But, apparently my concerns were unfounded. My intuition was correct and the coup de grace was struck. He opened his eyes so much that I could swear his eyeballs would fall off at any moment.

“Boy, who are you?”

The centaur almost shouted but his tone dimmed down by the end of his questions. I could see that he knew that I had the information he needed and he didn’t want to make me mad. Most likely he already concluded that I wasn’t a child that could easily be scared so he resorted to his next best option.

(Boy? Am I now. Well at least I evolved from a random member of the arn to a more distinct individual)

I tried not to smile, or at least struggled not to let it show on my lips. I knew that the situation wasn’t appropriate but it was hard to hide a grin so I faced towards that tree and pointed its location.

“Focus on what needs to be done first! We will have time for other discussions later.” I said a bit imposing.

I knew that he is searching for something particular from that tree and I could tell him that there was nothing else on it besides his leaves and by doing so not waste his time needlessly but sometimes being to perceptive and stating that aloud can lead to bad consequences. If I told him that I searched the tree thoroughly for personal reasons and didn’t find anything then he might not be convinced if he didn’t see it himself and that might come back to bite me later. Worst case, he might even start to suspect that I already took and hidden the thing that he is looking for.

Praying that this endeavor won’t have serious repercussions I started to guide the centaur who I didn’t know by name towards his desire and most likely his disappointment.

By the time we’ve got there almost 30 minutes had passed, not surprisingly he had a tough time to navigate through the forest. We even had to make detours a few times and that took longer than I expected, or better said, longer then I was comfortable on wasting so many minutes. Time was of the essence and I prolonged this journey by at least an hour which didn’t seat right by me.

(Sometimes I hate how it’s so hard to trust one another. If only… *long pause Hopefully this doesn’t cost us anything more than a few minutes and a bit of fatigue)

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I knew that I started to think that his blight was my own but I didn’t feel I was making a mistake by doing so. The man appeared honest and his feelings of distraught were genuine so if I could, why wouldn’t I act and try to help. If I am lucky enough and the matter is settled favorably then I could even get out of the entire ordeal a friend to help me better understand this world.

As I predicted, after a few minutes of thoroughly searching the tree with his eyes the centaur appeared disheartened. Like all the wind was knocked out of him he almost stumbled and fell like man without vigour.

“No…” I barely heard the centaur mutter to himself. He was falling into despair but I wasn’t going to let him do that right now, at least not until I exhausted all my options.

Approaching the centaur I slapped my hand on his left shoulder as hard as I could and almost in a commanding tone I yelled.

“What is it man? Tell me what problem you have! Or don’t you understand what fate is!? I said I might be able to help.”

He looked at me and I could tell. He still didn’t trust me, at least not enough that he could confine in me with his problem so I had to gamble again.

“Is the one you are trying to protect worthy of your life?” I wasn’t certain but there were a few things that would trouble a man so and I picked the one that had the highest chance considering what I could figure about his personality.

I was being a bit manipulative with those fancy words but the conclusion to this problem had to move in a direction so it was better if the direction it took was the one I was most comfortable on taking. Fate could show you a sign on the dozen of roads up ahead but it would never take you by the hand and kick you in the ass so you would follow the paths that it marked. The decisions remained with oneself and right now I was forcing mine on the one that stood before me.

“My niece…” I stopped to listen, there was no more reason to insist.

“…is sick; and dying”

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