The further Roy's ramble went on the wider Echo's eyes got. She was lucky she was able to catch all the info that she did, but just to be safe she summarised what she heard. "I think I got it. Someone is trapped... under rocks... near the old Moldsmal nests, right?"

Echo analysed what she gathered. Barely anyone ever went to those nests anymore, including herself. For her the rumors of it being haunted didn't matter. She knew where they were and roughly what kind of stuff went down there. Mass murder, right? She knew to stay clear of there as soon as she was close enough to smell the dust, and most monsters were rational enough to do the same. So why would somebody even be there? Not that that part was important right now. Regardless, she expected something more than just a trapped person based on a) her knowledge of the area, and b) everything that had been going down lately.

Looking herself up and down, she wondered what help she could do. There was no portion of bulk on her body. Echo would be lucky if there was some in her legs, but that would only be good for climbing and running. Neither seemed useful in this situation. "I guess I could cut up some of rocks with my magic..." she thought aloud. Her hand subconsciously dug into her pocket, fingers catching on another way she could help. Mother's white crystal had recovered any chips she got on her hands and feet, so a little healing power was better than nothing. It would have to make do. Like Roy said, she was the first person willing. Him and his friend would have to make do. "Looks like I'm your sixth person, then," she smiled, hiding the fact it was somewhat forced.

Echo's smile lingered as she was acknowledged, and then her attention went to the shelves and cabinets. Reminiscence crept into her thoughts as objects caught her gaze. Her childhood home was once filled with many objects like these - her mother's tastes. Many similar items Echo broke. Many similar items Echo sold. She wondered if her mother came to this shop at all to buy these things. And how often as well - the prices on these items wouldn't have Echo purchasing any item for a very long time.

 It was difficult to not have her attention waver when the customer being served was so bold. She mentioned the Riverperson, which sparked the thought of an unlikely friendship between a character so loud and one so quiet. At least that was Echo's judgement when she spotted the cloak associated with the ferry.

The latest comment about falling short to buy a product particularly caught her interest. Two customers in a shop with shallow pockets? Echo mused to herself. In a shop like this, what are the odds?

_{In Character Date: 24th August UUY -6}

A/N: Echo is 16-17 at this time. Inspiration spoke to me and I threw this back at it.
 So, yeah. Enjoy .

---

The warm afternoon in Waterfall was making Echo’s job of drying off a whole lot easier. Her footprints were fading away behind her along the extensive boardwalk that concealed portions of the marsh below, though labyrinthine easily navigable for her. The dampness of her swimwear stuck to her chest and torso, and she struggled to resist urges to pick them every five minutes. Her hair however, it was going to take a while at its length. She could still feel its cold weight through her towel draped over her shoulders and back, avoiding the annoying shiver of drips down her exposed back. A mental note was made to tie her hair in a rough bun next time she’d go swimming despite her knowledge she wouldn’t remember.

The pungent air lingered pleasantly. Echo inhaled its familiarity, not bothered by it at all unlike some other monsters who came through here, whom where probably visiting from the Capital or Hotland to view the caverns. People were always drawn to anything that looked priceless, weren’t they? She could count herself in the context of the crystals naturally embedded into the walls roughly west. That’s where she and her brother, Helios, were just heading back from together; a cave they found about a year ago difficult to get to but worth the trek. The large pool in it made the place an excellent hideaway for them to swim and converse after a long week.

Helios was especially deserving of those swims, even though he would mostly soak up the mineral water. It was the only way to soothe the pains in his back from restocking shelves all day. Echo found it remarkable how he kept his cool despite how hectic things could get at supermarkets; he told many stories of spilled drinks, infuriating customers, and returns without receipts. If Echo was in his place she’d have to spend all of her remaining free time meditating, and yet her brother would always call relaxing doing something productive. It made her constantly in awe of his ethic, if she wasn’t proud of him enough. He was a charmer who rarely showed a face less than content in public, seemed the perfect example of their parents’ son with Mother’s lavender skin and Father’s square jaw and radiant silver hair, and had an ethic that reaped him deserving rewards.

His only fault was that his degree in Biology wasn’t getting him any better jobs when they needed it.

