Sister Marie and Sister Jane were busy drying the two drenched street urchins. The rain had made them soaked from head to toe. As they did it, Sister Jane was scrunching her face. Sister Marie could only glare at the rudeness of sister Jane, however, deep down she understood why sister Jane did that. For street urchins they were … uniquely smelly.

  “Thank you so much sister, I’m fine now.” Said Eda, the girl was dry enough that she no longer needed to be wiped with the clothes. “No problem child.” answered Sister Marie with a huge smile. Sister Jane also stopped drying off the smaller girl. Unlike Eda, she was visibly shy from being surrounded by two adults, a typical reaction of a toddler.

  Looking at the two girls hurt the nuns’ hearts. They were very small, and obviously malnourished. Even the very small girl had a dagger on her hip, signifying the danger they faced in the street.

  Sister Marie noticed that Georgina was watching the two girls from behind a pew. In particular, she was very interested in the very small girl. Marie could guess what Georgina was thinking, a girl her age, a potential friend to play with her. Sister Marie motioned Georgina to come close, hoping to introduced the two girls. Georgina approached them, however she was still too shy to be in front of them, so she hid behind sister Marie. The little girl also felt shy around strangers, so she hid behind her older sister, Eda.

  “Eda, this is Georgina.” Sister Marie introduced Georgina to the two girls. Eda smiled hearing her name and replied, “Hi Georgina, my name is Eda.” Georgina nodded curtly.

  “Geo … George … Gin” the little girl behind Eda tried to pronounce Georgina’s name, but she was struggling. “Grigori?” She ended up saying the name she was familiar with. “Not Grigori, Geor - Gina.” Eda tried to fix the little girl’s pronunciation, but everyone could see from her face that she was struggling.

  “YOU CAN CALL ME PAMSEY.” So Georgina took the initiative and said her family name instead, an easier name to pronounce. “Pamsey.” Repeat the little girl.

  “PAMSEY” Shouted Georgina, confirming her name, “What’s your name?” she asked back.

  “AZALI.” Shouted the little girl back, excited. Georgina was excited too and they started shouting each other's names. Eda was enjoying the back and forth, but the two sisters were shocked. ‘Azali?’ it was the last name of the Royal family. Not a name a normal street urchin should have.

  The two sisters immediately checked Azali’s eye colors — it was green. She was not the Emperor’s bastard. They breathed a sigh of relief. Azali just decided to name herself that, probably not knowing it was a capital offence. The two sisters decided to stay quiet for now, and maybe fixed Azali’s name when she was older or if the situation permitted it.

  “AZALI, WANT TO PLAY HOUSE WITH ME?” Georgina was over excited. She might finally had someone to play house with. But Azali just looked at her confused. “What’s a house?” For someone like her who used to sleep in the street and now underground, the idea of a house was foreign for her. Sister Marie and Jane were worried if they had to explain what a house was to Azali, but Georgina did not give them the time to worry, “CMON. I SHOW YOU.” She forcefully grabbed Azali’s wrist and dragged her away, they had house to play and it was not going to play itself.

  The two little girls disappeared. Their loud voices that overwhelmed the sound of the rain were now gone. Now, only Sister Marie, Jane, and Eda were left in the room. “Eda, I’m sorry about our Georgina.”

  Eda just shook her head to Marie’s apology. “No. No need. I’m glad Azali got a friend to play with.” What a mature kid. Probably more mature than half the girls who acted mature in this monastery. Even Sister Jane felt ashamed of herself when faced with such maturity.

  “So … Eda. Do you want to pray?” Now that the two loud girls were gone, it was a perfect atmosphere to pray. Sister Marie thought that Eda came here to pray again — but instead, “Actually, I’m not here to pray today. I heard about this thing called confession … Can I do it?”

  **********

  Splash Splash Splash

  “Stop!!! Stop!!! You little thief!” Bobby and Roger were chasing the boy, Grigori, with all their might. It was not an ideal weather for a chase. The rain hurts their bodies, limiting their vision, and slowing them down due to the slippery roads. The same condition should apply to Grigori, but he was a street urchin. He knew the road like the back of his hand, he did not need to see to know where he was heading. The hard rain and the slippery road did hinder him a bit … but he had a foolproof plan.

  “Wait! If you stop now we won’t hurt you!” Bobby bargained with Grigori. However, Grigori just ignored him. Worse, he took the time to looked at them and flashed his tongue out.

  “You little shit! I’ll feed you to the sewer king!” Roger had taken the taunt personally. He sped up, passing by Bobby. Grigori made a sharp turn into an alleyway, with Roger and Bobby hot on his trail.

