I forgot how doors sound when it's not me opening them. "Hello..." A hesitant voice comes from the doorway. It's a woman, looks to be in her late twenties or thirties and behind her is a slightly younger man. They both enter politely into my cabin. As I am much older it might be their composite towards the elderly but more likely they want something and are afraid to ask.
"Umm… are you… the old man from the mountain?" The boy asks, the girl stands almost shocked at the position they're in.
"I certainly am old, and this cabin of mine is no doubt at the foot of the great ridge." I answer slowly, I do wonder what these kids think of me while saying this "If you ask whether I am the one who received the carrier's message about a boy and a girl coming to visit this week, then the answer to that is yes as well." They both stand there, the round-aboutness of my answer might make them a bit more inquisitive, or deter them altogether.
"We're looking for a man." The girl now speaks. The boy looks like he wanted to drag the conversation a bit longer before pressing the issue. "He might have gone this way, if so you have probably met him." The girl's tone is not very respectable of the elderly, flat and purposeful with not much courtesy. I could turn a blind eye, after all they went through to reach so far to the edge of Uesteroza.
"Not many travel here, most of them are only people of the nearby camps and only when they've lost their way." They're about to continue talking and I can tell this wouldn't take long before we get to the issue but I feel discourteous with both of them standing and me sitting down as it is. "You look worse for wear, the way here must have been rough, won't you join me to eat dinner?"
Their stomachs talk before their mouth utters sound, even they realize after such a long hard road they should stop to eat well.
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"This is quite the meal, thank you for the food." The boy says during the meal. What a cute attitude towards adults, they were brought up well.
"I was wondering what you'll bring up first, the food or the furniture. Do you enjoy the food? It's from my own grown. Would you like to see the garden later?"
"It's a bit late, and we're looking for a person… we just want to ask if you've seen him. " The girl sure is pushy about it. She barely touched the onion soup. It might be the hassle of eating while pushing her hair to the side, but more likely it's her mission. The boy is torn between two decisions, but I can't tell which.
"What do you think? Wouldn't you like to see the farm I have, it's quite amazing I promise. I take very good care of it." I look into her eyes and then into the boys eyes. I can tell she does her best not to give me a scowling look.
The boy looks at his sister "One night won't make a difference, we're probably the only visitors he has had in years." His sister sighs and agrees albeit reluctantly.
"Alright, fine. But where will we sleep?"
"I can make some arrangements, it's not every day I have visitors, I don't mind putting in some work." I say this with a smile to make sure they don't feel uncomfortable in the situation. They would probably feel bad interrupting an old hermit like me, but I would like to have them over and get to know them a bit, I cannot let go of the past completely.
The girl starts to drink her soup more hastily, after she finished she gets up from her seat. "My name is Sana, this is my brother Lucas. Thank you for your hospitality. " Through her words a certain hostility can be heard. She is not happy from this turn off events I can tell, but being so concerned about this man they are looking for warms my heart a little, enough to turn another blind eye.
After she leaves the room I tell Lucas not to worry about her attitude and "Thank you for indulging a lonely old man." And after both leave I have to prepare the extra room, I can't let them sleep on the living room floor. They will probably not notice if I use magic to make another room for their accommodations.
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"This is the garden, isn't it pungent? Each plant has different requirements, more light, more water,water less frequently, even the soil needs adjusting between plant and plant." The siblings look more interested than they were the night before, even Sana is curious and amazed by the beautiful little patch of land I treated so well for so long.
"Some of these plants need warmth, how do you grow them in such windy cold climate?"
"How astute, Sana, I do have a fair bit of magic to take care of that. This way I can have all these vegetables and roots all the time." At the mention of magic Sana's eyes opened wide. That got her attention no doubt. "I also get water from the mountains, in winter I need to divert the streams though, they'd ruin the plants otherwise."
"With magic too?" She curiously asks. Her eyes sparkle a bit, trying to keep herself from looking so enthusiastic no doubt, it but she cannot keep the serious facade when magic is involved. "Where did you learn it? Can you teach me?" Sana won't let the magic talk go ,hehe, it feels kind of nice. And so cute and childish, like I was looking into the eyes of a three year old girl.
"I can teach you a little. Extend your hand." She obediently sends her hand forward, opening her palm. " I can tell you're imagining something flowing out from it. Hold on with it, don't focus so hard yet." She closes her eyes without me even telling her, must be something she heard in a fairy tale.
"Imagine fire, actual fire. Can you tell how it burns? Do you remember how it feels when you're near it?"
"Yes" she answers, still with closed eyes.
"Good, imagine the fire in your hand, imagine your heart building it." For lack of better terms I guide her, her brother who enjoyed looking at the plants until now joins us and imitates her position. "Imagine building it, it might help if you rehearse a verse to help you make it. Remember, just feeling or seeing won't be enough. Build it with all of your senses…" I slowly move to them and touch both in the head with my hands.
Sparks come out, and a small flame start at their palms, Sana and Lucas both open their eyes fast enough to see it but after a second both flames die out.
"Well done, both of you." They both look proud of themselves. I did open up a valve for them to use what magic they can, but with this feeling they can rehearse it again, practice makes perfect as their mother must tell them.
"This is amazing, I never did magic." Sana excitedly remarks to get brother, who is on his own shocked.
After a minute or so of high pitched mumbling both siblings quietly turn to me."Ahh, right… so about this man we're looking for." They go back to yesterday's topic. "He's our uncle, he left home when we were kids and we wondered if you might have seen him."
"When you were kids, in a sense you still are, how long was that ago? Do you remember his name? "
"Brand Steelwater, it was more than ten years ago… we looked up to him but he… he ran away from home. He talked about trying to leave Uesteroza so we followed some leads and… "
"And you followed this one, and found there is an old man who lives near the mountain ridge impossible to climb. Come with me. "
I lead them to a place slightly farther than the farm, behind a big rock next to a stream. Where many pieces of wood were struck into the ground and names etched on them. One of these names is Brand.
"I'm sorry, your uncle won't return home"
They both looked down, but not crying "we knew he won't be coming back, all we wanted was to know where his story leads him. Do you know how he died?"
"It was many years ago, but I remember it was him who did it to himself, he was happy with this outcome." I know this is not the answer they wanted, but it was the truth. Brand Steelwater is a name that died on this mountain many years ago, and the man known by that name made sure of that.
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After this I sent them on their way, with some vegetables from my farm to keep them from getting hungry. I turned the house back to the way it was and the chairs and table back too, In the end what was left is only the cabin with a small garden and a balcony to look from onto the north-east.
Their uncle wanted to run away and get rid of his life. Buried his name and made a new life with nothing inside but him. But a small visit from his niece and nephew certainly was nice, maybe they'll come again one day...