It was a few days later when I was allowed to leave the Shaman's care. Hassan had been released before me and had left right away to go back to active duty. I was hoping I could get him to say more about my true father before he left, but that wasn't going to happen this time. As I came weakly out of the Shaman's tent, Neo caught my shoulder, startling me. I wasn't used to people clapping me on the shoulder in friendship as though I was part of the rest of the tribe. He chuckled.
"Do you have a moment?" he asked.
I looked at him in surprise. Every day that I had been in the shaman's care he had come and stayed with me just as he promised until the shaman shooed him out. I had thought his kindness would end as soon as I was released.
"I... I should be getting back to my duties, my prince."
"How many times must I tell you, Jaspen, that we need no formalities anymore?"
I looked down at the ground awkwardly, seeing the soft, silt-like sand under my feet. I was not used to nobles taking a liking to me.
"Sorry."
He gave my shoulder a tight squeeze. "Like you could even work beside your father in your weakened state, my friend. Come. My father wishes to see you."
A spasm of fear went through me and Neo must have seen it.
"Jaspen, he wishes to thank you for what you did for me. Not harm you. He has no need to."
"I...Very well."
With that, I let Neo steer me through the busy crowds to the large tent of his father's that sat in the middle of our village. Neo entered and I bowed before my king.
"Is this the boy?" asked the gruff, wintered voice of my king.
"Aye father. This is Jaspen ap Thekros."
I rose and I saw a look of knowing in the king's eyes. This was the first time in two years I had seen the king face to face and I could see my hands shaking at my sides so I placed my hands in the pockets of my pants, still feeling them tremble.
"It's nice to meet the young man, who saved my son from your fate at last. Come. Sit down. You must still be weak from your trial."
Neo plopped down into the plush pillows scattered on the carpeted floor of the tent and relaxed easily. I sat down awkwardly, gradually relaxing back against the pillows. So this was what it was like to be of the royal family of Ginfried. It was not normal for me to feel this relaxed or to have the time to just lounge.
"Comfortable?" he asked.
"Aye, my king."
The king smiled and clapped his hands and the fairest girls of the tribe sauntered in bearing trays of foods and beverages. I looked over at Neo with a look that said, "I thought you said this would only take a moment."
Neo shrugged as if he knew what I was thinking and began eating off the tray one of the girls handed him. Another handed me mine as well and I began eating, the whole time feeling the king's gaze upon me.
"Jaspen."
I quickly swallowed the bit of food I had in my mouth. "Aye, my king?"
He smirked his lopsided grin. "I just wanted to thank you for taking that bite for my son. None of the other boys seemed to even come to my son's aid."
I bowed my head. "I was the only one watching the water, my king. The rest of the boys were relaxing in the sand."
He ran his fingers through his beard. "You have the sharp eyes of a soldier, my boy. Too bad you are too young to be trained."
I half expected the king to say I couldn't be a soldier because I was a Raksheesh instead of being too young.
"What about when he's of age, Father?"
The king looked at me. "Would you want to be soldier?"
"Aye..." I said, taken aback.
At age twelve I could begin training as a soldier. How would my father take this honor given to me by the king? The king chose only a handful of people to become guards and for him to pick a Raksheesh was surprising. I knew Neo would start as a soldier, and if he did well, he would move up in the ranks to hopefully to become one of our four generals. That was what every prince hoped to become to in order to gain the respect of his people for when he took the throne.
"I will talk with Thekros so he doesn't try to talk you out of this decision. Your eyes are too keen not to be a guard, Jaspen."
I bowed my head, looking up at my king through my bangs. I wasn't used to such praise as a Raksheesh and I was hoping my long hair covered the color rising in my cheeks from my awkwardness with praise.
"Thank you, my king."
Neo and I ate and I tried not to feel bad. My family and I usually ate small game and turnips and a small loaf of bread for one of the two meals we ate a day, but here I was lounging in the king's tent eating melon, berries, and wild desert boar, and being offered his wine – not watered-down ale, which was all that my father could afford, but wine brought in from the northern lands. It was definitely a different taste than I was used to.
After I had finished, I excused myself to go back to work at the forge. Neo had given me a surprised look, but I needed to even if I was still weak.
It had bothered me more than I thought that my own father hadn't come to visit me nor my sister or mother to at least see if I was alright unlike the prince who had. Did I mean more to them than just the boy who went and got our small game for dinner and kept the fire hot for my father?
As I walked back to my father's forge, people passed me and I caught snippets of their whispers that all pretty much sounded like, "There's the Raksheesh that save the prince." For me, a Raksheesh, to be talked about at all by the higher citizens in a high manner was new for me. Usually I was looked down at with scorn, but their faces looked at me softly and with admiration. It surprised me.
When I got back, I saw Thekros straighten, wiping his brow with a coy smile on his lips. I knew at least why my father hadn't visited me. The forge had kept him busy.
As I got closer, he stopped sharpening the sword he was working on and took a few steps my way, pulling me into his arms and smiling.
"Glad to see you better, my boy."
"Thank you," I said.
He placed me back on the ground and my knees threatened to buckle under me.
"Why don't you go rest some more, Jaspen? It seems you're only among us again because the Shaman couldn't spare a bed."
"Thank you, Father," I said tiredly and walked towards our tent a few down from his forge. Once inside, I took off my boots and vest and fell into my cot, back asleep before I even hit the folded wolf hide under my head.