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ADULTHOOD HAD NEVER been something Kaelyn had expected she would need to deal with. For so long she had lived day by day, not sure if she would be sleeping in the streets or inside, not sure if she would be alone again or surrounded by family. Maybe even unsure if she'd make it to her eighteenth birthday. Her future had always simply been something she didn't think about– or couldn't afford to.
So, when the day finally came around for Kaelyn and the boys to leave the Spinsters behind, she couldn't help the bit of pride she felt. Initially, they had floundered in their home village, unsure whether they would be able to leave it behind and all the memories it held. As fresh adults, the world was suddenly open to them in a way they'd never quite felt before. Sure, they had always been unrestricted to a degree and spat at rules regardless, but they weren't kids anymore.
At eighteen, they had all grown into their features, and themselves. Rumple stayed taller than either of his friends, but had gained muscle. His hair had already seemed to thin out, and his features had become sharper than expected, but he remained their mousey third addition. He had become less useless, but remained meek, and sometimes backed out of harder tasks and danger, but had never given the impression he would completely give up on his friends.
Malcolm had managed a bit more height over the years, and started growing his hair out more, always rejecting Kaelyn when she volunteered to cut it for him. He was as mischievous as ever, that twinkle in his green eyes never dying out. He remained their leader, of sorts, a perfect mix of caution and risk-taking that got them through dangerous heists and predicaments that freaked the other two out.
Kaelyn had perhaps changed the most. Maybe it was the way she held herself, or the confidence in her magic she had gained over the years, but she looked the oldest. It wasn't the weight or the shape she had gained, or the way her features fit her face, or even the gleam in her indigo eyes; it was that she knew the power in her veins was hers, and hers alone. It had become refined and strengthened through use, free and alive and a part of her.
She could scarcely remember a time she had felt more free and alive, and unbeknownst to her, it would likely be the last time she would feel so. As the three young adults took to the road, finally splitting from their shared childhood village, it felt like the beginning of their lives, but in reality it would be the beginning of the end.
They found security in savings, and selling old stolen items, which kept them afloat as they hopped between villages. They rode horses, stowed away in wagons, hitch-hiked, and even one time scammed a group of road bandits into giving them their transport, which had given Kaelyn a personal taste of satisfaction, as they travelled.
As they built their fortune, and lives, Malcolm continued to plan for them. They continued to heist and thieve from the rich, sell to established buyers and the black market, and form relations with other groups in ways they couldn't when they had been children and locked to one place. Malcolm was the organiser, Rumple would sometimes switch with him to be the mouthpiece, and Kaelyn was the enforcer. People doubted a group so young, but if anyone got particularly spiteful, a single flick of purple energy from Kaelyn shut them up, and she never needed to hurt anyone for them to get their way.
