Foreigner rubbed her eyes on the morning of the second day at Pasargadae.

  The sunlight shone on her face through the clear window with the curtain wide open. There was no rooster or alarm clock to wake her up, yet she had no choice but to open her eyes to the sound of the street making a brand new day.

  She looked out the window to view a crowd of workers heading to their destined misery, where they would spend most of their day cursing instead of being productive. The street was still infested with glass shards and broken bricks fallen from the building, but nobody cared to clean up the mess and simply stepped over them with eyes devoid of light.

  As she wiped the drool from her mouth, she smelled something edible alongside the sound of a thick liquid boiling from her side. A pot was placed on top of a fire burning from one of Pafnuty’s experiment instruments, and Foreigner recognized the smell as Octavia’s secret soup recipe. While it was good news to have something to fill her starving stomach, she hoped for something better than the nasty soup for breakfast, especially since they were in the heart of civilization instead of the middle of the wilderness. But she knew that making a complaint here would give her the burden of preparing breakfast for the remaining month, so she kept her mouth shut.

  A faint sound of a stream of water falling from above leaked from the bathroom, and Pafnuty was busy preparing some sort of powder next to the pot. The fact that Pafnuty was here meant that Octavia was taking a shower right now, Foreigner concluded to herself as she rubbed her sleepy eyes. And when she opened her eyes again, what she saw was Pafnuty pouring the finely ground powder into the pot and stirring the ladle inside to disperse it evenly throughout the soup.

  “Pafnuty, what are you doing?“

  Foreigner released an enormous yawn as she stretched her stiff body. Pafnuty reacted quickly at Foreigner’s voice and jumped on her to block her mouth with his hand.

  “Well now, aren’t you up early today, my friend?“

  He slowly drifted away from her with his finger placed across his mouth perpendicularly to signal her not to speak another word about his doing. Foreigner was still waking up from her dream, but when it finally clicked, it clicked hard.

  “Are you experimenting with Octavia’s soup? Do you have a death wish?!“

  Foreigner ensured to keep her voice low so that Octavia, who was humming a song under a warm stream of water, would never learn about the blasphemy being practiced.

  “If Octavia finds out that you messed with her soup, she’ll throw you out of the window!“

  Pafnuty remained silent, nodding once instead of answering while continuing to stir the soup. It was an act of determination, and he fully knew that there was no turning back.

  “My friend. Don’t you wish to see?“

  “See what?“ Foreigner asked back cautiously as she noticed Pafnuty’s unusually serious tone and gulped her own saliva down her throat.

  “A new era, of course!“

  Pafnuty suddenly raised his voice against his own ask, and he continued before Foreigner could stop him.

  “I’m sick of it! I’m sick of this awful soup of hers! Ever since we left Abaskan, we ate this thing day and night in the outskirts! Once we boarded the train, we savored a proper meal, but look where we have returned! To this! Imagine my disappointment when Octavia asked for my alcohol burner and made this substance again this morning! And do you know what she said to me? ‘Better have a proper breakfast; you can never skip one,‘ that’s what she said! And we both know Octavia; she won’t let us leave this room until the bottom of this pot becomes visible. At this point, I’d rather throw myself out of this window than have another sip of this sustenance from hell!“

  Pafnuty huffed out his breath after a powerful, yet somehow ludicrous, speech.

  “Ehhhh, I don’t think it’s that bad?“ Foreigner raised her right eyebrow and spoke in a questionable tone, as she wasn’t sure if the taste was that important to risk her life.

  “Well, I do, my friend! Therefore, I will pave my way for the good of all of us! We shall rise against the tyranny and open the gate towards a new age of appetite, here and now!“

  “Open what now?“

  Before the two noticed, Octavia was in the room with a single towel wrapped around her body. She carelessly dried her hair with another as she passed by Pafnuty petrified in place, and Foreigner moved towards the window to pretend to look over the street where nothing was going on. Octavia sensed that something was off, but she wasn’t the type to mind such a minor thing.