The two didn’t have a house as a home; they had to sell it to afford the treatment towards curing their Mother, but the cave they decided to rest in worked well enough. Echo did admit to missing the feeling of mattresses beneath her back and not having to rely on her magic for light and very slow cooking, but with her brother they managed to create a relatively cosy nook with what they could, and Helios’ job gave them just enough to buy food and other necessities. Now living a far different life, Echo was far more appreciative of what she once had and grateful for what she and her brother could get.

Her gaze locked onto the most familiar and comforting thing in her life. Her brother was busy admiring the same cluster of typha she had moments before. She smiled over how she would always point out the ‘water sausages’ when she was little, always asking her parents if they were going to have them for dinner that week. Growing up happened so fast, and yet she wasn’t scared of coming close to adulthood like the rest of her basketball team were. Circumstances made her mind grow up faster than her body. The only thing that stayed the same seemed to be Helios, her only and perfect support. Echo wished she could make up to all that he did for her, though she doubted that imagining empty bowels and catching rebounds could do anything much for him.

Someday, though, she would. She’d work out how when the chance would come.

Helios then stopped several feet behind her, and no longer seeing him in her peripheral vision Echo stopped to see what kept him. He was patting the pockets of his board shorts; his left, right, and then the ones at the back several times in repeat. Each time his turquoise eyes would widen until his whole pupil was visible.

Oh boy, Echo thought, stiffening at that rare expression. How did he stuff up?

He looked up to her. “Did you have the crystals?”

Parting open her towel, Echo revealed her one piece, black with a bold white stripe vertically down the middle. “Does it look like I have pockets in this thing?” she raised an eyebrow to him.

Helios inhaled sharply. “Well, I don’t have them now,” his voice lowered.

“You idiot!” she yelped immediately. Those were the most valuable things they had left, though its value was only personal. Their parents wore those crystals on them, and per tradition of their kind their dust was sprinkled onto their respective ones after their deaths. With their essence inside of them, they used them as symbolic support and literal assistance if they were ever in trouble, the purple one of their father used in instances of self-defence and their mother’s white one to gradually recover health.  Losing them was like losing their parents forever! They had never left either one of their sides.

That was until that very moment.

“It wasn’t like I did on purpose, Co,” Helios sighed heavily.

Echo rolled her eyes. “You could’ve at least checked before we left the pools,” she pointed out, turning anxious. It especially showed in her tensing shoulders.

“We can still check now,” he reassured her. “I’m sure nobody would have taken them.”

“We don’t know for sure!” she started to show how more anxious she was in her voice. “Someone might know the worth of those things and take them, or kicked them over at the bottom with the sand, or might take them and sell them off…”

Helios braced her by the shoulders, one hand on each. She froze, staring him dead in his begging eyes.  “Calm down, Echo. We can find it, I promise. Just take some deep breaths for me.”

With a stiff nod, she began the process with closed eyes. It was the same process the school counsellors told her to use when stressed or feeling any negative emotions. It never worked with the strongest ones, though. It took a while to recover from her mother’s passing away. Echo was told to take deep breaths while thinking of a spiral, slowly following its pattern like a road. As the spiral ended, she would be calm.

She looked into his brother’s dark pupils with the last exhale, passing the borderline of calm. “Sorry.”

“Don’t be,” he told her, patting her shoulder with a quick smile, in which Echo reflected it briefly. “These things happen. Now, we’ll just go back and see if we can find Mom and Dad.”

She nodded, pulling her towel up her shoulders before running back to the pools, just in case they were too late. “Hey, we don’t need to rush!” Helios called after her, but that didn’t mean she’d slow down for pity. Paranoia could be locked in a box, but not erased. Her gut still assumed it was gone.

Echo remained in the lead as she weaved past stares of slow-paced wanderers, skidded around corners but never bumped into them, and checked to make sure her brother was behind her. Not that he would struggle with this, just that Echo had more endurance. Though normally when she ran she would be wearing her basketball shoes and random crags in the ground wouldn’t poke her and cause her to slip occasionally. But that wouldn’t stop her so easily, especially when she could lose something so meaningful to her and her brother.

But that could had to turn into a won’t.

She slowed down reaching that same gap in the wall, just big enough for her brother to shuffle through. She would struggle too with how thing the space was especially noticing how much longer it would take as she matured, but Helios occasionally got grazes passing through that gap. Echo didn’t try to run through that, instead turning her head to the side, holding her breath habitually, and shuffling past the two uneven, rocky surfaces. She exhaled on the other side – a dark, damp cave she could barely make out the rock edges with. All she knew was that she’d always climb and wriggle through gaps, over hordes of stalagmites, and under stalactites she had dazed herself with on accident.

