"Is everything okay now?"
As he comforted her with his presence, he waited for the girl to calm down before he could speak to her again.
"Yes, thank you..."
Rei took a deep breath, feeling relieved. Her eyes were still red, but she was definitely feeling much better.
"Tell me what's wrong," Rada said very gently.
She gently reached out with the index finger of her hand, and wiped away a tear that had settled in the girl's eye.
Rei offered no resistance, she felt safe in that moment.
"It's... because of my father..." she replied after a moment of hesitation.
"Did something happen to him?" asked Rada discreetly.
"No, but it might."
"What do you mean?"
Rei took a breath before speaking, "In the Wild Hunt, every year among the judges there are observers who come from the capital, Uhr-Dalia."
"Observers from the capital?" asked Rada, in her mind she was already making assumptions.
"Yes," nodded Rei.
"The village of Bran is under the protection of the Kingdom of Uhr, every year they send their observers to pick up young talent and train them. In turn some of these young men return to their villages to protect them."
"Let me guess, of these young talents, the best ones stay in the capital, am I right?" It didn't take Rada long to figure this out.
It was normal for a nation to want the best talent at its disposal, even her world didn't differ much in that.
Rei nodded again.
For a moment, she was surprised by Rada's knowledge on the matter, however, she thought it was normal, after all, he was studying with Cody.
Who knows how many books he must have made him read, she thought.
She had no idea that when it came to methods of thinking about organizations or social structures, Rada's knowledge was much more advanced than hers.
Not for nothing was his world much more advanced.
But it was also true that Rada almost repudiated the world he came from, for who knows what arcane reason, he felt that world did not belong to him. Much of what he knew came from the books and stories in which he loved to take refuge.
"And there's bad blood between them," he reasoned. He imagined why, though it might seem fair, each village was having every possible option to develop further taken away from them.
"No, not at all" Rei shook her head slowly.
"Every year it gets worse."
"Have you tried talking to your father about it?" asked Rada.
"I tried once, but he got really angry when I brought it up" the girl said with a sigh.
"I miss the times when I used to train with my father, they were the only carefree moments between us, but now he's getting colder and more detached."
There seemed to be a mixture of sadness and frustration in her words, she was on the verge of crying again.
"Rei, I'm sure your father loves both you and Cody very much, of that I'm sure, I think there's a valid reason for his behavior."
He tried to lift her spirits, he was certain of Logar's feelings for his children. But Rei remained silent, looking lost in thought.
Suddenly, however, he had an idea;
"Wait here! Don't move!"
He ran off like a flash, under her incredulous eyes, not even having time to respond.
A short time later, he came back to her, in his hands he had something.
"What did you bring?" Rei looked at the strange object full of curiosity.
"Eheh, you'll see it soon" Rada replied giggling, her eyes were on the strange object in his hands.
At first she was suspicious of it upon seeing it.
"You're not up to one of your weird pranks are you?" She asked to herself.
"Perfect!"
His sudden exultation of joy made her jerk in fright.
"Okay, now come closer."
Rada sat down close and reached out his hand towards her face, right towards the ear.
"What are you doing!?" she asked instinctively pulling her head back, not sure how to act.
"It's okay, it's okay, trust me," he said, smiling at her sincerely, erasing all sorts of doubts about the girl.
"Huh? What the..."
After a few seconds of hesitation, Rei found a small object in her ear. She initially thought it was an earring, her face immediately turning red with embarrassment.
(This... this is the first time a guy has ever given me a gift like this!)
She found herself completely drowned in her fantasies. It was the first time something like this happened to her, she didn't know what to do, so she decided to remain silent and watch Rada with anticipation in her eyes.
"Perfect, ready?" asked Rada smiling.
"W-what?"
Rei thought of those times when, a boy would take the girl to an isolated place to declare his love for her. The older girls in the village often talked about that. her face flushed bright red, her legs trembling.
"1, 2..." Rada began to count slowly.
"W-wait..." Rei tried to interrupt him, not sure how to deal with a possible statement. This was too sudden for her, she felt she wasn't ready for something like this yet. Though inside her though, she was just waiting to hear what he had to say.
"3!"
A moment later:
"Huh?" Rei's eyes went wide.
"B-but..." her eyes widened so wide that they almost popped out of their sockets.
Rada looked at all her amused expressions.
"This is..."
"It's music!" said Rada.
"But how is this possible?" the eyes of Rei lit up.
"This is an object from my country, it has multiple uses, one of which is playing music."
What he had placed in Rei's ear, was one of the headphones from his cell phone. And what he was listening to, was one of his favorite songs.
"Incredible....but what...does it say?" Rei asked with a bizarre expression. She was trying to understand the meaning of the words of the song, but in vain. She had never heard such language until then.
"Um? You can't understand it?" asked Rada in amazement.
"No," replied Rei.
"But although I can't understand it, I feel like my heart is going to the rhythm of this music..."
"I see," Rada nodded.
This confirmed her theories about the language of this world, she smiled and silently listened to the song.
"The song is about a specter" said Rada.
"A specter?" asked the girl with surprise.
"Yes, it talks about himself, his way of life, the place where he belongs, even his future, though it is unknown to him."
"We live, we love, we lie," he said after a few moments.
Her eyes were pointed toward the horizon.
"We live, we love, we lie..." Rei repeated those words thoughtfully.
She sighed, but at the same time smiled, she felt like a fool for misunderstanding everything, looking towards him. He sat next to her with his eyes closed, his expression completely relaxed. He was able to surprise her all the time, she came to think that his unpredictability had no boundaries.
"Thank you..." She said.
After that, she closed her eyes and let herself be carried away by the melody. The peaceful atmosphere had already taken her to the dream world.
"Anytime Rei..."
Rada's voice kept company with the gentle breeze that caressed the girl's face.
Pleased with her actions, he guarded her while waiting for her to wake up.