Rune got home to the sounds of pots clattering. Elsie was sitting by the hearth, putting ingredients into the pot.
"Ru, you're here." She stirred the boiling contents as she turned her head to address him.
"Bane stopped by right before you came."
Rune was exhausted. He didn't want to deal with the gold-eyed boy any more than the notebook he now carried in his satchel. He put his things on the table where his pencil from earlier lay untouched.
"Not going to ask what he wanted?"
He rubbed his eyes as he came to sit by Elsie at the hearth, taking the wooden spoon from her hands.
"No, I don't want to know if he threw himself into another ditch."
Elsie ignored the comment. "Bane said Tor wants you to meet him by Maverick's stall tomorrow."
"Did he say why?"
"No."
Rune tucked the new piece of information in the corner of his mind as he got up to get some spoons for their dinner.
"How's Nilu?" He asked, changing the conversation.
"All she talked about was Caster this and Caster that the whole time."
Rune glanced at Elsie, observing how his sister's hand gripped the pot's handle tightly.
Despite being friends, both she and Nilu had taken an interest in Caster for reasons beyond what Rune could put together. Elsie knew about Nilu's crush but didn't tell her friend that she also liked the hazel-eyed boy.
Rune didn't like Caster. Every head would turn whenever the boy walked down Driftwood's streets. Women from the brothels would laugh as girls from upper Alta sometimes walked by his side, vying for his attention while he ran errands for the Reapers. His height was average among upper Alta kids, but here in Driftwood, the 12-year-old boy was taller than the orphan Rune knew to be the tallest.
One such upper Alta girl was Vilda. For weeks, she'd been following Caster, glued to his side, going wherever he went.
Rune didn't know what caused the sudden change, but he enjoyed seeing Caster's discomfort as she stood only two meters away while he tried to go on his way.
It wasn't only upper Alta, but girls from Driftwood had also taken a sudden interest in him, often trying to find cunning ways to get rid of Vilda without facing the rich girl's fury.
The boy wasn't even that good-looking in Rune's eyes. He didn't see what Elsie saw in him, but he hoped she would drop her interest.
When Caster discovered Elsie's disability, the interest he'd shown at Frendil's funeral vanished, replaced by a slight recoil whenever Rune approached him with her on his back.
It was then Rune began to hate him. Over the years, the boy tried to get close to Rune by looking for ways for the two of them to talk, but he turned him down with each chance Caster found.
If they were in a group, Rune would ignore him, pretending he hadn't heard, waiting for someone else to continue the discussion before he responded.
Yes. Rune was being petty, as the boy didn't do anything explicitly that would cause his hatred, but flinching whenever Elsie was around was more than enough for Caster to earn Rune's hostility.
He didn't tell Elsie about it, afraid she would be hurt. After discovering her gazing at Caster for too long for it to be just a simple look, he knew it would hurt her.
"Elsie, you do know he's more likely to end up with Vilda than Nilu or any other Driftwood girl."
"But he's nice."
Throwing his arms in the air, Rune looked at his sister in disbelief.
"Elsie, he's 'nice' to everyone."
"No, he's not. He's only nice to some people. You never liked him, Ru, so you wouldn't know how amazing he is."
Rune shoved a spoonful of soup into his mouth, preventing himself from exposing Caster's true personality to Elsie.
He kept frowning in his sister's direction the entire time they ate, thinking of ways he could get Caster away from her. Elsie ignored his gaze, happily eating her soup while Rune sulked over his sister's preferences for boys.
Finishing the last drop of his soup, Rune got up to wash his bowl. Elsie grabbed his arm. He looked back at her as she put her bowl on top of his, not breaking eye contact while she kept her grip on his arm.
"I want to go to."
"Go where, Elsie?"
"Where you'll meet Bane."
She peered at Rune's face, scanning his expression, seeing his reluctance.
"I know you're going to say no, but I don't want to be with Nilu tomorrow."
"Did something happen between you two?"
"I just don't want to see her."
He frowned, noticing her apprehension of the girl she called close.