  ‘Wait. What?’ Roger had made the turn, and Grigori was nowhere in sight. He decided to kept running into the alleyway while looking up, in case Grigori was climbing up a building. Then …

  Plung

  He fell into a hole, getting stuck midway.

  BAM

  Bobby who was behind him crashed into him, all he saw was Roger suddenly disappearing in seconds before crashing into the now stuck Roger.

  “Uuuugh.”

  The two of them groaned in pain. Bobby hurt his leg, while Roger his head. “What the hell? Is this a Molrret hole?” Roger was confused about the origin of the hole he was currently stuck in. “Bob! Bobby! Get me out of here!”

  Bobby stood up slowly, his bone was bruised from the crash. While he waited for Bobby, Roger felt a tinge of pain in his lower body. Drenched and stuck, his mind immediately went into the worst situation. “Bobby, quick! I think a sewer king is nibbling at my leg — BOBBY!!!”

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  Seeing his friend panicking, Bobby rushed to pull him out, ignoring his own pain.

  **********

  Regulus was accompanying Grigori on an adventure, or at least that was how Grigori described it.

  Grigori and Eda had a fight about going to a place called ‘monastery’ and doing something called ‘praying’. Regulus was not sure why they were fighting, but Eda told him to accompany Grigori for a while, in case he felt lonely. Regulus agreed.

  Right now, Grigori was throwing stones on the butt of a human that was stuck. He was having fun, laughing as he did it. Regulus was overjoyed, it seemed Grigori was happy again. Grigori, Eda, and many of the younglings were feeling down after Ana died.

  The human who was stuck was slowly became unstuck. There was another human above who was pulling him. When he saw the human became unstuck, Grigori urged Regulus to leave. “Let’s go Regulus. We got what we came for.” Grigori said, showing off two purses full of coins. Regulus wondered if those purses had those interesting Copper Azul. Based on the sound, there seemed to be at least forty of them in both purses. There were a few silver too, albeit not pure silver based on the sound.

  Grigori ran away from the stuck human, and Regulus followed.

  “HA AAHAHAHAHA” Grigori was laughing his lung out as they ran. How great. Grigori was happy again. “Ha ha ha … ha.” But it did not last long. Soon, his tone returned to the somber one he had recently. His step became slower, he was no longer running. Then he looked at the purses of coins — and sighed.

  Regulus was confused why Grigori became sadder when he got what he wanted. Paulie was happy when he found what he wanted, and he stayed happy. Then Regulus remembered what D’aka was asking John when D’aka was worried about him.

  “Grigori, you okay?”

  Grigori was surprised by Regulus’ question. Regulus could not tell from Grigori’s face, he was blind — but he could tell from Grigori’s smell and body movement that he was conflicted.

  “Uhhhm … I … I don’t … I don’t think I’m okay, Regulus.”

  “Why not okay Grigori?”

  “... Regulus … do you think what we did … is wrong?”

  Regulus was confused by Grigori’s question. Which ‘what we did’ did he mean? And what was … wrong exactly?

  “Which one?” Regulus asked a confirmation question.

  “... it’s the … burning … killing people. Do you think killing people is wrong, Regulus?”

  That was a weird question. Why was killing wrong? How could you eat if you did not kill?

  “No.”

  Grigori was shocked by Regulus’ straight forward answer. Anger was rising inside of him. “HOW COULD IT NOT BE WRONG?” He yelled at Regulus, lashing out at him.

  Regulus was shocked. Did he answer … wrong? His eyes show sign of confusion, when Grigori looked at his eyes, he realized he was being childish and lashed out at the wrong person. Regulus was different from them. Regulus did not think like them.

  “I’m sorry Regulus … I’m sorry Regulus.”

  “I’m okay Grigori. Did I answer … wrong?”

  “No … It’s not you …” Grigori went silent. He was thinking about Regulus' answer. “Regulus, why is it not wrong to kill?” He asked Regulus for more details.

  “If you don’t kill. You don’t eat. If you don’t eat, you don’t survive. I don’t know what is ‘right’ or ‘wrong’. But I know — Surviving is right.”

  Grigori felt like he was getting to know Regulus better, but then there was one more thing that still bothered him. “Then Regulus, the thing with Lorca … Omar and Ana. Was killing them had anything to do with survival?”

  “Yes. They killed one of us, Ana, without eating her. They did not kill us for survival. They will kill us again. We kill them first.”

