The past few days seemed like a dream to Artemis. It was not even a week prior that she and Yami were in danger of having to return to their village because of money constraints. Instead of racking her brain, trying to figure out how the two of them would be able to afford their next meal without selling sacred or necessary equipment, they were able to spend the day off without having to worry about making ends meet.

Of course, as the worrier that she is, the thoughts didn't completely leave the back of her mind she found herself at a loss of what to do. She had heard that having a day to rest, especially after an entire month of being stressed out with just surviving, would be good for her, but she couldn't help but feel somewhat fidgety and helpless.

She was currently sitting in her small and dingy inn room that she and Yami had been staying in. Because of often ridiculous rewards that seemed to pop forth from the woodworks whenever they went on a quest with their new partner Kalin. Although he was so cute and small, Kalin was extremely powerful and capable. Kalin was so capable, in fact, that Artemis started to worry about him quickly outgrowing their help, leaving them behind in the dust.

As children, Artemis and Yami were considered prodigious in their small, nameless village. As a member of the spiritus tribe, there were a couple differences between their lives growing up and settlements ruled by lords and laws. While there was some trade between them and a few traveling merchants, the majority of their daily necessities were made by the villagers or traded with by surrounding tribes. Each of the charms and religious ornaments they wore were made by their friends in the village. While there was clothing in the village, it was relatively expensive and mostly designated for use by channelers and promising youngsters. Most people would wear ceremonial jewelry, sandals, and perhaps a draped piece of fabric over their loins. Like many less civilized villages, however, most people wore clothing only in cases of protection, spending most of their time in the nude.

Growing up, the twins didn't know who their parents were. It wasn't that they died or anything, it was just because of the traditions of the village. There was no concept of marriage in the tribe, as everybody there was already family. Perhaps stemming from their close relation to nature spirits, they overall tended to be a whimsical and free race. When they were born, they were raised by the collective community. Of the large family consisting of all 900+ members of the tribe, they were breastfed by more than 100 of their elder 'sisters'. While the adults rotated child raising duties, it wasn't an uncommon sight to see a hungry toddler be picked up by the closest woman to be suckled and nursed on the spot. The only reason Yami and Artemis knew they were biological sisters was because they were twins, a rare occurrence in the spiritus tribe.

At a young age, they had been discovered to be extremely talented in communicating with the gods. Their prodigious abilities made them famous and highly sheltered from outsiders of the clan, though this didn't stop them from meeting the occasional artisan and merchant to fit clothing and learn of outsider society. These rare encounters caused Artemis to fall in love with the thought of roaming the lands and leaving the confines of the small village. One traveler in particular became a large influence on her and her life-long hero.

The person who made the priestly raiment for the local channelers was an old man in the nearest town. On the days the twins would go to get measured to order new clothing, frequently, there would be a young woman visiting the shop. After stumbling across the town on her travels to see some of the secluded tribes in the area, the two of them became acquainted. The woman, a bard and a drifter, became close friends with the old man, while he became somewhat of a fatherly figure in her life. His place became the closest thing she had to a home, so she would often return to the town after her journeys around the land. Whenever Artemis saw her, the bard would tell and sing stories of her travels, adventures, and romances throughout the endless lands, the last kind of story was always rewarded with a scolding by the old man, as he would tell her to stop fooling around and get married. Her response would always be to brush him off with an unrestrained laugh.

Unlike the people in the village that seemed detached from the world and whimsical in nature, these stories made Artemis feel alive and her laugh brought her joy. It was these interactions that caused her to fall in love with the idea of leaving the village to find her own stories and adventures.

Only diverging this secret to Yami, she carried this secret in her hear. The two eventually signed contracts with the twin goddesses of the moon. They were trained how to fight, heal and bless people as well as the ability to channel the powers of divinity through their interactions with the two goddesses.

Yami had a slightly different childhood from Artemis because of her personality. Although she was surprisingly sharp with an intuition that bordered on wise, she was not a very fast thinker. While Artemis had childhood hobbies such as shooting bows and singing songs, always busying herself yearning toward the outside world, Yami could be often found sleeping, watching ants walk in lines, having staring contests with cats of various sizes, and blinking several times, trying to figure out what the strange shapes she saw whenever she blinked were. While Artemis's hero was the bard woman, Yami's hero was Artemis.

Artemis was the only person in the village who truly understood her. Even without her verbalizing things, Artemis was able to tell what Yami felt and what she was trying to say. Yami was very good at making friends too, if you counted animals and bugs. She was a very misunderstood child. Most members of their family both revered and feared her because of her devastating power that came from her contract combined with her unique personality. Many of the other children thought she was 'creepy' due to her often allowing bugs and animals act as their perch. In their defense, it isn't very comforting seeing a 6-year-old child allowing poisonous bugs and snakes slither and crawl around her body and talking to them.

