8.3

Rey, even with his nose covered, said:

"Eliminated, by what, by whom?"

The small, dark gray-skinned girl got up from the floor. Shaking off her clothes from the dust, she gave a sigh and stood erect. She was bigger than Rey by a head.

"Not that I know the details very well, but in these circles there are organisms that try to restore the natural balance of the place, the guardians."

Running his other hand over White's head, Rey, content with her explanation, decided to give her a chance to explain herself.

"In what way was it that I stole your childhood? Why do you say it's my fault that you got lost? Be honest..."

Edith, somewhat provocatively, added a question:

"What if I don't tell you?"

She, in her mind, was not obliged to explain or answer; no one had and she believed no one had the right. Besides, for her it was a shameful subject to talk about, therefore, her pride would not let her.

Rey, taking a step back, said:

"You'll have to fend for yourself..." he answered coldly, as one who needed sincerity in order to trust.

Edith, advancing a step and throwing herself on her knees, almost on the verge of tears, said in despair:

"No! Don't abandon me! Protect me... I need love... I need someone!"

Raising her watery eyes, she noticed that the little boy would not change his position unless she told him what she asked.

"All right. I'll tell you..."

From her knees she moved to sit on the floor with her feet curled up to move from side to side, sweeping her tail absentmindedly.

"By the way, why are you holding your nose?"

Rey, not knowing how to respond, decided to smooth over the situation:

"Don't be depressed by this I'm about to tell you, nor take it the wrong way."

Edith opened and closed her eyes several times, as if she was waiting for an answer.

"I cover my nose because you smell so bad....".

Edith, with the shattered illusions of someone who had tried so hard in vain, averted her eyes, crossed her legs and covered her neck with her left hand. She felt vulnerable, hence, she tried to shrink more on the spot, to respond with a tone of not wanting to get depressed:

"Ah... It has to be. The smell makes me uncomfortable too. I haven't had a chance to take a bath or go to the bathroom properly in a long time. Aaaah!"

Changing the subject and going back to answering the questions he was asked, she knelt down to draw on the floor with the tip of her finger.

"My last name is the name of the second of the three Moiras, it means that I am the replacement of one of the daughters of Zeus and Themis. Lachesis from, "the one who throws the luck" or "who determines the future of people". Your thread is weird and I don't like it at all because it runs together with mine. I must confess that, although I tried my best to sting it, I never could. I had no choice but to resign myself to hating you: because you exist, I must live such a tormented and miserable life of tedious routines, hard work, endless classes and reading many meaningless books. One day, a thread broke of its own accord, because the owner died...."

She stopped. "How to say the following without losing confidence?" she asked herself.

Rey continued matter-of-factly:

"And you came to kill me personally, so as to cut the thread that binds us together....".

She nodded her head, as if repenting.

"But you didn't succeed. Why?"

"At first I thought your parents would kill you. Then, let's say that seeing you suffer much more than I did, made me feel guilty. Don't you regret the life you live? Aren't you dissatisfied? In all this time you have not smiled once... You can always choose suicide to make those around you happy."

Rey, like someone convinced, replied:

"You haven't lived a happy life either and your face says that you are of smiling little. That doesn't mean you want to stop living."

Edith looked up, seeing him as if she understood something obvious: the little boy was right.

"Your life is yours and it's the only thing you have," Rey said, "and as long as you take care of it you can do something about it. If you don't yet have the power to create the difference, you can either wait until you do or fight to get it. That's the way I look at it. Take my life in the future if you feel ready. But for now, in return... accept my help. Since we're almost headed to the same place, I can return you home. However, first I must find the old women."

Rey stopped covering his nose and held out the same hand. Edith raised her head with a hopeful look. Slowly and trembling, she reciprocated the movement as one who had thought of the possibility of receiving help from her enemy, but who, at the same time, did not believe it possible. At that precise moment when she felt the grip of Rey's hand and that warm gaze full of light and security, she stood up, put the dagger behind her back and gave a shy smile while she tucked her hair behind her left ear.

The little guy held the Parcae's hand and, quickly and without warning, threw himself into the portal causing the Parcae to scream in surprise. Rey had kept his eyes open, and since he was making contact with her, he was able to pass through the portal.

"As I surmised and read: by touching you, I seem to be able to meet the conditions....."

Edith, agitated, said:

"Don't ever scare me like that again!" she claimed as loudly as she could.

