Education… Social security… Disability…

'Noah?'

'Agriculture… Corporation… Franchise…'

'Noah!'

'Animals… Natural resources… Family… Intellectual prop…'

'Oh, Noah. You're still living into this book'.

Mom stood in front of me, in the living room. I was reading the first book I borrowed from Waldgott: General Law Categorization. Supreme Court of the Republic of Landis.

'Yes', I answered with a smile. 'I try to remember the main categories that matter in the law of Landis, of Archadia, or any other nation.'

'Why this sudden interest in law anyway?' said my mother with a sarcastic grin. 'I'd never thought you could be passionate about this kind of books.'

Mom was right. I neither ever thought this type of studies could ever catch my attention. But reality was, as soon as Cirla and Margit went to another law class, the time we spent together, analyzing the documents and fighting to select the most relevant books at the library, were the most relieving I had ever had at this step of my life. I felt I had friends; friends that could help me carry on, and bring out the best of me on a topic, which was hardly the case the few weeks before. The change was immense, because it was broad and sudden at the same time. I went from something close to desperate, to something close to self-confidence. I said close.

'Now, why haven't you tidied up your room?'

What was this again?

'Mom…? I'm sorry to say so, but I think I just made my bed and folded my clothes.'

Mom let herself fall into the armchair. Her voice was suddenly calm.

'I know. I just miss having to make my son's bed myself.'

'M… mine?'

I used my brain a couple of seconds, and then rebuilt my mother's reasoning.

'You mean Basch…'

She had always seemed cheerful since his departure. I had not thought she was careless, but rather she had all faith in my father and therefore was happy to know Basch in a safe situation, doing what he wanted to.

'I miss him too, Mom'.

She turned to me and smiled.

'I'm not much worried about him. It's just a matter of time before he gets back anyway. They say the troop's training near the village is almost over.'

'That's good news'.

I tried to turn my book's page after that, but she stopped me at once:

'I didn't allow you to keep on reading!'

'But, Mom…'

'You have to go to the Olszewski farm.'

'Now?'

'Yes. I have entrusted the leader of the workers with a mission for Naria and yourself. The harvest season has been positive, don't you think?'

'Err… If you say so…'

I knew how to work in the farm but didn't have enough experience to tell if this season had been better than any other.

'There', she continued, 'you will find the last of the boxes you will have to carry. It's the fruit of a collective work, so handle them carefully! Because this time, it is not I who will be selling in Waldgott.'

'Mom!'

This surprised me a lot. Linda Gabranth had always been famous for parading in the streets of Waldgott and Kalthof, asking for curiosity to taste her products. This is how she made her first contacts in Landis. To imagine this year without this scene seemed absolutely devoid of sense!

'I insist, my son. It's time to learn how to make a living. And how to talk to people. The latter will be the most difficult, but I'm relying on the courageous Nareszcie for that matter.'

'I don't know if Naria will do that in a serious manner', I tried to escape.

'What is perfect in this job', Mom replied, 'is that you don't have to be serious to succeed. On the contrary, being astray might lead you to an expected result.'

Oh, why did it have to be me…

'When you're done – don't stay late at night, even if you couldn't sell everything – you can stay at Waldgott and go to your friends' house. I doubt their parents will have any objection against you spending the night in their dwelling until tomorrow morning. Didn't you say yourself that could be a plan?'

Now that was worth it!

'Thanks Mom', I said before rushing outside.

I ran the portion of the forest separating me from the farm in one go. As soon as I arrived, I saw Naria waiting with strange patience at the doors of the property.

`Welcome!' she greeted, waving her arms as I got close to her. 'Are you ready?'

'Yes I am!'

'Then let's go see my father'.

I was always afraid to know I would meet the surly Olszewski, but this time I had no choice. Mom chose us to sell the farm products and I guess talking to the farmer was part of the process. Naria began to scamper before sitting on the small fence and greeted the man who was coming our way.

'Hi Sydor! Where is Father?'

