Falgur the caring

During that night at the Desert guild, Seduralto was having a headache. As soon as she passed on the message through her communication diary to her father, he had been leaving messages nonstop on it. To make matters worse, he had quickly passed the message to the queen's guards and they had been sending her messages nonstop too. Answering them one by one was getting annoying.

She had stored the dairy away and thought about the encounter with Sheyken. Remembering the boy's words and the look in his eyes she felt a chill at the back of her spine.

"Salina"

A woman wearing a sort of some ninja outfit slowly appeared out of the corner of the room. She had blond hair and was fairly toned with her figure resembling a trained Olympic athlete.

She wore black pants that were not tight with black ninja shoes, a dark blue sleeveless crop top that showed he well-toned stomach that had a sexy four-pack wanting to show itself and she wore a dark blue mask that covered half her face. The earrings that looked like broken wings she was wearing seem to be both magic items. She went in front of Saduralto and kneeled with only one knee on the floor.

"Yes, guild master."

"Salina, I am not the guild master yet."

Salina just kept on kneeling and said nothing. Seduralto was annoyed with everyone calling her guild master like she already accepted the job when she still wanted to pursue the heights of her power.

"You followed them from when they appeared at the outskirts of the town. Did you hear them talking about anything that had to do with their village?"

"No, master. Only heard them talking about doing research on what school or guild they would want to attend, just like the previous Finis kids."

'I might be wrong but I saw anger in the boys' eyes when I mentioned the woman that came before them. Something must have happened between them or the village, but it is no used to speculate.'

Saduralto thought.

"Anything to report on who is turning these lowlifes and thieves into Initiates and living them to fend for themselves in my town?"

"Not yet master, but in the last 4 days we haven't seen new cases."

'That is the day that Finis woman was seen passing by.'

Since it was a farfetched idea, Saduralto put it at the back of her mind that she had anything to do with what was happening.

"The value of an Initiate is when they bond. This person must want to take the strongest which is why they are just turning them and letting them be."

"It might be the work of a cult who wants more members, whether a new one or old"

"I think so too Salina."

"We are not baby sitter but for now you must shadow the boys and step in if they get into something they cannot handle. I have a feeling that if something terrible happens to that boy or his brother, something horrible would befall our town. I do not know what happened to him in the village but I am sure he had seen or encountered something more powerful than me. The way he talked and looked at me was like he was looking at a girl throwing a tantrum when I tested them."

"Master, he still cannot read mana signatures so he cannot tell how powerful any of us are yet. Maybe that is why he was acting so unfazed."

"No Salina, as young as he is, that boy has seen death or looked at it in the eyes many times and survived. Either way, we better be cautious about how we handle him. In our confrontation, I am sure he had something that could kill me."

Salina was shocked. She wanted to talk more but it. If the guild master's daughter was concerned about something, even though he was a kid, she had to take her words seriously. She had not come up the ranks and be a third circle mage by just luck after all. She was considered one of the most talented to come out of Senjira and she trusted her intuition. She stood up, bowed then disappeared and went straight for the Mystic.

'Some of those who were turned 5 years ago and earlier have started to stretch their muscles to the town's people thinking they have power. I hope they do not run into them, but why could I sense cursed blood in him when he is so young. The kid is just too much of a mystery.'

Seduralto thought.

Sheyken as always woke up just before the sun came up. He woke up Falgur who was about to fall from the bed in his sleep. It looked like he was a messy sleeper when he was comfortable. He had not meditated for a while since they were on the run. They started by meditating and then doing some stomach excesses which Sheyken went all out on since he only had a four-pack that was a little visible compared to Falgurs six-pack. To make matters worse, just like his master, he was topless when they trained.

The sun came up and it was beautiful. Since they wanted to get a head start on checking the town out, they freshened up and Sheyken wore Shadow. Since they had the protection of the guild, he thought it was ok since everyone that he saw in the guild had their own armor on and it differed significantly form light to heavy. Seduralto did confirm that the were bandits in the town and he wanted to be in full gear just in case. Plus, Shadow seemed to keep his body at a set temperature whether it was hot or cold.

Falgur was secretly admiring him and wished he could have one of his own.

"Do not worry Falgur, I will find some armor for you. Who knows, it might be cooler than mine."

He said is he saw his eyes looking at him from head to toe.

"Never, nothing can be cooler than Shadow."

He said under his breath. They left their rooms as they smiled when they heard Lasore snoring on the other side of his room. They reached downstairs and Sazi was already up and moping the floor. She let out a smile and waved at the two boys but only Falgur waved back. Sheyken just left as fast as he could. Falgur did not fail to catch his act.

When they got outside there was a breeze and it was not hot yet.