Echo’s hands clasped together as she took another deep breath, focussing her magical essence into her palms. Her eyes closed as she tried to find the core of it, only recently being able to make this type sustainable on its own for long periods of time. After finding its static sustenance she amplified it, feeding it into the heat of her palms like fire. She opened her eyes, looking down at her hands as blades of pink light struck through the cracks in her grasp. They slowly spread open, a white light sticking to her palms. It started to take a form, resembling a squashed sphere – this is where it’d start to get difficult for her. One more move and it was supposed to sustain itself, only she’d never put enough magic into it. This time she knew she couldn’t hold back to get those crystals back into safe hands – this was no practice with her brother but the real deal. Staring it dead in the eye like an enemy, she kept feeding magic into that squashed bit of light. It grew, but it was not enough. She’d have to blind herself if she needed to with the pink glow around it. She had to keep going.
For Mom, for Dad, for Helios.
Her hands parted and she gasped for the anticipation of it fading, but it stayed afloat like a flower on water. A soft, angelic hum created a mysterious atmosphere as a bright pink hue coated the room from the glowing white centre. It didn’t even flicker, and her hands felt cold. The only trace of it being at last her own creation was the softer pink glow around her chin, it’s source the magenta crystal tied around her neck by black twine. Just to make sure she held up her hand hesitantly and pushed it further into the narrow cave.

She had done it. If it weren’t in such a valuable situation she would have admired her efforts more.

Helios had arrived just in time to see the show. “ … Echo, I didn’t expect you to get that bright so fast. ” He was one to talk, mastering it when he was 15 and being able to take ten seconds to conjure one.

She took in the pride. “ I had to sometime soon…”

He held his hand forward with a smile. “ After you, Gemcaster Master in the making.” He was hopeful for that to happen, as she expected that to happen into her 40’s or so.

Echo took the lead, keeping her light close to her so she could feed more light into it if need be. The two then climbed and crawled their way through the cave system, using each other’s strength to climb up into the higher and skinnier crevices made on their way through. It was nice to see a pink glow illuminate the caverns instead of her brother’s shadowy blue one, or maybe that was just bias on her accomplishment. Helios often had to warn her of many obstacles she overlooked, a sense of rush still in her toes that made her nearly stab stalagmites into her heels. ‘Watch out!’ was about to turn into his catchphrase. The only thing Echo wanted to watch out for was a feint white and purple glow of their parents’ crystals. It wasn’t like anything here was going to kill her anyway.

After Helios hoisted her up through the final gap, Echo landed in an area far more well-lit. She pulled Helios in by the shoulders back to where they had already spent an hour unaware of the coming tension. Taking a deep breath of relief, Echo was a step closer to bringing their family back.

The ceiling of the cavern looked like a colourful night sky, many crystals emitting their own glow in varieties of blue, purple, and red shades, the formation nebular against the dark ceiling. The cave was comfortably the size of a classroom, most of the space taken up by a pool of seemingly fluorescent aqua water.

But it ran deep compared to the other places they swam around. The two would have to put the practice from breath holding competitions to the test.

Helios strode up to the edge, head peering down into the water like he expected to see the cloth bag floating on the surface like a feather. As this happened Echo caught the light she was using, hearing a gentle hiss as she sent the magic back into her soul, killing the light in her necklace.
“I’ll check this side of the pool, you check the other,” Helios planned aloud, tossing his towel behind him. “If we don’t find anything in ten minutes, we meet back up on the bank.”

“And if we do?” she asked as she circled her way to the other side of the cave.

“Magic,” he simply said. Both of them would be able to produce a bright enough beam of light for the other to see.

Echo’s towel was dropped behind her and she shivered feeling her wet hair touch her glassy skin. The water was hopefully warmer than that, but if not then tough. She didn’t have the time to warm up and get comfortable. Helios made eye contact with her, both of their faces worried but their eyes steel with grit. Echo took in a slow, deep breath.

The term deep waters was never taken more synonymously in Echo’s life.

She dove in fingers first straight after her brother. The first thing she noticed was how murky the waters were. Sure, the pool wasn’t as deep as she heard oceans were, but the bottom of the pool wasn’t visible even if the crystals could glow at the bed. Navigating those waters would be tough, especially being close to the centre of the pool. The walls would have to be used to help her, just like swimming laps.

