"I guess there is a chance but I don't think its possible" Grinda said
"Why not? I only need to buy this magical item and then I can join the university and learn a bunch of spells! The plan seems reasonable right?"
"Well this magical item is rare, you can't just buy it at a store! Besides its very expensive"
"Well your family got a hold of on of these items so there must be a way for me to be able to acquire it"
"The reason my family was able to use this item on me was because they have extensive contacts across the entire kingdom, I heard that these items are really common on the other continent that humans hold. So you can only call yourself unlucky for being born on the wrong continent." Grinda shrugged and took a sip of her wine
"well first things first I need to buy a mask and a cape"
"why do you need a mask and a cape? That's silly"
"Well I-" Kajus stopped himself mid sentence "nevermind it was just a joke"
Grinda seemed to realize why the mask was needed by the shameful look on her face.
Kajus smiled at her "I don't blame you Grinda"
"thanks" she responded with her head hanging low and in a meek tone.
"Why the cape?" she picked herself up again asking in a more high pitched tone.
"Well for starters capes are cool, just look at the captain and secondly I don't want to scare my family when i meet them so a cape to hide my arm is needed"
"listen, your arm doesn't look bad in clothing it just looks more beefier and from what Ive heard about your family from you they will accept you!" She gave a deep subtle smile when she said that, she looked like a mother caring for one's son.
"Thanks, I just need some courage I guess, maybe I'll buy another one of those potions! they did make me brave and fearless after all"
Grinda laughed "Yeah maybe"
"by the way, you are here right now, don't you want to go to your family ?" Kajus asked
"no, I don't want anything to do with them" she said in a firm tone
"why?"
"well I guess I don't need to hide anything anymore, when I was growing up I had a personal servant, she always took care of me and she was like a mother to me or a aunt that you are very close with, well right before we met my family executed her on our families courtyard" she stopped her story and chugged down her glass of wine.
"because she was FRAMED for murder, she would never do anything like murder, one of my brothers probably killed some poor soul and framed her." Grinda didn't look sad, she looked angry.
"I am sorry to hear that, it couldn't have been easy for you"
"it's in the past, I will find whoever did this and put them on trail, mark my words"
Time went fast, they ate their pie and drank their wine, the note came and it was time to pay, the final cost was 19 silver which was acceptable, they did drink premium wine after all.
"anyways I am going to gather some courage and meet with my family, ill see you later at the clan"
They said their goodbyes and Kajus went towards his home.
'Just go in there explain what happened and then give them the 500 coins, that's enough, no need to worry, like Grinda said they will still love and accept me!'
As Kajus got closer to his family house he got more nervous until eventually he stopped. He was sweating rivers and his chest was heavy.
'I'll go take something to drink to ease my nerves before'
He quickly went into a pub and ordered some cheap but strong wine, he paid 8 copper coins and went outside with a bottle in hand.
He sat himself on a bench next to an alley, he took a big chug and immediately felt his nervous heart calm down. He kept drinking until he felt drowsy. He completely forgot as to why he was drinking and he just drank for the sake of drinking.
'I really miss my sister, it's about 4 o'clock now so she should be quitting school at about this time'
as he kept drinking he noticed that his bottle was empty and he also noticed that his drowsiness has pretty much worn off.
'this cheap shit cant even get me drunk' he threw the bottle and just sat there with a growing anxiousness in his heart.
He watched a group of students coming from one direction, he also saw his sister in that group, Kajus froze, he sat completely still while his heart was beating faster than it has ever beaten before.
The group was 5 meters away from him on the road. "Li-" he stopped himself from calling out his sisters name but Liv looked towards his direction, they didn't make eye contact as Kajus looked away the second he blurted out her sisters name, Liv glanced at the person on the bench but after 1 second she continued the conversation she had with her friend.
"Do you know him?"
"no i just thought that he said my name but I was wrong"
When hearing this Kajus was hit by emotions that felt physical, he grasped his heart, the pain was too hard hitting to ignore, the group walked by him and left his vision.
'why, no'
Kajus couldn't find words to even begin to explain as what he is feeling, it felt like a deep dark vortex was inside of him sucking all the happiness out of him.
He quickly got up from the bench and entered the valley where he crouched down and began crying. A hopeless man, a sad being, a mentally unstable person, these were the thoughts people would have if they saw the broken man crouching in the valley crying and gasping for air.