I believe that was the workers' leader. I had already seen him before; you couldn't miss him with his large straw hat, his brown overalls and his friendly smile.

'Good morning, miss Nareszcie. I am afraid your father is not in the property anymore.'

Naria's eyes turned into white balls.

`What? What do you mean?'

'Do not panick, Miss. He just went to town to meet a doctor in the hospital. He woke up with a malaise.'

A brief silence took place. Naria's feet were swinging left and right.

'Oh… Really?' she asked. 'I didn't know about it. Do you know what kind of sickness he has?'

'No I don't, I'm sorry, Miss. But I do believe he is not so bad; he promised to return during the day.'

She immediately regained her smile.

'Thanks, Sydor. So I'll just go to Waldgott with Noah. What should we do?'

And then he brought us to the hangar, where an incredible amount of fruits, vegetables, cloth, wool, and cheese was stored. Next to the piles of goods, the rest of the team was enthusiastically forming a chain to pass the products on until they were put in boxes. Most of the wooden boxes were already filled.

'We will take care of the animals…' concluded Sydor. 'They may cause you unwanted trouble if you're only two'.

'Wow!' Naria was jumping all over the driveway. 'So this is all for us? I mean, only Noah and I will be in charge of this all? I'll really be selling all of this?'

'Yes', Sydor smiled. 'Mrs Fon Ronsenburg and the boss decided so. Well, I suppose the boss is aware.'

Naria burst into laughter and took my hand. In a short time, we memorized all types of products we had and drawn a map of the strategic streets where we would be selling.'

'You will set up your stall here, here, and there. One will be haranguing the crowd while the other watches over the boxes. Don't forget it's a fair quantity of goods you have here! Unfortunately, Landis is not free from thieves. And finally, here are the scales and the bags where you will be able to serve your customers what they choose.'

We listened to Sydor carefully. Everything was clear now. We were ready to go. But when I dared to look at the girl, the gaze we exchanged showed me I was the only one to think it was clear.

'Well, we can sell the scales too? That's a good proposal. If a scornful woman refuses to take Gysahl greens, we're just gonna give this to her and she'll accept.'

'Careful, Miss Nareszcie! That's not exactly what…'

But Sydor was talking in vain; Naria had already run to the other side of the driveway and was making big gestures to make me join her.

'Hum, don't worry, Sydor. I think I can show her the right way.'

Sydor, for a moment, looked like he showed no care of what I had just said at all, then suddenly smiled at me and walked behind Naria.

'Before you go, you should ask me how to carry all these boxes'.

'How to carry?' Naria asked with surprise. 'That's easy! Noah is the man, so all you have to do is attach the things to his waist and here we go. Noah is so strong he can also carry me, sitting above the boxes!'

Sydor laughed joyfully before bringing her back to reason.

'Noah is a good boy. It's been a while since I saw a child putting so much effort at farm work', he declared while tousling my hair. 'But he is no beast! Unfortunately, we cannot rely on his back to bear all this weight – unless we want it to break. Look, instead!'

His finger was pointing to the outside. We heard a continuous noise coming from there, like something slowly rolling on the rubble, before I recognized… the cart I already went with to Waldgott.

'Ho! Ho! If it isn't our hasty little boy! This time you won't be able to avoid your debt.'

'What do you mean, 'your debt'? Noah is not guilty! He has done nothing wrong, and he always pays; he's not a burglar like you. If you don't believe us, just wait until we reach town and you'll see how much money we'll bring!'

'Well, well', Sydor said with an uneasy face. 'These two are indeed the guarantors of the majority of this year's turnover here in the farms. I'm counting on you to drive them safely to the Waldgott market, and bring them back here before sunset.'

'Heh!' winced the man. 'We'll see this. Come on, kids! Help me lift those boxes.'

All our team joined hands to prepare the wares for the ride. After a short time, we were done.

'I… I'm counting on you, guys!' Sydor said, all sweating with exhaustion.

We waved him goodbye and sat above the boxes. Sydor walked behind, but as we expected the cart to move forward, nothing happened.

