Ardel shifted uneasily in his sleep, finally awakening from the bustling noises of Lomedor city. He sat up, his back pressed up against the cold ally wall. He arose, a sigh escaping his lips. The small boy rubbed his eyes with his tiny fists, yawning as he did so. With that final stretch, he turned down out of the ally and into the familiar market square.

Shops and stalls littered the entire plaza, the noises of bustling people and persuasive vendors flooded into Ardel's ears. He quickly shoved his way through the crowd, muttered "Excuse me," and "Pardon me," along the way, remembering what Dagrhina had told him. The grizzly man's voice echoed through his ears. "Manners are what make a lasting first impression," he said with a chuckle. Ardel even remembered his response, "Do you use manners?" Like any question an adult couldn't answer, he just responded with a chuckle, shaking the child's hair.

At last, Ardel found what he was looking for. The grizzly 'consultant' was buying a fish, for his real family. The child ran up behind Dagrhinna, throwing his arms around him. His tiny body had to stretch to fully grasp the man, for he was strong and wide. "Ohh ho!" He roared, controlling his hand as not to drop his coins. "Ardel!" he said, handing over the gold swiftly, and grabbing a fish hanging from the tops of the stall.

"Come walk with me, I need to drop this off to Ainanna," he said. Ardel gave a small nod, and continued with the man out of the ally and towards the small suburb he lived in. "What do you want to talk about today?" Dagrhinna asked, as he did every day when they returned back to his house. This man was the closest thing Ardel had to a father. The man could not afford to adopt the orphan, but helped him in his desperate times and helped the boy loved to do most: ask questions. Ardel clutched his free hand that was not holding the fish.

Ardel heaved a breath, starting to speak, "Ya know how you help people find heroes, right?" he asked. Hagrhinna chuckled. The man found mercenaries for the people who requested him, calling himself a 'consultant'. He told the boy that he met the world's most wonderful heroes, seeing the most valiant of beings on Arda. "Yes, what do you want to know about them?"

"Well, were do the heroes live?" he asked, looking up at Hagrhinna with his large blue eyes. "Why?" the grizzly man asked. He asked that every day to every question. That was the two's routine. Hagrhinna would buy something in the stalls before he headed off to work, and would drop it off at his family's home. It was quite a walk, so on the way, Ardel would ask a question, sometimes questions that the man didn't have answers to. Hagrhinna always had to ask why, because the Ardel always had a reason to provoke the question, through some event or occurrence he saw.

Ardel stopped, releasing the man's hand. "Well, yesterday, I was at the temple, and this man in HUGE armor came in with a crowd of people." He paused for breath, "and then, and then, and then" he lost his words, "Oh yeah, and then he threw out a huge bag of gold to the church!" he exclaimed, throwing out his arms.

"He earned that gold in an adventure!" he said with widened eyes. "He was gone for months! Were did he live?" Ardel asked simply. "Why, he camps out on the ground when he's adventuring!" Hagrhinna said as if every simpleton knew the answer. "Oh!" Ardel said, jumping up, his head still not even reaching to the man's shoulder. "OK than," and with that, the two walked down to his house.

A childs screams could be heard throughout the small, three roomed house. "Well, see ya later poopy head!" Ardel exclaimed, jumping into the 'consultants' outstretched arms. The two held out a brief embrace. Hagrhinna got up, dropping the boy. "Well, until again," he said, and opened the door, flooded in a large scream. "WHY ARE YOU LATE!?!" Roared Ainanna. "YOU WERE WITH THAT STUPID ORPHAN!" Hagrhinna only muttered, "I'm sorry honey," Ardel sighed, turning back towards his ally. Why did it seem Hagrhinna was the only nice person in Lomedor?

Having spent a few more days in the city, Kogata was beginning to get used to the cold, although not much. Her days usually consisted off waking up in some abandoned pile of something and then moving about to try and find any scraps of something that she might be able to pick up off the ground. Having come from a desert village, Kogata was used to eating little food however even she had limits and the colder temperatures of the city weren't helping matters much.