  “Well, whatever. So, ready for breakfast?“

  Octavia placed the wet towel on her shoulder and approached the boiling pot. She scooped the soup up with a spoon and took a sip directly from it before dipping it back into the pot and stirring with it.

  This was the last moment for Pafnuty to confess his sins, but he did not. Even though Foreigner had nothing to do with this crime scene, the mere fact that she could get caught in the collateral damage made her heart pound, and a sweat dripped from her forehead to the tip of her nose. As Octavia stopped savoring the soup, the two tightly closed their eyes to embrace the Armageddon to be unleashed in this tiny room.

  “Are you guys going to eat or what? You are not leaving this room until we finish this soup, so you better move your hands and mouth.“

  Octavia said as she scooped another portion of soup from the pot with her used spoon and brought it into her mouth. Foreigner and Pafnuty slowly opened their eyes and looked at each other before directing their vision at Octavia, who shrugged her shoulders and frowned to question their action with her mouth full.

  “Octavia, is that soup actually okay…?“ Foreigner dragged her concern as she was still not sure if this was actually happening or a hallucination derived from her hope was being played in front of her.

  “What, you saying that my soup is ever not okay?“ Octavia demanded Foreigner to spit out the thought going inside her head with the frowning intensified.

  “N—Nonono! I—I’m starving! Mmm, this smells good! I can’t wait to try—“

  After detecting a potential threat, Foreigner took a leap from her bed and scooped up the soup into an empty bowl. With no time to lift a spoon, she took a sip from the bowl and was soon betrayed by her expectation.

  “Wait, this actually is good.“

  “Duh. It’s my recipe, so it’s obviously good.“ Octavia finally decided to scoop the soup into a bowl for herself. “Though I must say, it tastes better than usual. Hey, Doc. Stop sitting around and have a sip.“

  Pafnuty slowly stood up and approached the pot while being cautious if Octavia would land an ambush strike on him. Foreigner already poured his portion into an empty bowl and handed it to him, which he took with four of his hands with doubt in the powder he himself added. But when he took a sip with a lightly shaking hand, a delicious aroma swirled in his mouth, and he took a second and third consecutively.

  “It’s…It’s good! We did it! It’s good!“

  “Uh, no. I did it.“

  Octavia spooned the last portion in her bowl and reached out for the ladle to start the second round. She stared at Foreigner and Pafnuty giggling at each other, suspecting that there was something that she wasn’t aware of going on. But she just shrugged it off. After all, the soup tasted closer to how her granny used to make it, and she was busy wondering what she had done differently this time.

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  “So, we are looking for a job today?“ Foreigner asked with soup remaining in her bowl, while Pafnuty and Octavia finished theirs.

  “Well, yeah. Something like that.“ Octavia scratched her back while being naked and looking for her clothes.

  “Octavia. You should clean the floor. It got all watery because of you.“ Pafnuty scolded Octavia as he pointed at the wooden floor below her, but only received a brief vision and a short wave of her hand.

  “Alright, let’s go.“

  Octavia was fast at changing her outfit and walked straight to the door with a rifle on her back. Her hair was still wet by a bit and dripped water onto the floor, which made Pafnuty shake his head as he followed her out.

  “Hold on! Wait for me!“ Foreigner attempted to shove the remaining soup into her mouth, only to burn her tongue and spit the soup back into the bowl.

  “Oh, actually. Why don’t you just stay here and do the chores?“ Octavia said as she opened the door.

  “What? What do you mean?“ Foreigner raised a justified question, with her tongue stuck out in an attempt to cool it down.

  “Well, you know, you are not really used to this place. Plus, someone needs to clean that and that.“

  Octavia pointed at the used bowls and the floor she messed up with water. She gestured at Pafnuty to hurry, and as he left the room after looking at Foreigner once, she left the room as well.

