"Who is that young man, father?" Kira asked, her eyes on the young man sitting on a boulder, looking at the villagers. Well, not exactly at the villagers. It was more like looking through the people. At least, that's what she thought he was doing.

"Kira, you know I can't see. What does he look like?" Seer laughed as he gently covered a clematis seed with soil. His daughter blushed.

"Tall and fair-haired with blue eyes."

"Ah. That's Leader. Why, is he coming this way?" The blind man rose, brushing the dirt from his clothes.

"Father, I know he's called Leader. What I want to know is who he really is and why people call him that."

"Oh. Well, he came here with a baby in his arms when he was thirteen. People said he arrived on a little sled, exhausted and filthy. They also said that the baby was even healthier than he was when he got here." Seer said, kneeling back down and patting the earth.

"A baby?"

"Yes, a baby. I was told that he saved that baby from his old community. You know the boy called Gabe? That's the baby Leader saved and he's another story. The people decided to call the new arrival Leader when he was old enough because he escaped on his own and they knew that even then he had the knowledge and he was capable of being a leader."

"So what was Leader's name before?"

"Jonas."


Leader had been sitting on the boulder for almost an hour now, watching the villager as they did their afternoon chores. He took a deep breath and looked beyond.

He saw Gabe running, his friends laughing and running after him. He looked further and saw Jean tending Matty's grave.

We all miss you, he thought.

"Jonas." He heard someone say. He turned and saw Kira looking at him from meters away, standing at the edge of her garden. She smiled at him, and then limped towards her house, careful of the flowers that she and Seer hadjust tended. Leader blinked, his eyebrows raised as he continued to look at Kira's retreating figure. He smiled, stood up and walked in the direction of the children playing.