By far the biggest problem that prevented Kogata from finding food was her almost constant paranoia, she was startled by even the smallest things and would sooner run away from any other person before asking them for help. In a way, Kogata could probably be compared to a small rodent, her features were kind of small and chubby and her nose was tiny as apposed to a pair or wide, staring blue eyes. Even the way she moved reflected that of a rodent, at first she'd glance around the corner and duck back in whenever she saw somebody, and when the coast was clear she'd shuffle along the street as fast as possible and find the next hiding place.

She wasn't keen on getting found out all that much, in fact she'd already had a run in with a couple of strangers that she'd rather avoid in the future. She was growing used to the activities of the city now and had begun to carefully plan her day to day activities, which usually started with crouching out of sight and waiting for people to drop something. So far this plan was having little success and she was as hungry as ever, she doubted she'd last long in this city.

So that morning she'd started just the same, waking up with her fly dragon, Kyte, fluttering around her, crawling out of her hiding place to check to see if there was anybody watching and then dashing to the other side of the street. She crouched there for a few moments before moving out carefully and looking around. She moved down the street, making sure nobody was going to see her. She didn't fancy another group of the city guard coming down on her like a sack of potatoes, she'd been scolded once already.

Turning a corner she looked up and immediately dashed back behind it, noticing a small crowd of people milling in the square. She peeked around again and noticed that they all seemed far too preoccupied to pay her any attention. She moved across the street rather rapidly and vanished down a side alley, running along it and trying not to make a sound. She emerged from the other side panting slightly and leaned on her legs, trying to catch her breath again. She looked up again and froze, noticing that there was somebody else on this street after all.

Ardel shuffled around his ally, tidying up the area. Each and every night, he cleaned up the ally, picking up trash people left behind, waste that dogs produced, and sometimes this routine even included washing away dirt. He always washed away the dirk in his sleeping area: a spot of the cobblestone that was smoother than the rest of the patch. He took pride in his clean nature, making it as clean as an ally could get. Although, at times the job could get dirty. Some uncaring citizens would dump their chamber pots there once a week, and every time someone did so, Ardel would say rather loudly (in hopes the perpetrator could hear him) "Do the people who do this not know that an orphan lives in this ally?"

He began by picking up the various apple cores and banana peels down the ally, putting them in the trash bins in the square. This took several trips, and this part of his schedule took the main portion of his night. At last, when he was complete, he decided to enjoy a little game. He slowly unsecured his safety dagger from his side, remembering the teachings of Dagrhinna. The man's words rang in his mind, "Always remember, use the dagger only when needed," Ardel grimaced, knowing that this was not a necessary moment to use the dagger, but still he continued, following the safety procedures the man had taught him when he received the dagger.

"Always make sure you are arms length away from anyone," Dagrhinna had told him. Ardel plopped down in front of the wall across his sleeping spot, arms length away from it, staring at the carvings in front of him. Stick figures of a boy and a man stared lifelessly at him, dogs and cats and hearts and suns all scattered the wall. He then moved his arm in a circle around him, the blade extended. Once the boy ensured that no one was inside his area, he began to chip and carve away at the wall.

But then, he was startled by a noise. Someone was in his ally. He quickly put his dagger back at his side, hoping that it wasn't some adult to punish him. He ran up to see exactly who it was. A girl stood at the edge of the ally, panting. She froze as soon as she saw him. "Oh hi!" exclaimed the orphan excitedly. He plopped down in front of her, his legs outstretched. He was fatigued from his 'chores' that he had just done. He hadn't met many children in his lifetime, and each time he did, it was a wonderful opportunity to meet a friend, which he had few. "Nice to meet you!" he said cheerily, outstretching his hand as an introduction.