The only difference was that the laps were metres down and there was no way to take casual breaths while doing freestyle.

Echo kicked down, turning around to recall where the bank she jumped off was. Eventually she found a wall, keeping it in her peripheral vision as she continued her decent, letting out fractions of her breath on her way down. Eventually she found the sandy bed, a lot sooner than she was expecting. But that didn’t make the crystals reveal themselves, and she could still only see two metres ahead of herself.

Unless she made a light weak enough to not be used as a signal for Helios but still up the visibility…

She lit up her right hand, turning the water close to her neon pink. It somewhat helped, probably more if her light was white instead like Mom’s. But she was finding her, not asking for her help.

The search went on, without any signals sent or received in the first five minutes. Sand was flung across the bed as Echo glided over it, using her breath sparingly as possible. The more she searched, the most she believed the crystals were well and truly gone, that they had been lost for good while they were walking back to their cave. And her search was delayed about three minutes in as she had to resurface to catch her breath. But despite that she kept going, the tiniest bit of hope pushing her through that water.

That was until she saw a bright blue light on her left. Son of human, he found them! Echo triumphed and blessed Helios, ready to push herself back up to the surface.

Or did he find them? His light was flickering.

Pessimism smacked Echo in the face like that one time she was too late to catch a basketball. Did he get caught somewhere? Did he find a wrestling match with an aquatic monster? Were the crystals in a seriously awkward place?

All seemed farfetched, but pessimism took people to weird places.

Echo breaststroked towards the light, preparing herself for whatever that flicker could mean. Echo tried to tell herself it was just his shadow or water distorting the light and making an elusive flicker. That’s what she wanted it to be, but after losing two people close to her those scenarios were only dreams. Fear was driving her, fear to lose the person closest to her. That was if Helios was in a life and death situation.

Didn’t bad luck come in threes though?

That superstition got her to swim faster with a need to defy those controversial odds. She was going to save Helios… she hoped.

It wasn’t until she came close to the light that she realised how far from the bottom the signal came from. Helios didn’t appear near the light, self-sustained just like the one she made and warming the water around her. It was, however, bright enough to see the bottom.

And a small, red drawstring pouch.

That solved the dilemma of the crystals but didn’t relieve her. She dove deeper to gather the crystals, holding them tight in her hands. Not only to make sure they wouldn’t get lost again, but to try and comfort her fear.

Where was Helios? He wasn’t near the light, and sure as heck didn’t pick up the crystals on his way out.

Her soul froze when the sphere of light disappeared. She stared where it once was, the glow shadowing her vision. Did he exhaust his magic? That was the better of the two thoughts she had.

Maybe’s he’s just waiting for me on the banks. Yeah, he must’ve spotted the crystals but ran out of breath so signaled me to get them instead…

That’s what she hoped when she broke surface, gasping for breath or hyperventilating depending on which perspective she wanted to take. She swam back to where her towel was, tossing the crystals next to them while clinging to the wall to catch her breath. Then she turned around. Helios wasn’t here either.

It felt like her soul had cracked. Her eyes were starting to water, distinguishable from the water falling around her cheeks. The one thing she didn’t want to happen was starting to become inevitable, and she didn’t want that to happen. That couldn’t happen. She wouldn’t let history repeat itself another time. He had to be down there somewhere. He had to still be alive. She couldn’t simply give up. She had to keep going for him.

Taking a shakier breath in, she push off the side of the pool and glided back into the water. Her swims were frantic as she searched for any sign of him, praying that sign wasn’t his dust. He fear made her use her breaths a lot less sparingly, making her cry out every time she resurfaced as her fear took over her like a meditation. But she didn’t have the time to think about spirals. She needed to think about where Helios was.

And then she saw his silhouette, still, floating, and almost motionless. Echo hoped with all her might that she wasn’t too late.

It was haunting to approach her brother’s body. His skin looked almost grey under this water. His eyes were hung open along with his mouth, which bubbles slowly came out of like a leaking pipe. His arms were crossed over, somewhere between his neck and by his sides, as if relaxation stopped him from clutching his neck. Helios had almost drowned.

She heard somewhere that humans didn’t turn to dust when they died. Was this what it looked like to them? Just something that looked like them, but drained of life and personality. With a longing stare that scarred the vision of their loved ones. Was this death to them?