  “Cool, thanks.“

  And the door closed shut, with Foreigner standing dumbfounded with her bowl of soup.

  “What the f—“

  Octavia and Pafnuty walked out of the building and across the street, which was now empty with all the workers having already arrived at their workplaces. They could hear the screech of Foreigner released from above, and Pafnuty knew Octavia was pretending not to care about it.

  “Octavia,“ Pafnuty started the conversation, but Octavia did not look his way. “Why did you do that?“

  Only then, Octavia eyed Pafnuty for a brief moment and then turned her vision back to the far end of the straight.

  “As I said, someone needs to clean that mess.“

  She replied while cleaning under her fingernails. Pafnuty stared at Octavia, waiting for anything extra for her to say, but that was the end of the answer from her.

  “You are terrible at lying.“

  “Shut up.”

  After the labor of cleaning the mess she had not made, Foreigner left the building with fury steaming from the top of her head. She wasn’t mad at the fact that Octavia passed the chores to her as she was used to it by this time, but being treated like a small child who should stay home while the adults did all the work was what turned her head upside down. She knew she could handle herself and find a job, even though she was amnesic and knew little about how this world revolved. At least she thought so.

  She frantically looked around the street, but as expected, there was no sign of Octavia or Pafnuty anywhere. Which meant that she truly was alone in this vast city, where the only place she knew was the path she had taken yesterday from the station to this inn with Octavia.

  Now that she thought about it, this was the first time for her to be alone without Octavia or Pafnuty at her side. A sudden nervousness sneaked behind and persuaded her to go back inside where she would be safe, but she struck that option down by slapping her own cheeks with both hands. This stopover at Pasargadae happened because of the journey to find out about herself, and there was no way for her to stay still and do nothing while the other two worked to make the journey happen. Additionally, she wished to prove that she wasn’t a kid who needed to be taken care of. With that determination in mind, she first walked to the central plaza, the only place she knew how to navigate to.

  The fountain in the central plaza was lively, just like yesterday, but the plaza itself was empty. It shouldn’t be a surprise, as today was a weekday with most people at work instead of enjoying their freedom. But there was a new aspect to the plaza with a group of construction workers performing maintenance work on the surrounding road, filling the air with a drilling noise that pierced the ears.

  Under the shadow of a tree was another group of workers yelling at each other to have a casual conversation amidst the loud noise, seemingly taking a break after their shift. On their side was a construction truck parked with the engine turned on, and it had a recruitment advertisement painted on it. Foreigner thought that there was nothing to lose and approached the group after a deep breath to calm her heart down.

  “Hello!“

  She waved her hand while trying to maintain a bright tone. When the group noticed her, they all looked at her without a word, some with blank faces while others with clearly annoyed expressions.

  “I’m looking for a job. Who do I need to talk to for the opportunity?“

  She tried her best to keep a smile on amidst the cold welcome and pointed at the advertisement on the truck. The group looked at each other before bursting into a big laugh with mockery as a base. As Foreigner got flustered in confusion about whether she had said something weird, one Shakh Sah spoke out loud among the worker.

  “I do have a job for you! On my bed!“

  The group laughed hysterically as if they heard the joke of the century. It took Foreigner a fraction of a second to register what he meant, and soon her face crumbled with disgust, followed by turning her back on the group to take an immediate leave.

  “If you ever change your mind, you know where to find me! I can rest my rough hands on those two soft cushions you carry!“

  Yet another laugh burst out behind her, and Foreigner faced them to give the middle finger as she walked backwards. But this did not work as she imagined in her mind, as she tripped into a muddy puddle behind her. As she watched her clothes covered in stains, she could hear the muffled laughter through the water blocking her ears, and the emotion she tried her best to ignore erupted out from deep down the heart. So she ran away, away from the plaza, with her vision fixated on the floor.

