Eolian

She felt nothing.

In her hut, sat on chair and cheek flat on desk, Shanar looked at the yellow-brown paper in her hand.

‘You’ve been staring at it for hours,’ said a man standing beside a bookshelf with his arm crossed. He wasn’t comfortable seeing Shanar like this: a young woman her age, constantly staring at a paper with an empty gaze instead of doing anything else. ‘You should start to the city, Shanar,’ he suggested. ‘It’s unsafe here—’

‘Shut up, Eolian,’ she lashed, not in a mood to listen.

Eolian sighed.

Not giving up, Eolian looked around, searching something else for Shanar to do. Her current behavior of blankly staring at the paper had been concerning to him. He looked at the bookshelf and searched for a book which she might be interested in.

A light streaked into the hut and shone on the books Eolian was looking at. Eolian turned his head to see the drape of the hut entrance being pushed to the side by a man in his fifties. The man’s eyes were sick red and there were black circles under.

‘Condiments…’ he said with a lethargic voice and dragged his feet into the hut.

Though the man appeared weak, Eolian stepped in between the man and Shanar. ‘That’s as far as you go,’ Eolian said, he didn’t bother smiling.

‘Condiments… Please…’

‘Name your price.’

‘I-I have nothin’—'

‘Then you will have nothing.’

‘No… No!’ he charged toward Eolian, trying to tackle him out of the way, but Eolian didn’t budge. Eolian was bigger than the skinny old man; impossible to be moved by him. ‘Give me the condiments! Give me!’

Eolian rolled his eyes. He grabbed the old man’s head with his palm and lifted him up into the air. The old man could scream, could bite and scratch his hand, could kick at him, but those weren’t going to stop Eolian from throwing him out of the hut.

Shanar’s voice however, would. ‘Just give him it.’

Eolian looked over his shoulder. ‘Give him the condiment?’ he asked with a tone of surprise. ‘For free? Shanar—’

‘Give. Him.’

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Eolian yielded and dropped the old man. Eolian didn’t like that wide victory grin of his, but he went to the drawer under the bookshelf.

‘This isn’t you, Shanar,’ Eolian said as he pulled out a box.

Shanar ignored him.

‘The you I know would exploit him. Ruthlessly without mercy.’ Inside the box were bottles labeled “energy-booster”, a product made from the city; sold in pharmacies. There was a warning about overdose on the label written in red, stating that it could be addictive and painful if consumed too much. Eolian ripped the label apart. ‘You sure about this?’ he asked for confirmation.

‘Yes.’

Eolian tossed the bottle to the old man. ‘Count yourself lucky.’

The old man immediately opened the bottle and drank till the last drop. His weakened expression changed to one of glory after he consumed the drink. Rejuvenated by the condiment, the old man left the hut.

Eolian shook his head. He turned toward Shanar, wanting to utter his thought, but refrained when he saw her sitting straight; yellow-brown paper set aside.

‘Here to take my offer?’ Shanar asked.

The question brought confusion to Eolian, but upon staring where she was staring, he saw a young woman inside the hut, and stumbled backward. Her long black hair was braided and she wore a brown village outfit. Kayla, someone Shanar was fond of, was two or three years younger than her.

‘To ask about the monster,’ Kayla answered. Her black eyes trailed toward the desk and saw the yellow-brown paper, face down, with a patch of blood in one corner. ‘Sorry about Danar.’

Shanar clicked her tongue, irritated. ‘No one asked for your sorry.’

‘Thought you need it.’

‘I don’t.’

Shanar leaned back on her chair, pulled a drawer from her desk, and pulled a white paper envelope: a letter from the city. She held and showed it to Kayla, but didn’t give to her.

‘What for?’

‘Personal reasons.’ Kayla stretched her palm up toward her.

‘Raladr was your neighbor was he not?’ Shanar placed the envelope on Kayla’s hand.

‘He was.’ Kayla opened the envelope and saw a paper inside. It had what she wanted: what Shanar knew about the monster. ‘Thank you.’

‘I never took you as an avenger.’

‘I’m not.’

Paper in hand, Kayla walked away from Shanar; and left the hut.

Eolian, from the sideline, had been perplexed watching the exchange between them. ‘That’s the letter from the Collector that I gave you, wasn’t it?’ Eolian asked Shanar.

‘Yes.’ Shanar took back the yellow-brown paper she had set aside.

Eolian got many things to say, but refrained from voicing, save for one, ‘What is she going to do with it?’

‘She’s going to hunt the monster, I believe.’

With that said, Shanar continued staring at the yellow-brown paper.