make me mess up your hair."

He fought the urge to roll his eyes, but nevertheless held perfectly still as she continued to clip his hair. It hadn't actually gotten much longer, but it was starting to flop over his forehead again. When it was back to an acceptable length, she would bleach it again. As it was, it was a bad idea to distract her when she had so much to do.

Alister slid the door open. She was wearing a knee-length black skirt and a white tank top. "Is this right?"

Daphne beamed. "Yes, hold still. Luce, don't move." She left her standing position behind Luciola and rushed to Alister's side, gathering the excess fabric of the waistband in one hand. Since she and Alister had nearly identical waist measurements, Daphne had asked the younger girl to model the skirt she bought in order to take it in. Now she knelt at Alister's side, carefully marking the cloth with a fabric pen.

"Okay, thank you. You can go change out of that skirt now. I'm sorry to bother you, but I don't know anybody who I'd trust to do alterations and I couldn't exactly start altering the skirt while I was wearing it."

Alister smiled. "Don't mention it. I was happy to help."

Daphne tossed a smirk in Luciola's direction. "Speaking of help…Luce was going to let me bleach his hair. You want to help hold him down?"

Alister blinked. Hastily, Luciola spoke up. "That won't be necessary, Miss Agrew."

Daphne shrugged. "Necessary, no. Funny, yes."

He glared at her, and she quickly changed the subject. "Alis, you can go change. I have to do Luce's hair. See you around, okay?"

&

Dunya sighed and read off the list of items they needed for the second time. "White and black thread, smoked pork, garlic, onions, tomatoes, milk, eggs, rye bread—and it has to be rye, not white—cheese, a nice fat chicken, and a copy of the Odysseid for Irena. Do you think you can handle a trip to the grocer's?"

Dio hesitated. Dunya reassured him, pressing a few more Claudia into his hand. "The woman who owns it is from Disith. She'll give you a lower price if you tell her Dunya Scheer sent you."

He smiled faintly. "Okay."

The town was crowded today. Of course, it was always crowded. While houses were constantly being built, many were no better than shacks. So far, the population of the blue planet, despite containing a number of Guild members and more than a few highly skilled humans, had only two or three plumbers and no gas lines. The wood-burning stoves quickly made most houses highly uncomfortable to be in, so most of the townspeople spent the day outside.

And then, Dio thought sourly, they insist on milling around the streets like a herd of spectacularly stupid cows. He reserved special enmity for the fat woman in front of him plodding along as though she hadn't a care in the world and thus making it impossible for him to pass her. Finally, she turned a corner, allowing him to get ahead of her.

As he crossed the street to the grocery, someone grabbed his sleeve. "Dio Eraclea? Principal Dio?"

He stopped dead. All around him, time seemed to slow down as well. He stared into the face of a harried-looking Guilder clutching a clipboard and a pen. "…What do you want?"

The man at least had the good grace to look slightly sheepish. "Ah…that is…my name is Gaius Sallust. I'm writing a book about the fall of the Guild and the awakening of Exile and, well…"

Sometimes when Luciola was annoyed, his voice became even more devoid of emotion than usual. Dio had never been able to copy that tone perfectly, but he suspected he was doing a fairly good imitation. "A book. And you decided to come to me for information. Why?"

"Errr…well, you are a minor celebrity around these parts."

For a few seconds, Dio could only stand and gawk. "A celebrity?" No, no, no…I thought I was safe, that nobody would recognize me, that I could go on living…

The man shrugged. "Well, yes. People talk, you know. And if I had a quote or two from you…well, it would certainly help my sales."

Before, Dio had been annoyed. Now he was angry, and he suddenly found himself wishing he had a knife in his hand. Sallust gasped as he grabbed his wrist. "So you're writing a book about the fall of the Guild and you think that I will be able to help you? You know that the Maestro Delphine was evil, but do you know what she did to me? Do you know what my own sister did to me? She broke my mind. And she…she…"

He trailed off, trembling uncontrollably. "Luciola's the one; if you want to know about the fall of the Guild, you should ask him, he did it. Immelmann told me he made the palace base crash to earth to save me."

Sallust laid a hand on his shoulder, concerned. "And…where is this Luciola now?"

Dio glared at him, wrenching himself out of the man's grasp. "As far as you're concerned, he's dead. You might as well forget about information for that book, understand? I don't remember anything, and those that do certainly aren't going to share it with you."

Sallust paled. "I'm truly sorry to bother you, but I—"

"No buts. We have a good life here, free of the Guild. And you think that you can disrupt it—that you can just pull me off the street and expect me to answer your questions—to write a book? To increase your sales? To make your name known far and wide and get your book published throughout the blue planet?"

