Theron stood in the center of the dead-end alley like he’d been planted there, brown hair catching the thin light that filtered down between the buildings. Around him, six or seven children fanned out in a rough half-circle - each gripping makeshift weapons that would have been laughable if their hands weren’t shaking. Kitchen knives. Wooden sticks worn smooth from use.155Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqPQYRMtSB4
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The pickpocket stood among them now, chest heaving from the chase, one hand still curled protectively around whatever he’d stuffed into his pocket.155Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9uouRiJDT0
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“Theron.” The name came out flat, more statement than greeting. “What are you doing here?”155Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4Apq0LxPGV
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Theron turned toward him. His brown eyes widened slightly, surprise flickering across his earnest face before settling into something that might have been relief. “Celvian! A fortunate meeting.” He gestured toward the children with an open hand. “One of these young ones came to me in the market. Said they needed help. That someone was hurt and they didn’t know what to do.” A pause. “So I followed.”155Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡN6aeAoPhIZ
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Cel exhaled slowly through his nose.155Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrhYzo9txn9
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Of course he had.155Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhX5qAV89Au
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Understanding crystallized with the kind of certainty that left no room for doubt. 155Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡygTqplWWYA
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“You were tricked,” Cel said.155Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0Uh8D2t634
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Theron’s brow furrowed. “Tricked?”155Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOTkddPfbGI
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“Yes.” Cel’s gaze flicked toward the children.155Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡytV0M57TK7
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“That can’t be.” Theron shook his head, certainty settling back over his features like a shield locking into place. “She seemed genuinely frightened. I know fear when I see it.”155Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZEuA8Sqmmc
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Cel didn’t bother arguing further. He turned instead, addressing the problem that mattered more.155Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2UL5WfMY95
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“Why are you here then?” Theron asked before Cel could act, tilting his head with open curiosity. 155Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡd03Rl0tOxP
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“I was robbed.” The words came clipped. “A boy ran into me and took my coins. And something else.” His eyes found the pickpocket again, the boy shrinking slightly under the attention. “I followed him here.”155Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSX4EViFWlb
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Understanding didn’t quite reach Theron’s face. He opened his mouth - probably to ask another—155Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvGcFnGlzwB
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A tall boy stepped forward instead, stick raised, voice cracking somewhere between command and desperation. “Both of you. Empty your belongings. Everything you’ve got.” He swallowed hard, jaw setting with the kind of forced resolve that came from having no other options left. “Do that, and nobody gets hurt.”155Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCXA6ZeEQIY
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Silence pressed into the alley’s narrow space.155Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFlMhk7Nmz8
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Cel looked at the boy. Then at the stick, thin and unremarkable, the kind of branch that snapped if you looked at it too hard. 155Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRnhgNkEjM3
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“You picked the wrong person.”155Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡk4DaAKJld8
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Silent Moon materialized in his grip with its familiar weight, violet steel catching what little light reached down into the alley.155Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡT3qzSIbOuL
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The reaction was immediate.155Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJ3vS9HEmzN
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Sticks lowered. Knives dropped, clattering against stone. Children who’d been standing their ground moments before scrambled backward, pressing themselves against the walls, eyes gone wide with the particular terror of people who understood exactly what they were looking at. 155Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIL7OJ07zYp
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A Chosen. 155Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡffaxiY8pl1
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Someone who could end all of them without breaking a sweat.155Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOddTvBewdO
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Only the tall boy held his position. His stick trembled in his grip, breathing gone ragged, but his feet stayed planted where they were. Fear lived plainly on his face - Cel could see it, the same fear he’d worn a hundred times himself, dressed up as something else because admitting it outright meant losing whatever ground you had left to stand on.155Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuAz4Y20uMw
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“Celvian.” Theron’s voice cut through, sharper than Cel had heard it before. “What in the God’s name are you doing?”155Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ56YmqmMYRo
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“Taking back what’s mine.” The words came out flat, unbothered. “Obviously.”155Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4URprvVQGn
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“You can’t.” Theron moved between him and the children. “Look at them. Look at what they’re wearing, how thin their arms are. These aren’t criminals. They’re stealing because they have to.”155Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGnt2Ghy18F
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“And?” Cel stared at him.155Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAK9o9XmJAt
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“We should help them.” Theron’s earnestness had hardened into something more like conviction, his brown eyes carrying the particular light of a man who’d already decided how the story should end. He turned toward the children then, his voice softening into something meant to reassure. “None of you need to be afraid. You can keep the coins. All of them.”155Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVvDaP2i4U6
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“What? No!” Cel’s voice cracked sharp across the alley.155Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQRMQ9LpmA4
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Theron blinked at him, genuinely startled by the objection.155Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJt3XIvC0Fo
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“Those are my things you’re giving away.” Cel’s jaw worked, frustration climbing fast. “You don’t get to decide that. You don’t even know what you’re deciding.”155Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrcHRZKPhtp
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“I’m simply asking that we show mercy—”155Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlgOjVHREtt
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“They’re not keeping it anyway.” Cel cut him off, the words coming faster. 155Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡF3KfvnJ391
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Theron’s expression shifted. “What do you mean?”155Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3IGDkk5TfT
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“You think a street gang trains children to steal and lets them walk away with the profit?” He gestured at children. “Someone’s running this. Some adult who found hungry kids and gave them a reason to risk their necks, and takes almost everything they bring back.”155Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIOhBwPF20P
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Theron’s face went through several expressions in quick succession - confusion, disbelief, something that finally settled into horror.155Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡp3LK0330MZ
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“That’s...” His voice had lost its certainty entirely. “That’s monstrous.”155Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpd4zBClPEi
