An ogre’s den. The Keluarga house. At the moment, there was no distinction between the two.
“Wow~ you boys must’ve been starving! Or is the cheese that good?”
“Bof… thish ish sho gooo~” Rami said, crying tears of joy as he stuffed another spoonful of cheesy potato into his mouth.
Haak was no better. If anything, he was worse. His dark blue, almost black, eyes glistened as he chewed in silence on a cheesy spinach leaf, half of it sticking out of his mouth.
Shena smiled warmly as she watched the boys eat like starved beasts. Suddenly, she felt a gaze coming from the opposite end of the table.
“Elli, are you not hungry? Do you not like the cheese?” she asked with a bit of a worried expression when she noticed he wasn’t eating any more than he usually did, which was barely anything.
But Elli was deep in thought, and while he heard her, his mind wasn’t able to return to his physical body in time to answer.
“He loves cheese. You should’ve seen his face when I told him we got some, mmph” replied Rami, covering for him as he ate another bite of cheesy potato.
He gulped it down quickly and looked over at Elli’s plate. “I actually think he’s eaten a lot today. Look. He’s eaten more than Romina usually does. No need to worry, Mom. You always worry too much.”
“Mm, he just gets full really fast. He’s always been like that,” added Haak.
Shena followed her son’s gaze to Elli’s plate again. He really had eaten more than Romina’s usual portion. It was a subtle gain, but she’d never seen that from him before.
“Well, I’m glad you boys like the cheese,” she said with a laugh, “I wonder how you’ll react when you find out I got a cow…”
All three boys froze. Haak and Rami dropped their forks. After about two seconds, Rami stood up and screamed, knocking his chair back.
“WHAT?!”
The surprise wasn’t unwarranted. In their town, cheese was a luxury. Their meals typically weren’t seasoned with anything like salt and pepper, either, as those were luxury items too.
“Mom? What are you talking about? How did you get a cow? You can barely afford cheese every few months, and now you’re saying you got a whole cow?! Alive?!” Rami asked in disbelief, “actually, if it was dead that would be even crazier– anyways, what?! How?!”
“Ah hah, settle down boys, and Rami, pick up your chair,” she said with a gentle laugh, “you’re right, I could never afford a cow, dead or alive. It was actually a gift. From Mister Wames.”
“Wow… isn’t he the guy that owns eight cows?” Haak asked.
“Yes, that’s him. He’s been buying my silverware for a few years. He told me the other day that he’s been wanting to gift me something for a while, for ‘making his dinners more beautiful’.”
Haaah, she sighed as she ran her fingers down her fork, “if I had known these lousy things could get me a cow, I would’ve started selling them much sooner… I’m sorry for the wait.”
Elli was still lost in thought from his initial revelation, his eyes reflecting an amber color onto the water in his cup, but when he heard Shena’s apology, he immediately composed himself.
“There’s no need to apologize, Miss Keluarga, really. And I don’t think these are lousy at all. They may be common, but I don’t think that means they’re any less than the jewelry Mrs. Jukam sells, or the paintings Mrs. Rupho makes. If anything, I think they’re better. You can actually see these and use these everyday.”
“Mm, mm!” agreed Haak energetically, “there are a lot of people who wouldn’t buy anything like jewelry or paintings, but everyone needs silverware!”
“Yeah Mom, plus you got a whole dang cow! And it’s alive! I bet Mrs. Jukam and Mrs. Rupho don’t have cows,” added Rami with his nose up, “that means you’re better than them.”
He had completely forgotten about his earlier scuffle with his mom. At this moment, all he felt was pride. For being her son, for having a mom as wonderful as she was. For cheese.
Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.
Shena only smiled and looked down. Though she didn’t say anything, she was touched by the boys’ kind words. She hadn’t been spoken to this lovingly since her husband… Reminded of him, her eyes began to well up with tears, but she was smiling.
The boys noticed and immediately got up to give her a hug. After more thankful praise, dinner continued, ending fairly quickly.
When every plate had been licked clean, not a single crumb or stray strand of cheese left, Shena realized she had overlooked something important.
“Ah… Romina’s food…”
+ + +
“Elli, you always do the dishes, and Haak, you fought today. I’ll do them,” said Rami, pushing his friends out of the kitchen.
Shena came out of Romina’s room, closing the door behind her as she joined the two boys in the now crowded hallway.
“How is she?” Haak asked worriedly.
Death was something he knew well, and he’d seen too many strong, healthy fighters die from minor scratches and simple coughs. Romina was just a 3 year old kid. Sickness was a real danger to her.
“I think she’ll be alright. She just has a bit of a headache,” she replied.
“…Oh, could one of you boys give her another wet towel before you go to bed? Manny– um, Mister Wames is going to teach me how to take care of a cow and make cheese and milk and all those goodies tonight, so I won’t be able to do it. I’m sorry for springing this on you…”
“I can do it,” offered Elli, “I take care of Haak when he’s sick.”