'Eh! Seems this weight is too much for my old chocobo!' the driver said with embarrassment.

How were we going to do this? Pushing a poor animal beyond its limits was out of the question. Naria didn't seem to worry as she jumped out.

'Book! Book, where are you?'

'Book?'

I think there's definitely something I don't understand. But as soon as I began thinking, a lightning fast chocobo appeared.

'Book! You heard me!'

All smiling, she tied it to the cart and climbed back up. The two chocobos looked at each other and seemed like… they weren't exactly ready for a friendly relationship.

'Book is the name of my chocobo.' Naria explained as we began moving. 'I didn't study much more than write-and-read. And I don't actually know how to write and read properly. So I never had books. One day I dreamt of my mother telling me I would have some. So I decided that this chocobo would be my book! This way, I have books.'

She left me somehow… speechless.

'What do you think?' she asked cheerfully.

'That's certainly a way to have books. At least, this one seems to have enough energy to bring us to town.'

Naria turned back and waved at the trees we were passing.

'Yeeha! Goodbye Uwiel! Goodbye Book! Goodbye Father!'

'Your chocobo is behind you and your father is certainly somewhere in the city we're going to', I reminded her.

'Oh, you're right'.

She looked sad. Was she worrying about her father? He sure was a scornful man, but he was her father nonetheless, with the concern of protecting her and showing her how to make a living.

'Here you are, kids.'

The man helped us putting the boxes down, and at the moment we were going to leave him, he grabbed my collar.

'Don't ever think you can escape me once again, kid.'

'I… I won't escape this time. We are going to earn enough money to pay you.'

He shrugged his shoulders and turned back.

'And take care of my chocobo!' Naria shouted until my ears seemed torn apart.

'Not this loud, Naria!' I scolded her. 'You're not supposed to scream apart from advertising the products.'

'Nice, shall we begin? WELCOME TO…'

I tightly put my hand on her mouth. With my other hand, I showed her the boxes, then the waste ground reserved for market stalls. She tried to flee, waving her arms in all directions, before understanding what I was saying and nodding in a – what I thought was a – calm way.

'Okay', she said, 'so we carry this to that nearby place. But what about the other places we're supposed to go to? Are we going to carry what two chocobos carried all around the city?'

'According to what I understood, this location is the most central and frequented of Waldgott. Here is where we're expected to sell the majority of our goods. When we're finished with this area, we should have less than half of what we see now.'

'Oh, you're so clever, Noah. Let's go!'

We carried the boxes to our selling ground, and arranged it with a few branches and a tarpaulin to cover us from the sun.

'Now we're ready, right?'

'Yes, we are', I answered as I was checking the map.

'Aaaaaalright. WELCOME TO THE RONSENBURG-OLSZEWSKI MARKET! Here you can find all sorts of wool to knit shirts to your children – or give to your grandmothers! You can find fruits! You can find vegetables! Of course, these two are made to eat! Oh, and the eggs! Come taste our delicious dried fruits! They make excellent snacks! And don't forget the milk and the herbs, to make awesome drinks!'

It was perfect. Yes, my cotton earplugs were working perfectly.

'Noah. NOAH! You're not listening to me, are you?'

I removed one of the plugs.

'Yes?'

'Look at this man, standing there! Don't you think he's hesitating to buy something from us? Go convince him! And don't deceive me.'

'But…'

'I'll stay here! This stall needs a strong woman to take care of it!'

I sighed and went to see the man. He was a tall thin man who could be the age of my father. He didn't seem scary but I had no words. He looked at me and, ill-at-ease, began to move away. I looked back and saw Naria's face boiling with anger; her eyes moved very quickly towards and away from the man. I swallowed and ran to him.

'Err… We're selling… all sorts of goods… Sir.'

'Oh, you're selling things with the girl?' he said, with surprise in his voice. 'I was just looking for cheese. But since you're not selling diary, I'll have to go elsewhere'.

'No, Sir…'

I didn't know what to say next, but my hands were holding the man's arm without me commanding them. Suddenly annoyed, he removed my hands by force, hitting my cheek in the process. I bowed… and saw the other earplug jump to the ground.

