ACHIM
This Title Cover depicts Naomi and Achim sitting together. I like drawing them interacting with one another. There is something about the juxtaposition that makes imagining their conversations fun for me.
Naomi was an idiot. After doing what he could only describe as gallivanting across the inner city, that was all Achim thought. At least, that was the best explanation he could come up with.
Nothing more needed to be said about the metropolis within the wall. The Great City of York, though a splendorous sight to see, was a bed of bigotry. This fact was as clear to Achim as the hot summer day, yet Naomi seemed oblivious to the culture in which she had been submerged.
Naomi interacted with Achim openly, and she was not shy about her familiarity with him. Often giggling at or grabbing onto Achim's person, the task of finding Adlai with him excited her more than he thought it should. It was annoying in some ways. Achim carried the burden of his search for so long that it felt crippling, yet here was a posh-prim kid who seemed to twirl at the thought.
Yes. She was absolutely a child, but there was something invigorating about such pure enthusiasm. Even as Naomi cheered upon finding useless clues, spat bad ideas like machine gun fire, or slowed his progress by insisting on a sit-down every hour, Achim could not bring himself to temper her efforts. His heart betrayed him though, for nothing good could come from the girl's eccentric ways.
From Naomi's open affection grew an unspoken hostility. The reason was as shallow as a glancing look, but a glance was all most people needed. Achim, despite having donned the clothes of the inner-city, maintained the demeanor of an outlander, a rim dweller, a slum walker. The term did not matter as much as the fact. An outlander walked their pristine roads, and, to compound the insolent act, he somehow coerced one of the city's sunborne daughters to walk in his shadow. It was an affront most could not tolerate.
The whispers were mounting. From the crowd Achim caught countless insults and far-off threats. They were the words of cowards of course - no one dared to approach Achim or Naomi - but it was the unspoken disdain that truly pinched at Achim's spine. He could pinpoint a voice, if need be, but he could not always see an advancing assailant or account for spiteful, unseen actions. If it was just him, Achim might have found himself less concerned, but the naive Naomi, as strong as she was, seemed an obvious target. If only she knew, Achim thought. It would definitely make working with her easier, but little could be done when he was pinned to the city's every periphery.
Most shops and stalls meant for those with special citizen status, a label granted to all outlanders, were carved out of the fringes. This meant that these designated shops occupied narrow alleys, abandoned paths, and vacant, often unsightly or unlivable spaces. Anywhere out a sight of the city's true heirs was fair game, and it was there where Achim often stuffed himself.
Because of the cultural restriction, the dark boy could not search the city with impunity. To remedy the issue, Naomi was tasked with scouring the area proper. Achim had hoped to keep her within sight and earshot, but he was rarely in a place where he could watch the sun-kissed girl work. It was only after hours of bouncing about the city, that they arrived at a park plaza where a special-citizen bakery was allowed to exist on the line. It was a nice little nook, complete with a pruned garden and clean, if rusted, table sets. Perhaps the visual appeal was required for the bakery to sit in full view. Though Achim was positive that the fresh aroma of sweets floating from the shop did not hurt. As he waited and watched amid a small group of patrons matching his dark aesthetic, Achim was finally able to watch Naomi from afar. Unbeknownst to him, those sitting with Achim followed his attentive gaze and took interest in Naomi as well.
The sun-kissed girl darted about the plaza, another place where only residents were allowed to roam. No sign said as much, but the cultural codex was clear. Naomi was the only one able to search the area without being accosted, and she was as diligent as the day was hot.
She dashed between her fair featured kin as they traversed the open space, but she was easy for Achim to follow. In truth, he was not privy to what Naomi did when the two separated in their search, so he appraised from afar with a thoughtful hand on his chin.
Her style of search was a simple one. Ask the people of the city if they had seen a young boy with Adlai's description. Achim scoffed the first time he saw it, and some of the people she asked did the same, but she seemed undaunted by every blow-off. Some of the citizens would simply be confused by the question, others would actually seem helpful, but none of her efforts would come to fruition. Achim could not be upset though, for he anticipated the futility. Though his assessment of her lack of intelligence seemed all but confirmed.
