"child how do you find the nearest dock?" an old man said standing over Tovuo. He had been lying about under a tree asleep by the side of the road hoping that Leto or Callicles might arrive.
"Child!" the old man said sternly.
Tovuo opened his eyes and saw the old voice, a man with a large beard, long gray robe and two children next to him. "Are you a scholar?" he asked observing the three.
While the two children looked back and forth Tovuo stood up, and the three shared a shocked expression.
"Dear heavens you are a big boy, aren't you? Perhaps I should be calling you good sir, no?"
Tovuo looked at the old man and thought for a moment. He took a quick bow as taught by Callicles. "Good Scholar, my farther says he pulled me from the see as a child of five. I have seen the hours of snow fall three times since that day." The look in Tovuo's eyes was kindly indifferent as he spoke but chills flooded the small group as he spoke; "age is not a matter of peasants. There simply are those alive and those who were alive."
The girl stepped forward, "what of those who are yet to live."
"Good child," the old man said patting her head, "always be inquisitive."
"Those are possibilities, things which could be, dependent on those who have, not us have not's."
The scholar looked surprised and the girl stayed quiet.
"Who do you study?" the old man asked the boy.
"I do not study, I barely stay alive."
The old man reached into his bag and pulled out a coin. "you can call me Alexander," he tossed the coin into Tovuo's hands. "if you take me to your father in the village I will give you two more."
Tovuo laughed. It was a hearty full laugh, as he quieted down, he slowly observed the coin. Without any hesitation or delay Tovuo began to walk into the town.