Sallust winced. "…Thank you for your time." Only after he turned on his heel and left did Dio realize that their argument had attracted a small crowd. People who had previously been intent only on their own lives had stopped in the street to watch his outburst. Most of them, judging by their faces and the chatter that arose, were solidly on Dio's side. As his gaze flicked from one face to the next, they dispersed and went about their business.

Dio shivered. A book…about me. He'll use any source of information he can find no matter how accurate it is. Who knows how it'll portray the fall of the Guild, the battle I can't remember? Oh, Luciola…you could set the facts straight if you were here. Please…when Exile comes, tell me everything.

He shook his head as though to rid himself of bad thoughts. Okay, groceries. Eggs, garlic, onions, tomatoes, and cheese. I can handle that.

&

Luciola's hair felt stiff and spiky, but it was blessedly neat and looked surprisingly close to his old color. The hydrogen peroxide had done a good job bleaching his hair to something approaching platinum blond.

Daphne was knitting socks again. As she knit, she spoke. "Hey, Luciola."

"Hmm?"

She fixed him with a level gaze. "You know, Exile will be entering the blue planet's atmosphere in a few hours. And, well…I was thinking. We've been traveling together for over two months, and you know pretty much all the interesting stuff about me, but I don't know anything about you."

Luciola was silent for a while, thinking. Finally, he spoke. "What do you want to know?"

She shrugged carelessly. "Anything, really. Hobbies, favorite foods, what you do in your spare time, what kind of music you like…you know, normal things. What do you like?"

…Normal? "I don't have any preferences as far as music or food, though I suppose I do like spicy things. As for hobbies…" He paused, trying to think of the best way to phrase it. "I trained extensively in a variety of martial arts from childhood in order to protect Lord Dio.I didn't have any time for hobbies."

Daphne winced. "Sounds like loads of fun. Actually, umm, what I really wanted to know was…" Luciola noticed her lean back in her seat as though to put as much distance between them as possible before she continued. "How did you die?"

He made a point of avoiding her gaze. She's not going to like hearing this. "Lord Dio was captured by the Guild, and Maestro Delphine put him through the Rite of the Covenant. It left his mind…damaged. Badly damaged. In order to rescue him, as well as his friends, I had to create a distraction."

"Since your Dio's still alive, you clearly succeeded. How?" Daphne was sitting up in her chair now, paying rapt attention. Her face was grim.

Luciola shut his eyes as his memories of that day flashed back into his mind. "I planted a series of explosives throughout the Guild palace. Lord Dio and his friends took the only escape route, so to buy them time…I slaughtered my way through Delphine's elite guards, including my brother Cicada."

Daphne dropped her knitting needles. "Y-you killed your own brother…How? How could you do that?"

Luciola clenched his fists, feeling the old rage burn though his limbs. "He led Lord Dio into the Covenant chamber. While my lord screamed for me, while his mind was shattered into a thousand pieces, Cicada did nothing. And in the end…he was in my way."

Her voice trembled. "But if you were willing to do that, then you must have killed Delphine too, right? Right?"

"No."

He had never seen her truly angry before. It was strange how she curled in on herself, almost as though preparing to attack. "Were you insane? From what I've heard about Delphine besides the trickles of information you've given me, she was completely evil. So why didn't you kill her when you had the chance? Did one of those guards cripple you or something by the time you reached her? Was the whole ship blowing up already?"

"None of the guards touched me. They were dead before they could even draw their weapons. But the Maestro…" He shivered. "She…she held my lord's sanity in her hands. I could not kill her while he was so fragile. And even if I had killed her, I would still be dead. Lord Dio and his friends took the only means of transportation. My only priority was to get them out safely, no matter the cost to myself."

Daphne's eyes narrowed. "Luciola, I'm sorry, but you are an idiot and I don't care if you kill me for saying that, because it's true. Forget about yourself, what about all the other people in the alliance that Delphine killed? You could have prevented all that if you'd killed her first."

Luciola stared at his hands. "I know, but I didn't. And she's still dead." Now, all I can do is keep moving forwards with my life. Lord Dio…are you still waiting? I'm coming to you soon.

&

The sun was setting, turning the sky a vivid purplish-red. As it went down, Dio left the house and stared at the sky. There were two stars visible already. Lavie finished her dinner and joined him, laying a hand on his shoulder. "Dio, are you alright? Dunya heard you had some trouble in town today."

"I'm fine. Hey, Lavie…do you see that star?"

He lifted a hand, pointing at the brighter of the two stars. Lavie followed his gaze and shrugged. "That's just the evening star, the same as every night."

He shook his head. "No. That star…that star is Exile, and it'll fall to earth soon. The fireflies are coming out, too."

Lavie blinked slowly. "Errr…Dio? There aren't any fireflies out."

Dio smiled. "Just wait, then. You'll see them."

She sighed and went back into the house. As she turned her back on him, she missed seeing the first firefly of the evening light up in the grass.