"Wow, kid, I can't believe you moved that big tree all by yourself!" an older man said in disbelief as he stared at the cleared yard where a fallen trunk once lay.
"It wasn't as heavy as it looked, Mr. Reed." Lucian straightened, wiping sweat from his brow and sticking the axe in the stump. "I can come back tomorrow to help repair the chicken coop and get rid of the stump, if you'd like."
The old man laughed. "Oh, you don't have to do all that!" He raised an eyebrow, grinning. "But… I do need the help. Not as young as I used to be."
"Dad, I brought drinks for you and Lulu!" Bell called, running out the back door with two glasses.
"Oh, thanks, sweetie. Right on time," Jeff said, taking one from her.
Bell handed the other to Lucian. "Thanks," he said, sipping. The milk was oddly refreshing under the scorching afternoon sun.
"Jeff dear, could you come help me with the oven again? I can't seem to light it with the matches," an older woman called from inside. She looked exactly like an older Bell except more Beastman like with spotted skin and a tail. They even both had the same style of cow ears.
Jeff sighed, leaning his axe against the chicken coop. "Best I go help the old ball and chain. Thanks for all the help, Lucian. If you want, stick around for dinner. Bessy makes a meannn gumbo!" He gave his hips a little shake as he went inside.
Jeff and his wife disappeared, leaving Bell and Lucian alone. Bell just stared at him with a smile.
"So uh,"
Lucian cleared his throat.
"Your parents seem nice. Are they originally from here?" He sat on the stump, taking another sip of milk.
"Nope!"
Bell smiled warmly. "My dad's from Atheria. He met my mom on a business trip while in Wildkin, and they fell in love. Since it's illegal to marry anyone but another human in Atheria, he quit his job and moved in with my mom's family. But when she got pregnant with me, they started getting death threats from the people who lived in Wildkin, said it wasn't right to give birth to a halfkin." Bell clapped her hands " So! To protect her and my grandparents, my dad brought us here. He heard it was a safe place for all species, and then soon after, my little sister Daisy came along."
She brushed her bottom off, sitting beside Lucian on the stump.
"My mom was upset at first. Her and dad both came from well off families and she missed that life. But she got used to the community and came around on it eventually. My dad, though."
She grinned.
"My dad loved it from the first day. Says he was always meant to be a farmer, and that meeting Mom was his call to action."
She flexed her arm in a mock serious pose, grinning.
Lucian watched her attempt at being funny with a blank face.
"So… you've, uh, lived here your whole life then?"
"Yep!" she chirped. "I love it here. We visited the big cities in Wildkin a few times. Pretty place, fun vacation… but I could never live there. It's wayyy too crowded, and people gave me weird looks. Plus everyone looked dead inside." She giggled. "No other place I'd rather be than here."
'Weird looks?'
"Do you mind if I ask you a strange question, Bell?"
"Shoot, partner!" She made a finger gun and winked.
"You said you got weird looks. Is that because you and your mother look so different?"
Bell's smile faded.
"Yeah. Like I said, I'm what people in Wildkin call a halfkin. When a human and a beastman have a child, in rare cases the offspring can be born without a soulflame." She shrugged. "Like me."
Lucian's eyebrows went up. "Without one? I didn't know that was possible."
"Yeah." Bell leaned back and took a deep breath. "Since interspecies relationships are still a new thing, new information keeps coming out about it. Most recently, from what my father tells me, researchers in Atheria worked out that when humans and beastmen have children, three things happen depending on the mother."
She held up her fingers and counted them off.
"One. The child takes the soulflame color of whatever species the mother is. Two. It's very diluted, and the child has no hope of ever awakening it unless both parents were awakened themselves. Three. The child takes most of its physical traits from the father." She tugged one of her own ears. "So I kept my mom's horns and ears, but everything else is human. Even my skin. Most people find that creepy. Or disgusting."
She was quiet for a second.
