— ... Quiet. Don't make a sound.
Caerius stepped into the residence on tiptoe, following right behind the girl, as though he were careful not to step on eggshells. Old Din, not quite so old now... might be around, pretending to be asleep just to catch these little troublemakers in the act. Despite the punishment and beating they would likely receive, Caerius couldn't deny how warm it would feel to see his old adoptive father again.
Naeris's silhouette had already disappeared ahead of him, not waiting a second longer for the boy. Apparently, she wasn't nearly as excited to see her father as her brother was.
— Always rushing ahead whenever things get rough with Din...
Sneaking along with one hand against the walls that led him closer and closer to their bedroom, he could hear Naeris murmuring ahead of him and a snore coming from the left. But his mind was only processing the darkness around him, while his eyes struggled to focus on nothing in particular.
But something inside the boy's mind was calling out to him. Something he was suppressing almost unconsciously. Something that...
Must just be the exhaustion from the day.
...
— Where is it... hmmm... there...!
Click.
A switch was flipped as Caerius caught up with the girl, who turned on a small lamp, its light a warm orange-yellow, almost like the surface of a sun. It illuminated a vase of flowers and, beyond that, a photograph of the four of them... the family, all together.
"... How silly. I'm not going to dwell on that."
The boy thought to himself, smiling at the photograph... His own smile was faintly illuminated by the light, which barely managed to reveal the rest of the room.
— I thought you'd come in and leave me to test my luck.
— I wouldn't do that to my little brother... not this time.
They were now standing in front of the bedroom door. Naeris turned toward the boy and raised a finger to her lips, swallowing nervously.
... Creeeak.
The door slowly opened...
The inside was just as dark and dense as the rest of the house. With every inch the door opened, the lamp's light slipped inside, briefly illuminating the room.
— That's...! Jackpot... Let's go to sleep and pretend none of this happened.
With one step, she entered the room. Caerius followed...
Tap, tap, tap.
— Wait... Naeris...
Caerius called out to her, spotting a silhouette standing inside the room. Even with the light on, it wasn't strong enough to reveal whether it was real or merely paranoia from his overactive imagination.
— What is it? Get in already...! Damn it, we woke—
The figure in question took a step forward as soon as Naeris got close enough. But Caerius wouldn't let her get any closer.
— NAERIS!
Caerius quickly grabbed Naeris by the collar of her sweater, pulling her behind him with some effort.
— Cae...? What's wrong? What are you doing...?!
He stepped backward, keeping Naeris behind him. His eyes were tense... fixed on the figure as he simultaneously searched for something he could use to defend himself.
But the shadow didn't wait.
It approached... one step at a time.
Caerius's heart began racing. He was breaking into a cold sweat, his thoughts racing. Something... he needed to do something. And then, he looked down at his hands, clenched into fists.
Then, he made his first determined advance, raising his fists into a guard.
"I'm not going to let anything hurt you. I'll protect you, even if it kills me. I'll save you, I wi—"
— It's well past nine o'clock at night. Would you two care to tell me where you've been...?
...
The moment the voice reached the boy's ears, it was enough to make him freeze mid-movement and relax his body almost imperceptibly... even though his mind was still racing, overwhelmed with confusion.
— Even though I already know the answer, I'd still like to hear it from you two idiots.
— You're the idiot, staying up waiting for us to come back. I know you love us, but you don't have to try so hard.
Naeris walked past Caerius.
Click.
And turned on the bedroom light, finally revealing the source of his fear.
— Nemis...
Caerius said her name almost like a thank-you, with an exaggerated sense of relief.
The girl, with swollen eyes and a wrinkled pajama set — one Naeris had given her as a present a few months earlier —, looked nothing like her usual grumpy self. Spending so much time at the Morrow-Rest, gambling with drunks despite her age, was making her pick up her father's mannerisms without even realizing it.
— I was asleep, not sitting here waiting for you two. The old man is pissed as hell, alright? Be grateful he's asleep.