“Okay, great. Thank you. I have to go now. Mister Wames has an extra room that I’ll be staying in, so be sure to lock the door, okay?”
“Mm, okay,” the boys replied.
“Butter! Learn how to make butter please!” yelled Rami from the kitchen, over the splishes and splashes of the water bucket.
“I’ll be back tomorrow with some cheese and butter! Good night!” And with that, she walked out the door and left for Manny Wames’ property.
Some time after her departure, Elli called Haak back over.
“It’s cold tonight, and Romina’s sick. Let’s get some firewood. Rami, how much longer?”
“A few minutes. I haven’t started drying yet. Why does cheese have to be so delicious but so hard to clean?” Rami complained, “all this oil is so annoying. I feel like it’d be easier to just go outside and rub dirt on everything.”
While Rami fought with the oily dishes, Elli and Haak went outside to get firewood.
“Haak.”
“Yeah?”
“We need to go.”
“...”
“We’ve been here too long.”
“...But…”
“Haak.”
“...”
“Do you really think Miss Keluarga got a cow from selling pretty silverware? Why would a businessman like Manny Wames give Shena one of his only cows for some cheap silverware?”
“…”
Haak looked a little lost, and a little sad, like he knew something to be true but didn’t want to fully believe it. Until Elli made him.
“You know how those business people are.”
“....But…why...”
Haak didn’t have to finish his question. He didn’t even have to ask. He already knew.
She sold herself.
Shena Keluarga was a vegetable cleaner who made four tokens a day. She sometimes sold silverware, handcrafted from rocks, which earned her practically nothing compared to the time and effort she put into making them. Four potatoes were one token, common medicines were three. Firewood was expensive as well, costing three tokens for five sticks, as there weren’t that many trees on their tiny floating island and the altitude and lack of sun guaranteed cold nights year round. As for luxury items such as cheese, salt, makeup? Those were ten tokens, minimum, a pop.
With a salary of four tokens per day, Shena could barely afford three people, much less five.
Her only saving grace was the Raskara River, which ran free, self-purifying water at all times throughout the Empire, flowing from the first island all the way down to them. But water had always been free. It didn’t change the fact that Shena was struggling.
“...Because of me…” Haak mumbled, knitting his eyebrows together.
“Me too.”
“But I ate so much cheese tonight. You never eat as much as I do…”
He was crying quietly now. She hadn’t known him for long, only two years, but Shena had treated them both like they were her real sons. He was appreciative of that, of her kindness and compassion, which is why he felt so awful. Yes, Elli was right, like always. It was time to go.
“Tomorrow.”
“Tomorrow?!” Haak asked, shocked, as he wiped his face with his shirt, another two of Miss Keluarga’s tokens wasted on him, “but what about Rami?”
“Rami will still be here when we come back. Once we get up there, we can visit him anytime.”
“Couldn’t we bring everyone with us? You said life is better up there right? Can’t we all go, then?”
“Not everyone can go, Haak. You have to qualify, you have to know Eidis–”
“Then why am I going? You’ve explained it to me but I don’t know what that is? I don’t see it, I don’t feel it, and I probably never will so why can I go if they can’t?” Haak retorted, something he had never done to Elli.
“You’re not going. I’m bringing you with me, and I’ll carry you on my back the whole way if I have to. I can’t carry four people. I can’t keep everyone alive, and even if I could, I definitely can’t guarantee everyone passes each trial. One I can do. But five including myself? There’s no way.”
“...”
Haak couldn’t say a word. Elli was right, yet again. If the trials were as dangerous as Elli claimed they were, it wouldn’t be right to make him protect three extra people the whole way. They could all die. And Haak didn’t want Elli to die.
“And you’re wrong about another thing. You will find Eidis. I know it. And you know I’m always right. I wouldn’t be your older brother if I wasn’t,” Elli said smugly with the corners of his mouth lifted.
“But I’m older than you…” Haak mumbled quietly.
“Just imagine,” Elli was smiling now, “imagine making fire with the snap of your fingers, imagine flying through the sky! Imagine real cities– I’ve told you about cities, right? And dragons? Imagine turning into one! New friends! Cheese everyday! Everything is possible up there! You can be anything you want to be, anything at all! So let’s go. Come with me, Freii.”
Freii? Haak thought, taken aback, but when he saw that Elli was still rambling on about Eidis and upper Raskara, Haak realized his window to ask had closed.
He decided to save that for another time and simply looked up at the island above instead. It had hung overhead his whole life, and Elli had spoken of the upper islands before, but this was Haak’s first time actually thinking about Elli’s stories, envisioning them.
It would be pretty cool to make fire…we wouldn’t have to pay for firewood…. And dragons…heh, I guess it wasn’t all made up…
Haak had a lot of questions; he had a lot on his mind. But no matter what else he thought about, nothing could distract from the big, unanswered question glowing silently like a sun, burning all that dared to obstruct it.
Freii…who’s Freii?