Kogata stared, wild eyes at the stranger, taking a nervous step backwards. She was always wary of other people and had grown not to trust anybody any farther than she could throw them, which wasn't very far. Keeping her eyes on the stranger as he stepped out, Kogata's expression changed once she could see him clearly; it was a small boy, only a few years younger than her, and by the looks of it he seemed homeless as well, although he did seem a tad more better off than she did. She unfroze and relaxed, the boy was far smaller than she was and even if he was hostile she doubted he could do much to her.

It was with relief though that she watched the boy approach, glad that for once she wasn't encountering a six foot, menacing warrior able to cut her head off within a single second, no this time it was merely a small boy wishing to make friends with someone his own age, well almost his own age anyway, a five year gap wasn't much to go by when you were barely a decade old. She had to admit, the boy looked kind of cute the way he was sitting down in front of her. Kogata found it amazing the way he kept a positive attitude in his situation, all Kogata had been doing was scurrying about like a field mouse all the time, and looking much like one. The boy in front of her was more like an eager puppy, happy to play with whoever came by and not thinking the worst of it.

Kogata smiled - not something that happened often - and knelt down to the boy's own height, tentatively taking the boy's outstretched hand.
"H-hello," she replied, still nervous about talking.
She barely remembered being as young as the boy was, however it was a time in her life she would rather forget about than cherish, however seeing the small form in front of of somehow brought these memories flooding back. They weren't pleasant. In an attempt to take her mind off this, Kogata turned her gaze the the rest of the alleyway, it was unusually tidy for an alley, although there were signs that somebody had been clearing it up. Looking around a bit more she noticed that there was something carved into the wood at one end.

She was transfixed by these images for a few moments, wondering how one boy could have carved all of those. She turned her attention back to the boy again, giving him a nervous smile.
"Sorry, I spaced out," she said "Err...My name's Kogata, what's yours?" She assumed this was the right was to introduce oneself, she'd never been taught it but it did seem the best approach to take given the situation.
Calm down, she told herself He's much smaller than you, there's no harm he could do.

Lomedor was one of the largest towns in Ea, and unfortunately it had its share of people in bad times and slums. Umbra was used to these areas of town, dark dreary places where people really never seemed to stop watching you. But this part of town was not as bad. There were some people but it was close to the business district so there were not that many to worry about. Not that Umbra had to worry but there were a lot of people who were able to disguise themselves and be who they were not.

Umbra wore her silver cloak over her armor and sword as she walked so not to draw much attention to herself. It was bad enough she was walking in Lomedor when things were as bad as they were on the moon and on Arda, and her being a Captain ranking in the army...well that was asking for trouble. She did not bother wearing her usual uniform and stuck with her usual white shirt, khaki pants and black boots instead of her silver-blue-black uniform that was worn by the soldiers in the Moon Demon army. Umbra turned down the way to an alley, her long black hair was done up in a ponytail that kept it off of her neck. She noticed that this alley was quite clean and two children were talking there, she smiled and nodded to the two of them. "Hello. How are you two doing this lovely day?" she asked as she nodded to the both of them being sure to keep her hands away from her weapons as not to frighten them.

Ardel shook the tentative hand in front of him, still keeping his same bright smile. Then, the girl in front of him sort of froze, staring at the drawings carved on the walls. "Sorry, I spaced out," she said "Err...My name's Kogata, what's yours?" Said the girl, Kogata. "Kogata," he said, as if tasting the word on his tongue as a person would at a fine diner, "I'm Ardel!" he exclaimed, throwing his hands in the air with overwhelming excitement. "Nice to meet you Kogata!" he said, saying 'Kogata' slowly.

Then, a women in a white shirt and khakis came walking down the tidy alley, stopping by the two children. "Hello. How are you two doing this lovely day?" Said the adult, keeping her hands away from her weapons as not to oppose the children. Ardel certainly didn't mind being around weapons, Dagrhinna wielded weapons very frequently, but it seemed Kogata was somewhat jumpy, even to a child.