On days he had to send his sketches, Maverick would drop by to see if Elsie needed anything. The old man would take her to his fish stall at her request; not wanting to be cooped up at home all day, she spent most of her days selling grilled fish.
It took time for Rune to trust Maverick. Even after the Madam left, he felt skeptical of the man.
After discovering he genuinely had no ill intentions toward him and Elsie, Rune allowed Elsie to spend her time with the old vendor.
Unable to walk, Elsie loved tagging along everywhere Rune went. After turning nine, not much of his sister's weight had changed.
She was now up to his eyes in height, a fact they discovered when Elsie suddenly asked Rune to lie down beside her to compare their heights on the day of her birthday.
Rune constantly worried about his height and weight. He was the shortest twelve-year-old in Driftwood, which was not ideal, but his primary concern stemmed from Elsie's mobility issue. Elsie's growth was approaching his own, and he feared a time would come when he could no longer carry her on his back.
He saw it reflected in her eyes each time they searched for someone to help her move. It was already hard for her to rely on someone else to go anywhere. Rune could tell that even asking him now made her sad about her situation.
He thought it over. He didn't know why Bane had called him, but he nodded at Elsie.
She broke into a smile, letting him go as she dragged herself to her cot located on the other side of the hearth, where Rune's cot was.
Watching her lift herself onto it using her hands, Rune felt his body instinctively step in her direction, wanting to help her just as he used to when they were younger.
Elsie had started refusing his help a few weeks prior, telling him not to rush to her aid as she wanted to do things on her own.
At first, Rune was troubled, but after making sure the floor remained clear of clutter, he stopped asking if she needed help. Instead, he waited for her to tell him when she wanted something.
Rune began cleaning the dishes in a basin. He felt the presence of the leather notebook Silus had given him at his back. It made him shiver.
In all the cases, Rune had realized something the informant failed to mention in his briefing of the murders. All the victims were never children. Thinking about it, Rune knew it was much easier to kill a kid in Driftwood and get away from it than a full grown-up. It was common for children to die from hunger, working for the Reapers, or in a Rye forge similar to Frendil's, where Rye purification took place.
He didn't know why the killer chose the victims in the way that he did, but he wanted to know more about the Water Weavers but didn't know who to ask.
Rune had explored most of Driftwood but found no mention of the Weavers in conversations or books. He suspected that if any information existed, a wealthy individual from upper Alta would possess it.
After cleaning the dishes, Rune left them to dry and headed towards his cot. He removed his shirt, preparing for rest. Although the nights were quite cold, he slept without a top, as he would find it smeared with dark, dirt-like dust the following morning. It was difficult to determine the source of the unknown dirt, so he decided to sleep shirtless to prevent this.
As he went to lie down, he felt a slight prickling on his back, where rune-looking scribbles formed from the bottom of his back.
The Madam was the one to name him Rune. He had been three years old when he came home after scraping his side on a wooden splint. She ordered him to take off his shirt, then she had him turn around so she could clean the wound.
It was then she found what appeared to be writing on his back. Incomplete and shaped like a rune she had encountered years ago, it prompted her to name him Rune. Up until that point, he had been 'boy,' but on that day, he earned his name.
Following that day, Rune lived his life mostly unchanged, his markings fading from memory.
Once he reached the age of five, a prickling sensation resembling needles emerged from his lower back. The first time, it caused intense discomfort, the feeling of small critters crawling on his back. He checked his back in the mirror the following day, shocked to see more of the visibility of the marking. Days went by, and when the sensation returned, he checked once more, only to discover the first symbol complete, and a new one had begun to appear.
He didn't realize it then but soon discovered that every time he felt such a sensation, more of the runic script would appear on a bare part of his skin.
Rune shifted his body towards Elsie's sleeping figure, checking to see if she still breathed.
The killer could kill without the need for a weapon or coming into contact with the victim. Learning about the murders kept him on edge.
Dread plagued him, anxiety creeping over his bones as the little safety he'd thought a roof over their heads held was nothing when it came to the murderer. He feared for Elsie.
Pondering about the killer's identity and goal, Rune drifted off to sleep, letting the world of dreams whisk him away to slumber.