The Ember of Beginning II

Unlike the previous night, the place was empty, except for a few customers. Silora headed towards the bar where an ugly man with thick white eyebrows stood. The man smiled with his black teeth as soon as he saw her. Silora tensed under his gaze, but she maintained her cold expression.

She stood in front of the man, separated only by the large bar table, fortunately for her. She took the wooden key from the folds of her clothes and let it slide towards the ugly man. She didn't wait for him to say anything and spoke quickly, "I'll have the traditional breakfast." She didn't wait for his response either and made her way to one of the distant tables.

She heard the man behind her say, "Right away fer the bonny lass." She ignored him and didn't turn back.

Silora sat at a large table alone, trying to listen to the conversations around her. But there were few people this morning, and no one seemed in the mood to talk. But she reassured herself again that what happened to her yesterday was just a result of fatigue, as she could now hear all the sounds around her. She smiled a little at the comforting thought and relaxed her back for more comfort while waiting for her food.

She didn't have to wait long before the same tongueless man from yesterday approached, carrying a food tray in one hand. With each step he took closer, the deep scratches covering his entire face and hands became clear to Silora. She didn't let her tension show on her face as she watched the thin man with blue hair approach. 'Wait,... blue hair?' Silora could have sworn the man she saw yesterday was bald.

'Could he be a different person?' She pushed this thought from her mind, remembering well his limping walk. Every time he stepped on his right leg, he dragged the left one only by force and will. 'Maybe I was just too affected yesterday to notice?' But she remembered well that the man didn't show her his tongue until he was about to leave. 'Am I really mistaken?'

The man slowly approached her table, looking nervous, even shy under her contemplative gaze. He lowered his head to break eye contact and continued his way with difficulty. When he reached her, he placed the food tray on the table. Silora showed no interest in the food compared to her interest in the man himself. When he was about to leave, Silora grabbed his hand and didn't let him go. A slight shiver passed through the man's body, but he didn't say anything... how could he!

The man raised his intelligent blue eyes to meet Silora's crimson ones. "Wait, can I ask you something?" Silora said in a calm voice. The man didn't respond, but she let go of his hand. If he didn't want to listen, he would leave. He didn't. He took a step back and nodded.

Silora let out a sigh of relief, opened her mouth to ask the question on her mind, but then decided against. 'This is silly... even insulting.' The question she was going to ask the poor man was, Is that your hair? 'If that's not insulting, I don't know what is.'

Silora shifted nervously in her chair, feeling regret for stopping the man who was looking at her with anticipation and tension. She didn't know what question to ask now. Everything that came to her mind was either insulting or embarrassing. 'I'm such an idiot.' After a round of self-directed curses, Silora decided to ask a meaningless question that the nervous man wouldn't find insulting.

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She took a deep breath and said in a serious voice, contrary to her internal thoughts, "Do you know me?" Silora expected the man to shake his head in refusal at her strange question, but to her surprise, the man nodded, vigorously, so much so that he stumbled on his injured foot. If Silora hadn't caught him, his head would have hit the table.

Silora was puzzled. The question she asked just to avoid embarrassing the poor man turned out to exceed her expectations. 'How does he know me?... This doesn't make sense.' She let the man go. He grabbed the side of the table with his delicate hand and slowly regained his balance. Once he stood upright, he looked at Silora again, a bright smile spreading across his face. Tears of joy streamed down his cheeks, he didn't even try to wipe them away. He looked at Silora as if he had finally found his home.

The man stepped forward and took Silora's hands in his, opening his mouth to say something, but his tongueless mouth failed him. Silora, in turn, was too shocked to say anything. She wanted to pull her hands away from his rough ones, but she felt guilty and didn't. The man seemed frustrated by his failed attempts to convey his thoughts and also seemed in a hurry for some reason.

Silora watched with curiosity. By now, she knew the man wasn't trying to harm her. He seemed genuinely happy to see her, even though she was sure she didn't know him. With all his attempts to convey his thoughts failing, he looked around until his gaze fell on the cloth-wrapped box on the table. He moved towards it, Silora didn't have time to stop him; he was the closer. He lifted the box with exaggerating care, placed it in Silora's line of sight, and began pointing at it vigorously while nodding his head continuously.

With heavy breaths, the man returned the box to its place on the table. He looked back at Silora, his serious expression capturing her full attention. The man before her, with his frighteningly intelligent blue eyes, didn't seem like the fool she remembered from yesterday. Even the way he carried himself didn't belong to a waiter in a restaurant. It was a strange contradiction.

Noticing he had her full attention, he raised his index fingers and repeatedly pointed towards his head. 'Think, focus,... maybe?' This is what Silora deduced from the man's gestures. She nodded in understanding, even though the whole situation was strange.

The blue-haired man smiled in relief. As if his mission was over, and he could finally rest. After that, he slowly approached Silora, who hadn't moved from her spot, and hugged her lightly. Silora didn't push him away because she knew the man wasn't really trying to harm her, but the main reason was her inexplicable guilt towards him.

After a while, the man let her go. He wiped his tears with his tattered clothes while looking around vigilantly. No one in the restaurant noticed their strange interaction. The man sighed in relief at this.

He then focused again on the food he had brought himself. To Silora's shock, he bent down with difficulty, picked up a handful of dust gathered at the base of one of the restaurant's pillars, and threw it on the perfectly fried egg.

Silora wanted to protest, but the man's bright smile and his shining intelligence eyes, gave Silora the idea that there was a purpose to his actions.

He nodded at her, gesturing for her to sit. Once she did, he picked up the food tray and went on his way. Silora's expression turned to shock and confusion. She didn't understand the man's actions from start to finish. 'Does he really know me? He seemed genuinely happy that I asked the question, even cried... What idea was he trying so hard to convey? He seemed in a hurry as if time was running out... What did he mean by pointing at the box so intensely? Does he perhaps know the secret of the box? Could the box be related to what he was trying to convey?... Why did he point at his head like that? Is he perhaps urging me to focus or think?... And what's with his strange actions at the end?...'