Who cared; it would only be the closest that Helios would get to it. Echo wrapped an arm around his waist, desperate to make sure he would live. She dragged him along as she kicked to the surface, the full weight of him making her tremendously slower. This struggle was the one thing she didn’t need. She just needed her brother alive. Her legs were hurting from the extensive amount of kicking, and her chest desperate for oxygen. The surface was getting closer, but it felt much further away.

A powerful cry broke the surface as she heaved both their heads out of the water, the crystals in the cavern flashing like lightning in a storm that was her emotions. And yet she was blinded from that light.

When she finally reached the bank Echo heaved her brother onto it before resting her elbows, needing support from her body as it started to shake. She couldn’t tell the difference between the water dripping down her face or the tears cascading from her eyes. Either way, she didn’t wipe them away; she needed to help Helios.

“Come on, stay with me,” she begged, gently gripping his shoulder. She didn’t know what else to do, shocking forcing her ideas in a whirlwind. “Don’t go… Helios, I need you…please…”

The last Echo saw of her brother was his unemotional stare before his body broke apart.

At first she was petrified, the gaze reflecting at her and illusively lingering. She couldn’t see anything but his face, his silent plead to be saved. And she thought she did, but close wasn’t good enough. Close was gone. Elbows on the riverbank, she sobbed for her third dose of bad luck. She sobbed for the brother that she couldn’t save. She sobbed for the first time in her life she was truly alone.

Helios had been there for her all her life, and to have him gone so soon was like losing a limb. Her roughest times, times like these, he would always be there to smoothen the bumps. He acknowledged every success, pushed her out of her failures, attended every match she played in so he could cheer for the ‘Tiny Terror’, made sure she was given the treasure out of the trash. Echo was expecting him to place an arm around her shoulder and to cry with her until she was ready to be pulled out of her misery the next day. But he was dead. And she was at rock bottom without a rope to climb up.

Echo wanted to trade her tears for breath. Like a waterfall her eyes flowed with water into rivers on her cheeks, turning them tacky. The worst part was that she never seemed to run out of them for the time she had stayed there – how long was a completely different matter without seeing the artificial sun to at least make a guess. There were times where her tears gifted her with drowsiness and a still sleep, but she’d see the same thing every time she woke up. His ashes would always remain scattered near the edge of the pool along with his navy crystal, void dark. And the sobs would once again take her breath away as she unsatisfyingly hugged herself in various corners of the cave, a reminder of how alone she was.

Why did Helios have to go before she could even do anything to repay for all he had done? She wanted to see the genuine appreciation in his smile as she touched his life the way he touched hers. It felt unfulfilling that she would never see joy in him again, only that haunting stare still remaining even as she tried to find a better face to remember him by. But it stuck. The face that wasn’t even his remained in her mind. Not the smile of gratitude she wanted to see on him, to make him happy and show that he was deserving of it all.

But she couldn’t give it to him.

She couldn’t give anything because so much was taken from her. Chance wouldn’t find anything more to be able to take, and would finally stop picking on her. But the aftermath of it hit her hard, especially her thinking. She was scrambling for memories of those times she wasn’t alone, hoping to get them back by something even more powerful than all of the magic in her soul.

Then Echo found the night before her first basketball game, six years ago. She had snuck out late in the night, facing the basket drilled on the wood above the shed door. A basketball rested in her hands as she gulped at the hoop. She remembered how that night she could never make a shot into the basket and struggled to catch her own rebounds. Coach emphasised how important those were in her position, and the fact that she could never catch made her think that she didn’t belong in the team. Worse; that she was completely unworthy of the sport.

Then Helios, who was in high school at the time, came out. “What are you doing out here so late?”

Echo scrambled for the ball bouncing away from the backboard, then freezing as she looked up at him, expecting a growling like Dad gave. “Practicing.”

“Do you know how impractical that is with the game tomorrow?” He frowned, but not scowled. It should’ve relieved Echo more.

“You do it all the time! You’re always studying the night before tests!”

He chuckled, forcing Echo’s cheeks to turn a shade darker. “You sweet, little Echo Flower.” Echo smiled at that name, preparing for his wisdom. “That’s different. On those days I’m just memorizing formulae, not wasting energy to be used for a big day.”