— We didn't plan on getting back this late. I spent the day going through half the streets looking for ingredients. And this idiot made me waste hours looking for him.
The girls chatted among themselves while Caerius rubbed his face with both hands, muttering under his breath. Nemis turned toward him as Naeris took off her shoes.
— You two are definitely idiots, but you somehow manage to take it to another level. Our father is right... sooner or later, you two are going to get yourselves shot if you keep fooling around near the Belt.
Caerius merely shrugged, laughing at Nemis's expression as he approached.
— You're such a bitter person, Nemis. The only thing that's gonna happen if we keep going to the Belt is that, sooner or later, we'll move past it and settle down somewhere else.
Naeris, on the other side of the room, was leisurely fixing her bed, getting ready to sleep. The bag of ingredients she had forgotten about was left on top of Nemis's bed.
— Nemis, you should stop being so scared of everything.
Naeris said.
The girl looked at the two of them... then shook her head and returned to her own bed, sitting down with her legs crossed and her arms folded.
— I'm being realistic. I understand that everyone here wants a better life. Anyone would choose a city where we have everything, without having to depend on delayed supply shipments.
...
— Don't give me those looks.
Nemis lay down on her bed.
— The FAV is going all out against the HU, you understand? There'll come a time when delayed shipments will be the least of our worries.
She sighed.
— I just don't want anything bad happening to you two. At least wait until things get a little more... peaceful up there, alright?
She pulled the blanket up to her chin.
— ... Good night.
... ...
Nemis fell asleep in less than a few minutes... that damn human rock.
As time passed, Naeris and Caerius settled in together. They were used to sharing the same bed, after all... nobody would want to sleep in a bed where a girl greeted them affectionately with elbows and kicks in her sleep.
As always... at the end of the day, the two of them talked about everything that had happened. From what each of them wished they had eaten for breakfast... to their plans for the future.
— I ended up not making your favorite dish... I'm sorry.
— It's okay, don't worry about it.
But... despite the sense of calm that the room offered at that moment... something in Caerius's mind was still nagging at him, like the bite of an insect.
— Lost in thought, Cae?
— No, just a little tired from the day.
The boy tried, but couldn't hide anything from someone who knew him so well.
— Caerius... I've known you ever since you came here to Morrow-en, remember?
Naeris turned toward him. Just that eye contact alone felt like a physical touch to Caerius.
The boy stammered slightly as he parted his lips, trying to say whatever it was he had in mind. His sister simply nodded... then he sighed, finally letting the words out.
— I don't know what happened to me, but... I've been having these strange visions since earlier today.
— Visions?
— It's like... you know that feeling of déjà vu? When I woke up next to you today, I had... these strange flashes.
— Flashes?
— ... I stopped by Norkia's stall. We talked and all that. But... I don't know why, I had this memory of her having quit smoking.
Caerius looked toward the window on the other side. The sight of the artificial stars in the distance brought him a sense of comfort and lightness that warmed his body. But even so...
— I'm... scared, sis. I'm really scared that with all this FAV and HU bullshit, we'll end up starving for the rest of our lives. That we won't be able to leave this place, that we won't get to fulfill our dream. That you...
— Hey, hey! Stop that!
Naeris grabbed the boy's wrist, pulling him closer so she could look into his eyes. She knew that, sooner or later, her brother would bring up that dreaded subject. Life in Morrow-en wasn't easy for anyone these days. Everyone constantly had to fall asleep wondering whether, the following day, they would still get to wake up beside the people they loved.
— I understand everything you're feeling. We've always been through difficult times. Unfortunately, this has been the worst one yet. But hey, Caerius, the two of us have a... no, all of us have a dream, right?
She brought her hand to the boy's face, gently running her thumb across his skin.
— You always do this.
— Do what?
— You keep thinking about everything that could go wrong and forget that we're still here.
Caerius let out a short laugh, without much enthusiasm.
— It's hard not to think about it when it feels like everything is about to fall apart.