"What they've found recently is that if a human and a beastman have a child and they're both lessers, sometimes the child is born with no soulflame at all. Even a lesser who never awakens still shows something. Other people can see it. But for us 'Hollows, is what they're calling us' it's like we don't have a soul at all. Like we're just…"
"Hollow," Lucian finished.
"Yeah." Bell sighed. "So that's why the humans banned it in Atheria. And why it's frowned on in Wildkin."
She glanced over at him. He was looking at her the way a man looks through a window.
"Do you find me weird now?"
"No. Quite the opposite, actually." There was something almost eager in it. "Something happened to my soulflame recently. I don't know how to explain it, so I keep it hidden from everyone now." He turned the glass in his hands. "And when I first met you, I couldn't sense anything at all. I've never encountered that in anyone. So I find it rather… blissful."
"Thanks." Bell brightened. "Oh, that's the other thing. We can't see anybody else's soulflame either, since we haven't got one. Which is a weird feeling, because sometimes we'll come across an awakened who can't control theirs, and it'll be really hard for me to breathe. But my sister Daisy, who was born perfectly fine, thankfully, won't feel a thing." She tapped her chin. "I wonder if the researchers know why that is."
She let it go with a shrug.
"But I see it as a blessing in disguise. Because from the way Daisy explains it, a person's soulflame can sort of hide who they are. Metaphorically speaking. And since I'm blind to them, I just see the person." She smiled at him. "Like you, Lulu. You say your soulflame's weird, but all I see is you. So all I know is you."
Lucian looked at her for a moment.
"You know," he said, "I think you're about as far from soulless as a person can get. If anything, I'd say you've got one of the better souls I've come across."
Bell's whole face came back on, slowly, as he said it.
"And as for your looks. Where I come from you'd be considered rather beautiful. In fact, I have a cousin who would probably go blind on the spot if he saw you." He shrugged. "So don't ever think you're creepy looking, or disgusting. They're most likely just jealous of your smile."
Bell giggled. "Thank you. I think I needed to hear that." She nudged him. "Speaking of, where are you from, Lulu?"
Lucian let out a breath.
"A place I don't ever want to go back to."
Bell tilted her head. "So does that mean you're staying here now?"
"If Amira will let me," he admitted, staring off into the distance.
Bell frowned. "Well, if she won't, you can stay with me! Id be happy to have you close by."
Lucian smiled warmly. "Thanks Bell. I'll keep that in mind."
The smile did something to Bell that Lucian was in no way prepared for. She threw both arms around him and pulled his face directly into her chest.
"Oh, *Lulu*, you're just so adorable!"
"*Ehm.*"
A voice called from beyond the low fence.
Lucian broke free from the "pillows of death" and turned around.
Amira was standing at the fence with her arms crossed and one finger tapping steadily against her own bicep, wearing a smile with nothing kind anywhere in it. Beside her, Layla stood with a big grin on her face.
Bell shot up and bounced over, hugging Layla. "Hi, Layla! Haven't seen you all day! Did you drink too much last night?"
Layla peeled her off, chuckling. "Yeah, something like that. Hort wouldn't let me leave until he beat me in a drinking contest. I ended up carrying his pig ass home."
"That Hort. Always up to no good." Bell laughed, then turned. "So you must be Amira?" She put her hand out. "I'm Bell. I think we met earlier on the main road."
Amira smiled thinly and shook it. "Yes. We did."
"Lucian's told me allll about you." Bell grinned. "You seem rather… peachy."
Amira chuckled. It came out at a slightly wrong pitch.
Lucian climbed over the fence, brushing off his hands. "You two done talking already?" he asked calmly.
"Yes. Layla's going to show us where *we* will be sleeping tonight." The emphasis had a point on it.
Layla giggled. "Goodbye, Bell. I'll see you tomorrow with the little shi- er, kiddos." She waved.
Bell waved back brightly. "Goodbye Layla! Nice to meet you Amira! Oh! And don't forget our deal Lulu!"
Lucian waved goodbye.
Amira's eye twitched at the name Lulu.
They walked in silence for a few minutes.