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“It’s common.” Cel’s tone stayed flat, unimpressed by the revelation that seemed to be reshaping something fundamental in Theron’s understanding of the world. “Every city has some version of it. Poor children are easy to exploit because they have nothing else.”155Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrmGQanV1kF
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“Then we must help them.” Theron’s conviction returned, transformed now, sharper and more urgent. “If they’re being used - forced into this - that makes it worse. We should find whoever’s responsible. Free these children from whatever hold they have over them.”155Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3vNWZMYz8t
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“That’s not my problem.”155Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMC8S7uesNI
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The words landed harder than Cel intended, but he didn’t take them back.155Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdD7WiOeyEu
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Theron stared at him like he’d said something in a language that he couldn’t understand. 155Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLeJY0CvGvk
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“How is it not your problem?” Theron stepped closer, earnestness radiating from every line of his body. “These children are victims. Someone’s exploiting them. We’re Chosen - we have the power to help. How can you just walk away from that?”155Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUFw87s3qVL
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“Because fixing every broken thing in Stella isn’t my responsibility.” The words came sharper than intended. “I have my own problems.”155Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXz6fMKxHLN
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They stood there, opposite convictions filling the narrow space between them like something physical.155Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEv5k3rxeIt
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Eventually Cel stepped forward, moving past Theron toward the tall boy, intent on finishing what he’d started before this conversation had derailed into philosophy.155Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnCoAqMYCcJ
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Theron’s hand caught his arm.155Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4eSPvG1gWD
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Not hard. Not violent. Just firm.155Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3nYm6EMS8j
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Cel’s eyes cut toward him.155Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡow3GZTsLAp
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For a moment, something hot and immediate rose in his chest - the old instinct, the one that had put Kyros through a dormitory floor. The urge to shrug off the hand and make clear exactly what happened to people who put themselves between him and what he wanted.155Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbOuOMaBGQQ
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Then a different thought arrived, cold and calculating.155Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡx1fJpNZNdg
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Theron wasn’t just another student. He was the All-Blessed. The only person since the empire’s founding to receive marks from all seven deities. The center of the succession crisis that currently fractured the royal family into competing factions.155Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡn0FW1zhVvr
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Making an enemy of Theron meant making an enemy of the Life Clan faction backing him. Which would be monumentally stupid.155Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbgkPQbE9K0
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The anger drained out of him, replaced by something tired and resigned.155Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFVneDyR5cZ
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Cel exhaled and dismissed Silent Moon with a thought.155Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7XyG1iGLTn
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“Fine.” The word came out clipped. He looked past Theron toward the children. “Keep the money.” His eyes found the pickpocket instead. “But I want the necklace back.”155Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZJjzTZRn9U
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The boy hesitated, glancing toward the tall one for permission. Something passed between them - a small nod, reluctant but final. The boy reached into his pocket, pulled out the cloth-wrapped shape, and held it out at arm’s length like it might bite him.155Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡV4wsbRrcgI
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Cel crossed the distance and took it. Unwrapped enough to confirm the crescent shape still sat intact. Then he tucked it away, out of reach of anyone else’s quick hands.155Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfiTgIACPbw
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Theron watched the exchange with an expression that had already forgiven everything.155Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDn3uX5Em6u
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“I knew it,” he said, something warm and pleased threading through his voice. “I knew you were a good person underneath all that scowling.”155Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzbPRWjrrM5
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Cel didn’t answer.155Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡScTn825Gvm
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He turned and walked out of the alley, leaving Theron alone with the half-circle of frightened children. 155Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡz2ns8GwjFk
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He wasn't sure when the decision had been made - only that his feet had carried him toward the Golden Hart before the rest of him caught up. By the time he reached it, the sun had dropped low enough that the street outside had gone the color of old rust, shadows stretching long across cobblestones still warm from the day. His mood had curdled somewhere between the alley and here, souring further with every step.155Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPD5cXrWmvo
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Pushing the door open, warmth and noise rolled out to meet him - the familiar hum of conversation, the clink of tankards, the smell of roasted meat and spilled ale that had become, somehow, one of the few scents in this city that felt like something pleasant.155Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6uNexcCdYk
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“There he is!” One of the regulars raised a tankard in greeting from his usual table. Another voice called out something similar from near the hearth, a woman who always asked after his week whether or not he answered.155Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzlq8fkaBby
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Cel didn’t respond. Didn’t have the words in him right now, or the patience to perform whatever version of friendliness the moment required. He crossed the room and settled onto his usual stool at the bar.155Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrwXSw9xAkY
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The barkeeper appeared without being summoned, broad shoulders filling the space behind the counter like they always did. “The usual?” 155Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡePVzXSIBW1
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“No.” The word came out flatter than he’d meant it.155Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwleuy9CLiA
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The bartender’s eyebrows rose. Surprise flickered across his weathered features. “That’s a first.” He paused, studying Cel’s expression with the kind of assessment that came from years of reading customers. “What’s wrong?”155Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4das6zMt7r
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Cel considered for a moment.155Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡl8ErB7dNfh
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“I’m out of coin.” He said plainly. “Don’t ask. It’s not worth the story.”155Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7ODgq1M2Jw
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The barkeeper studied him a moment longer, clearly weighing whether to push. Then he shrugged, the motion settling his broad shoulders back into their usual ease. “Fair enough. Man’s got a right to his own business.”155Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡk324Zapj4O
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Cel's hands rested flat against the counter's worn wood. "Keep me company instead. What do you know about the Life Clan and their territory?"155Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQvvo2yXvtI
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---155Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5NvthbdoWE
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