Anda and Sil cleaned the boys up as best as they could.

Sil then instructed that everyone sit at the dinner table while she prepared some food.

Sil’s home was far smaller than Anda’s. Actually, everyone home on the eastern wall was the same. They were all one room that was part bedroom, part living area, part kitchen.

The ones on the western wall were bigger, having multiple rooms and the ones to the north were the largest.

Anda crossed his arms and looked up in thought.

He would soon have ownership of the high office.

He wondered if-

“How is Lindra doing?” Sil asked as the house was filled with delightful aromas.

“She’s fine, I guess. She’s been helping her friends mourn their losses for the past couple of days.”

“Oh.”

“Heral’s fine too, you know.” Anda said with a faint smile.

“Ugh! Don’t remind me. I swear, if he wasn’t you father I’d have broken his hands.”

“Don’t worry. If he does anything stupid, we’ll break his hands together.” Anda said, but his eyes quickly drifted upwards as he thought back to all that had happened.

Part of him wished that the elders in Iana would just the Ia in so that they could all hide from the world and its problems, but-

Anda slipped back into reality as Sil served up four bowls of a rich looking broth.

Anda winced, but Sil slightly slapped the back of his head.

“You’re of no use to anyone dead. Eat.” She instructed.

Anda nodded with a pout before eating the delicious, thick broth.

He then realized that Sil was staring at her son quite intently as he and Teum ate.

“Wanna take him to the doctors?”

“No, I was just wondering if he’s destined to… never mind. Eat up.”

Anda nodded before digging in.

.

..

A single tear fell from Anda’s left eye as Sil collected everyone’s bowls.

“That was… beautiful.”

“Spare me the melodrama.” Sil said as she tidied everything up.

Anda stood to help her, but she instead gestured towards the boys.

“Mmm?”

“Talk to them.” Sil said softly.

“About what?”

“They shouldn’t be fighting each other.”

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“Oh…” Anda sounded before sitting next to the who were showing each other goofy faces.

“Yochi, Teum, listen up.” Anda said while making a serious expression.

He then faintly smiled before leaning forward.

“You can only play fight for shirt bursts, otherwise you’ll get caught- ouch!”

Sil hit Anda on the head again before crossing her arms.

“No fighting. At all.” She said while Anda rubbed his head.

“You heard her, lads. No more fighting.” He said with a pout.

The boys also pouted before looking at each other.

“Wait a minute… aren’t you mom’s boss? Why is she bossing you around?” Yochi asked prompting Anda and Sil to stare at each other for a moment.

“Doesn’t that mean he actually isn’t the boss?” Teum asked as he and Yochi stood up.

They then slowly walked towards Anda with narrowed eyes.

“Yeah. That means uncle Anda is a big liar!” Yochi said before rushing in to head-butt Anda, who simply caught the boy by his head.

Teum rushed in to save his friend only to get caught as well.

“Your tactics are flawed and your strength is laughable! You’ll need to be a lot stronger if you want to defeat-“

Anda stopped himself as he glanced at Sil to find that she was glaring at him.

“Ahem! Calm down, lads.” Anda said before noticing that the lights outside had dimmed somewhat.

“It’s getting pretty late. Come on, Teum. Let’s head on home.” Anda said as he stood up.

“OK.” Teum said while following his brother to the door.

Sil saw the two off and they made their way back to the second level.

On the way there, Anda noticed that Teum was rather quite.

“Something wrong, buddy?”

“I… you said that Yo and I needed to get stronger. But how do we do that?” Teum asked, prompting Anda to stop.

Fortunately, the street was mostly empty, so he wasn’t standing in anyone’s way.

“Mmm… that depends. What do want to do when you grow up?”

“Well, Yo and I wanted to be guards, but that sounds like too much boring work, so… we now want be scouts, like you.” Teum said with a lowered head.

“Mmm… a scout, huh? Although it fills my heart with pride that you want to venture out onto the surface like me, I must ask, are you ready to face the unknown? Down here, all you see are the faces of your fellow Ia. Up there… everything is different. Are you prepared to face it knowing full well that you may never return?” Anda asked with a rather stiff expression.

“I- Yes!” Teum said with trembling eyes.

“Sure you do.” Anda said with half open eyes.

“Anyway. Let’s go home.”

.

..

Anda’s eyelids grew heavy as he thought about all that had happened and all that was going to happen.

He thought about Olen’s plan and whether or not he should approve of it.

Part of him wondered if he could say no in the first place.

This thought led to him thinking about Katsíki.

The enigma that came to the Dark Expanse with the full intent of changing it to suit his vision.

Is that all we are? Anda wondered.

Small cogs in the machinations of greater beings.

Even if it wasn’t for Katsíki, that statement would be true.

The Moon King, Golden Prince and so many others held the destinies of countless lives in their hands.

Anda wondered if being High Elder would mean the same for him.

That he would spend the rest of his days making decisions that’s would change many lives.

Maybe Olen was right.

Maybe, at some point, you grow numb to the scale of things.

Anda closed his eyes and decided that he would stave off that feeling- that state of numbness for as long as possible.

He also wondered if there was a way he could learn more about Katsíki.

Part of him was always drawn to the small goat and with time, Anda thought that perhaps, a relationship of mutual understanding could be formed.

“Hey, you awake?” Anda heard his father ask.

He sat up as Heral entered the room.

He then sat on the bed, next to Anda, who sleepily rubbed his eyes.

“Yeah. Is something wrong?”

“Well, everything is fine here. I’m more concerned with you. How are you feeling?” Heral asked.

“I’d lie and say I’m OK, but that would solve nothing.” Anda said.

“My son, the realist.” Heral said with a faint smile.

“Yeah. If I can be completely honest, I’m scared. Scared of the dark vessel, scared of the ultimate fate of the Ia and frustrated at my own… uselessness.”

“Mmm… as usual, you have a lot on your plate.”

“You don’t know the half of it.”

“Well… there is a rather said saying my father told me. It goes all the way back to a belief our people had way before the Great Collision. All is at the mercy of the ultimate. Live freely despite your circumstances and pursue your goals regardless of whether you succeed or not because, in the end, it doesn’t really matter. You’d have tried your best and done what you could.” Heral said.

“I may have messed it up a little, but you get the gist.”

Anda slowly nodded prompting Heral to chuckle as he stood up.

“Goodnight. Try not to beat yourself too hard over ever little thing.”

Anda, again, nodded before laying down to sleep.

He closed his eyes and attempted to she’d some of the weight he felt burdened him…

It didn’t work, but Heral’s words helped him sleep peacefully.