Young Writers Society

"I'd kinda like to not steal from people," Jaron said. A black blanket started to grow from over the top of his head, slowly enveloping him. "It's hard to find anyone to trust in the north, and the last thing we need is a reputation."

Kendrik nodded. "If nobody sees us," he said, picking up another piece of ham, "That'd be great. But anyone it'd be worth stealin' from would probably find us an' kill us."

"Blankets and cash would've been nice, though," said Jaron, looking up at Robin. "But it looks like this whole other worlds thing is going to work against us."



With a snort, Fyrsil stopped and looked around. "We've been walking around for a while," he said. "Is there anything else you want to do?'



"Yeah," Arlais said. "I dunno how it could've survived, but we wouldn't have figured it out if it didn't go after Jaron. I, don't really want to think about what all it's been doing without us noticing."

Fortunately, she didn't have to - Tristan was standing a short distance away. The distracted otter had dipped his webbed paws in the water, and appeared to be staring down at his reflection.

Arlais walked over to him, tapping him on the shoulder. When he whirled around and blinked, she gestured to herself and Janos. "Want to go on a walk with us?"

Slumping his shoulders, Tristan stared at the ground and nodded. "Sure," he said.

"Yeah," Robin agreed. "I think it is."


Greed and Envy exchanged a look. It didn't seem like his sibling had anything else they wanted to do, and Greed had said all of the things he needed to say.

"We're good," he said. "Want to head back now?"


Janos said nothing in response - that conversation had clearly ended, even though he did want to say that they would have noticed more odd things if the person they had killed was truly up to no good. But it wasn't his place to speak, and he fell back into the same silence from before.

A blanket firmly wrapped around him, Jaron ate a few more blueberries in silence. "I like you, Robin," he eventually said, staring at the bowl in his lap. "It sucks that we'll be back in different worlds when this is all over with - you have a lot of great ideas, and you don't mind being around me. Lots of people don't exactly like me."



"Sure!" Fyrsil said, staring to walk back towards the house. "I smell food, anyways."



Hng, and Janos had stopped talking. Arlais wasn't quite sure what to make of him or his intentions, so she wasn't exactly happy about the silence that settled over the three of them.

Fortunately, Tristan spoke up. "Were you at the house earlier?" he said, looking up at Janos. "I'm not sure I saw you?"

Robin frowned, grabbing a handful of blueberries.

"Those people are wrong, then," she declared. "You're a really nice person, and a fun one to talk to - I wish I had more people like you in my life."


Greed perked up.

"Oh, I can always do with some food," he said, grinning. He pat his stomach. "I don't need to eat it, but it just taste so good."

Envy glanced at him with an amused look on their face.

"Are you sure you're not Gluttony?" they asked.

Greed replied by nudging them with his elbow.


Janos shook his head.

"I was in the ship," he said.

"Er, I don't really talk much outside of my mind," Jaron began, stopping when he heard Fyrsil's voice by the front door of the house.

The fox waved at Fyrsil as the otter stepped into the room, but Fyrsil quickly made a beeline for some of the sliced-up fish on the table. Fair enough.

"How are things?" Jaron said, now waving to Greed and Envy.



"You knew we landed, right?" Tristan said.

Greed gave a wave and made a beeline for the table; his sibling offered a nod instead.

"Good," Greed said. He grinned - even though it was Envy that she had bonded to first, there was something about Greed's personality that just made her feel at home. "We smelled food, so we came."


Janos nodded.

He hadn't been entirely sure, given that he never been on a ship like it before, but he had suspected that they were no longer in the air from the lack of motion - and the lack of people when he began to wander around the ship again.

"There's lots of food," Jaron said. "And if you'd like me to make anything else, just ask? Because apparently I can make a lot of things."

In the meantime, Fyrsil picked up the fish platter. The fox watched as Fyrsil walked across the room, opening and closing the door that led to the new room. Aegeas had to be awake by now - Jaron guessed that Aegeas had snapped earlier, and Aegeas had always gone back to normal quickly enough - and Fyrsil had probably thought that Aegeas and Kellach were hungry.

"An' if there's anythin' else ya want ta eat," said Kendrik, finishing off yet another slice of ham, "Ya can always tell 'im what it looks like."

Jaron nodded, his train of thought broken. "I'm not sure I can get it exactly right, but I'll try my best."



