While the captain pulled his hair out, he patted the boy's head. He panicked to the idea to get sanctioned and he scolded the workers once more.
He kneeled next to Keith and spoke with a low tone to stay at the kid's tune.
"Listen, You don't deserve what happened to you. You don't even deserve peeking at this house of horrors. You are a victim. I am certain that... Wait, where are your parents?"
His question was welcomed with watery eyes. To not intensify the trauma, the captain continued. "Oh. I see. Then I'll be in charge of you for the next five days. At least!"
The captain scowled the butchers for a last time before shoving every gold coin into his bag and threatening them with his whole dictionary.
Keith stank, the man decided to go into the public baths as a first destination. With a detour to the nearest marketplace to buy the kid proper clothes, he rented a private bath and together they went to clean their body out of the misery they saw that day.
The boy was thoroughly observed by many people on their way. Show's first, the monster couldn't believe where his scars had gone. There was only one remaining, one that attracted the captain's attention.
All around his neck there was this straight mark, it looked almost like it had been made on purpose, like an ornamental scar. The kid couldn't see it, he had yet to touch his neck to remark his state, nonetheless he had never seen his impeccable arms. His view wasn't obstructed anymore by the silver linings that stuck to his body all the way.
He was so unused to see anew that he looked around, amazed by every daytime details his sight captured. Well not all of them, he was next to a naked men. The guy next to him had no similarities with Ned. He had enough fat to cover his lower abs and his beard was freshly shaved.
"What?" He asked.
"Nothing, I'm glad to be here." Keith replied while cleaning the inside of his nose, it changed the colour of their bathwater.
The green from his eyes met the red of the water, they were very contrasted colours.
'Jade and ruby? This kid is so precious... But he's as filthy as a warrior.' The captain thought, mesmerized by such valuable sight.
Once clean, they dressed more commonly. The captain still had his armor while Keith's clothes were replaced by a beige tunic with laces closing the tip of his sleeve and a deep blue trouser, tight at shin's level, moreover, he had two pockets on the back of it! Finally he was offered shoes with a metal buckle and a thick soles.
They went toward the eastern district, and entered a large sized house.
A woman was in the first room, but when she saw the kid, she instantly looked mad.
"I knew it! You are but a fool! Daring to cheat on me after everything I did for you! We are done, Jaggar, I hate you!"
She broke a plate against a wall, took a long coat and slammed the door when exiting her own house.
Her husband didn't get the chance to utter a word, she was as furious as a dragon, but he knew she'd eventually come back to explain how he ended up with another woman's child. Keith pursed his lips and stared awkwardly at the captain.
'That's the soldier who helped me that night.' Thought Keith. 'Oh, I forgot you never saw his face, my bad.' Said Show.
Jaggar looked down at the kid, picked up his jaw and said. "We don't even look alike! How the hell did she put those ideas together? Really, women are complicated."
'I know' Thought Show and Keith in unison.
They sat together in the living room and Jaggar made tea. He also found nearly burnt pastries above the fireplace, thankfully he smelt it before it was too late.
The soldier started the discussion by asking to the kid. "How did you end up in this hole kid? Did they pick you up in the street?" And Keith, who had not thought about his alibi before blurted out the first thing he had in mind.
"No actually, I worked for a fat noble, but instead of paying me, he gave me to the authorities who had me jailed for... Well I don't know how much time. When was... That assault... The one with the lunatics?" He twisted his question to find out how much time he had been out for.
Show was impressed how quick minded became Keith with time even though he preferred when the kid was more dependant.
"The calamity? Almost a year ago." Jaggar said as Keith choked on his food.
He understood how long it took him to regain consciousness. He wanted to ask more, no one around him knew who he was, he felt lost amid every citizen of the great city. Where was Pico? And Foresee? How could he reach the king? How was he supposed to soothe his grudge without seeing Chandragupta one last time? He couldn't let all of his efforts be vain, nor could Show that corroded Keith's ideas with his own thoughts.
Keith asked. "Did you suffer from it as well?" And the man nodded. "Yes, I lost a part of my family, brothers in arm, and friends. When it all ended, I was greatly awarded, I moved to this house thanks to it. It is one of the best suburb in therm of security, because we're in the inner circle of the city and next to the high quarters. So fortunately my wife was sparred by the army's assaults."
'He... Lost them? Maybe Picco went back to Kodra then.' Thought Keith.
"Speaking about award. The butchers and the soldiers who used you as a toy will be punished, every actions has its consequences. I took the money they bet as their first punitive countermeasure. I allowed myself to use it for your new clothes. It'll stay with me until I know what to do with you, or until you get a new mentor."
Next to him, the kid seemed to daydream from time to time. He did not seem attentive to the answers he had been given. He smiled for what seemed to be the first time, revealing a pristine white dentition with more than slightly pointy canines and premolars. It reminded Jaggar of a stripped hyena's smile for an instant.
Their harmony made the closing perfect, like a smooth pair of scissors does.
'At least, this Jaggar is well. He did not run away, he did not die under my hunger, and he does not have a target painted on his back.' He thought.
People in the city had suffered more than a week because of the calamity. Their poverty engulfed them in torment when soldiers raped every womb they had at hand. Many couples shattered. Nearly two hundred children had to be delivered. A third of the women chose to die along with their fate, either during labor or raising their child. Some chose death, either by threatening the higher class, either by ending it themselves. And the rest first loathed their newborn, but their miserable lives were nothing near finished. Those became the proudest mothers.
More babies were born due to the great income their husband got.
The toll it took to the king to muffle the affair was sanction, for at least ten percent of the culprits. And more money. The single mothers were out of trouble for at least five years. Nothing could replace every life the calamity took. It was the first war Chandragupta lost.
Jaggar spoke.
"You know, even if I lost my father, I can feel deep inside that I've contributed to the end of the calamity. As you heard my wife, my name is Jaggar. What's yours young one?"
"I need a new name. I've lost every bit of family I had when I fell down this hole. I want to start everything from scratch. Don't worry, I won't stay with you, I have many things to do before I leave this city." Said Keith.
"That does not tell me your name... You'd go well with Greenie. Of course because of our eye colour. Also because I don't bother recalling every soldier's name I must order."
'What in the world did he say? Green?' Asked Keith. And Show quickly replied. 'Your two, erm, eyeballs had a miserable state in the well. It is possible that... The two gemstones I stole from the king's outfit, fused somehow with your eyes while the 'other you' ate to regenerate your body. They used to be under it, in a soft cavity I dug the day I repaired your eyes, but it is no more.'
Keith was confused. But because he had no idea how healing process worked normally, he accepted Show's clarification.
He was offered a comfortable bed, a place where he'd sort his thoughts about the king's fate. What he couldn't think about was that the slaughterhouse's incident would attract the Fateful's attention. The organisation of the eight priests with a sword had to keep an eye on every event concerning the well since the calamity.