Out of the corner of her eye, Ki could see Na fidgeting with his bandaged shoulder. He rubbed at it and winced, his face screwed up with pain. Ki chewed at the inside of her mouth, worry gnawing at the back of her mind. While injured, Na couldn’t properly protect the Vault without overexerting himself.

  She looked at Ti. Even the older girl’s back screamed grumpiness and impatience to Ki, and she shoved down her question for the third time since they had all settled down at their posts again. Na had said he was fine, so he was, right?

  She risked another glance at him. It was hard to tell in the strangely lit-yet-not feel of the Chamber. It was easy enough to see, despite that there were no lights at all, but sometimes, Ki couldn’t quite tell what she was looking at when she stared hard enough. Maybe he was fine and she was projecting her worry onto him to make him seem like he was in pain in her vision. 

  She scratched at her cheek. She wished she was more certain of things like Ti always was. Maybe then she would make fewer mistakes and ask less stupid questions. Maybe then Na wouldn’t have been hurt in the first place. Maybe then she wouldn’t wonder so much about the Vault and why she was there to protect it.

  Before she could decide if her question was worth asking or not, her spear began to glow. The cool silver hummed in her hands, casting a soft white light across the dark of the Chamber. Lifting her head, she saw that both Ti’s and Na’s spears were doing the same thing.

  Ti rested the end of her spear against the ground, standing up straighter. She lifted her chin and cleared her throat, smoothing down her tunic. “It’s the Master,” she said. “Stand up straight and try not to make a fool of me, please.”

  “We wouldn’t dream of it, Ti,” Na quipped, rubbing his shoulder again. “Never in a million years.”

  Ki covered her mouth to stifle her giggles. Na shot her a proud grin, lifting his chin and raising his spear to mimic the stiff way Ti always stood. As if sensing the two were goofing off already, Ti spun around to glare at them. They both burst into a fit of laughter, which made the older girl’s cheeks flush red.

  “Idiots,” she spat. “You’re both idiots.”

  “Aw, thank you, Ti,” Ki said with a grin, curtseying as Na bowed with a flourish. 

  “We try our best,” he added.

  Ti opened her mouth to say something else, but a spark of light made her fall silent. She spun around to face forwards again as a slit appeared in the very air before them, but by a dagger grasped firmly in a gloved hand. The hooded figure of the Master emerged from the cut, a lantern in one hand that cast a soft orange glow across the Vault doors. In his other hand was the dagger that cut the entrance, made from the same silvery metal as Ki’s spear. The light cast upon him revealed nothing of his face beneath the hood, but Ki felt only relief and admiration at the sight of him.

  The three guards bowed to their Master.

  The Master paid no attention to Ki and Na. He surveyed the Vault doors, stepping forward and running a gloved hand across the blood stains. He grunted in disapproval, then turned to Ti for a full report. He guided her away from the other two, and they spoke in hushed voices that Ki couldn’t understand a word of.

  She sighed and leaned against the doors, letting herself relax while Ti and the Master weren’t looking. Na sank to a seat on the ground, resting his spear across his lap. Ki tried to ignore him by focusing her gaze on something else, but she quickly remembered there was nothing to look at. The Chamber wasn’t exactly created to be distracting to the Vault Guards. She settled for staring at the pink tips of her shoes, knocking her toes together to create that satisfying clack sound.

  “Hey, Ki?” Na spoke up, jolting Ki out of her silence.

  “Yes?” she asked, gripping her spear and standing up straight. Blinking, she looked down at him, but there was no blood slipping through his makeshift bandage. “What is it?”

  He frowned, leaning forward to rest his chin in hands. “Don’t you ever find the Master quite… curious?”

  Ki scrutinized the hooded figure as Ti continued on with her report. She would be lying if she said she didn’t find him odd, or that he didn’t bring questions to her mind, but some small part of her squirmed at the thought of confessing this. None of them ever spoke about the Master, and they certainly didn’t speak about him to disagree with him--though Ki was finding more and more often that she did. 

  Swallowing her fears, she nodded, though the motion felt stiff and awkward. “I do, I guess.”

  Na breathed a deep sigh in relief, leaning his head back. “I’m glad I’m not the only one. Ti always seems so unquestioningly dedicated to him, but I can’t help but wonder about him. I mean, why can’t we see his face? Even when the light falls on it, it’s like there’s nothing there at all.”

  Ki spread her hands, resting her spear against her shoulder. Maybe it was her imagination, but the air suddenly seemed colder. “I have wondered about it, sometimes.”

  Na hummed to himself in thought. “Sorry if it feels like I’m pressuring you, I know it’s--”

  “Oh, no no! It’s fine!” Ki protested, giving an awkward laugh. She looked down to find Na staring at her in bewilderment, his dark brown eyes wide. She laughed that off too, brushing her braided blonde hair back over her shoulder. “It’s fine, it’s fine. I just… I don’t know, it’s like I don’t want to ask and yet I do.”

  Na’s look of confusion shifted into a warm smile. “I get that. Talking is hard.”

  “It is.”

  “I was just wondering.” He pushed himself to his feet, picking up his spear in his hands again. “It’s always been so odd to me.”

  Ki nodded slowly, her gaze fixated on him as he rubbed his shoulder again. She gripped her spear tighter, clenching her teeth. “Does it still hurt? I… have to admit, I lost track of how much time passed between now and when you were injured.”

  He opened his mouth to reply, then closed it again, his brow furrowing. “It does, a lot. But you make a good point, how long ago was that?”

   Ki shrugged, feigning apathy--albeit poorly. As much as she wanted to believe that her questions were dumb--because some part of her always seemed to know she wasn’t the kind to ask questions worth asking--she couldn’t shake them away. Wasn’t it logical to want to know? But wasn’t there a time when she didn’t care to know?

  Or had she always been this curious and confused?

  It always felt like the answer sat right on the tip of her tongue. As though she knew it, but couldn’t reach for it.

  “Just between us,” Na whispered, leaning towards her. “I have a lot of questions, too.”

  Ki pulled back. “How did you know?”

  He smiled. “Your face gets all scrunched up when you’re thinking. And-- oh, it looks like Ti is coming back.”

  Lifting her chin and standing up straight like Ti had told her to, Ki turned to face the front again as Na returned to his post. As strange as it may have been, it was strangely comforting to know someone else was as confused and full of questions as she was. Na didn’t really look like he did a lot of thinking, but she admitted he had put more thought into it than she did. His head was full of many questions, while she only had a handful and couldn’t bring herself to prioritize any of them.

  But maybe she should.

  She shot a look at Na out of the corner of her eye.

  That or he was trying to skirt around admitting that he was in pain.

  The thought made her frown, just as he looked up and caught her eye, flashing that same old smile as always.

  Ti cleared her throat and both Ki and Na looked towards her. The older girl stood alone this time, the Master having left already--without so much as a goodbye.

  “The Master says to keep up the good work,” she said, the tiniest hint of a smile creeping into her usually firm expression. “And Na? Try not to bleed on the door next time.”

  “Oh my apologies, I’ll keep that in mind for the next time I get freaking stabbed.” Na rolled his eyes, making a show of sticking his tongue out at Ti. Sarcasm oozed from his words, but Ki thought she could sense a hint of bitterness beneath it.

  As Ti returned to her own post, satisfied, Ki hung on to that bitterness she sensed.

  Perhaps it was the origin to Na’s questions, and maybe he had been wondering about the secrecy of the Vault and the Master long before Ki had even begun. 

  All she knew for certain was the steady-growing feeling of unease inside of her was not something she felt alone.