An intruder broke into a small house in the capitals slums that... particularly dark night. Visibly hungry, but still full of adrenaline, keeping the tiredness away, at least briefly. There didn’t seem to be anyone home, so the intruder continued further into the building. Rummaging through drawers and shelves, only to find nothing worth putting in his mouth. He froze, even if the night was mild. He went up the stairs, and saw the stars shining through the windows of one of the bedrooms. He walked closer to the window, his mind willing to be bewitched by anything distracting him from his rumbling stomach. The adrenalin-rush of being chased around the capital had started to subside, and the exhaustion came in waves at him, slowly putting our intruder to sleep.

***

The capital of Arelia wakes up early. Merchants wake up in the dawn and starts making their way to the marketplace and wagons full of fresh produce arrives within the capitals walls. The bakers starts making the first batch of bread for the morning, letting the wind carry the smell down the streets and waking the rest of the early risers up.

Soon you can spot maids of the richer families stepping out in the gardens with today’s laundry, and other stores along the main streets starting to open up.

A truly magical place.

And it is to this our intruder wakes up to, still paralyzingly hungry, and smells the tantalizing scent of freshly baked bread. He made his way out of the house, now brightly lit up in the morning sun. The intruder blocked his eyes from the sun-rays, stepping out on the open streets. None paid the boy any mind, just going on with their own business, hurrying to work or making their way to the church. Our intruder went with the flow up towards the marketplace, hoping to find something to eat there.

Not having been in a larger city before, he watched every crook and cranny with profound interest, drinking the architecture and atmosphere of largest city in Arelia in.

But as the smell of cooked food came, nothing intrested him anymore. Just food. Warm, greasy meat. The market was full of it.

He knew that he had to act now, or he wouldn’t be able to pull it through.

He slowly went toward one of the stalls, oblivious to anything else than the smell of spicy skewers of beef and pork. He could almost taste it now. Reaching his hand out toward one of them, someone suddenly called out to him…

”Hey! You little brat! Yes, you! Do you think i’m completely blind!”

The fat man behind the stall yelled at him and waved with his butcher-knife at him.

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Our intruder quickly withdrew his hand. What was he going to do? He could be executed or put in prison for this! He turned around and was just about run away, when another man that stood close to the front of the line shouted, looking right at him.

”Hey! Oliver! You can’t cut in line, get back here right away!”

The man sounded angry, but a playful look shrouded his eyes while he hit the ground with his cane.

The man walked out of the line and to the front of the stall, facing the merchant behind it.

”Sorry for the inconvenience sir, i think we’ll take the skewers at another time.”

The merchant looked grumpy, but just grunted and waved his hand toward the streets.

Our intruder looked back and fourth between the merchant and the man with the cane. Did he know him?

He was pretty sure he didn’t.

The man with the cane walked away, turning back to him and gesturing him to follow.

They walked down one of the smaller alleys, our intruder still very confused of why a stranger would help him.

The man stopped and turned to our intruder.

”So, what would bring a fine young man like yourself down to the act of thievery?”

Our intruder didn’t answer, turning his look down at the cobblestone street.

The man

The man continued.

”I have a proposal. I’ll get you something to eat and sleep for the night, and you’ll help me around the store tomorrow.

Does that sound good to you?”

The man started to walk away, our intruder following in his footsteps.

***

Not a talkative lad.

Phineas Eeroy walked down the alleys of the capital, home, the boy still following him.

Naive old fool, he told himself, looking back at the boy. Poor thing. The capitals slums had always been full of gangs, not leaving room for much else. Especially not a young and weak kid like this.

They could see the bookstore now, the old wooden sign looking like it would fall off any minute now. It had been that way for a long time so Phineas just ignored it.

He opened the doors to the store, removing his coat and fedora.

He turned to the boy that stood at the doorstep, looking intensively at all of the books in the store.

”Come inside kid, let us get you sonething to eat.”

The boy almost drooled, then got himself together and walked inside the building.

Phineas led him to the guest room in the residential area behind the store itself.

”You can sleep here tonight, just tell me if you need something.”

He walked to the kitchen, putting some porridge together.

***

He hadn’t eaten properly in a long time.

The porridge practically disappeared from the bowl and the-man-that-had-a-cane sat beside him on the bed he would be sleeping in tonight.

”So, kid.” he said. ”What’s your name? I believed it to be quite rude to just make one up.”

Our intruder thought about how to answer.

”I… I don’t have have a name.”

It was true. His parents died long before he could talk, and he was taken care of by a woodcutter. He died too, and our intruder was forced to flee from his murderers. To the capital.

The man looked at him.

”My name’s Phineas, we’ll do something about the name later if necessary.”

He rose up from the bed and walked out in the corridor.

”Sleep well kid.”

And he did.