I start to look out of the window again, listening to the chatter of the other people around me. I'm used to being bored, especially on long trips. Since I… no… we live in the outskirts of the Eastern Segment, it'll take a while to get to the Center Square. Speaking of regions, Neo Hyrule is-as you may already know- divided into sections. There are the Segments: North, South, East and West. Then there is the Center Square. Bordering the main sections exists a small farming community called the Romani District. There in Romani are a handful of ranches, mostly owned by the families who live there. Romani has big, green and rich fields and many orchards. Neo Hyrule is surrounded by water, being a large island encircled by tiny ones. In those waters lies the fishing community, which really doesn't have a name, but the sections do. There are three: Zorian, Storna, and Mori. These names seem... random to me, but they're there for a reason, I presume. To tell the truth, I've never been out of the Segments, so I don't have much of a clue of what the other communities look like.
Turning my gaze onto the resting form in front of me, I notice that he's twitching in his sleep. Nothing too serious, just little finger jumps and scrunching eyes. I sigh and lean back on the seat, staring at the ceiling. It won't be long now, just maybe ten minutes. I let my thoughts take over, and start to think about the meaning behind Kael's outburst this morning.
By touching, that could mean a variety of things. I'm not a naïve man, so I have a good idea of what he might have meant by "don't touch me". Then came the scars. Where he got the scars wasn't a mystery, but how was. Since I only saw them for a few seconds, I couldn't judge how they were made. It's strange how he doesn't have any on his face. Why only scar his body? Oh, now that came out wrong, I know.
And then he tried to convince me that nothing happened, and that the scars were nothing to be wary of. It was as if he wanted to tell me, but couldn't bring himself to do so. Wasn't he taught to never lie to his elders? Oh well, it can't be helped.
A gasp tore me away from my thoughts, causing me to jump a little in my seat. Kael sat up, straight as a pin, and darted his eyes across the room, breathing quickly.
"Are you all right, Kael?" I say to him in a hushed tone. His shock subsides, and he nods quickly.
"Just a really bad dream…" He admits, clenching his right hand with his left. "I don't want to talk about it."
I lean forward. This is my chance. "Really? Are you sure? You know, talking about your dreams can make you feel better. If you don't want to though, I understand." He looks up at me with a scared look on his face.
"No. You don't want to hear about it."
"Ah, but I do. Did you know that the princess has to tell her mother about her dreams every day? Apparently, they are prophetic, meaning that she can see into the future. Dreams are important Kael, no matter who you are."
"I don't care, and neither should you. I don't want to talk about it!" He starts to shake, pointing his head down.
I stand and go over to him, putting an arm around his shoulders. "I think I should care."
He looks up at me with narrowed greenish-brown eyes. "You think you understand, but you don't. Please, just let it go."
The train comes to a stop, and Kael pulls himself away from me.
"Let's go," He says, standing and not looking in my direction. I stand too, cupping his tiny hand in mine. He doesn't pull away, and we begin walking down the corridors of the train in silence.
We reach the Center Square together, dropping each others hands. I clear my throat, and try to think of something to distract Kael from his thoughts.
"Well, we're here. There are plenty of shops to go through. You pick."
He scans over the area, and extends his finger at the smallest one.
"You sure? All right then, let's go."
Kael is the one to start moving, at my surprise. The shop ahead looks old and a little run down, unlike the big and grandiose ones around it. Again, I will not judge Kael's choice and follow him.
Inside, the place looks... ironically grander than the outside. It has blue walls decked with silver designs, and racks upon racks of clothing, as well as jewelry in glass cases and assorted pots. Why pots, I don't know. Though fairly small, it had what we were looking for.
A young and springy woman dashes up to us, eager to do business.
"Well hello there, sirs! Welcome to Flor Azul! Can I help you?"
"We're just here to look, miss."
"Ah. My name is Lucy, if you were wondering. You know, you look familiar. Have I seen you before?"
I give her a good look over, and by Gods, she happens to be the young miss from the train yesterday! Why is it that I keep meeting people over and over again lately?
"Perhaps. I remember a young lady with fiery locks like yours on a train," I hint.
Her eyes widen as she blushes. "Oh my, now I do remember! Well, it's good to make your acquaintance again." She turns her gaze onto Kael, who is a few paces behind me. "Is this your son? My, he's cute!"
