The sun's light faded at the top of the acacia tree as Akali swept the last ball of fur from the floor. She wiped the sweat off her forehead using the back of her arm and sighed a tired but relieved breath. She was done for the day and glad to finally take a break.

Makka had already left her to tend to something else, and Akali was alone.

She stowed away all the tools in the closet built into the wood of the wall of the tree trunk. She padded to the door, parting the vines that curtained it for privacy, and left the room.

As soon as she stepped out, she found creatures in the hall, whispering and looking down from the railings, eyes directed to the lowest level.

"What's going on?" Akali asked no one in particular as she came to the handrail and leaned over to look, curious about what had captured the others' focus.

More creatures gathered at the ground level in chaos, running around as if to catch things on the floor.

"There it is!" one small dwende shouted, pointing.

"Don't let it get away!" said a rough voice, but Akali couldn't tell from whom it came.

"I've got it!" When another dwende shouted, raising her hands, Akali saw she was holding a house lizard.

"There's another one!" someone else cried out.

Akali wondered if there was a sudden lizard infestation she didn't know about. She had to help them and ran toward the stairs to the ground level, eyes searching the floor for the crawling small reptiles.

She saw one pass by a garuda sitting on a round river rock, its tail swinging about as it rushed through.

"There's one!" Akali shouted and ran after it, nearly toppling the garuda in its seat as she dashed through the lounge.

"Hey! Watch it!" the garuda warned, but she ignored her.

Akali followed the lizard, zipping between seats. Shouts of "Hey!" and "Hoy!" were thrown at her, but she ignored them too.

When the small house lizard stopped to catch a breath, Akali took her catch and dove to the floor, smashing on her belly but catching the critter under her hands. "I got it!" she shouted, pushing herself up, holding it in her cupped palms.

"Akali!" someone shouted her name, and she flinched at the voice of Ma'am Nyan. Her hands opened, and the lizard found its opening, jumping from her grasp and running to the floor.

"Wait! No!" Akali said, thinking of the wasted energy for the chase and the traded scratch on her knee for the dive, but she didn't run after it again.

She turned to see Ma'am Nyan standing by an entrance to a root that led to her dormitories. The nuno wore a furious gaze that could skewer Akali with anger.

"Come with me," Ma'am Nyan said through gritted teeth, and Akali didn't dare ask why, following the nuno into the root path.

The santilmo floating about were shivering, their light flickering as they whispered as if they were talking about Akali. She had the urge to ask them what was happening, but she kept her mouth shut as she tailed Ma'am Nyan until they reached her room in the dormitory.

Several dwende and a few dalaketnon gathered outside and inside of her room. A higante crouched by the doorway, head hitting the ceiling as he towered over the crowd.

When Akali and Ma'am Niyan entered the room, the nuno turned to her. "You!" She pointed. "You stole from a client!"

"What?" Akali reared back at the accusation.

Ma'am Nyan walked to the swing Akali had slept in and picked up a triangular object as large as her hand made of shiny gold. "This was hidden under your covers."

"I've never seen that before," Akali said. "I--" she looked around. Three other dwende stood in the room, their faces filled with disappointment. She wished that Makka was there with her now. "I didn't steal it. I didn't steal anything." Her voice shook, defending herself.

"Liar!" Ma'am Nyan pointed at her again, finger shaking with rage. "Where were you the whole day?"

"I was working," Akali said.

"I don't believe you! This establishment is of the highest standards, and I will not have you taint our reputation. Get out of my parlor!" Ma'am Nyan waved her hand in the air furiously. "Get your things and get out!"

"What?" Disbelief filled Akali, her chest tightening at the command. "You can't do that. I didn't steal anything."

"There is nothing you can say to prove that! Your contract is void! Now, leave!" Ma'am Nyan stepped closer and floated to Akali to level with her face.

Akali began to cry. She didn't have much, but she was not a thief. What little she had fitted in a small rattan bag, and she had no interest in this object in the nuno's hand, whatever it was.

"Do you even know what this is?" Ma'am Nyan asked.

"I wouldn't know because I've never seen it before!" Akali's voice shook as if she was about to cry.

The nuno glared and huffed. "This is an agimat that can turn anyone into a house lizard. Some of our clients are already affected, and I couldn't control the embarrassment if the news got out. Our business could get ruined! You don't know what you've done!"

"I didn't do anything! I didn't steal anything!"

"Get out!" Ma'am Nyang screamed at Akali as if it were final, and she floated back to the ground and strode out of the room. Other creatures followed the nuno, giving Akali pitiful glances.

When the room emptied, tears ran down Akali's cheeks as she stood there. She didn't know how the agimat got to her bed, and she didn't know how to defend herself. She was fired and had to leave Pinta immediately. All her dreams crumbled before her, her chance fading from possibility to impossibility.

"Akali!" Makka entered the room in a rush. "Oh, no, no, no. I heard ma'am Nyan. She was very furious. Very furious. Oh, so furious. I don't believe what she's saying, but I have to ask. Is it true?"

When Akali turned around to face her, Makka melted at the sight of her tears.

"Oh, no, no, no. We'll fix this. Don't worry. We'll find out the truth. Yes, the truth, the truth." Makka didn't wait for an answer to her question. She believed Akali, but it was too late. Ma'am Nyan had already terminated her contract.

"I have to go, Makka. I don't belong here." Akali grabbed her bag. There wasn't much to pack, so it didn't take her long before she was ready. And with a heavy heart, she dragged her feet out the door.

"Wait! Wait! Wait!" Makka ran after her, but she was too slow with too short legs that slowed her down.