The little boy paid no attention to the Parcae's complaints. On the other side of the doorway had stood White, who could not pass, but could be seen peering out and squealing with concern. Already Rey could imagine the anxiety of being left alone in a place as large and dark as the Ever-Changing Forest was. Without letting go of holding Parcae's hand, Rey stepped through the portal and picked up his so inseparable companion to carry her on his head and return to the other side.

"So Purgatory, huh?" said Rey haughtily, thirsty for adventure and proud of himself for having obtained a positive result in his meeting with the Parcae.

Edith turned intangible, ready to hover over the little guy, said in a trembling voice:

"Indeed, the supposedly "last barrier" of entry to the first circle of Paradise. The beings invading this place are countless. Those who had no sins, but were also not worthy of Paradise, and those who turned their backs on the green plains ended up in this circle" She swallowed dryly. "One of the most recognizable of all is the headless horseman who rides a broken-horned unicorn. There are also dwarves, white witches, colonies of scholars and people who were born with a favorable path or to die immolated."

Rey, looking at everyone around him, spoke:

"I can see."

However, he did not look at the individuals that populated the place no matter how strange they looked, but rather sought to find some difference that would prove the fact that his master was wrong.

The trees, the colors, the branches, roots, leaves and even the burnt-smelling dust followed the same patterns found on the other side of the portal. To the meticulous eyes of the little one without a last name, the site was the same, they were just on a different plane.

From among the creatures looking curiously at the appearance of the three individuals, a voice stood out and said gruffly:

"A Parcae and a purified one... What do they come looking for in this lower circled?" asked the headless horseman who was passing by, dressed in armor with two weapons. At his waist he carried a helmet under his arm as he rode a broken-horned unicorn.

Rey, haughty and haughty, puffed out his chest and looked in the direction of his opponent with a defiant attitude:

"In search of the white witches. Anna the Elder of the Forest and Clara the Elder of the Lake."

"Let me tell him that you must be on the right track," said the headless horseman, ignoring the little one's behavior. "Turn back and seek the plains at the foot of the mountain; where the proud are to be found, you must find at least one of the disciples of the white witches; but let me warn you, not because I am a dullahan, but because it is one of my jobs as a guardian: to no one may you tell what the place from which they come is like, unless they wish to know the pleasure of ceasing to be" and he rode off with a slow gallop of the saddle."

Indeed, now that Rey was paying better attention, everyone's eyes had a question in them. But none dared to ask the little one fearing the worst would happen. Resigned to continue in disbelief, they made way and stepped aside before the walk of the purified white-eyed one.

Just at the exit of the forest, Rey stopped seeing in the darkness to contemplate what the light touched; his pupils were sufficiently regulated, to the point where they almost disappeared and only the Pythagorean star remained. Everything was the same, except for a colossal, almost endless mountain disappearing in the light of the sky. Edith was still frightened, as if she did not like interacting with other individuals. She preferred to stay quietly in the shadows where no one would see her. But the little one was different, he challenged with his eyes anyone who looked at him, while the Paradise guardian cub searched in the hope of finding his mother.

Rey said somewhat concerned, at the sound:

"You've been scratching down there for a while now."

"I have no idea" said Edith; "it's starting to become unbearable. So is my hunger and thirst. Aren't you hungry?"

"No, nor thirsty either," said Rey. "Come to think of it, I don't think it would be wrong to take a little detour on our way and pass the lake, so you can also take advantage of it and take a bath. I'll warn you beforehand that I don't plan to lick you with my tongue or take care of you if you don't have anything to give me in return".

Edith blushed:

"Lick me, take care of me? What are you talking about, give you something in return?"

Rey, remembering the extensive conversation he had had with his mother, but realizing that both he and she shared different bathing methods, decided to reserve explanations so as not to make the same mistake he made with Silvia, for now it would be sex, and said:

"Don't worry. Just forget what I said..."

The little girl was curious. She wanted to know why the young man had told her he wasn't going to lick her. "Licking each other are things adults do," she thought. Biting down harder on her big toenail and pressing her opposite hand against her pubis, Edith felt her heart pounding. "I, who in the future has to marry him, have I been rejected beforehand? He doesn't like me anymore because I tried to kill him? Oh no! It's not that I like him or anything... But... why wouldn't he want to lick me? What should I give him in return? My purity...".