"So, where do you want to start?"

"Well, I think someone forgot I was underground my whole life. How should I know?"

Falgur retorted. Sheyken rubbed the back of his head in shame to even have asked.

"The marketplace is always a good place to start, so let us check it out. I think it was the way we came from when we went to the guild. So, I guess we will get to pass the guild and see what they get up to in the morning. Falgur loved the idea, so they went on their way.

"So, why are you so cold towards Sazi. She seems like a wonderful girl and she kind of reminds me of Ningal."

Falgur asked as they started walking. Sheyken looked at him and his face was no longer in good spirits.

"Exactly, she has the same bright and good nature as her, but I do not think I want to be around good people like her. They die around me and I do not think I can take it."

The conversation took a sad direction when they were supposed to be having a good time.

"Sheyken, it is not her fault that she is as a good person in her core as Ningal was. At least she is a reminder that there are good people out there. I think Ningal would not want you to push people away who want to get close to you just because they remind you of her and Nanna. The only thing we can do for them in this world is get stronger so we can protect them from the ones who trample on them and by doing so, trample on Ningal, my father, and Nanna's memories."

If there was someone next to them you could be sure to hear them say 'Preach brother preach!' after those words from Falgur. Sheyken stopped walking.

'Is he the one who is 21 years old in a 7-year old's body here? I did not know you had such words of wisdom Pan boy. Maybe it was the pan that opened up his mind.'

Sheyken joked in his head so to cope with the truth Falgur just preached. He fist-pumped him and nodded his head as words were not necessary. The words he spoke lifted him from the whirlpool of sadness he was starting to drown himself in without even realizing it.

They continued moving but soon came to the alleyway Sheyken had seen the young girl the day before and when he looked over to it, he saw the same girl but this time looking weak and shivering. Without thinking, he went to her to see what was going on with her as no one had even come to help her throughout the night. Falgur followed as he finally saw why Sheyken was rushing into the alleyway.

When they reached her, she was freezing? It seemed like the weather had been cold through the night. Sheyken realized as he now thought of the desert climate of Earth. It would be scorching hot during the day but freezing during the night. Without thinking about it, he took off Shadow's jacket and wrapped her with it. As soon as she could feel the warmness of the jacket the girl tried to open her eyes while still shivering.

As she saw two boys right in front of her, she mastered what little strength she had to try and getaway. Falgur pushed Sheyken aside like he was scaring the girl, making him fall over.

"Hey brother!, can't you see you scaring the girl. Think she would want to see an ugly face like yours when she wakes up? Huh?"

Sheyken was really getting close to kicking his arse. Falgur had come up with a plan to calm her down after seeing the reaction of the people when they were talking to Sila the day before.

"I am sorry young lady. We did not mean for you to see such an ugly face early in the morning. We are Finis, and we just came into town. We could not let a girl sleep like this in the middle of the alley, so we came to help. You see, I do not know about him but I am a gentleman and I hope you let us to at least see if you are ok."

The girl looked at the boy who was said to have an ugly face and seeing him in an angry and mean face while clutching his first when looking at the other boy she was sure about one thing, that if that was his natural face then the boy indeed had an ugly face. She again looked at the boy who could not stop talking and after seeing how handsome he was she moved away from Sheyken and went by Falgurs side. Sheyken could have not been more enraged for Falgur doing him dirty like that. The lady now only looked at Falgur.

"Yu... yu... You are ... You are Finis?"

She managed to ask him and made Falgur smile as she was less scared now.

"Indeed, we are, but let us try and keep you warm for now, you do not have to talk. I am sure my jacket will gradually make you warm, but we will sit next to you so you can stay warm ok."

Sheyken was visible stabbing Falgur's buttocks with Plot Armor in his mind at that point. Claiming a part of Shadow as his own was going too far, but he could not say anything because his tactics were working.

"Hey, brother."

He called out to him with a smile. Sheyken promised himself that he would not let him sweet-talk him out of it again and kick his arse when they went on their way.

"Take out some of that famous soup of mine. I am sure it will be easy to digest and it always comes out hot."

'Awe, we even going as far as claiming soup now.'

Sheyken thought. He took out three bowls of miso soup from Ruby like a magic trick which at least managed to gain himself some points with the girl. The three sat down with the girl in the middle and started to eat. The alleyway went quiet as the soup was just what the morning breeze needed for you to fight the chill.

After she finished and gave the bowl to the so-called ugly face boy, a tear came running down her cheek. Falgur saw her holding them back and after what Sheyken had done for him the day he learned of what he considered his family's deaths, he knew holding back tears was bad for the soul.

He took her in his shoulder and just like his father would do for Ningal, he let her cry her pain and sorrows out.