Akali rushed out of Pinta through the main entrance without saying goodbye to anyone, thinking they all believed her a thief. Perhaps her father was right all along. No matter what, she would be ruined. They wouldn't find out about her human part, but they had labeled her something else, and it was all the same disgusting.

Akali stepped over the mushroom barrier and continued following the route leading her out of the Central Forest.

"Akali?" She heard her name, but she didn't stop to look and strode faster until someone wrapped their arms around her waist. "Whoa! Hang on. What happened?"

When she gave in, the arms released her immediately, and she turned to face Kayn.

"What happened, Akali?" Kayn asked again, his hand rising to touch her tear-stained cheeks, but they stopped midway. "Are you alright?" There was alarm in his voice, something protective, something angry.

Akali shook her head. "I--" Her voice trembled as the words spilled from her lips, "--I lost my job."

"Why?"Kayn said, dropping his hand and balling it into a fist.

"I was accused of stealing, but I didn't do it." Akali's tears continued to flow. "I wouldn't steal anything. I wouldn't--"

"I believe you," Kayn said. He gently touched her shoulder to calm her, and she did. "Where are you going?" his eyes landed on the rattan bag.

Hiccups rose in her throat. "I don't know. Home, I guess. There's nowhere else for me to be."

"But it's turning nightfall. It's not safe for you to travel at this time. Vicious creatures come out at night in the Central Forest."

Akali managed to smile at his thoughtfulness. "I'm a diwata. I'm meant to roam the forest at night."

"Maybe your forest. The Central Forest is different. There are plenty more other creatures you've never encountered, and some don't follow any rules. A pretty face like yours will attract trouble."

"You think I'm pretty?" Akali meant the question in jest, but her face heated when she saw Kayn's eyes widen. "Sorry, I mean. You're worried about me?"

Kayn smiled. The hand that gripped her shoulder relaxed, and they felt light over her skin. He didn't let go of her just yet. "Of course, I'm worried about you, and I'm sure Makka is too."

Makka. Akali glanced back in the direction of the acacia tree. Its towering branches were vivid in Kayn's background. She hadn't said goodbye to Makka, and she was leaving, returning to her forest and never seeing her friend again. Then she looked up at Kayn. She would never see him again—a lump formed in her throat, threatening to fill her eyes with tears again.

"You can stay at an inn," Kayn said as he removed his hand from her shoulder. "Only for tonight. If you want to leave, you can travel by morning."

Akali thought for a moment. Her shoulders slumped--tired from the day and all the frustration of the events she could not control. She nodded to Kayn. "Alright. Just for tonight."

Kayn led her through the Central Forest until they reached a balete tree surrounded by santilmo, yellow and red flames dancing in the air, followed by buzzing bugs. The balete's trunk was an assembly of roots, crawling to the top where its leaves spread out in all directions and where its branches hung, weeping and dangling back to the ground.

The bottom of the trunk was an opening where fire light glowed and laughter--growling, barking, and squealing--radiated from.

Kayn stepped into the entrance and led Akali through a lounge, where creatures gathered and seated at roughly round wooden tables. "Wait here," he said to Akali when they reached the curved bar table that followed the shape of the tree's inner lining.

Kayn waved to the amomongo behind the bar and jerked his head at Akali. The amomongo eyed her for a second, and then he reached out under the table and produced a key. "Thanks," Kayn said, then turned back to Akali.

"Aren't we paying for that?" Akali asked, glancing at the key that Kayn held out to her.

"No need," Kayn said. "They'll put it on my tab. It's on the top floor, the last door on the right. Take it." He waited for her to take the key, and she did. "Let's get something to eat."

Kayn led Akali to an empty table and ordered some food with sprinkles of moonlight.

"So, where will you go?" he asked as they ate, scooping a spoonful and shoving it in his mouth.

"Home, I guess." Akali stared at her meal inside a half-cut coconut shell.

"And where is home?" Kayn said as he chewed.

"A small forest outside a village." She stirred her food and watched as the sprinkle of moonlight mixed with the food.

"And there's nothing here for you to stay?"

Akali looked up at him and shook her head. "There's none."

"You could get a job somewhere else, you know." Kayn swallowed and looked down at his bowl.

Akali shook her head, disappointed at the suggestion. She wanted to be in Pinta, and she wanted to be a tattoo artist there. "I didn't come here for a job," she answered.

"Then why are you here?" Kayn looked up.

Akali felt her usual determination inside her chest. "I wanted to be a tattoo artist. I--I wanted to be the best."

"But you're a cleaner." He tilted his head, brows furrowed. He was confused.

"I know. I didn't have a choice. It was the only way I could get a job at Pinta. I thought Ma'am Nyan would notice me eventually. I thought I could prove my worth. I'm an excellent tattoo artist." She said everything with nods as if she was so convinced.

"You are," Kayn confirmed and stared at her for a moment. "It's not like you to just give up."

"I don't know what else to do." After a month of having no glimpse of an opportunity to prove herself, Akali had felt hopeless. And now, there seemed nothing else to do but give up.

"Alright. You said that you didn't steal anything. Prove it." Kayn left his food and focused on her.

"I don't know how. I'm not allowed to go back to Pinta anymore. My contract is over." She hunched her shoulders, embarrassed and defeated. "I'm sorry, but I'm not your problem, Kayn. I think it's best if I just go home."

Kayn swallowed and, for a moment, stared at her, contemplating his response. Akali thought he'd argue more, and some part of her wanted him to. But he only nodded. "I hope you find happiness wherever you are then," he said.

The evening grew deep, and they finished their meals in silence. Soon, Kayn had said goodbye and left Akali at the inn.