Achim dragged both his hands across his face. The dark boy groaned, "Why did I even agree to this?" He looked up at Naomi after every dead end, but back at it she went.
Alas, Naomi may have been going nowhere, but at least she was being more discreet about their connection after a day of him nagging her. Good thing too, because given how close they were to the collective attention of the people –
"Achim~," Naomi shouted.
The sun-kissed girl hurried from the center of the plaza to the alley bakery. Giving no heed to the attention she garnered, Naomi put tender hands on Achim before pulling him into the light.
"I have a good feeling about one of the guys I just asked," she happily asserted. "I think you should talk to them this time. Come on. Come on!"
As Achim was yanked from his post and into the eyes of the crowds, he began to immediately feel a tension in the air. "What are you doing," Achim angrily whispered.
The people of the city gave the couple a long, hard look. Achim saw the stranger as well, and he seemed content enough to wait for the pair, but the dark boy was all too aware of the greater discourse. He pulled Naomi back into the alleys beyond the bakery until they could no longer be seen. Now, deep into narrow corridors, out of sight but certainly not out of mind, Achim turned to scold the sun-kissed girl.
"Are you stupid? You're drawing a crowd to us, Again," said Achim. "What if they call one of those gray-guys?"
"Oh, come on, Achim. Warden has not been patrolling as much today. Remember how few of them we've seen?" Naomi grabbed Achim again, her smile contending with his furled brow. "Relax and let's come out of this dirty alley. Come talk to people with me."
Achim ripped himself from Naomi's grasp. "Relax?! What do you think this is? Where do you think we are? This isn't some field trip, Naomi. The way those people look at us - look at me"--
Naomi folded her arms, her face contorted with offense. "Do you think I haven't noticed? I'm not an idiot, Achim."
Achim paused. "...You're not?" It was a genuine question that left Naomi glaring at him.
Her face went red, but she looked away and bit her tongue. "....I know when people aren't saying how they really feel," she said. Naomi suddenly became sullen. "E-especially when they don't think nice things about you. B-but what else can we do? We just have to keep going."
Achim stared at Naomi. He felt rather silly, though he would not admit it. "...Well if you know that, then you know that most of these people aren't going to look at us, together, and want to help us. That's not even counting for the few people that are even able to help us." Achim began to pace, kicking trash as he went. "We won't get what we need like this, and I'm not about to sift through thousands of assholes who know nothing, but won't say so, just to search for the one person who does know something and is not some bastard bigot."
"Well," Naomi pursed her lips with a face eager to spew a miraculous solution. None came of course. "W-well what else do we do, Achim?"
"I-I don't know." Achim shook his head. "Just let me think."
Naomi gave the dark boy space, but his mind was racked. Achim displayed stress in ways he was not entirely aware. Naomi though, convinced of the cause, went to place a hand on the dark boy's back. "Hey." She gave him a smile. "I know it will take some time - a lot of time- but, if we keep at it, something is bound to come up. I-I just have a feeling. More than a feeling!"
Her comfort had not been requested, but was appreciated. Achim was not keen on showing it though, so he hardened his scowl and walked away. "...Feelings aren't efficient," the dark boy said. "There's got to be a better way." And so Achim sat down and thought.
As the boy stroked his chin with puckered lips and pensive silence, Naomi eventually sat next to him and pinched her nose. "It stinks back here. I didn't know the city could smell like this?"
"Really? How sheltered are you?" Said an increasingly frustrated Achim. "I swear, it's like you've never been outside of your house before, let alone the city, but then you say something almost profound and sort of deep, like you aren't what I thought you were and I get...confused." The boy blushed, his moonlight eyes timid before Naomi's anomalous allure.
Naomi was smitten by the sudden reveal. Smitten and curious. "L-like when?"
"Whatever. You're bothering me," said the blushing boy.
Achim could not see the sun-kissed girl smiling her small smile, but he did feel her shoulder press against his. He could not turn toward her though. He had already been too distracted by the sun-kissed girl as things stood, but if he saw the shine in her eyes while this close - Achim pinched the space between his eyebrows.
"I can feel you breathing down my neck," Achim complained. "What is it?"
"Oh!" Naomi let out a bashful laughter. "Sorry about that. I got...lost. I-in my thoughts." She and the boy both - " I did have an idea though."