Tristan blinked. "So you just, wandered around? Were you looking for something? Did you take a nap?" he said.

"This is definitely good for now," Greed said. Envy watched from a short distance away as Greed piled up more food than he could count onto a plate; they tried to figure out what foods he had grabbed, but there was just too much on his plate to figure that out.


"I just wandered around," he confirmed. "I had nothing to look for, and I don't like to take naps - naps are considered to be a waste of time where I'm from, and it's one of the few things I agree with them on."

Jaron nodded, then looked at the massive pile of food that Greed had stacked onto his plate. "Uh, are you hungry?" the fox said. "And how can you eat that much?"



"Naps aren't a waste of time," Tristan said, pulling his head back. "When I was in an army, we had to take naps. Between the marching and the fighting, it wasn't like we could sleep much. And don't you want to sit down and relax, instead of walking around a bunch?"

He glanced back at the ship, only to catch Zogin and Soul beside it. "Or, if we're going to be walking around, should we bring those two along? It doesn't look like they're doing much."

"Not that much," Greed said. "But I'm Greed the Avaricious - I can't help but want everything. Food's one of the few things I can get away with taking, even if I'm not sure how I can get this much into my stomach without feeling sick later."


He would be unable to relax in both scenarios, but he knew he would be unable to sit down. That would prompt more questions than he wanted to answer; walking would give them more distractions to be occupied by.

"I doubt they would want to join us," he said. "Zogin and Soul aren't exactly...fond of me."

Jaron's blanket grew a bit bigger as the hound made his way over, crouching down and sitting next to Jaron. "Um, I can probably make a bag or something if you get sick," the fox said. Jaron wrapped himself and Kendrik in the blanket; the hound rested his head on Jaron's shoulder and smiled.



"Um, what does that mean?" Tristan said. "Are they uncomfortable around you, or do they hate you for something?"

"Thanks," Greed said. He stood where he was and began to devour his makeshift feast, leaving Envy to linger beside Robin. Neither one said anything, but both seemed very content with where they were.


"A combination of both," Janos said. He looked back in their direction, noting the way that Zogin was glaring at him despite how far apart they currently were. "Zogin certainly hates me, and Soul always feels uncomfortable around me."

He turned back to Tristan and Arlais.

"I'm sure that they have already told Arlais from the way she was quizzing me earlier," he said, "so I see no harm in telling you the truth, either: I kidnapped Soul."

There was so much more to the story than that single statement, but he would respect Soul's wishes - sad as they were - to keep his secret.

Halfway through the bowl of blueberries, Jaron's face looked a tad like someone had splashed paint over it, but that didn't bother him at all. "So, what's the plan?" he said, looking over at Robin and Envy. "You two want any weapons, or somewhere to take a nap, or something to do? I dunno how long it's going to take before it shows up."



While Arlais looked away and coughed, Tristan frowned. "Why?" he said, after a minute of Janos not saying anything else. "You don't just kidnap people for no reason."

"I don't mind talking some more," Robin said, grinning. "It's been fun chatting with you."

"I'm good," Envy said. They glanced over at their brother, the ghost of a smile "Someone needs to keep an eye on Greed."

Greed gave a quick reply, but it was impossible to understand with all of the food he had stuffed in his mouth.


He mulled over the right response to give.

"I was trying to win back the support of my kind," he said. That part, at least, was true, and something that they likely wouldn't question. "Soul is an asset for anyone who is on his side, so I thought it would be a good idea to kidnap him to gain that support. It likely hasn't come up yet, but Soul is a healer - few people possess magic like his."

None, in fact, that weren't...special. Focusing on his ability to heal was the one way that he could explain why he did what he did without outright revealing the truth.

It was the least he could do to make up for his mistake.

"Erm, what do you want to talk about?" Jaron said. "Is there anything about me you want to know? Since we're all stuck in my mind."



Arlais's expression softened. She didn't know why Janos was being honest now, when he was talking to someone who hadn't been involved in any of this, but she could start to understand why he'd done what he'd done. Had he still kidnapped someone? Sure, but it sounded like he had some not-terrible reasons for doing it.

Tristan, meanwhile, stared out over the lake, scratching his head. After a few seconds, he turned back to look at Janos. "Aren't healers supposed to be kinda common and stuff?" he said. "Sure, these are other worlds we're talking about here, but it's a little surprising. Also, why'd you lose that support in the first place?"