"Hi! I'm Ardel!" shouted the boy, throwing his hands up in the air again. He rose to his feet to get a better perspective on the towering adult. "Whats your name?" asked the boy, hopping slightly. He was overwhelmed with excitement, overjoyed by the sudden company. The boy didn't have many opportunities to interact with children his age, or adults for that matter. Most of the citizens of Lomedor fled from the boy, ignored him, or even scolded him for some obscure reason. Not many adults, or children for that matter, respected orphans well. Dagrhinna was one of the few.

Then, with a massive jump, Ardel began to talk. "I have a question big lady!" he asked, assuming that adults had the answer for everything. "Kogata said that she spaced out," he said, pointing over to the mouse like girl, "And how can someone space out?" he said with a confused look spreading over his face. The boy bounced slightly in excitement, "I mean, how can you space? Does it mean you fly to the sky! THAT WOULD BE AMAZING!" shouted the boy, now jumping higher and higher. "I wanna space out!" said the boy with excitement.

"If someone spaced out, would they go to the moon?" asked the boy, "cuz that doesn't make much sense, cuz she spaced out and then she didn't go to space, cuz she stayed right here!" he said with a confused tone, his hopping ceased. "I mean, did she lie?" he asked, turning to Kogata, "Did you lie to me Kogata?" he asked, his voice choking from tears, "Why would you do that?" he asked, tears streaming down his face. He fell to the ground, weeping and wailing loudly throughout the alley. He shrieked, his wail echoing through the entire alley.

This wasn't so bad, in fact it would probably do her good if she tried to sociliaze with somebody else, after all he was only five years younger than her and as far as she could tell he was homeless as well so it would make sense for her to get along easily with him. However it turned out that she was still jumpy about him, for a soon as she'd introduced herself he replied rather energetically, taking Kogata completely by surprise.

She rocked backwards slightly at his energetic introcution but held herself together all the same, forcing a rather nervous smile onto her face.
"S-sure, nice to meet you too, Ardel," it sounded a lot like the name of some ancient dragon-slaying warrior to her, perhaps in something like twenty years time he would be slaying evil dragons and becoming famous, but right now he would have to deal with the 'no home, no parents' issue.
She managed to turn her nervous smile into a genuine one, and felt a slight admiration for the way he kept a positive personality going, of course he probably didn't have the problem of a step father picking on you just because you're half-blooded.

She enjoyed the situation for the moment, thinking about what the best way to carry it on would be. However, her musings were cut short as a new person entered the scene. Kogata looked up and saw a dark haired woman standing just a few feet away from them, her eyes clearly pointing right at the tiny pair. Ardel seemed practically overjoyed to see a new person already however Kogata had a completely different reaction. As soon as she saw the stranger and heard her spoke she jumped like a field mouse and fell backwards, moving to crawl away from the figure.

Ardel on the other hand appeared exstatic over the new appearance, he jumped up eagerly to talk to the woman, spouting a lot of random statements, one of which involving what Kogata had said before. Kogata froze, not from fear but from the surprise of his statement: Asking what she'd meant. She looked over at the small boy, taking her eyes off the stranger and staring at him, a mix of both fear from the woman and surprise at the boy showing on her face. It didn't help matters much when Ardel turned around and demanded to know if she'd been lying or not, having taken a complete change in personality.

Kogata merely stared at him for a few minutes, her face having resorted to complete surprise. Her mouth hung open slightly and a few inaudible words were coming out as she tried to answer his question.
"Err...Well...I," she began "That is I...Err..." It was a fairly simple question, however the sudden impact of it had left her somewhat lost for words "You see...I...." She laughed nervousley.
She looked up at the stranger again, almost as if she was asking her for help but it was more along the lines of making sure she wasn't about to bite her head off.

She gaped at the woman for a few moments, taking note of her odd dress sense. Her eyes moved down her figure and suddenle noticed that she was armed, she wasn't reaching for them but that didn't mean to say she wouldn't. Kogata immediatlely scrambled to her feet and backed away from her stiffly. Why did she always have to encounter people when she just wanted to be left alone? Why?!