"Oh?" Achim was skeptical.
"Yeah," said a nervous Naomi. She trailed in her delivery "I was thinking~"
"Spit it out," Achim replied.
"Since you think no one inside the city will help us ~"
"Forget it!" Achim was as quick as he was firm.
"Oh come on, Achim! You didn't even let me finish," Naomi whined.
"I'm not taking you over the wall, Naomi!" The very thought sped Achim's beating heart. "Do you even - You don't even know what you're asking me to do!"
"I'm asking for you to take me over so that we can"--
"So that you can have some fun? Go on some stupid adventure? No way. Not in a million Goddamn years! I swear, there you go again, acting like some kid on a school trip!"
Naomi stood up, fists tight, and shouted at Achim. "Don't you use that language with me, Achim! I'm the only one coming up with ideas here! What would you even be doing right now if I didn't offer to help you!?"
Achim stood up, as well, his voice rising. "Well for one, I wouldn't be this loud! Consider yourself lucky that we haven't seen any of those stupid gray-guys, because they would have caught us by now because you've got no tact!"
"No tact!? I'm the one with no tact!? I'm the one talking to people! You can't even string together a thought without looking like you're going to punch someone in the face!" Naomi pulled at her flaring mane. "Ugh! Why am I even arguing with you!? I never argue! L-Look at what you're doing to me!" She began to walk in circles, her feet fast and stomping, her voice squealing.
Achim had no real rebuttal, for Naomi had not been wrong. In a city like this, where hostilities felt so crushingly omnipresent, Achim's first instincts were to eliminate the threat. He couldn't though, not when he was with someone so unfamiliar with the world he knew.
As Achim watched the sun-kissed girl skim her anger with every step, he considered how he might have stated his concerns better. The guilt caused him to lower his head, but what else was new? Pain and strife was all he could ever spread, and he accepted that.
Naomi. She was on his mind in more ways than even he knew. So much so that exposing her to the realm beyond the wall became unthinkable. Her being with him now felt wrong, for what good could he offer her? No. He had to leave her alone. The only reason he had not done so already was his own selfishness.
The dark boy shook off his feelings. There was no time. He had to think.
"...I can't believe you think I'd get us caught by Warden," he heard Naomi mutter. She had been saying a number of things beneath her breath, profanity included, but Achim tuned everything out but the mention of the gray guard. His synapses sparked.
Why aren't those gray guys around, Achim thought. They had not been completely absent, but their numbers had been so few, and what few they saw so occupied, that they were very easy to avoid. But why? After Achim's gruesome gift to the Warden General, he assumed that they would be chomping at the bit to find him or his brother. So why were they're forces not filling the city in search of him?
"...Could something have happened somewhere else," Achim thought aloud. Suddenly his mind's eye opened. "...Something must have happened somewhere else."
"If you have something to say, say it to my face Achim," Naomi shouted. She had not heard his mutterings clearly, but assumed he spoke badly of her. When Achim turned toward her with eyes glowing with excitement instead of hostility, Naomi suffered whiplash. Achim pressed both his hands gently on Naomi's shoulders leaving Naomi, wide-eyed and surprised, little more than a deer in the road.
"I need to test something," said Achim.
"What?" she replied.
"I have to go check something out!"
"What - N-no! D-don't leave!" She grabbed Achim in a panic and held him down tight. Achim was pinned and surprised by the desperation in her eyes. "P-please. D-don't go."
Achim could not fathom her reaction, for he knew his worth. But to still be wanted - he was flush with a warm emotion. So flushed in fact that his recoil was especially rude."...I-I'm not leaving you, you idiot!" Achim yanked himself free, the adolescent now completely awkward. "...I-I'll be right back, okay," Achim stuttered.
"...Oh. Okay," said an embarrassed Naomi.
Achim lingered after her response, but neither could lock eyes with the other. A moment of heavy silence and heavier air passed. The boy felt a prickling on his skin, a shivering in his back, but there was no fear. "Umm...J-just talk to people while I'm gone," said Achim. "Y-you're...you're better at that then I am."
Naomi looked up at Achim after he issued the stuttering compliment, but, the instant he saw her bright eyes, Achim was gone.