'Look!' Naria was screaming, waving her arms to us.

'We… We have cheese, Sir.'

Astonished, he blinked, before finally accepting to follow me. Naria welcomed him with the biggest smile I've ever seen – I could barely distinguish her eyes.

'Look!' she repeated. 'We have cheese from various livestock. Which one is to your liking, Sir?'

The customer hesitated, then asked: 'Can I taste?'

'Of course!'

Nareszcie cut a cheese part with her bare hands. I don't know if that was a good idea…

'Hmm…'

I began to shiver as the man's face became contorted.

'This…'

'Yes?' Naria gently asked.

I preferred to close my eyes. What'd follow could be scary…

'This is the best cheese I've tasted in years!'

After several seconds, I opened my eyes. It was not a dream: the customer looked delighted.

'Hi Plommon! How are you? Come here; these children don't know nothin' about business, but they sure have fine cheese!'

Another man came to greet the first one and began to smell our cheese.

'This one has been made in my mom's farm, hasn't it?' I whispered in Naria's ears.

'Shhht', she said. 'Well, what do you think? Buy it?' she said in a higher tone.

'No… Not like this, Naria!'

But the men didn't say anything against it. They looked at each other, nodded, and then:

'Buy it!'

Naria made that smile that always made me laugh.

'A hundred gil the kilogram; not cancellable, not negotiable.'

'That's much!'

'That's not what the peasants usually offer.'

'I'm sorry', she said, and then put her hands on her face, shaking her hand in – apparent – extreme despair. 'I have to gather money for my father! He's in the Waldgott hospital right now. He has a serious disease that will affect him for the rest of his life!'

The two men looked at each other once again.

'Fine. We'll take one kilogram each', said the first one. 'Here is two hundred gil. Take care of it, kids! Come on, Plommon, this is a favor I'm doing you. I can pay for us both, it's alright. Goodbye!'

As soon as these customers went off, others arrived, intrigued by our conversation.

'To hell the old man and his disease. Noah, we're going to be rich. I'm counting on you!'

Out of shock, I distanced myself from her and put some cheese in the presentation box to replace the ones sold.

'Naria, you wicked little d…'

'Hello. I'm also looking for cheese'.

I lowered my head and saw a little brown-haired boy, all smiling.

'Y… yes, sure. What do you need?'

'I think it's half a kilogram. Do you have meat? My mom asked me to bring this.'

Naria took the initiative to answer, with a tough voice:

'We were supposed to bring it as well but the suppliers stripped it from us! What else do you need?'

I decided to suggest.

'Do you need fruits? Look at these.'

The boy looked at the fruit boxes and his eyes began to glow.

'Woow… But, do I have enough money to buy this?'

I looked at the palm of his hand, then at the price note Sydor gave us.

'Yes', I said. 'You have sixty gil. You can take the cheese and two of these.'

'Great!' the boy laughed, jumping all around the ground. 'With these, we can make a fine delicious dessert! Thank you!'

'All the customers aren't as polite as him', Naria warned. 'Be careful.'

I nodded while observing the state of all our boxes. They were still at their place. Immediately after, other people began to ask about our products. Naria ran to help them, but I was not left aside: they were too many for one person.

At each sale, Naria was shouting: 'WHAT IS THE PRICE?' while holding the corresponding product above the customers' heads. I tried to tell her to ask more discreetly, but she did not obey. I also had to work out the total, for she was often wrong in mental arithmetic.

'Well', I heard her talking to a fat woman, 'if you have so much money, you can take the scales'.

'No! No, Naria! We need the scales to weigh the vegetables!'

And I had to take them out of her hands, leaving her in utter surprise.

'But… This woman is rich…'

I was about to tear out my own hair.

'You have to suggest other products! You can't just act like that!' I tried to whisper and make her hear my sentence at the same time – which was not compatible.

