Cairo was a rather unassuming young man, not the type of individual who enjoyed causing problems or forcing himself to stand out in a crowd. Rather, he enjoyed fitting in with his surroundings.
Unlike most Pathfinders, Cairo was not ambitious or power-hungry, he was not on a revenge quest or needing to prove himself. Originally, Cairo never even wanted to interact with that aspect of his world. Paths were dangerous and perilous, claiming the lives of many who sought them out. Cairo had no need for those things, he was well provided for, not lacking a variety of futures.
Cairo grew up surrounded by his family, not lacking any number of positive influences or people to look out for his well-being. He was used to spending sunny days playing with his cousins out in the streets, playing various ball games and getting into trouble with the Patrolmen for being too rambunctious. He enjoyed spending rainy days inside with his siblings, reading stories of the great adventurers, and playing plenty of board games.
While Cairo may not have been a member of a Founding Family or another one of the Great Pathfinder Families, his family was not lacking in influence. Amongst the Non-Pathfinding Families, Cairo's family was one of the most influential to the Heartland's development. Various members of his Family had positions within the prestigious "Builder's Guild", from his Grandfather to his Father and Uncles, spread across several different fields.
Most of them oversaw several building projects, renovating the outdated infrastructure and planning its renovation. There were even a few of them that were focused on the development of their own skills, becoming well-renown artisans. It wasn't until having to help deliver his youngest Uncle's most recent commission that he understood his skill. The Marble Statues were nearly life-like, the curves of their clothing were indistinguishable from actual fabric, their faces were scarily human-like despite the lack of life in their eyes. Realizing that even the youngest of his Uncles was that skilled was an eye opener for him.
As Cairo grew older, he began to spend more time under his Uncles' and Father's tutelage. He enjoyed making things with his own two hands, even if he wasn't particularly good at any specific trade yet. He felt pride in his creations, in his improvement, and his family.
He understood just how out of place his family was in this world. They did not place insurmountable expectations onto their children like those of the Great Families. They did not suffer from the alienation that migrants felt in this foreign world, his family had migrated so long ago that he didn't know how long they had been in this new world. They didn't suffer from the constraints of politics, with the exception of funding bills that his grandfather was constantly presenting to the High Court. No political marriages, no external conflicts, just commitment to their craft.
Which only made him question his Older Sister more.
Growing up, Cairo always admired his 3 older siblings. He himself was the middle child of his parents' seven children. So, he always felt a need to look up to his older siblings, observing their decisions and learning from their mistakes. He knew that his Oldest Brother was likely going to follow his Father's steps to becoming an amazing architect, designing the grand and impressive civil buildings of the future. The Second Oldest, His Oldest Sister, was very level headed and was a great mediator. Cairo had a sneaking suspicion that his grandfather had plans for her mediating skills; she might even become a notable figure within the "Builder's Guild" one day.
His Older sister, well she worried him greatly. She had once been rather docile, spending her time after classes making things like jewelry with her friends, secretly devoted to improving her skills. She was never exactly a homebody, but she would occasionally fixate on a specific piece for a day or two. Which was why Cairo was shocked when her attitude began taking a turn in the complete opposite direction.
His Older Sister began spending more and more time away from the house, spending less and less time at family gatherings. Cairo knew he wasn't the only one to notice, his Aunts often had reserved expressions when she would excuse herself to leave. Cairo was confused and worried, but he understood it wasn't his place to involve himself. He considered having Eldest sister talk to her, but was also worried about driving a wedge between any of them with his hastiness.
It wasn't too much longer until learning that his Older Sister had started hanging out around a young master from a great family. Cairo was a little resentful, not understanding his sister's choice to involve herself with the far more dangerous side of the world they lived in. In the moments he observed the Young Master, he didn't feel any particular way about the youth. He was very transparent in fact, not whispering sweet nothings into her ear, like Cairo had been paranoid about. If anything, it was his Sister and the image of her family that had a strong impression on the Young Master. Cairo had been so worried that he had been changing his sister, that he failed to realize that his sister had changed all of her own volition.
Then the day he had been dreading came, and his sister informed their parents that she would be undertaking her own Path.
It had been a few generations since the last person in their family had ventured out on a Path, so none of them had really considered how to deal with the situation exactly. His Father seemed against the idea, and insisted that she take some time to consider the reality of such a choice. It was their Mother that had mentally prepared herself for this moment, calmed their Father down, accepting her daughter's decision. Cairo, was not quick to be soothed though.
He felt that there was finally a need to confront his sister, to try to understand her, or dissuade her.
"Why."
Cairo stood in the frame of his sister's bedroom, staring at his sister who had been cleaning up a mess of silver and gold on her desk just to the side of her bed. Cairo did not often get to see his sister's room as of late, she was either out of the house or locked up in there on her own. Her walls used to have several tapestries hanging on them, a few made by herself, others made by her friends or cousins and aunts. The pile of handmade stuffed toys had disappeared from the rocking chair in the other corner of the room, and the beautiful rug their mother had made was rolled up, laying at the base of her bedframe. Her room, which had once looked like the lively place of a crafty teenage girl had been stripped of its life and color. The bare floorboards and simple eggshell colored wallpaper felt lonely and isolated.
