When the trees started to thin, Platina began to murmur to herself about the stars and lights in the sky. Their feet padded carefully through the thick, murky grass that occasionally threaded onto a barely detectable dirt trail. They followed it.

Lucian had slowed them when he was sure there weren't any villagers behind him. All remained silent, and the forest lapsed back into stillness once they started to leave it behind. The tree tops no longer obscured the sky.

He walked slowly, leading Platina along. Her hand was their saving grace, the one intimate thing that kept him anchored to the present. He never wanted to stop walking; to stop feeling that weight behind him.

All of a sudden, his moment of comfort was taken away from him.

"Lucian, I… I want to go home," Platina's small, feeble voice startled him. Her hand dropped from his, and he turned to face her, with unmasked pity and longing.

"How can you say that?" he barked, unaware of the intensity of his voice. She seemed taken aback by his outburst, but kept on steadily, "I haven't heard anything from Mother about this… Are you sure this isn't all a misunderstanding?" she paused for a moment and then said, "About being sold…"

Lucian was in shock. He was ready to shout at her for letting him drag her all the way into his new world.

Platina wrung her hands timidly, and looked into the darkness behind him. Her words were spoken in unison with the strange noises emanating from the trees. Lucian was unable to stop himself from shrugging.

"She must be so worried about me right now…"

Anger boiled up inside of him, but as usual, Lucian suppressed it and was partially calmed by just looking at her. He kept silent, debating on what to say.

"Lucian?" She queried, peering at him through the dark.

Finally, he chose his words erratically and looked back up at her, "You've seen the men in black, haven't you? They came to my house, too!" He wanted to tell her everything, all that he saw, but the Platina he knew would deny it all, make excuses. Whether she saw the evil in the people around her or chose to forgive it, he didn't know. But he knew that a part of her wanted to end her existence of the servant living in Coriander.

Lucian couldn't stop himself from hanging his head and fighting the lump in his throat once more, "And the next day, my little sister was gone," He let his arms dangle limply at his sides and bit his lip in fury as he picked his next sentence carefully. He felt nothing but hatred sparking within him as he continued, "My mom and dad didn't tell me anything,"

Platina was startled and asked, "Wha? But everyone said she was stricken with a disease…" The expression on her face let Lucian know that she was re-thinking the entire situation but was blindly, still not convinced.

Lucian gestured wildly, furious about the lie. "Oh? Have you ever heard of a disease that makes you disappear?" Platina blinked in recognition. "Anyway, our family has no money for doctors!"

She seemed at a loss for words and he turned away from her.

"I just…don't want to lose you," he intoned, perhaps a bit too confidently. The ache in his heart had slipped into his words. Suddenly, it wasn't about losing Maleah anymore.

"Lucian…" Platina breathed, and he fought not to look at her.

"Then let's run away…" her voice said airily, almost dreamily, "Far away!"

Lucian's body quivered due to the intensity of her voice and he let himself let go of his anger.

"I'll go anywhere with you, Lucian…" she added as an afterthought. And suddenly, the boy saw her creep up to him, and the hairs on the back of his neck prickled. Without speaking, he shed the cloak that covered him, and draped it around her shoulders. Knowingly, their hands met once again, and he walked on, surprise and love coursing through his veins and cushioning his every step.

Hours past in silence, and they kept on, this time side by side. A partnership into a new, unforgiving world. It was them, together.

When the sky was completely cleared of leaves and gnarled branches, Lucian looked to the sky, alive with the light of the moon and stars dancing around its fullness. The trees were even less at that point, and Lucian wondered if their first, upcoming sunset together would make way to a new life.

"Where do you think we are?" he asked, as they walked carefully down a decline. As they made their way out of that part of the forest, their sight was met with bleak, concealing fog and they struggled not to be afraid.

"I don't know…" Platina answered wearily, "What will become of us now?"

Lucian regretted the fact that he didn't know what to say to her. They didn't speak again, as they walked boldly into the churning, twisting mist that Lucian knew, would eventually give way to snow-capped mountains. He wondered if there was a place like Crell, on the other side. Though when they did emerge, much later, they had not even breached the bottom of mountains, but had led themselves into a valley devoid of sound, save for the rustling of leaves. He found it odd that there stood so much plant life ahead of them, during the middle of the autumn month.

Lucian inhaled the vigorous pre-mountain air and gasped, "Where…?"