After some time, we realized our cash was growing as hours were passing by. Mom was going to be so happy! There were also whole sellers who took entire boxes from us. They picked up wool, cotton, and most of the vegetables. So, at the end of the period, we were indeed free of more than half of our initial cargo. As customers outnumbered our eyes' ability, I managed to sense something strange in the egg corner.

'Hey! You!'

Naria, at my greatest surprise, also caught the teenager who was standing there, trying to steal a handful of eggs. She slapped him and pushed him away from the stall. Many customers had their smiles turned into expressions of terror.

'Why this behavior, Naria?'

Suddenly, her face was not greedy anymore. Nor was it fake. It was… different.

'My mother always told me to never trust people who commit acts like these.'

'It doesn't mean you have to hit them!'

'She didn't tell me to hit people, but rather that she'll hit me if she ever catches me doing this.'

I lowered my look and preferred to return to stall updating.

'It… I… This isn't what you're thinking it is! I was just weighing them!' the kid said before running for his life, away from the market.

As I was helping a woman asking for herbs, my eyes rose up to the Waldgott tower, which was hosting a big sundial that just rang.

'It's time…'

The customer also turned her head towards the clock and smiled. The day was passing by quickly but nature seemed to take time to make things change. It was like a deep breath, hearing the mild winds tickling my cheeks and playing with Naria's hair. All around the selling ground, groups of families, colleagues, friends, and persons alone were crossing the paths between the different stalls with reassured faces and responsive gestures. Nothing could disrupt the smooth running of this peaceful afternoon.

'Thank you!'

I closed the little bag where I had put the desired amount of herbs, counted the money and gave the customer her product with my thanks back. Then I began to remove the boxes from their selling place and put them aside.

'Let's move, Naria! The next spot is a few streets away'.

'So soon? Buuuut… Let's try first…'

'No', I interrupted. 'We should move now before we don't have time to try the other places and miss important customers'.

The rest of the afternoon showed us less mercy than the central place, but after a few changes we managed to sell a big part of our goods. However, a very important product had had almost no success yet: the wool.

'Do you know why no one picks these up?' I asked Naria, with a bitter thought of ending the day without making Mom proud.

She shrugged before guessing:

'Maybe they prefer that coming from the strange rabbits in those Dalmascan deserts? I once heard women saying they only buy that imported type.'

Was that so? Well. I realized I did not only want to make my mother proud. I wanted to make her impressed.

'Vegetables! Fruits! Meat! Buy everything you like here, it's coming directly from our farms! Fresh dairy! Fresh meat!'

'Naria', I said. 'We don't sell meat'.

'Oh, right.'

She pulled her sleeves up and screamed:

'We sell everything except meat! So if you'd like meat, don't come to us!'

I rushed to make her keep quiet, but as my hand was about to slap her mouth, a customer appeared just in front of the wool boxes.

'How much is that?' she said.

'Err… Just five hundred gil the kilogram.'

I finished to cover her lips and added:

'Not exactly. You can have this ball here for fifty.'

The woman frowned and left the stall without a word. Out of surprise, I loosened my grasp and Naria could remove my fingers with an angry mutter:

'This is your fault, Noah! You should always say the highest price to the customer!'

'No, Naria. It's the contrary. We have to make them feel comfortable and act as if they were going to spend the littlest amount of money possible. Our stall is not the only place they're going to shop, you know.'

'I don't agree!' she shouted. But, as soon as she said these words, she stepped back to sit on an empty box and added in a sigh: 'But I will let you keep your method. Father said you're a little brat but I should trust you.'

I blinked and went back to Sydor's notice.

'I will also trust you for price calculation. You know I never made it as far as sorting out a simple operation, by the short time I was going to school.'

I put a hand on her shoulder and answered:

'Don't worry. We will sort this out together. We will not go home until we've sold a lot more of what we have left.'

I added in the form of a thought, for my mother: until we've sold all we have left.

While I was calculating the earnings we've made so far, Naria regained her innate joy and was cheerfully serving a couple, who went away with the last food remaining in the boxes. Immediately after waving them goodbye, she ran back to hug me and granted me with her seller's smile:

'Great! Fantastic! Now it's only the wool left!'