  After sprinting without a destination for a while, Foreigner stopped to catch her breath and rest her shaking legs. She felt a tear gathering behind her eyes, but shook it away by shaking her head and giving herself a good slap on both cheeks. This little ritual of hers brought the sense back to her, and only then did she raise her head to find herself in the middle of a shopping district filled with various stores.

  Even though it was still a weekday morning, there were a good number of people on the street, with most of the shops operating busily. On her right was a shop selling fruits, and, most importantly, it had a paper attached to the wall looking for a part-time worker. Thinking that this was an opportunity granted by the heavens for her, Foreigner headed straight for the store and raised her voice in a bright tone.

  “Ah, no. I’m looking for someone to work longer than three months at least.“

  “Shakh Sah? I want a strong Vaz, not some wimp.“

  “Sorry, dear. That position was filled earlier today.“

  “Well, I can give you a job if you are willing to work the first week without pay.“

  “—”

  “—”

  “—”

  The twilight shone beautifully above the clouds, with lights refracting in a thousand colors, yet the only color Foreigner could see was grey.

  She wandered the street with shadows coming down below her eyes. She spent the entire day looking for a job, but the sun was already going down with no fruit to bear. The only thing lively on her body was her stomach, as it could not read the room and made a growling vibration for anything to digest. Only then did Foreigner realize that she ate nothing other than the soup for the entire day.

  With a depressed head and an empty tummy, she walked slowly in the middle of the street. There was yet another puddle lying in front of her, waiting patiently for her to fall into, and she looked at the reflection in the dirty water below her.

  There was a helpless lady with clothes smudged with muddy water, who couldn’t do anything by herself and was good for nothing. A tear that she had held back desperately the entire day escaped from her left eye and dripped into the water to create a gentle ripple. Perhaps she should stay home and rest easy. After all, that’s probably the only thing she was good for.

  “Excuse me, Miss!“

  The night in the city was lively as was the day. Octavia was heading back to the inn with a picture of a man in a white suit in her hand, planning what she would do tomorrow to track down her target. Her mind was hazy with various thoughts tangled together, and part of it was what to say to Foreigner when she sees her.

  Thinking back, she probably did something bad to her, no matter whether she intended to or not. And every time she thought about it, she came to the conclusion that she should first apologize, yet she wasn’t sure how to do that. But before she could do any productive thinking, she saw a familiar figure walking towards her, and it didn’t take long to realize that it was Pafnuty.

  “Sup, Doc. Any profit today?“ As Octavia spoke out, Pafnuty raised his head and made a circle with his fingers proudly.

  “Octavia, do you know where Foreigner is?“

  Instead of speaking about his achievement of the day, Pafnuty threw a question that surprised Octavia.

  “She wasn’t in the room, and the owner said that she left in the morning and never came back.“

  Octavia felt her mind going stale. There was nothing that was revealed other than Foreigner being missing, but that also meant that the worst-case scenario could not be excluded as well.

  She understood the nature of the city to the bone. It was a place filled with the deepest abyss of civilization, where people took advantage of others simply to survive and bring food to their tables. The cost of having safe walls not to cower against the wild animals was to take part in an arena where a back can be stabbed by the closest friend and needs to push someone off the cliff in order to climb the hierarchy. And it was a blatant truth that the innocent, soft-hearted personnel were at the lowest rank of the pyramid.

  Octavia bit her finger to relieve the anxiety swarming her mind, then she heard a voice she recognized coming out of the building through the small opening in the entrance. She turned her head to find a restaurant painted bright pink with a large signboard illuminated in rainbow colors, and she slowly smiled evilly.

  “You hungry?“

  Octavia moved straight to the restaurant before Pafnuty could say anything. She opened the door without hesitation, and Foreigner was there, in a fluffy and cute outfit with a frilly one-piece skirt with an apron attached to it.

  “Welcome home, master!“

  And the three of them stood still in their positions, with Octavia holding her laughter back, Pafnuty looking at Foreigner with confusion, and Foreigner screaming internally.