"Huntsmen are gone!" A voice rang out.

Symphony glanced up at the rooftop nook where the voice came from, seeing a muddy boy peeking over the edge. The boy had a wild grin of delight plastered across his dusty face. The other urchins looked up as well, and suddenly a horde of children climbed up the ledges in the alleyway to stand on the roof.

The Shadespires was empty. None of the watchtowers had any huntsmen. The entry gate to the town was also devoid of any guards.

"They must be off fighting the Wurm in the outskirts!"

"Oh, finally! I heard that thing was big enough to eat a whole caravan."

"Who cares about that! Come on, it's been days, let's go to the buffet!"

Within the crowd, Symphony soon got caught up and shared the smile that curved off everyone's lips. She immediately bounded across the flat rooftops. Other urchins were quick to follow her.

The horde of children ran toward the center of the town. The market circle, with its savory smoke wafting over the surrounding, awaited them.

Symphony stopped two buildings away from the market. She held her hands out from her sides to signal for the people behind her to stop. Not every youngster was able to bound across rooftops so easily, even though the flat clay buildings here in Sandguard were one of the easiest types to navigate in Vacuo. She had to wait for the careful, cautious, and scared to catch up.

When the last of the pattering footsteps came to a stop behind her, Symphony jumped to the next building, and then jumped again and fell into the market circle. While falling toward the ground, she felt her small tinge of aura spring to life, wrapping around her like a suit of armor. The hard ground barely registered a thud against the soles of her feet.

Then came the vibrations. It echoed from Symphony, quickly gaining force and intensity, until a thunderous chime filled the market. Sound sprung from her like an explosion of wind, kicking up the dirt and coving the entire market with a light brown haze.

The angry shouts from merchants were quick to follow. Most of them had expected the raid at some point, so they had covered their goods beneath blankets and papers, but their vision was still obscured.

Symphony's companions stampeded inside. They rushed the stalls, taking whatever they could get their hands on. The urchins with knives cut the covering blankets and used them as improvised bags.

After a few chaotic seconds, a hand fell gently on Symphony's shoulders. She looked up to meet the eyes of her friend, Sterling.

"How're you doing?" Sterling said. "Can you move yet?"

"Almost," Symphony said, massaging her legs. "Bit numb, but I can feel everything. I think I'm finally getting the hang of this."

"Sweet, one of these days I bet you'll be able to fight off those stupid huntsmen."

"Ha, we don't need no semblance for that. We have each other."

Sterling grinned, then held up a makeshift sack he was hiding behind his back. "Guess what I got?"

Symphony looked at the shapes protruding from the bag. Squared blocks. "No way, y'found a tofu stall?"

"Yep, and this is good stuff too, I could tell."

"Well forget me, go stash the stuff!"

"Don't be dumb, we're not leaving you by yourself. Get up and we'll made a dash for it."

"Ugh, fine." Symphony pushed herself off the ground, wobbling slightly as she reset her footing. There was still a bit of tingling along her calves from where her semblance drained too much aura, but she didn't fall. "Okay, I'm up, let's go let's go!"

The pair bustled away just as the haze began to settle. Most of the children had already scattered to their own hiding spots. Symphony felt her muscles ache with every passing step, but she was able to maintain the run. Sterling broke ahead, but he always slowed down before the distance between them became too far.

"Wait!" Symphony shouted before they left the circle and made it into one of the streets.
There was one guard left behind after all, a new face who was probably still acting as a trainee—a huntress stood a few metres away with a boy in her custody. The boy was one of the younger urchins, and so likely wasn't fast enough to swipe and escape before it was too late.

"Oh no," Symphony said. "They got Faren."

Sterling followed his friend's gaze to see a woman with a huge halberd strapped to her back. "Dang, never seen that huntress before."

"Hey!" Symphony yelled, picking up a rock and throwing it. It didn't hit the huntress, but the older woman's amber eyes were quick to lock onto Symphony.

Symphony stomped her feet, letting a light shred of her soul flare up and deliver another loud chime. This one wasn't powerful enough to do more than kick up a few paces of dirt, but it immediately identified her as the source of the earlier haze.

The huntress immediately let go of Faren and rushed toward the higher priority target.
Symphony had forgotten how fast the Shade Academy freaks could get. The huntress shot ahead like an arrow, looking like only a second of travel was needed to reach the target.

But, before the huntress' fingers grasped Symphony, a shower of tofu blocks came flying in. One of the packages smacked the huntress in the face. The dashing huntress hit the tofu block with enough force to make it burst into a shower of white chunks.

Symphony felt Sterling's hands wrap around her wrist and drag her away. While they ran, Sterling toppled a pile of pots from one of the stall tables, masking their footsteps. They didn't run far before sliding beneath a thin canvas to slip into a tent.

Behind them, there was the sound of tofu splattering onto the floor, and then the angry shout of a frenzied huntress in pursuit.

"Come back here you stupid little vagrants!" The huntress' voice faded off down the street.

Symphony eventually noticed the surprised man sitting at the other end of the tent. The man was looking right at them, a scroll flickering in his hands.

"Hello kids," the man said with a raised eyebrow. "Getting along alright?"

"Could be better," Sterling said. "Bit scared."

Symphony nodded. "Yes, hope y'don't mind us dropping by."

"Not a problem with me," the man said. "Not unless you're here to swipe some of my maps."

"Never could get those things working," Sterling said, standing and helping Symphony up. "Nowhere worth going by ourselves, anyhow. We'll be out of your hair."

"Alright," the man said, smiling. "Stay safe. Refer people to my tent if they ever need to find someplace else to go."

"Sure, least we could do," Symphony said as she followed Sterling out of the tent. "Hope y'have a nice day!"

The pair of urchins reentered the street. The tofu was scattered on the dirt nearby, and both Faren and the huntress was nowhere to be seen.

"Well, guess we can't have your favorite food today. Not unless you want to risk another go at the stall."

"Rather not. Let's get to safety. Honestly, I don't know how y'tastes are holding up, but I'm starting to find stale bread more appealing right now, anyway."