Maybe because of their fear of the unknown, maybe because of her immense talent for destruction, and maybe a little bit of both, the village treated Yami like a princess or a porcelain doll, being even stricter on the number of people she could interact with than even Artemis who felt ostracized from the rest of the family. However, Yami never seemed to mind. Her only friend in the village was Artemis, and she could often be found following her around while holding the fabric of her clothes.

Upon reaching the age of adulthood in their tribe at the age of 15, which was relatively high compared to most human settlements which averaged at the age of 13, Artemis expressed her desire to leave the village. While most of the members of the tribe looked down on her conviction and even mocked her because of her desire, dismissing her wish as childish, Yami was the only one that supported her. That night she gathered up all her belongings to leave for town before sneaking out of her home toward the edge of the village. To her surprise, she found Yami there, waiting for her. Though surprised that Yami outwitted her, she was even more surprised to see her with her own bag ready to set on their journey together. When she asked her sister why Yami wanted to leave with her, the only response she got was a confused expression that Artemis translated as the inability to comprehend the obviousness of the situation. Obviously, if Artemis was going to leave, Yami would be following her.

After sneaking all the way to town, they made their way to the only place Artemis could think of, the store of the old man. Arriving at the store early the next morning, the store was devoid of anybody except the old man, the bard being in the middle of one of her journeys. Without asking them any questions, he made them breakfast before outfitting them with a couple pairs of clothing and underwear, directions to the nearest city, weapons for self-protection, and enough supplies and money to make it to Den and live for a few weeks. Inside the bags he handed them were a couple letters, one from each him and his surrogate daughter. After looking at all that the old man and young woman did for them, Artemis couldn't stop the tears fall down her face as she gave a giant hug farewell to the man.

The twins immediately left after breakfast, following the directions of the old man to avoid any pursuers from the tribe. Walking down the road, Artemis read the letters. The old man's was filled with nagging words like 'don't trust strangers', 'don't be stupid', and advice on how to survive in the city. He also threatened that any person they wanted to marry had to meet his approval or he would run them off. His rude and shallow threats to beat up anyone that made them cry filled her heart with an unfamiliar feeling of familial love different that that from her race. The last line was a plea to not turn out like his surrogate daughter, sleeping around with any person that struck their fancy.

The bard's letter explained how to get to the city of Den. It explained to them to join the Adventurer's guild there. That way, they may eventually run into each other. She also explained how to seduce men into giving them whatever they want and how to use the supplies in the pack. The rest of the letter was filled with advice often opposite to those given by the old man, causing Artemis to laugh as tears ran down her face.

Feeling a pair of arms wrap around her, Yami started hugging her before patting her head and saying, "It's okay, don't cry."

It took them a couple weeks to make it to the city of Den. No matter how much she had been warned by others, she never could have been prepared to the harshness of the city. It was much harder to earn enough money to live than she expected. Safe quests barely paid enough for food and lodging, while they weren't capable of doing better paying jobs without others to help them. The only people willing to invite Yami and Artemis into their groups seemed seedy and reeked of ill intentions.

After a couple failed quests, Artemis has gotten desperate. They had just enough money and supplies that they would be able to make it back to their village, but she didn't want her dream to be a failure. She didn't want to return the kindness of their benefactors with failure, being unable to survive even a month on their own.

As she contemplated the events that led her up to the day that she met Kalin, Artemis couldn't help but smile. If Yami hadn't disappeared in the middle of their job and shamelessly eat Kalin's food, perhaps the two of them would be on their way back home. Now the two of them were able to repurchase all the clothing they were gifted by the old tailor and had enough money to not worry about food or lodging for the next couple months even if Kalin left their party. Thinking about how much he changed her life, Artemis swore to herself then and there that she would party with him until he kicked them away. Even then, she would come to his aid if he ever required it. Even though she only knew him for a short while, he had become one of the four most important people in her life, along with Yami and her two benefactors. If the other three were her family, he was her first real friend.

Unknowingly, tears had started falling down her face at some point, she couldn't help but feel strong emotions in her heart when she thought of the four important figures in her life: Her quiet and nagging surrogate father that treated her and loved her more like a daughter than her actual people; her mischievous elder sister that was a somewhat bad role model, but taught her how to love the world and the mysteries it contained; her first friend, who appeared in her life in her time of need and unconditionally helped her open a path to achieve her dream; and most importantly, her silly elder twin that stood by her, her entire life, and loved and helped her in the unique way only she could.

Artemis felt a pair of arms squeeze her as Yami hugged her. Awakening from her sleep, Yami found her crying. Doing the only thing she could do at a time like this, Yami hugged Artemis and started patting her head saying, "It's okay, don't cry."

Artemis just smiled through the tears before hugging Yami back. She laughed before saying, "It's okay, I'm not sad. I'm just crying because I'm so lucky to have you be my sister. I love you so much. Thank you for always being there for me."

Yami, through her lazy eyes smiled back and reciprocated with her own, "I love you too."

The twins went to bed that night, still hugging, in the single bed of their tiny inn room in the corner of the city, with smiles on their faces. Although they didn't know what the future had in store for them, they looked forward toward tomorrow with hope in their hearts.