But Sam lay back, and stared with open mouth, and for a moment, between bewilderment and great joy, he could not answer. At last he gasped: "Gandalf! I thought you were dead! But then I thought I was dead myself. Is everything sad going to come untrue? What's happened to the world?"
Step, step, step.
Ienzo's eyes flickered away from the novel to stare curiously at the door as the heavy sound broke his spelled reverie. Apparently someone was walking down the hallway, which was an uninteresting piece of news in itself, although these footsteps were not Angela's quaint, butterfly heels but powerful, confident ones. The boy tilted his head, still curious, before deciding it wasn't worth his time to wonder about and so looked down ravenously to his book to devour the rest of the words on the page.
"A great shadow has departed," said Gandalf, and then he laughed, and the sound was like music-
The door opened. Ienzo stiffened immediately, his eyes mirroring his rock-like appearance to display a lack of emotion. His mouth became a dull straight line, the hardness of his gaze looking queer on his soft, boyish features.
The nine year old raised his eyes from his book a bit, just to catch a quick look of whoever had dared enter his room, something that individuals rarely did.
The hardness from his face flickered a bit in unprepared astonishment, though the façade of emotionless indifference quickly regained control.
Ansem the Wise, "ruler" of Radiant Garden, stood before him and regarded the boy with pleasant smile. He practically radiated off friendliness, and again, for a moment, Ienzo's thick shell wavered weakly. He sat bewildered, but eagerly welcomed the light feeling Ansem was giving off – the man hadn't even spoke one word yet and Ienzo was already affected by his warm presence.
"Hello Ienzo," Ansem said, the ever-present smile on his face becoming a bit bigger as he greeted the youth. Ienzo, as usual, said nothing, continuing to prefer silence to words even in front of Ansem. But to show he was listening, the boy watched him, not realizing the rigidity in his light blue eyes had all but evaporated and was replaced with curiousity.
Why was he, of all people, here? To visit him? Yes, he had worked with his father (Ienzo inwardly winced at the thought of his late parent), but other than that, there was really no need for Ansem to come to this place.
The boy watched as the blonde looked around his room, studying his tidy bookcase that had proved to be too small from the amount of novels he had acquired, and thus had books spilling out from the sides, books on stacks on the floor, and some sitting on the top. All the while, Ienzo was studying him. He had strangely amber eyes – like fire, yet not the hungry and destroying kind, but rather the comforting kind - smoldering, brilliant, and warm. He'd never seen eyes like Ansem's before, and continued to stare at them until suddenly the ruler of Radiant Garden's focus came back to Ienzo rather than the room, and quickly the nine year old averted his gaze before sneaking his eyes back up to look at Ansem once more. He even smelled like fire – or, rather, a fireplace after it's been put out. It was a homey and comforting smell, and Ienzo immediately liked it.
The man's eyes flickered briefly to the book Ienzo continued to hold onto before his red eyes looked the boy straight in the face. "May I ask what you're reading?" He questioned lightly, sounding curious. Ienzo balked for a moment. No one ever seemed interested in what he was reading, and so the question caught him off guard. Silently, he closed the book, delighting in the musky smell the worn pages gave off as he did so, and turned it so the cover faced Ansem.
LORD OF THE RINGS
RETURN OF THE KING
Immediately Ansem's smile grew. "Ah, good choice. One of my favorites."
A twitch of a smile suddenly appeared on Ienzo's face. Not a full blown smile, however, as if the muscles that had once supported such things were out of practice.
Which they were, in all seriousness.
Ansem's eyes wavered on the boy, apparently pleased at the reaction he had gotten out of him, small as it was. Slowly, with patient steps the older man neared the bed Ienzo was sitting on and sat on the side, far enough away that it gave Ienzo his own space.
Their eyes were fixated on the other's and there was a small pocket of silence among them before Ansem spoke again in his rich, royal voice.
"Ienzo, I think you would make a great addition to our family," he said simply.
Ienzo stared. What was he implying? The boy's head tilted slightly.
It was obvious he wasn't going to get an answer without speaking. And if what he thought what Ansem was trying to imply was true… then he had to get an answer. Now.