“But I need to, Helios!” she whined, running up to him. “I don’t want to stuff up on my first ever crucial game. But I can’t make any of the shots, or even catch all the ones I missed, and… ” Echo tried to hold back her tears of panic, stiffening her lip. “Maybe I should just not go altogether and quit the team…”

“Quit? While you’re so far ahead?” Helios crouched down to her level, gently taking the basketball from her hands. “Echo, you’ll regret that even more than you’ll regret going to the game feeling flatter than the basketball. Everyone gets nervous with these things all the time, and they treat them like walls instead of a simple rock. Nobody got anywhere just sitting a metre behind the finish line because they were tired. And you shouldn’t either. Nerves shouldn’t stop you.  I want you to succeed. I want you to go far.”

He beamed, looking into her bright and enthused eyes. “I want you to shape your future and make it the best you can make it.”

The best I can make it.

How long had Echo been sulking in this cave for? If Helios was here, they’d be solemnly moving on rather than holding onto it for an eternity. And he wasn’t here to do it.

So it was her turn.

Echo stumbled as she stood but resulted strong, striding up to the pile of ashes where her brother currently lay. When she looked at them now she didn’t see the blank expression, pale skin, and hung open mouth that she last saw of him. She saw his hope in her, and she wasn’t going to let that die like she did. Kneeling beside the ashes she fished out his crystal, deep, navy blue, and with pristine jagged edges. It was placed to the side as a handful of ashes were scooped up.

This wasn’t very formal, but it would have to do.

Echo took a deep breath before taking a pinch of her brother’s dust from her hand and sprinkling it on the crystal as she spoke. “Helios Solomon Scottua, dearly beloved son of Ray and Kelly, even further loved brother of me, Echo. Your time, though short in this life, has come to an end. However, the impacts you made were not like it. The many people who you helped on your journey will be forever grateful for what you have done to their lives. While I may not know of them, I certainly know it would be like that. For, you have certainly made a great impact on my life. You were the rope I needed when I had fallen down holes, the sun I needed when my world was flooded, you were the best brother I could ever have. Without you here, I know it will be difficult. But while you are not here your wisdom and advice remains in my mind and soul, and with that eternal gift I shall use it to persevere and keep going for you. I know it is what you’d want me to do. And while I go on, may you rest and let your efforts not go to waste. May you rest in peace.”

Echo sprinkled the remaining dust onto the crystal, resting her head low and letting her tears fall. It wasn’t sobbing this time, it was silent. Was it to respect him? Was it just her returning strength? It didn’t matter. It was done. It wasn’t moving on, but it wasn’t attachment. It was simply keeping him and her family in mind. The crystal was put into the drawstring bag along with those of her parents, which was then cradled close to her soul.

“I won’t let you down.”

Both of their towels were collected, and she quietly left the beautiful cave. Echo was far gentler doing so, taking her time as a sphere of light floated alongside her. She was able to make that a lot quicker this time. The walk back to their makeshift home was also taken slowly, her attention far from the scenery which was far duller than usual. There were far more important things to consider with having only herself to rely on.

She didn’t have a job; Helios insisted she stay in school. But even so, she didn’t have the qualifications to get any kind of decent job, even with her grades in most of her subjects. And basketball wasn’t guaranteed to get her far; she didn’t get scholarships like others in her team would and her height was a disadvantage to play professionally. At least she had passed what was necessary, so hopefully something small would come up. One thing was certain; returning to school would be pointless.

The ‘Tiny Terror’ would have to become the ‘Small Scavenger’.

Unless she could crash at someone else’s place. If only she had gotten to know her team better. They were close together and in game, but Echo never really made it more than that. It would be awkward to simply show up at their place asking for this when they barely knew each other’s family. It probably turned out for the best.

She refused to lose anything more valuable.

She arrived at their makeshift home quicker than she expected, reminiscing over times with her brother as she on looked the setup in the dark, private cave. Helios’ half was clean and sparse while hers was overloaded with school supplies, slowly marked with less and less corrections from him. She’d have to abandon them for somebody else to pick up along with a lot of items in the area.

Certainly dry enough now, Echo quickly changed out of her swimwear and put on the most practical clothes she could find. This turned out to be her basketball jersey, a tight and well-worn grey hoodie, faded ripped jeans, and her basketball shoes which she knew were going to get dirty quickly. A black cap jaunted to the back was added for the sake of it. This was far more comfortable than that swimsuit she almost thought she spent days wearing, and she was still able to move her muscles freely.

