The early rays of the sun begin to flood our makeshift campsite as my brother packs our things. I hand him the fire agate when he finishes so that he can warm up.

"Did you sleep well, Sister?" he asks, rubbing the stone between his palms. I nod, throwing my bulging pack over my shoulder and slipping my arms through.

"Yes, I did. Did anything happen while I was out?" I responded with a question of my own. He shook his head.

"No. It was a pretty quiet night." He shouldered his pack and stood. "You ready? We should be out of Hastings-Levi territory by early noon. Then we can take the Merchant's Road through the Aletora Town suburbs and into Ganeshgamel City."

I grimaced. "The sooner we get out of Hastings-Levi territory, the better. It makes me feel dirty just being here." My twin nodded in agreement.

We made our way east, talking a little on the way, careful of our intrusion on enemy land. The snow in this frozen tundra reached to our ankles, the wind howling around us, threatening to expose our scents to any Hastings-Levi who might have been in the area. Every now and again we caught some small game to snack on, saving its fur for later usage. Once or twice we caught wind of enemy trackers and had to change our route to avoid getting caught.

Soon we were coming up on the beginning of Merchant's Road, and the edge of the Hastings-Levi border. Our cheeks were flushed as we hiked down that last hill, reaching Merchant's Road just a little before noon.

"Nee, Loki," I say, pointing down the road at the artisan-merchant town of Aletora. "You want to trade the fur in there? And maybe perhaps lighten our load of things? It's only going to get warmer as we continue east."

He nodded, tucking the fire agate away into one of the pockets on his pants. "Yeah, we can do that. We can also use one of the Gates to send home some things."

We walk down the dirt path, noticing the travelers along Merchant's Road. "Wow, this road is true to its name..." I say quietly as we pass booths and little areas, selling items and consumables of all kinds. I stopped and bought a steampunk leather pouch, instantly drawn to it. Loki simply laughed at me, saying, "girls and their accessories." But I saw him eyeing a pair of trousers longingly, and pointed it out when he bought them. He only rolled his eyes and muttered to himself!

It is mid-afternoon when we decide to take shelter for the coming night in Aletora. We stay at the Hitoria Inn. The receptionist hands us the key and we unload our things into our room. We sorted through our bags, dwindling them down to just the pack I had and the new steampunk pouch that I bought; he would carry the bag, and I would carry the pouch. We both stared down at the excess pile. "Ready?" he asked.

We stood across from each other, our feet shoulder-width apart. I could feel the air crackling between us, the hairs on my body standing on end. Moving as one, we closed our eyes and clasped our hands together.

When we opened our eyes, Loki's were no longer yellow and mine were no longer green; ours were both a bright electric blue. Between our bodies, a ball in similar color started to form, tiny at first, but steadily growing larger and larger.

The electric blue matter shaped itself into an oblong oval, wind rushed around us as we began to shape the matter, watching it lengthen and grow clearer in the center. We took a step back to keep it contained. Once the matter and the wind from nowhere grew still, and energy still crackled, we dropped our hands and let out a breath.

"Now, let's some of this stuff home!"