For the first hour they walked, neither of them spoke to each other. They spent that time entirely in their own heads thinking about the revelations they each had about their lives. Renno never knew that his aunt worked for the Ministry of Science. The last time he had seen her was when he was not yet a teenager and even if it had been mentioned, he probably would not have noticed or had any interest to remember it if he did. What about this necklace with an amulet on it that Gia now wore a matching piece? How did it happen that Gia showed up at his house the same day that his aunt did and they know each other? Today he learned he infected his own mother with the Wilds by choosing to buy the cheaper fertilizer and it was all just a plot by the Ministry of Science to kill people. People from his family?! Why do they want his family dead? Why do they want hundreds dead that he now knows are like him? This was too much to take in at once, but he seemed to have no choice. This was all thrust upon him so fast and he really wanted to be angry with someone right now, but as much as he felt the confusion and rage trying to overtake him, he knew he had no reason to be mad at Gia. This was not her fault.


    Gia was so angry. For the first while she could do nothing but be angry and think half thoughts that would be washed away by the anger before they had a chance to fully manifest. As she slowly forced herself to cool her thoughts so she could try to figure out what all of this means, she started thinking about Renno. This farm boy was doing his day-to-day work, taking care of his mother and she felt like she lit a fire to his whole world. The guilt she felt from that almost let the anger flood back in, but she held it in. How strange was it that the house she tried to hide from the soldiers at ended up being the house of the nephew of the woman she called Auntie when she was a child? She had never given much thought to fate or purpose until she found out the Ministry''s secret genocide agenda and decided she must stop it, but this had an odd ring of what people called fate. That thought made her uncomfortable. As the anger crept back into her mind, she thought about her mother dying in a fire to protect these people and felt very hateful towards her father, but pride in her mother washed over that. Her mother tried to end it so long ago. Her mother was a hero. She decided she took more after her mother than her father and felt a lot better. She would finish what her mother started and let everyone know what a monster the Ministry of Science is. Even when she still felt blame because her family ---her father specifically—was responsible for so much death and suffering, her pride in her mother''s heroism kept her from letting it bring her down. Her anger was fully in check.


    Gia looked over at Renno and said, "We never ate the soup."


    "Uhh, I guess not," Renno replied. He visibly winced, made a sad face, and said, "but I did feed it to my mom."


    "You did not know, and I should have told you sooner. I am sorry. Your Aunt will take care of her. I get the feeling she knows how to help. I bet your mom will be back to normal before we get back," Gia said to him, hoping to make him feel better.


    Renno seemed in thought for a moment. "I still feel guilty because I am the one that poisoned her, even if I did not know, but thank you. I hope it is not too late." Renno stopped walking and looked back at the cart attached to his belt. "It looks like the top sack has bread in it. We should eat that first since it will be too hard in a few days to enjoy." He motioned for her to reach back and grab some.


    This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    Gia reached in and grabbed them both a roll, handing him one and taking a bite of the other. He took his and started eating it as well. They walked along in silence again while they both ate. Renno did not realize how hungry he was, and the roll hurt his stomach a bit. He was not sure if it was just the hunger that made it ache, or how fast he ate it because of the hunger. Gia still had half of hers and his was gone.


    "Another?" she asked.


    "Not right now, thank you. So, what do you think about these amulet halves?" he asked.


    "I really have no idea. Auntie said they were each half of a key, but that really doesn''t tell us much of anything. I just know she seemed pretty serious about us protecting them."


    "Yeah, hmm." Renno receded back into thought. They were a key, but to a storehouse of a cure? No, probably not. Mayza was already giving a cure in Moren, so it could not be that because that would not give the Minister some sort of amazing way to kill people more quickly. Even if he burned the storehouse of cure, Mayza had more where she came from. Maybe something to purify the fertilizer like some special worm? Destroying a cache of purifying worms would keep the Minister on course to keep killing, but that still didn''t seem right. "I have no idea either," he said.


    Gia laughed, "They have a dragon on them. Maybe it''s a dragon."


    Renno laughed, too. "That''s it. It must be a dragon. We''ll open it up, it''ll come breath fire on all the fertilizer all over the place and then no one will get sick from the Wilds ever again. Why didn''t we do this sooner?"


    Now Gia sighed. "I guess if it were that easy your aunt would have done it already. I hope we get a lot of the answers when we find Kestrin."


    "Who is Kestrin, anyway?" he asked.


    "I don''t really know. People at the Ministry of Science only speak about him in hushed tones. The one thing I do know is that my father fears him, sends out whole armies looking for him, and gets so angry. He feels like Kestrin is a threat to his work and that was enough for me to feel like he is the right person to talk to and end this."


    When she said ''work'' Renno could hear the acid in her tone. He knew how opposed she was to this genocide just by how she said that one word.


    "I hope so," Renno said. He blew out a slow breath and then asked, "So, where are we going, anyway?"


    "The last word my father got, the day I left, was that he was seen in Mova, near the mountains. I went once about five years ago. It is beautiful there." Gia''s eyes glazed as she was in memory.


    "We''ll never beat an army on horseback getting there. How are we going to find him? What if he runs somewhere else?" Renno asked. Gia''s vision focused back on reality, and then on him.


    "Well, my guess is that he is hiding out in the mountains. They have lots of caves. They may think of that as well, but they will have to leave the horses behind when they go searching up there. I am really hoping we find him first." Gia smiled big. "But if we do not, then we are going to free him on their way back."


    Now Renno felt a wave of anxiety. Searching the caves while soldiers did the same? Sneaking into a camp full of soldiers if they did not get there in time to find him first? He took a deep breath and held it for a moment, slowly letting it out.


    Gia saw Renno''s emotions on display and decided she would stop taking for a while and then felt guilty again for getting him involved. This was not how she thought things were going to go. Honestly, she really did not have much of an idea how things would go, she was just focused on getting to Kestrin; she was not thinking about what happens along the way or even after. Her mind was still steadfast on the goal, but she could see that there were too many variables to know what was going to happen throughout all of this. She was not going to stop, though, no matter how crazy the path to Kestrin became.


    They walked quietly, again.