His sister finished placing a spool of metal wire in one of the cabinets of the desk, sighing and she turned to look her not-so-little-anymore brother in his eyes. "Why what, Cairo?"
Cairo looked at her with an exasperated expression, throwing his hands up in the air. "I don't know Lillia! Why leave? Why risk going on a Path? Is it because of him? Did you always hate the way our family was? Did any of it ever matter to you?"
Cairo bit his tongue, trying to hold himself back from saying things he might regret. However, in that moment he realized how much resentment had begun to build up in his heart. He was frustrated, upset, and feeling betrayed. He couldn't possibly know what had been going through her head, and that was his problem with it all. He couldn't tell if all the memories they shared meant anything to her, despite how much he had cherished them. He couldn't empathize or sympathize with her decisions, because they felt too alien to him.
She looked at him intensely, not portraying any emotions on her face, but her pupils were like storms of emotion. "There are many reasons, Cairo. But in the end, none of them really matter do they?"
She sighed, taking another deep breath as she turned her head away from the doorway, looking out into the lavender sky. "It's really not that complicated, actually. It isn't his fault. It also isn't any of your faults. I don't hate our family at all."
Her hand slipped into a pocket on the left side of her casual fitting clothes, she had been wearing a less formal leather blazer and what looked like horse-riding breeches. Her hands seemed restless under the cover of cloth.
"It's myself, Cairo. That's the reason." She turned back to look at him, "I don't wish to be stagnant. I want to push myself, to improve myself at the very core. That-"
A moment passed in that tension, leaving Cairo in a mire of his own assumptions.
"That can only be done in the Paths. What I seek, it hasn't been here the whole time. I realized that a few years ago, even before I meant Wrest. So, please don't blame anyone else. It is my fault you feel how you do, Cairo."
"Why can you only improve on the Paths? Our family has created plenty of amazing artisans! They did not need the paths to accomplish their goals! They did it on their own, with their own two hands! Do you really need to rely on something as esoteric as 'destiny' to achieve your goals?" Cairo did not realize that his fists were tightly clenched, trembling ever so slightly.
"Cairo, you know the truth about the Paths, you must have learned it over the years from classes and tutors. You know what happens to worlds that grow stagnant." His sister's voice seemed to be on the edge of breaking, her words shaking as they left her lips. "What will happen if we grow stagnant, Cairo? What fate will befall us then? I don't doubt the skills of our family. But, can you honestly tell me that our family has the ability to build a new world for us should this one fail?"
Cairo stood silent, comprehending what his sister's question meant.
'Is she crazy? Did she lose it? Did that worm of a human plant this idea in her mind?'
His face was fixed into a frown as he glared menacingly at the floorboards, trying to bore holes in them as he thought. He understood the words she said, yet he couldn't exactly agree. There was no evidence that The Heart was failing, or was ever going to fail. The Founding Families believed that The Heart had existed far before anyone had begun to settle here, likely existing from the beginning of time. That was exactly the problem though, no one assumed it could happen, so no one would even be aware that it was failing until it was too late.
He didn't pay nearly as much attention to the classes regarding history of fallen worlds and Path-Related theory as he should have, just learning enough to get good and passing grades. He cursed his lack of understanding, his lack of ability to refute his sister's statements.
"Cairo." She slowly rose from her seat, fishing something out from her pocket. "Give me your hand."
Cairo reluctantly relinquished his hand, only for his sister to slide something into his palm. It was cool to the touch, with a small chain hanging from a loop on its edge. Cairo opened his palm and looked down at the pendant necklace that had appeared in it. It looked like a sun that had been cast in bronze, with a white glowing stone protruding from its core. Golden accents sprouted out from the glowing stone, partially covering the bronze undertones. He stopped examining the intricate pendant, looking up at his older sister.
"I was going to leave it with our parents originally, but I hope you will keep an eye on it instead."
"What is it?"
"It's a remembrance stone, inlaid into a special pendant to give it another property." She excitedly began to explain the mystical trinket. "The remembrance stone has one primary function, to glow in accordance to the well-being of the person it is bound to. The Pendant has an additional function, it allows the pendant to point in the direction of the Path they seek. However, because the changes to it made when installing the remembrance stone, it should help point to the person the stone is bound to. All you have to do is hold the chain like a pendulum, and watch to see which direction the pendulum changes in."
She scratched her head, seemingly embarrassed by the lengthy description. "At least that is what I believe, I'm not an Artificer, having not gone a Path. However, Wrest's family has an Artificer in their service. So I asked him to prepare something for our family, little did I know that he had already commissioned it."
They both stood silently, admiring the pendant, curious to see its mystical properties first-hand.
"However, I hope you will never use it." His sister's face grew stern, and the look in her eyes intensified. "Even if the light begins to dim, you mustn't use the necklace, Cairo. Do not come after me under any circumstances. The stone is so that you can know if I'm alive. I do not want any of our family to risk themselves to save me, Understood?"
Cairo did not respond, his eyes shifting between the necklace and his sister. He did not want to make any promises, because he wanted to believe that he she wouldn't get hurt in the first place. Finally he muttered softly: "Fine."
She nodded solemnly, and raised her hand, ruffling her little brother's brunette hair. That was the last time they spoke before she left to follow her path.