- 7th day of Hanotë

Part 2 - A Strange Boy

Kai stood in silence as he watched the boy.

Solara kept staring at the dying embers in the same exact way he’d been doing since daybreak, his golden-brown eyes with strange glistening purple spots unmoving, almost as if he’d fallen asleep with his eyes wide open. He’d placed a loaf of bread and some cheese at his side, for his breakfast, but the boy hadn’t even stirred.

Sighing he decided to sit down, giving up on preparing their things so they could return to the road. Sure, he could simply shake him awake, or tell him that it was past time they move on. But this was hardly the first time he saw him like that, he recalled, still watching him closely. When they’d left Mithir in search of that mystical Power, or whatever it was, the boy would frequently go suddenly very quiet, his eyes turning glassy as he stared into nothing. It had happened mostly while they were riding and, once he snapped out of it, he’d always ask if they could travel towards a specific direction. Even then Kai had thought it strange but, on the other hand, something had always stopped him from interrupting his moments of ... what?, he wondered frowning. And yet none of the previous ... episodes had been this long, he noticed, inevitably beginning to worry. Was the boy all right? Maybe he actually suffered from some kind of mental disease.

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Solara took a deep breath, shuddering, his entire body shaking uncontrollably, and Kai instinctively jumped to his feet, watching him with a worried expression. He didn’t know what was going on but, on the other hand, it was hardly his place to question the important Emissary of Nar, he thought unsure of what he should do. Solara’s scream of pain quickly put an end to all his doubts and, in the next moment, he was right beside him, holding him when he almost fell backwards, his young face a grimace of pain as he squeezed hard his left shoulder.

“Solara?!” he called him, trying to understand what had happened, where he’d been hurt, and the boy finally blinked looking up at him, a smile stretching his quivering lips.

“You can rest assure, Sir Knight … your lady is no longer … in Mithir …” he whispered in a trembling voice and, as if those brief words had consumed all his strength, his head lolled back and his body went limp when he lost conscious.

Kai looked down at him in disbelief, still worrying about his charge’s well-being. But then he couldn’t help recall what he’d just told him. He was still very much unclear about what had just happened and yet, as strange as it was, he found himself undoubtedly believing in those strange words.

“Thank you …” he whispered back, a smile touching his lips, and he gently laid him down, covering him with a blanket so he wouldn’t get cold. He sat by his side, stirring the dying flames, and simply remained there, silently watching over his sleep.

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