Then she tipped everything out of her schoolbag, not caring about the mess that spilled out of the blue fabrics. Then she really had to narrow down what in the cave she’d have to take with her. After much contemplating and sacrificial thinking, her red knitted blanket, the remaining cans of food, some thinner clothes, clean underwear, and a framed family photo got stuffed into the bag then tossed onto her back. Their remaining Gold and her crystal both went into her jean pockets.

This was it. This was a fresh start she was anxious to walk into. So much was being left behind and so much hadn’t been taught to her. But a river only flowed one way.  And she wasn’t about to defy Helios and give up.

With nothing to go back to, Echo trekked onward to begin her loner life.

A wince escaped through Echo's teeth as finished cleaning the door. She did note her shoulders growing tenser when she was halfway through her job, but they were begging for relief now. No, they were torturing her into it. Luckily all that was left was to wipe the windows down, and then she'd be back hiding in some isolated cave. This short term prick was simply a route long term strength. The pain would lessen once there was pocket full of gold to distract her emotions.

With a symphonic sigh, Echo collected the gear she had used and gave a rain check on the nearby windows. There was never a more perfect time to use the phrase crystal clear by her eyes, though she hoped Haldor's expectations weren't impossible. She approached the counter, letting the items clutter as she set them down before straightening up and ignoring her shoulder's screams for relief.

"There we go," she avoided sighing like a minefield. "Your shop windows are about as clean as brand new panes." I hope. She brushed a strand of magenta hair away from her face, tucking it behind her pointed ear rather than blowing it temporarily out of the way. She didn't want to show Haldor any less than professionalism she didn't have.

She smiled politely, declining his offer for more. " As nice as it was, I'll have to restrain myself for now. " Echo knew she'd be returning another day once she had a suitable amount of cash again. But if she were more financially stable she'd be tempted to visit daily. Not like she was expecting that to happen any time soon, probably not for another five years at the earliest. But she told herself to simple spend money once a week at least until she found a permanent place of residence. She was previously just going to live in a cave somewhere in Waterfall, but nature turned on her with that plan. " But you've reeled in another regular, but how regular we'll have to find out. "

She thanked the staff who brought in the caddy, observing each for their instructions and functions. She wouldn't cut corners just to get the job done faster, she cared about every little bit of gold she earned. And quality was her priority, to the extend that her resources could take her. She listened to Haldor's instructions, nodding throughout. " Door last, don't disturb customers, " she relayed back to him. " Got it. Echo took the equipment and weaved around table to the first window that no customers were near to start cleaning them. She picked up a cloth and the spray, applying the chemical to the cloth before elbow-greasing the dirt away, starting up the top and working her way across.

Echo's neutral expression hardened upon hearing this whole chain of puns, her face as plain and stuck as a doll's. She thought of them like painkillers; fine in the right amount of doses, but two much was terrible for her health. Or like songs. Some were like nothing she'd ever heard of, and then there were some that were either generic or overrated. These ones fell somewhere in between them. Personally, she preferred sarcasm. Over the top, loud, and dramatic sarcasm. Or something more subtle if she wanted to get a person off of her back. And then there would be that odd occasion where what others thought was sarcasm was actually the truth. She tore a piece of her cinnamon roll with her teeth and chewed it like a cow. In a few minutes she decided she'd have to move due to the heat of the fire before she'd break out into a sweat and stink the place out, especially so soon after she left the water.

"Thank you, sir," Echo smiled as she took the two. She then added a splash of cream to her coffee before going to sit in a chair comfortably close to the fire. Her arms were already losing their goosebumps, as she stared at the dancing flames. It intrigued her how fire would reach up to the heavens and yet still be grounded and stable. How destructive it was yet how yearned, especially in her state. It could light up a town and yet burn it down. It was a simple of hope and of destruction. Despite the light it could bring it was a dark, dark tool.

She closed her eyes, they stung from staring at it. She sipped her long black, bitter like how she always wanted it. It would be best to savor it, thankful she wasn't getting rushed to do those windows. Echo was thankful for those times when she could just slow things down, where the world could go on and not check its watch for her. She was in such a rush and so tense to make a living that a stop sign was just necessary for her wellbeing, that those time's she meditate underwater were as mandatory as eating. And now she didn't have to be there to do it. Yes, it was unusual and kind of noisy. But changes in scenery were supposed to be good once in a while.