I pushed her forward and finished calculating. If we could earn some more thousand gil, it would be perfect, but to do so, we had to make each fifty gil wool ball go away. And the fact that customers were less and less frequent, and systematically not willing to buy the wool for fifty gil, was not helpful at all to achieve it. Every time they approached the goods, they were pulling faces, exchanging severe words with each other and turning back. What was the problem? Was it the quality? Was it the price?

'It seems that all the people here find the price too high', Naria settled.

'So we've got to find out a way to make these sell. Let me try something.'

'What will you try? What will you try?' she asked, hopping all around the place.

'Shht. Let me concentrate.'

She made her teasing grin and obeyed. If we succeeded to bring some more gil, even if it wasn't the expected amount – ten thousand –, it would be better than coming back with nothing. How could we manage to do this? A desirable amount would be six to seven thousand – then today's turnover would be fifty thousand, which was fairly enough to make Mom happy. If the other team managed to bring back another fifty thousand, then, as Naria gladly said previously: we'd be rich.

'That's too expensive.'

'That's not exactly what I expected.'

'I can't buy this for this amount.'

Calculating thousands is the hardest thing I learnt at elementary school, but I felt like succeeding in this task would be the key to our day's hassle. Ten thousand. Four boxes. Fifty balls. So… If we wanted the current price of a box… Twenty-five… Two hundred and fifty… Two… Yes. Two thousands and five hundreds.

'What did you find, Noah?'

This price was, by all views, too much. What if we lowered it? But even if we did so, how were the customers going to know it's lower? Should I have to bring back the new price to a single ball's scale?

'Noah', Naria warned. 'We have to go. Look: it's the time Sydor asked us to stop selling. The other stalls have all closed. Too bad for the wool, but…'

'Do we have something to write on?'

Not paying attention to her words, I found a small wooden sign in an empty box. I quickly bent over to grab it and wrote:

1 500 G

As I was coming back to my place, and about to utter some understandable explanation for Naria, a tall man with a red woolen cap stopped to our goods.

'That's a fair price.'

He picked a white wool ball and sensed its texture between two fingers.

'That's some high-quality one. The other guys down there were selling some for a thousand but it certainly wasn't as refined as what I see here. What's the name of the farm you're working for, kids?'

'The Olszewski farm!' Naria exclaimed, with even more joy than what I was beginning to feel.

'And the Ronsenburg farm! We also have flocks!' I added, not to forget my dear mother's work.

The man, looking at us both, seemed confused, but kept smiling anyway.

'I never heard about these ones. This is a long-experience top-skilled job. You can be proud of the persons who worked on this. A thousand and half is definitely a price I'm going for. Can I take all of them?'

Naria and I exchanged amazed looks. He? Take them all?

'I'm a whole seller. I need much wool to be able to sell it, in my turn, to other shops.'

'Huh… Then you can certainly take all of them, sir!' guessed the playful little girl.

'How much is it in total?' the customer asked.

'Six thousand gil, sir!' I answered, as I was gladly handing over the bags I just filled.

After he went away, the clock rang the end of our sales day, and we joined hands, jumping and screaming together.

'We did it! We did it!'

'I told you we were going to win!'

'Don't take the glory all for yourself! I was the one who insisted!'

'Yeah, but I told you we would be rich!'

Our eyes stopped at the wooden box where we stored our income. All that much gil… Just for us… For our families and the farms…

'I'm so happy', I conclude. 'Let's arrange these empty boxes before the driver comes back. He'll be right here in a few minutes.'

'Sure!' she jumped out.

After a quarter of tidying up, we sat above the material – our light weights would do no damage to it – and raised our eyes to the fading sky, with a cautious look at the money every now and then.

'So we'll go back home…' Naria murmured.

'Not exactly', I remembered. 'Well…'

I lowered my head, looking for the right words.

'What's wrong? You seem worried, Noah. Don't ever feel like that in front of me – I already told you. Are you keeping a secret?'