She moved a little closer, still holding his wrist.
— But we didn't make it this far just to give up now, Caerius. Not after everything we've been through.
...
— What's best for our people. And you and I, we'll make it happen. And when we finally get there... we'll be able to say that we never lost our smiles or our optimism, even in the middle of all this bullshit.
The boy held back the tears threatening to fall as best he could. Tears that, at that moment, represented the relief washing over his soul. His worries about the future, the doubts that kept creeping into his mind, now seemed to be losing some of their strength.
Now he knew that, despite everything... she would still be there. In the present and in the future. It was all little Caerius needed at that moment.
— Don't be like that, you big dummy. Come here.
She pulled him into a tight hug, nearly crushing the poor guy's bones. She had always been strong, even if she sometimes struggled to control it.
— You're gonna kill me one of these days.
He said, snuggling closer against his sister.
— ... Thank you for always being there for me.
— You don't have to thank me. And don't get used to sleeping like this, you're taking up all my space in the bed.
She couldn't help smiling as she rested her chin on top of her brother's head.
— Let's relax before going to sleep... tomorrow is another day. No fear...
And no guilt.
— — —
Caerius stayed awake for a few more minutes, even after Naeris began showing signs of sleepiness. The warmth of her embrace still seemed to linger in his body, and for some reason, he didn't want to pull away just yet.
— Nae...
— Hmmm, what is it?
— When we get out of here... what's the first thing you're gonna do?
She took a little while to answer. Maybe she was thinking, or maybe she was simply on the verge of falling asleep.
— Eat something that didn't come from a delayed shipment.
Caerius let out a quiet laugh.
— Seriously? I thought you'd say something nice. I don't know, maybe something like rare jewels?
— You know I don't care about that stuff, brat. Besides, I'm beautiful even when I'm dressed in rags.
He laughed again, this time trying to muffle the sound so he wouldn't wake Nemis.
— I think I want a house. A real one, you know? With enough room for everyone.
— Everyone?
— Yeah. You, Nemis, Din... maybe even a few dogs.
— Dogs? You can barely take care of yourself.
— Hey! I'd take much better care of them than you would.
They fell silent for a few moments.
— But I want that too. A house where nobody has to worry about what's going to be missing tomorrow.
Naeris replied in a quieter voice, and Caerius smiled... turning his gaze back toward the ceiling.
— Then it's settled. When we make it, we'll have a house.
— With dogs?
— With dogs.
She gave him a gentle elbow.
...
The boy closed his eyes, but a memory surfaced in his mind. One of those that appear without being invited.
He remembered when he had first arrived in Morrow-en, still a little boy, unsure of how to approach other people. He had very few memories of his old life or his biological parents, aside from fragments of a place he had come from. And... even as an outsider, Naeris had been the first to pick him up and carry the little boy to her humble home. Back then, everyone had initially refused to take the child in, saying it was dangerous. She dragged him along anyway. And, over time, everyone grew accustomed to the little one. From old Din... to Helvik. And... even though he hadn't been born there, he had managed to find, in that very same place... a family.
A genuine love.
— Thank you for that day, too.
— You're being awfully sentimental today. Go to sleep already, idiot...
He obeyed, still smiling.
...
Gradually, silence took over the room. Naeris fell asleep first. Caerius, on the other hand, kept looking out the window, watching the artificial stars shining in the distance.
The memory of Norkia returned to his mind.
The stall, the conversation, the smoke slowly rising as she spoke. And that strange feeling that he had seen it all before. He tried to remember more clearly. The memory that had surfaced during the day was still there, although it was growing more distant by the moment. Norkia quitting smoking. Why had he thought of that?
He knew the woman. He knew she had been smoking for years. There was no reason to imagine she had given up the habit.
Maybe he had confused her with someone else.
Yes. That had to be it.
Caerius turned his head toward his sister, who was sleeping peacefully beside him.
— Good night, Naeris.
And finally... peace.