If you walked straight forward to north of Yi Lu province, then you will found a small country-side town that lived a quite lively life. Like stars that shining bright at night, Spica shines brighter as other cities began to rest.
The night-life at Spice started from 8 pm until early morning at 5 am. The flashy flickering lights at every corners of the city, mixed up with the delicious aroma of warm foods. In here, there were all kinds of culinary, entertainment and merchants which selling unique yet uncommon items. They were spread out to even narrow alleys, peddling to any available empty space.
Various traveler seemed to fill these narrow streets that are impossible to pass by car. They all looked cheerful and happy as if all the problems of the days could be forgotten even for just a moment.
"Let's split up quickly and come back to here in 2 hours." Alvi immediately divided the tasks. Andra and Gina nodded in agreement.
Since Alvi fainted from being stabbed by the mysterious rabbit-costume figure, Rihan Daniel had also disappeared along with Bunny and Arina's knights. In fact Samsara didn't even catch her even after these past few months they had been pursuing her intensely.
"Ryan, You must be fine." Alvi prayed in her mind with hope and guilty.
The crowded streets made Alvi had to pay close attention to everyone she met. She knew this town was small. But didn't expect it to be so chaotic and dense between one stall to another, one tent to another. Alvi couldn't even tell the difference between the wall of the shop building or the fake fabric wall of the tent stall.
She turned arbitrarily and searched as carefully as she could. Suddenly her attention was drawn to a long bench in one corner of a tent. There sat two man facing each other and between them laid a chessboard with only 5 pieces for each white and black.
One person looked serious in thought, while the opponent looked calm and laughs occasionally in response to the chatter of the spectators. Alvi recognized the man who was laughing cheerfully.
With various kind of emotions between rage and relief, Alvi approached in silence. She fixed her glance at the chessboard. Although not too interested in the game, but at least Alvi understood how to play it. "He won..." Alvi thought by herself with a light joy.
Rihan Daniel gave a triumphant smile after eating the opponent's horse piece and winning the game. His opponent didn't look disappointed. The old man who was Rihan's opponent got up from his seat and someone else younger sat down immediately. The young man challenges Rihan.
Rihan accepted the challenge by rearranging the black and white chess pieces.
"Ryan..." Alvi called and Rihan turned as respond. His eyes widened since he was not expecting to see Alvi in the first place. The smile on his face slackened for a split second before expanding again.
"Sorry, I need to go." Rihan said to the young man as he stood up. His sudden departure did not disperse the spectators as other people quickly filled the vacant slot.
"It's too crowded in here, let's go to less crowded place." Rihan took Alvi to a quieter with a neater layout of shops and stalls.
"Are you hungry?" Rihan's asked out of blue.
Alvi shook her head quickly. "No," she replied. But soon, Alvi regretted her decision. Actually she was quite hungry because since last night she had not eaten anything yet.
"But I'm hungry. Come on." Rihan spoke in a relaxed tone as he led his way to the near by food stall. It seemed that he had wanted to go to this place from the start.
"Two seafood noodle. Don't use shrimps, and just replace it with a lot of fish fillets. Then two orange juices." Rihan immediately ordered two portions. "Ah, also a chicken ... a whole chicken." He added when the male servant was about to leave.
Alvi is quite stunned by the portion of Rihan's meal. Can he really eat it all?
"So?" Rihan opened the conversation. It seems that his is in a happy mood so his attitude not as cold as before.
Alvi stretched her tense muscles and began to ask. "The attack of the Arinas some days ago… what happened after I fainted?"
"I—I mean how did you get away from them as well as the figure in the rabbit costume?" Alvi corrected her question to make it easier to digest.
"An old man helped us. I don't know who he is. He didn't introduce himself either. As soon as he came, he immediately fought with Bunny. That old man is a senior soldier of Nebula Tower, right?" Rihan was surprised too.
Alvi shook her head in confuse. Julius didn't say anything either.
"That man also told me to go hiding. He says not in Alice Nebula or Yi Lu. But I don't know where to go. So I came to Spice," said Rihan.
"But are you okay? You are not getting hurt, right?" Alvi asked in worried.
Rihan nodded once. "I'm fine. But compare to me, weren't you and the two Waldermars injured the most?" He asked.
"Our wounds have healed." Alvi replied in short. At this moment, she felt a bit uncomfortable with Rihan's significant personality changes. The man who used to be unfriendly, curt and tends to be cold suddenly turned into a very chatty one.
Rihan didn't respond. A pair of his eyes stared at Alvi waiting for the a frank answer.