'Not really', I decided. 'I just wish to go to the Drimer house, now that the sale is over.'

'To the Drimers?' she exclaimed, in a shock. 'To the rich guys?'

'They…' I sighed. 'My friends there are going to a special law class in Archades and they promised to share their knowledge with me every time I have the opportunity to drop in briefly on them.'

Naria's eyes became big shiny plates.

'Wh… What?' she said. 'Is that a bad joke?'

'No', I said. 'I am actually studying with them. I often read law books at home, since a few weeks.'

'But… But…'

Naria was my new friend, and we get along pretty well, but I still had no idea about her temper fluctuations, for instance jealousy. I prepared myself to put my hands over my ears.

'But that's wonderful! That's the best news I've heard in ages!'

'I thought the best news was the fifty thousand gil we earned today.'

'But you will… What? Did we actually earn fifty thousand gil today?'

'Yes.'

Then she began to dance in front of everyone, just like she did during the feast.

'I'm… I think I'm more happy than you, Noah!'

I smiled.

'So I must leave now. Cirla and Margit may not be allowed to welcome friends after nightfall.'

'We… Wait! You're not going anywhere!' she said, suddenly stopping her happiness dance. 'How did you convince them to share their studies?'

'I did not convince anyone. They are actually the ones who insisted to invite me to join them. I tried a first session with them, and I enjoyed it; so I think I'll go as often as possible, to learn more.'

'So… So you're a law student now, aren't you?'

'Err… I wouldn't call myself so.'

'But you are! You're going to be someone so important in the future! I'm so glad you accepted, Noah – you would have had my slap on the cheek if you didn't. Go, my dear, and take as much knowledge as you can. Don't ever be shy. Steal their papers! Maybe they contain secrets about Landis, or even Archadia. Maybe you can sell them for millions!'

'That's not it', I stopped her rambling. 'They're just children like you and me.'

'Oh…' she realized, sitting again.

From behind, I recognized the driver's silhouette. I jumped aside:

'You can go with him, Naria. Please keep a very close eye on the money! Never lose sight of it!'

'You can count on me! But… Where is Book?'

'I tried as hard as I could to make the chocobo join the cart again, but the wicked beast refused to move. However, it seems the things to carry are far less heavy now.'

I let them load the cart and waved goodbye. Cirla's house had to be just a few streets away…

'Hey! What are you doing here?'

I stumbled upon a tall body that did not match the very familiar voice I just recognized.

'If it isn't Little Ronsenburg! I thought you and your brother would never set foot to the city again!'

I raised my look and saw an egg-shaped face surrounded by straight dark-brown hair. The chin also had a few pieces of hair and the eyes were blinking at me.

'Hello Cirla. I was coming to visit.'

'To visit? Are you serious? Ever since we heard your brother came to train with the army, we thought you'd never come back here at all.'

'Why? Are you against the army?'

'No no no no no!' Cirla waved his arms while shaking his head. 'You're far away from the truth. Let's not stay here in the street: the garden is just behind us.'

We sat on some decorating rocks in the little garden his parents had arranged, to add a cultural dimension to the friendly family house entrance.

'MARGIIIT!' he shouted, then turned to me. 'She'll come down in a few minutes. But tell me: what happened in the head of Basch? Did he lose his mind?'

'I don't know. But I don't think he's mad. He was just curious about how our father fights alongside the officers and the comrades, just like I am curious about how we judge people and we determine their rights.'

'Oh, is that so? I'm reassured', Cirla sighed. 'I really thought he was going far away from the region and was joining some serious battlefield where he could lose his life.'

'Don't worry', I told him. 'It's just a training. He'll come back to us as soon as Father's troop leaves the Uwielbinie zone.'

He smiled and held a candy bag out to me.

'Thank you.'

'Margit always hides food in the garden. The day I discovered it, I said I wouldn't tell the parents only if she agreed to share with me.'

He seemed so proud of his cruelness. I could never act the same with Basch, even though life with him often turned into nightmares!