"So… what did you two talk about all evening?" she asked sweetly through gritted teeth.
"Nothing really. I mostly helped her father move a dead tree."
"Was your shirt off?"
Her eyes had narrowed to almost nothing.
Before Lucian could work out what had happened to the conversation, Layla cut across it.
"Aaand here we are."
She pointed to a large, slightly shabby house. The grass was overgrown, but the structure held strong. "All the farmland behind it belongs here too. Tools are still in the shed, though they'll probably need some repairs."
Amira smiled softly.
The yard came back to her first. Her mother standing in it with her hands on her hips. Her father saying something she couldn't hear anymore. Her brother, older, taller, watching her run circles around the well and pretending to be bored by it.
"Home away from home," she whispered.
"Anyway, I'll leave you to it. If y'all need anything, I'll be at the tavern the rest of the night," Layla said, walking down the dirt road toward the village.
Amira stepped inside, running her fingers along the old wood. She struck a match and lit the candles around the house. Lucian followed inspecting the structure.
It was surprisingly clean. Dusty in places, but well kept. Three rooms: a bedroom, a guest room used for storage, and a half library, half office still full of books. At the front was a living room with a large chair before a fireplace.
Above it hung a family portrait that was half covered with a cloth, only part of it visible. A very young Amira, a young boy with a man's hand on his shoulder, and an older woman who looked just like Amira except her hair was jet black. She wore a fine black dress that was elegant and screamed royalty.
To the left of the living room was a dining table big enough to seat six, and beyond that the kitchen. Multiple ovens, a broad counter, and a cutout window that peeked into the living room.
"You look just like your mother," Lucian murmured.
Amira froze, forgetting the portrait was still up. Panic rushed through her.
"Ah, thanks," she managed, voice stiff.
"She's beautiful. Just like you." The words slipped out of Lucian absentmindedly, still staring at the portrait.
Amira flushed, glancing at him. The soft orange light from the setting sun flooded through the window, brushing over his skin like timeless sand.
"You too," she whispered, before realizing what she'd said.
Lucian's gaze shifted to the imposing young man in the painting. "I'm guessing that's your brother? He seems rather… formidable."
Still dazed, Amira nodded. "Yeah, he was—" She caught herself, panic sparking. "I-I mean, that's none of your business! I don't even know who those people are!" She laughed nervously and hurriedly covered the rest of the painting with the cloth.
Lucian finally looked at her, his expression calm but sharp. "Amira."
The way he said her name grounded her. "Y-yes?"
"It's alright. You can tell me when you're ready. But don't lie to me." His voice was firm, with a quiet edge. "I was lied to my entire life. I won't live around it again."
Her heart clenched. "Got it," she breathed, forcing a smile. "Thanks."
The air grew heavy between them.
"Are you hungry?" Amira asked quickly, breaking the silence.
"Yes." Lucian said it quickly. He hadn't eaten all day. "Cutting up that tree earlier has made me really hungry."
"Okay, let me check the kitchen."
Lucian sat at a polished table with elegant chairs, out of place in the rustic house. A book lay there.
*Little Amira's Cookbook.*
He opened it carefully. The pages were colorful, decorated with pressed flowers. Most recipes were sweets. A few had stars beside them. One in particular caught his eye: *Demon Prince's Stew.*
Amira returned, frowning. "Most of the bread's moldy and all the vegetables are rotten. We don't really have anything to eat." She sat across from him.
Lucian lifted the book. "Is this yours?" he asked gently.
Her face flared red. "Where did you find that?!" She snatched it from his hands, clutching it to her chest. "You didn't read it, did you?"
"Only a few pages," Lucian admitted. "If there's nothing to eat, why don't we go to Bell's? Her parents were making gumbo—"
"LET'S GO TO THE TAVERN!" Amira blurted suddenly, springing to her feet.
Lucian raised an eyebrow. As she turned away, he thought, just for an instant, he saw a flicker of a crimson Soulflame ripple across her shoulders.
No.
He knew what he saw.