Written April 30th 2021 10:42 PM

Devastated was an understatement. Looking around, there was nothing familiar about this place, any notable landmarks long gone. Zone two was now a tent city, people passing like spectres among the rubble; Ailith had never seen anything like it. At least in Kaskaden they had managed to evacuate everyone before Hostras attacked. The people here had no warning and it was clear they had paid for it.

As Ailith cut through the broken and burned remains of buildings with Feyra and Ace not far behind, she kept her eyes peeling for her kids. Of course, they weren’t actually her kids, but she felt responsibility for them. They reminded her so much of herself when she was young, scraping a living by the skin of her teeth.

When they got to the last standing warehouse, Ailith took a deep breath. They had to be here. They had to be. She blinked in the dark inerior of the building, eyes adjusting to the lack of light. Her heart leapt into her throat – sitting on a threadbare blanket in a far corner of the room were four kids. Ailith pushed closer, eyes making out Barley where she sat with Alexander, Millie, and Beau.

“Barley!” Ailith called the young girl’s name, scanning for anysigns of obvious injuries when Barley turned to her. “It’s Ail- Amber.” Ailith quickly corrected herself. The last thing they needed was somone finding out she was connected to these kids. “Do you remember me?”

“Amber?” Confusion was written clearly on Barley’s face. “You look different.”

Ailith crouched down to the kids’ level. “It’s only for a little bit,”she said, patting her darker brown hair. “Do you like it?”

There was a pause as Barley studied Ailith’s appearance. “Not really.” Ailith could hear Feyra laughing behind her at the child’s candidness.

“Yeah, me neitehr.” Ailith couldn’t help the smile that spread across her face. “You guys are okay, though? No one’s hurt or sick?”

“No, we’re mostly hungry,” Millie piped up, clutching her stomach.

“Oh, let me see what Ihave,” Ailith said, rummaging through her bag for rations.

“Here,” Feyra cut in, drawing he rsword. There was aflash of purple and a handful of berries appeared on the floor in front of Millie, “These are goodberries. Eat one in the morning and you’ll be full all day.” The kids’ eyes grew wide as the split the berries between them equally. Ailith felt a surge of fondness towards Feyra and turned to mouth “Thank you,” her expression soft. Feyra only blushed and shrugged in return, which did nothing to lessen the feeling in Ailith’s heart.

Ailith turned back to the kids once more and made sure they each ate a goodberry before asking, “Are there anymore of you anywhere?” Barley had had a posse the last time Ailith had seen her and it worried her that there were only four of them huddled here.

“We looked for the others, but… maybe they’re still hiding?” Barley was looking at Ailith with such hope in her eyes it broke her heart.

“Yeah. Yeah, maybe!” Ailith tried to keep her voice cheery. She couldn’t lie to them, but she didn’t know how to tell them that their friends were almost certainly dead. “Hey, have you guys been keeping up with your training?” Ailith changed the subject quickly, trying to distract them.

“Um, not really. We kind of forgot about it,” Alexander said meekly, hiding his face in his jacket.

“Well that’s okay! Want to go through some forms now?” When she was a kid, all it took was for Amos to suggest training to clear her mind of any childlike worries.

“Okay!” They all scrambled up excitedly, smiles on their faces for the first time since Ailith found them.