'Hello! What are you saying about me?'

Little Margit sat down on the grass in front of us, as we just had put the candy into mouth.

'Nuffin', her brother said.

'Is that so?' she cursed. 'Then you certainly wouldn't mind if we talked about you instead.'

'Wha me?'

'Dear Noah, you certainly must be aware of the big news?'

'Uh… No, I am afraid. As you may guess, I hadn't been around since a whole month.'

'Then let me tell you – even if that's so important people in Uwiel must be already aware – this little lad you see is in love.'

'In love?' I repeated.

As soon as his sister had made her little revenge, he lowered his head and put it on his palms, with a miserable look. As far as I remembered, the Cirla I knew would have laughed, answered Margit and had some teasing attitude. This was totally unexpected.

'What's wrong, Cirla?'

'What's wrong?' Margit answered in his place. 'Normally, his feelings would be totally okay. But just as his ill luck would have it, the girl we're talking about – who's in the law class – is an Archadian.'

I kept silent as I still did not understand what was wrong.

'You know I don't choose, sister', Cirla sternly said.

'Yeah, but you put us in a very messy situation.'

'Why?' I intervened. 'If he loves an Archadian girl, or a Rozarrian one, or whatever she may be, it's a human feeling. It shouldn't cause any problem. You know my mother is an Archadian.'

'No, that will cause problems!' both said at the same time.

'Well…' Cirla added. 'I have been pretty much jealous of how your parents got to be together. I think you're aware that's not a normal situation.'

'I am jealous too!' Margit exclaimed. 'Your family is so cute!'

'But that's totally normal', I insisted. 'They loved each other so… err… they decided to spend the rest of their lives together.'

'But at what price?' Cirla asked with a sudden vigor. 'Did you ever hear Auntie Linda met her Archadian family, or received a letter from them?'

Once again, it took me several seconds to understand what they were talking about. I thought… I had begun to understand – but did not want to.

'No, she never did', I admitted.

'That's the problem', Cirla continued. 'There has always been some tension between Landis and the Empire – at least since I was born. Some even say they are planning to declare war against us.'

'That's ridiculous!' I shouted. 'That will never happen!'

'To be honest, I neither think so', he said. 'But the rumors still persist. And they so perfectly coincide with the moment my heart…'

And he let out a man-in-love's sigh.

'That's strange', I said. 'I always thought Mom's family cut contact with her because they didn't appreciate Father on a personal point of view.'

'Uh…' Margit ventured. 'There must be some truth in this as well – your father is a man who doesn't think of visiting you while he's just some paces away, after all. But there is certainly some story about his nationality: a Landisite. That's certainly the real reason they considered Auntie unworthy of their noble status and denied her existence.'

I did not expect such trouble to invade my heart and instill doubt in my convictions.

'I'm sorry if you didn't know – but everyone who knows Archadia a little bit could have guessed. And if you'd allow me: it's not a big loss', Margit concluded. 'Of course Cirla, I won't tell Father or Mother about Doll, they would worry too much. But that's if you show me what you have in your mouth.'

'Me…! I don't have anything!'

'I know you too well. You must have hid it below your tongue… Don't try to escape, you rascal! Well, I allow you to share my candies with Noah. But he'll be the only exception, you hear!'

And then, she turned towards me with a face half-harsh, half-funny.

'Thank you, Margit', I said. And at this precise moment, we could hear a big hullabaloo coming from outside. The three of us rushed to the main door, and we found ourselves nose-to-nose with…

'Hello guys! I didn't mean to disturb you! I just need a hand over something…'

'What is it, Naria?' I said in an angry tone that surprised me.

'Hey! I recognize you! Now you found your friend, you little minx! Give me my money!'

Followed by the two chocobos pulling the cart, the cart driver's face was redder than ever as he looked at me with incontrollable impatience.

'You know I've never been good at counting anything, Noah… So as he insisted, I refused to give him a single gil until I have your approval!'

I slapped myself as my two friends from Waldgott began dancing around us, singing:

'Pay the man! Pay the man!'