There was an almost mental strain on him then as he attempted to literally force himself to speak. All those months of not speaking to a single soul had taken its toll. His voice was nonexistant. Though he had no use to speak, there was a mental block that forced him not to, in general.
The boy's eyes shut for a second in concentration, and he forced the mental block away for now. His mouth opened as well as his eyes, and once again he looked at Ansem.
"..F..famil..y?" He asked. The sound of his voice seemed alien to him. It was very silent and somewhat hoarse from its lack of use. It was strange talking after all this time of silence. But for whatever reason, he was comfortable with talking to Ansem.
Ansem nodded. "Yes. Myself, and the rest of my apprentices."
Ienzo stared for another moment. He knew of course they weren't a literal family by blood.
"Does that include Even?.." Ienzo asked, his voice still silent as a whisper. If Ansem meant all of his apprentices, then that included Even. And Ienzo was not a fan of Even.
"Hm?" Ansem leaned in a bit closer, obviously not catching the boy's question the first time.
"Does that include Even?"
A blank look was fixated on Ansem's face before the question finally dawned on him as well as the implications. Immediately he laughed, a really warm one that in itself made Ienzo smile a bit more.
Apparently Even's grouchy behavoir wasn't only directed at the nine year old.
"Yes, yes I suppose that includes Even," Ansem chuckled.
Oh, well. Ienzo guessed there was a bad side to everything.
Ansem got up from his seat on the bed then, and turned to him.
"I must leave now, unfortunately," he said, sounding a bit regretful. Ienzo frowned a bit, unhappy with the fact he was departing so soon.
Seeing the look on his face, Ansem continued, "I'll be back to visit you very soon, Ienzo. We'll set up your room at the castle, and once everything is ready, you can come home."
Ienzo smiled at that, and nodded silently. Ansem smiled back.
"I shall see you soon," he said, and just as quickly as he had come, he was gone, as well as the warm light he had been giving off, like a fire put out.
Again Ienzo was alone, although this time in his seclusion, he felt better than he had in months. He was finally getting a home.
Ansem frequently visited him at the orphanage, and Ienzo achingly longed for another said-visit every time the man left. It was so nice talking to him. He opened up. He smiled. Once he even laughed, although it was a very small sound.
And finally, finally, one day Ansem came into his room, beaming, and said to get his things, because today he was moving to the castle.
It hadn't taken very long. He took a couple of his favorite books and his fox, which was the extent of his belongings. Ienzo had said goodbye to Angela, who, knowing that the little boy was no more a fan of being hugged, settled on smiling happily and showering him with goodbyes, be happy, and all those pleasantries.
The walk to the castle had been a quick one and finally, they were there.
Ienzo was astounded at the size of the place. The inside was as grand as the outside. There was looping corridors, beautiful furnishings, and as they passed one hallway, the boy caught a small glimpse of a high-tech machine before it disappeared from sight. There was just too much to describe, and he immediately loved it.
They climbed a short flight of steps before being greeted by a large hallway. Ansem walked a couple of strides before turning and opening the door to one.
"This is your room," he announced, and Ienzo looked inside. It was a lot larger than the one at the orphanage had been – there was a comfortable-looking bed with dark blue sheets, a desk facing the wall, and a large bookcase. The nine year old smiled, undeniably happy with it.
"Make yourself at home," Ansem said, looking down at the boy with a kind smile. "Then you can come meet the others." He patted the boy's shoulder in an affectionate way before walking off to give Ienzo some privacy.
Ienzo went and put his stuffed fox on the bed, and then his small collection of books on the middle-bottom shelf (he couldn't reach the higher shelves). He glanced slightly out of one of the large windows that were shining brilliant light into his room and was pleased to find they overlooked a large garden. Everything was great. Everything was perfect.
He knew he'd been adopted by Ansem as his own son, of course. Now alone he smiled a real smile, enthralled and deeply happy. He wondered briefly what would have become of him if Ansem hadn't adopted him. No one really wanted to adopt a "problem child," the same way some people don't want to adopt a cat with three legs or a blind dog. So would he have spent the rest of his childhood there, in the orphanage, until he was no longer allowed to stay?
Ienzo supposed that Ansem had saved him in more ways than one.