"In fact, I'm still in recovery. As long as I don't fight or make any violent moves, the wound will heal in about a week." Alvi added. She could not hid a things from Rihan.
Rihan leaned back and rubbed his left jaw. "Good…" he muttered.
At this time, the ordered food arrived. Hot steam rises from the large bowl and looks so appetizing.
"This one is yours. I know you are hungry." Rihan thrusts a bowl in front of Alvi. "Come on, don't think I will ate two servings at once. It's not good for cholesterol and fat." Rihan said with a mischievous smile.
"Actually there is a lot of delicious food in here. But this stall is the best." Rihan devoured a mouthful of noodles before speaking.
"Maybe after this we can go around looking for snacks. I can recommend some pretty nice stalls," he continued before taking another mouthful.
"Isn't it bad for the fat?" Alvi asked in confused as Rihan's words are completely contradictory.
"Today is different. Special for you." Rihan didn't hesitate to break the rules he just made.
*****
Tonight was so pleasant for Alvi. Not because she managed to find Rihan Daniel which is safe and sound, but because she also saw many things that in her 20 years of life had never seen. Alvi couldn't stop smiling when Rihan excitedly dragged her towards to try some mini games or to a small cart selling cotton candy.
"For you…." There is always one that Rihan deliberately buys for her.
Alvi couldn't refuse. Her eyes scanned the structure of the white cotton candy in her hand. It turned out that life is not only about how to survive, protecting yourself or always be vigilant. Alvi started to understand what a happiness feels like.
Rihan stepped lightly towards the small bridge that separates the river which is the main water source for Spica. There were 7 similar bridges and the one they went to was the most quieter and located at the very northwestern of Spica.
Rihan take out the chicken which he bought earlier from the seafood noodle stall. He whistled loudly and then threw the chicken over the end of the bridge. Suddenly a large creature jumped out and devoured the chicken in gluttonous.
Lily the snow leopard ate the chicken without paying any attention to her surroundings.
"Remember I said I would play a special song for you. I don't know when we will meet again. So I better keep that promise now." Rihan didn't notice the surprised expression on Alvi's face.
He pulled out a black dizi flute with yellow stripes and sat on the bridge's fence. With his back to Alvi, Rihan started blowing the first tone.
The slow and melodious tempo began to play accompany the atmosphere of the bridge at night. Melody move in succession in one harmony. Alvi had never heard such a beautiful music before. Indeed, there were many things she wanted to say, many questions she wanted to ask by today. But all of that suddenly disappeared, carried away by the melody.
Alvi couldn't take her eyes off Rihan. This man is truly miraculous. He was the first whose took and showed many interesting things. He is also the one who made Alvi realize the true meaning of happiness.
"Samsara took everything from me. My family, my house and also my people," said Alvi after Rihan finished playing the flute.
"Apart from uncle, aunt, Gina, Andra and Julius, I have no other close friend. The outside world feels completely foreign to me. I'm afraid to go out, afraid to interact, and afraid that they are Samsara." Alvi started telling her story.
"But today, I'm feel like a real 'normal' person. My mind very eased. There is no fear or anxiety about Arinas or Samsara." Alvi really appreciated this one night.
For the first time, Rihan saw a loose smile on the lips of Alvi Veenessa Endley. Pretty sweet, he thought at that time.
Alvi took a deep breath as she looked far away at the end of the river. "I said it once in Alice Nebula. But this time I want to be more honest with you and with myself."
"Ryan, I want to be friends with you..." She continued without daring to look at Rihan.
Rihan's eyes widened. He looked shocked and couldn't give a proper respond. Only the thumb of his hand moved up and down swiping the surface of the flute.
"If we still have a chance to meet, at that time I will give you myanswer,." Rihan sounds gloomy.
Alvi nodded in understanding. "You could be in danger if you stay to close to me. Samsara wanted me and they unhesitatingly killed anyone around me. Gina and Andra can protect themselves. But you are different. I don't want you to get hurt."
"After today, run as far away as you could from this place, from both Yi Lu and Alice Nebula. They must have started sniffing your trail." There was a tone of resignation behind Alvi's words.
She took another deep breath and continued. "Honestly, I'm starting to hate myself, hate why I'm not like a normal woman. But I respect your decision. I want to protect your freedom."
Once again, Rihan did not know what to say. Bitterness filled the space in his heart.
"By the way, have you been taking care of Lily all this time?" Alvi changed the topic to light up the atmosphere that suddenly became gloomy. This time she had enough courage to look back at the man in front.
"Yeah, someone asked me to take care of him," Rihan answered hoarsely. "At first it was quite scary but it turned out to be a sweet little cat." He praised.