  Grigori went silent. Regulus’ answer made sense logically … but his heart said it was wrong somehow. “Kill … or be killed.” Grigori muttered to himself. That was Regulus’ philosophy, his motivation in massacring the Lorcas, and maybe even the Burhans.

  “Are you okay now, Grigori?” Regulus asked, he was still concerned about Grigori. Judging from his smell and sound, Grigori was no longer mad, but he was by no means happy.

  “I just need some time to think. Here.” Grigori threw the coin purse at Regulus. “Play with them for a while,” Regulus caught the purse, but he did not play with the coin inside. He was worried about Grigori.

  Grigori sat down on the floor with Regulus next to him. He had a lot to think about. Regulus also sat next to him. Unlike him, Regulus did not have a lot of thought in his head. He was just protecting Grigori. He smelled something from afar, stalking them. A waft of corpse’s smell, yet moving, following from a distance, watching them like they were prey.

  *********

  “Oh ho ho ho ho, Mr.Butter. What great bread you cook.”

  “I am Mr.Butter. My bread is buttery good.”

  Azali and Georgina were enjoying their play. Everyone who saw them was confused about the exact plot of their story. Only the two of them understand what they were playing about.

  “Gasp Mister Butter … is that … CROISSANT? How dare you.”

  “You’re right Ms. Tea cup. It was Croissant. It was your HUSBAND. MR.CROISSANT. And I BAKED HIM.”

  “NOOOOOOO”

  It seemed they had reached the climax of their story. If only one could decipher this otherworldly story.

  “Azali~” It was Eda. She had finished her confession. Behind her was sister Marie. Her face was … complicated. She just heard Eda’s story, and now she did not know what to do. Eda’s story could be the key that helped House Hazen and the entire city with their current predicament … but she also had her sacred vow, the seal of confession, the promise that she would not share the secret of the confessor to anybody.

  The only solution was to get Eda to tell the authority her story herself, but that was a difficult problem in itself. Ensuring Eda’s safety was the easy part, getting her cooperation though.

  “EDA,” Azali was overjoyed to hear Eda's voice. “Want to join us? You can play as Ms. Bark Bark, Mr.Croissant secret lover.”

  Eda was confused, what kind of play the two were having?

  “No, it’s okay Azali.” Eda politely refused. “Azali … I’m thinking of going back. Do you … do you want to stay here? Play with Geo- Pamsey more?” Eda wanted Azali to stay in the monastery, a safer place for her — a place where she did not have to commit any sin.

  “Ehhh. What about you? Are you staying?”

  “I’m not staying for today, but maybe tomorrow.” Even though she wanted Azali to escape the street life, she herself could not leave it yet.

  “And Grigori?”

  “I don’t know. Fuck him.” Eda was still angry at Grigori because of their fight. She knew she should not force Grigori to come with her to the monastery — but she wished he would.

  “And Regulus?”

  .”...” Eda did not know how to answer that one. Regulus was … He was the source of the turmoil in her heart. But at the same time, he did all that he did for their sake. She knew Regulus was not evil … but his action was.

  “Regulus … would be fine. And he’ll visit.”

  “Eeeh. I want to be with Regulus. I want to play house with him.” Eda had no answer to that. She could not blame her attachment towards Regulus … she too was attached to Regulus. “Alright, do you want to leave now?”

  “Yep” Azali agreed immediately. She was about to leave, before she was stopped, “Eeeeh, You’re leaving already? Let’s play some more.” Georgina was not ready to end the play yet. Both Eda and Sister Marie were hopeful that Georgina could convince Azali to stay. Azali did look troubled. Play with Regulus, or play with her new friend, Pamsey.

  “Sorry Pamsey.” She chose Regulus. Georgina looked like she was about to cry, but Azali offered her her pinky finger. “I promised to come and play again.”

  “Promise?”

  “Promise.”

  The two girls hooked their pinky with each other, promising each other that they would play again.

  Eda and Sister Marie gave up on convincing Azali to stay for now. There were more chances to get her to like the monastery, to made her wanted to stay.

  Eda and Azali left through the front gate, Georgina and Sister Marie saw them off. Georgina was crying uncontrollably, waving her hand non-stop. So did Azali, she was the one who made the decision to leave, but leaving her new friend was not easy for a kid her age. Azali was waving her hand non-stop also, while her other hand was holding Mr.Butter, a gift from her new friend.

  “COME AND PLAY AGAIN.”

  Georgina Pamsey screamed from the top of the lung, saying goodbye to her new friend.

  That was the day she first met her new friend, Azali…

  … that would also be the last day she saw her.