I chuckle a bit as I speak. "No no, he's just my apprentice." Apprentice?
"Oh. Well, he's still a cutie! Anyway, I'll let you look around. I don't mean to keep you from shopping!" She giggles as she steps away from us. I turn to speak with Kael, but he's already gone. I hear squeaks coming from behind me. As I look, there he is, fiddling with the hangers on the racks.
"Ah, there you are. Did you find anything you like?" I ask as I go over to him. He doesn't answer, and keeps going around in circles through the racks. I stand and watch him, his hands going over every piece of clothing, as if to study the cloth itself.
He selects a light-blue, long-sleeved top with white lining around the collar and cuffs, as well as the bottom. Draping it over his arm, he finds another top, this time a forest-green that seemed to be of a thicker material. He comes up to me with his findings, showing them to me.
"I'm pretty sure you're going to need pants too, you know," I say with a laugh, trying to make the situation not as tense and heavy. Kael shrugs his shoulders and goes back to the racks.
It's interesting to watch someone pick out clothing for themselves. You can find out what kind of a person they are through their decisions and how they react to something. Of course, it's kind of hard to decide what kind of a person Kael is. His actions are sudden and impulsive, as what a child's are.
He comes up to me again, this time with two pairs of pants, one for each top. Good enough, I guess. We go up to the glass counter where Lucy waits, and put down the clothing.
"Hm, that's all? Okay then. Did you make sure they're the right size, sirs?"
"They seem to be the right size, miss. I'm sure he checked," I say as I turn to Kael, "Didn't you?"
He nods, and I remove my wallet.
"That'll be seventy Rupees, on the nose!" She chirps, stuffing the clothing into a bag. I hand her payment, and she gives the bag to Kael. "Come again, you two!"
I give her a 'will do', and walk out of the store with Kael by my side, his bag scraping along the road.
"Hey, careful there! The bag is going to rip if you don't hold it up!" I warn Kael, who keeps dragging the bag. What is wrong with him?
"Fine then, I'll take it." He stops and roughly hands me the bag, walking a little faster than before. Something is definitely wrong with him. I speed up to his pace, noticing that he is cupping his stomach. There are two reasons for this, either he's going to be sick, or he's hungry. I really do hope it's the latter. If he is sick, then why? Did he catch something?
"I don't feel right…" He says, cupping his stomach harder. He stops walking and lets out a soft groan.
"Do you feel like you're going to be sick?" I stand in front of him, not exactly the best thing to do when another is feeling sick to the stomach.
"I don't know. It started to ache when we met Lucy." He lets out another groan.
It's a little out there, but maybe he's ill from Lucy's perfume? It was a little strong; a lilac sent drifting throughout the store. Maybe it was strong enough to cause him to ache. However, it could also be hunger pains, who knows. Come to think of it, he hasn't eaten much since I found him, and he doesn't look to be well-fed. He's skinny and a little on the short side. He's not boney looking, but isn't far from it.
"Was it her perfume? Sometimes a fragrance can be strong enough to unsettle a person. Or are you just hungry?"
"I don't know. It did smell funny in there."
"That's it then. You have a very sensitive sense of smell! How about we get ourselves something to eat before heading back? We have some time before we need to go. It might help your stomach."
"Fine then."
We mill around the square until we find a little stand. It seems to sell things like bread and fruit, as well as different types of sweets. It seems Kael is okay with the choice and heads over.
A man who seems to be a little older than me is manning the stand, and currently replacing some of his stock. He sees us approaching and puts out a few loaves of bread. When we meet him at his stand, he greets us as he wipes his hands on a small towel.
"Well hey there! What'cha want? My stock changes every day you know. Today I've got all kinds of breads, apples, oranges, pears, and for the kid here, sweets," He says with a chuckle.
"Hello," I begin, "We'll take a small loaf of wheat bread and…" I look down at Kael, who's eyeing the apples, the yellow ones more specifically. I can see a little bit of pain in his eyes. He's trying to ignore his stomach. "And four of the apples, the yellow ones."
"All right then, all together that's thirty Rupees," He says while bagging the food. I take out my wallet, fish out two blue Rupees and a red one, and hand it to the man. He hands the bag to me and we turn to move on.
