Alone in an alley.

Ren sits silently alone in an alleyway next to the bakery, her head rested against her knees while her ears are focused on anything around her, she wonders what she will get for food tonight, bread, fish, meat, she has no clue what she will steal tonight that will bring her sustenance.

The baker comes out of the shop and shoos Ren away, "Get out of here you street rat!" the baker yells as Ren dashes off.

Ren frowns and walks down the street, her head hanging down as she thinks of what to do, living all along in the lower ring isn't something easy, especially since she has no idea what life is like without her parents.

Hiaro watched from behind a pile of boxes and trash as the baker shouted for a street rat to leave. For a second he thought the baker was talking about Hiaro, but then he saw a young girl walk up and leave. The young sandbender waited for the right moment and right as the man was walking back into his shop Hiaro acted. With one sweeping motion the sand on the ground moved slowly towards the man and quickly knocked him off the few steps leading to the door. He fell in a pile of garbage shouting obscenities towards the attacker. Hiaro ran into the bakery upsetting some customers and quickly grabbed as much as he could. He ran out the bakery and watched as the baker was getting to his feet. He quickly tripped him again and tossed a loaf of bread to the girl. "I would run if I were you," Hiaro said taking off in the opposite direction of the bakery.

Ren catches the bread and stands there dumbfounded for a second, she looks around quickly and then takes off after Hiaro, catching up to him in no time.

The baker yelled furiously down the streets, "Damn street rats! If you ever come back here again I'll be sure you are arrested and put in jail!" he yelled with all his might to the two kids running.

Ren looked to Hiaro, "Thank you very much for the bread." she says bowing slightly at him as they come to a stop.

Hiaro could not help but laugh when the baker threatened them. He has received so many threats he just brushes them off because he knows he is too good at this to ever get caught. He stopped and looked back at the baker he tripped him a third time and then caught up with the girl. He slowed down once he figured they were a good distance and said trying to catch his breath, "No problem." He liked to share his spoils with those who had none. He sat down and rested his back against a wall of a building. He broke off a piece of the bread and ate it greedily. He was so hungry. When you live on the streets hunger tends to be your only real friend. It’s not a good friend, but it’s always there.

"What's your name?" He asked the girl and patted next to him motioning for her to sit. "You can call me Hiaro," he took another bite and said still chewing, "I have been at this for years. I am a familiar face around here. What about you? What's your story?" Every street rat small to big had some sort of story. Some of them were lame and others were interesting it all depended how the person tells it really. You also get those who refuse to tell their story because they are cold and act like they have a strong rough personality. He knows most of the time they are faking it.

Ren blinks innocently at Hiaro, "My name is Ren." she says sitting down beside him and taking a bite out of her loaf of bread, "And there isn't much to really tell about me." she says quietly to him, "I was abused plenty of times by my parents and about a month ago I got sick of it and ran away." she says picking out some pieces of bread stuck between her teeth. "What about you?" she asks him curiously, interested to learn more about him, she slowly ate little bits off her loaf while she listened to him, she was insanely hungry from not eating in a long while, water is easy to find, food however is more scarce when you can't bend at all, or steal very well.

"It's nice to meet you," the boy said inbetween bites. He was almost done with his loaf of bread, and he had others but he planned to save those. Sometimes he would have to lie low because more and more shops are requesting guards so that means to stealing for him. He nodded as she told her story and he figured that was a good reason to live in the streets. "I am from the Sand Tribes," he said finishing off his loaf of bread wanting more, but he knew he could not eat the others. "My parents were killed by bandits and I was sold into slavery," he fiddled with some sand on the ground and continued, "from there I escaped and have been living on the streets ever since." Hiaro has cried so many times over his family that the tears don't come anymore and he is able to tell anyone the story without feeling sorry for himself. "It's a hard life," he said with a shrug, "but I enjoy it." He looked at her and asked, "So you are new to being a street rat?" He could tell she was.

Ren nods slowly the Hiaro, "Yes I am new to living out here on the streets, I don't want to... But I kind of have no choice but to.." she says looking a little sad, she buries her head in her knees while still clutching half a loaf a bread, she is obviously thinking about her past and how she left it behind, if she returned now she would certainly be punished by her father and mother, so she couldn't do that, and she certainly wasn't going to toss herself into the orphanage.

Ren continues to run ideas through her head, but all of them end in failures, she sighs and leans back against the wall, resting her head on it, "I don't even know what to do anymore.." she says quietly, almost inaudibly.

Hiaro may be fine with the way things are but he noticed she looked well sad. He awkwardly patted her shoulder and said, "It will get better. All scars heal in time." He stopped patting her shoulder and let his hand fall. He was never good with emotional people espically sad and depressed girls. Hiaro watched her as she held her head in her knees. He had no idea what else to say or do for her. He already gotten her a loaf of bread, he could beat up her parents for her. "You can stay with me," he offered. She looked like she was lost and would need some help living on the streets. Hiaro knew the best places to stay and which store owners were nice to street rats.

"Stay with me," Hiaro said offering again. "It wont be easy of course, but it will be better." He would probably have to teach her a few fighting moves if she wanted to live on the streets. Out here it was dog eat dog world where you had to fight for scraps and even fight to live. Gangs were rampant in the Lower Ring and if you crossed one then you have a death wish on your head. "Stick with me and you will live," he said, "maybe we can stop by your old house and I can show your parents not to pick on people smaller than them."

Ren smiles brightly, "I would be honored to come with you, Hiaro." she says sincerly, she eats the rest of her bread and looks up into the sky, "And I don't feel like ever going back to my old house again." she says rather darkly, hating even thinking about the place, she looks at Hiaro, "So where is it we are going to be headed?" she asks him curiously, wanting to know where they might be headed to.

"Great," Hiaro said glad to have a new friend with him. She would be a burden sometimes, but he likes a challenge. "I understand," Hiaro said. He may be over his family's death but he still had problems going back to the merchant's home. He was sold into slavery to a rich merchant and one day he decided to go back and free his friends. He ended up getting captured and had to escape it a second time. Hiaro stood up and wiped his shorts and said, "I have no idea. Wherever the roads take us." He helped Ren up and said, "We can cause trouble. I am good at doing that." He made his way slowly down the alley and stopped. He was in a small market square surrounded by people and then his eyes fell on a group of guards.

"Stand back," Hiaro said and quickly swept up some sand and tripped a few of the guards. He heard shouts and stepped back laughing softly. He watched as the guards looked around confused at who did that. One even shouted, "Show yourself!" The people buying and selling were not watching as the guards moved about looking at every person. He noticed one was walking towards them and he looked at Ren and said, "Play a long." He loosened up and tapped her on the shoulder, "You're it!" He busted past the guard and through the crowd of people.