"Hey, wait up!" He says as we start to walk away, "Forgot something."
Kael and I exchange looks, and head back to the stand.
"I can't let a kid leave my stand without anything special, 'ya know." He takes something out of a jar that seems to be taffy. "I'm feeling generous today. Take it, kid." He holds his hand out to Kael, who looks very confused.
"Go on Kael, take it." I give him a little push forward. He slowly draws his hand out and takes the candy, eyeing it with some intensity.
"What is it?" He questions.
"You have to be joking, kid! That's taffy, I think it's orange. Go ahead, try it. Wife made it herself," The man insists, putting his hands on his hips.
Kael un-wraps the taffy and pops it into his mouth, chewing rather quickly.
"Well?" The man asks.
"Chewy."
"So you like it then. I've never seen a kid who hasn't had taffy before. Where'd you come from, Romani?"
" Eastern Segment, the outskirts of it," I say before letting Kael answer. I don't want to start anything right now.
"Ah. You're pretty close to Romani though. I used to live in the Southern Segment growing up. Anyway, I don't mean to keep you from your business. Good day, sirs. Come back, will you?"
"Sure will."
We turn for a second time and walk a distance from the stand before I pipe up.
"Kael, I have a question for you. Remember Starn, the man on the train I was talking to? He has a daughter and well, we were just wondering if you wanted to meet her. She's younger than you, though."
"How old is she?" He asks pretty bluntly.
"Eight. She'll be nine in a few months."
"Why do you want me to meet her?"
"Well, she's kind of like you. She's alone most of the time, always around sitters. She needs someone to play with, and we figured you were the right person."
He narrows his eyes again. In just one day, he's changed drastically. I'm seeing more and more of his true personality. Is he opening up?
"You think I'm like a little girl?"
"No, no! I mean you both share some characteristics."
"If you say so."
We find a good place to rest, one of the public benches scattered around the area. Sitting down, I put down Kael's bag and reach for the bread in mine. I tear it in half and give one part to him.
"I'm not hungry right now," He says, forcing the bread back.
"I know you're hungry. I'm not going to let you starve yourself for no good reason! Please, eat."
"…Fine, if it'll make you happy."
We eat in silence, just like last time. At least Kael is talking a lot more now. Why he doesn't want to eat is strange. When he does eat though, he tends to take in a lot.
After our lunch, we toss our trash into a tiny bin next to the bench and make our way back to the station. Kael this time stays by my side, not trying to go ahead of me. I wonder why, actually.
Back on the train, we sit across from each other. I'm sure that Starn won't be back. Whenever he leaves with his fellow coworkers, I usually don't see him for the rest of the day.
Kael rests his head in his hand like before, staring out at land going by, shades of green dotted by purples and pinks, most likely wildflowers and bushes. With nothing to talk about or to do, we both let our minds take over, each of us in our own world. He starts to hum a tune, something a little upbeat and short. He repeats the tune over and over, getting progressively softer and louder at times. I've heard it somewhere before, but I don't remember where.
"What song is that?" I ask.
"I don't know, it's really old," He responds, not moving an inch. He continues to stare out the window and after a while, he starts to hum again.
"Well, it's pretty," I say, leaning back into the chair.
Having nothing better to do, I try to accompany Kael's tune with a beat, tapping softly on my knees. He acknowledges my beat and hums just a bit louder, turning his hums into a 'do' sound. I manage to get somewhat in-time and whistle the tune myself.
And then for the first time in a while, I see Kael put on a small smile. It fills me with a weird joy to see him smile, even if it's just the tiniest grin or smirk. Maybe it's the fact that he rarely smiles? I don't know. We continue our song until we can't any longer. Kael lets his part fade and slow down, then stops completely. For a while we sit in silence, still wondering what just happened over the course of those few minutes. Kael turns his body to face me, and we just look at each other for a moment.
"I remember something about the song."
"What?"
"The title has 'Lyric' in it."
"How do you know about it, the song?"
"…From someone."
"You don't want to talk about that someone, do you."
"No."
"Fine then."
After a while, we reach the station just a ways from home. We let the other passengers pass us by before we stand to leave, and travel on down the corridors of the train. Every one of these trains look alike, from the plush red seats to the golden-colored guard rails that the elderly would use and the young children would play around with. As we walk down, the halls become more spacious, which contain the cabins that differed in price. To tell you the truth, I've never been in one of those cabins before. The only time I would be would be for some sort of business trip or something like that.
At last at the front, Kael goes ahead of me down the stairs, jumping off the last one with a thud to the ground below. I step down carefully and step out of the way in case any other people wanted to get out. With that not occurring, we make our way down the dirt path that led to the store, me enjoying the scent of the ocean that was close by.
That ocean holds more than fish. It holds stories and rumors of old and new. The same ocean houses the remnants of an undersea temple that the Hero fought and explored in. How he did it alone like that is something I can't explain. However, there was another Hero before him that traveled these very same waters- as you may already know- who went on journeys to save those he loved, including the girl who turned out to be the start of the royal family we have today. I still don't believe if he traveled underwater in a tiny sailboat with no protection from the elements, but that is the legend.
Going up the road, we reach the store, its "closed" sign fluttering in the breeze. I open the door and let Kael in first. He goes to sit on the couch, putting the bag down.
"I'm going to put these in the dresser. They'll be in the middle drawer, alright?"
He nods.
I go over and pick up the bag, and head to the bedroom. I dump the bag's contents onto the bed and fold them, placing them in the shelf. I really do hope these fit him. I go back out and as I pass the entrance to the store, I remember what was in the backroom. Smiling to myself, I make my way there, opening the door as quietly as I could. I sift through the somewhat dusty area until I come across a stuffed cat, the one that I showed Kael earlier today. I pick it up and take it over to him, still resting on the couch.
"Hey, Kael. Got something for you," I say, holding out the plush. He stands and takes it, playing with its ears.
"Thanks," He mumbles.
"Anytime."
With nothing to do for the rest of the day, we go about our own business.
Night arrives quicker than I expected it to. We finish with our dinner and go our separate ways again. I go off into the bedroom and reach into my drawer, pulling out a book. It's been awhile before I've read anything, so I figure this will do me some good.
Kael spots me with my book, and questions me about it.
"Oh, it's just a book. If you want, I can read some of it to you."
"What's it called?"
"The Lake," I reply.
I sit on the couch and Kael comes crawling up next to me. I open the book to the page I was at, and begin reading. He doesn't want to start at the beginning, I suppose.
"With a grin, I followed her down the street, hiding every time she would look my way. I loved playing with her, especially during the summer when school wasn't keeping us in all the time. I finally caught up to her and let out a little 'boo'. She turned and giggled, her frame bouncing a bit.
'I found you! I'm hiding next, Abel!' She exclaimed.
'One, two, three, four…' I closed my eyes and counted out-loud, her pitter-patter encircling me. I hear a rustling as I near thirty, and then a giggle at forty. I opened my eyes, and looked around. There in the tree was a pair of dangling feet, wearing simple black Mary-Janes and white leggings. I didn't think she knew that I could see her, so I went around for a few minutes, looking behind houses and in bushes. When the time came to find her, I climbed up the tree and sat next to her, saying a simple found you.
She smiled and pecked me on the cheek. I couldn't have been happier that day. Sadie and I were together after a long time, ever since the accident on the ice. Through it all, we were still friends. I wouldn't give up anything for that."
Kael fidgets a little, and yawns. I think it's time to retire for today. I close the book gently and lay it on the little table next to me, telling Kael we should probably get some sleep. He nods and follows me into the bedroom with his plush, opening the bottom drawer. He pulls out one of my night shirts and a pair of pants. I think it's a little strange for him to be sleeping in my clothing, but it's all we can manage for now. I myself grab the same, heading into the bathroom to allow Kael to undress privately.
I come back out and see that Kael is already inside the blankets, his head barely sticking out. I get in beside him and say a good night as I flick the lamp off on the nightstand.
As with everything today, I learned a little more about Kael, but also gained a few more questions. He has never experienced many things that we take for granted, and he knows things that surprise me. I still wonder if he knows anything of the legends passed down through the generations.
Earth God's lyric is a tune that only royalty, descendants and friends of the Hero know.
AN: I am so sorry guys that this came out so late. School has been rough on me, and I should have gotten this in earlier if it wasn't for a lot of things going on. This chapter is a little short, and again, I'm sorry!