Airen only gave an ambiguous smile as a response.
She could not possibly say that she was also abused by her parents, so she had to build a secret place to let her hide.
Now that Toren was the one experiencing it, she had to give him the same space.
Since Toren's training was discontinued, the only hours he could meet Muren was during early morning and after late noon.
Those were the only times he needed to hide from him.
Before Muren returns with Coen, that day, Toren had immediately gone into the secret underground room and locked himself in.
Airen covered the trapdoor with the carpet cloth and went to fetch her husband and son from the other block.
While going home, there was still the tense air lingering around, which they had no choice but to ignore completely.
When they were back, Muren quickly looked for his second son, but to no avail.
Airen pretended to join the search with Muren and Coen.
Luckily, they have not found the child. Muren was profusely angered by his disappearance, but was soon appeased by Airen's assurance that he would return before lights off.
Meanwhile, Toren relished his silent time around the hidden room.
It was safe and comfortable and beautiful.
The intricate embellishments had flowy floral themes which he adored so much. During his silent stay inside, there was a strange and ominous feeling that permeated through Toren.
It felt like he was being watched by an invisible omniscient eye.
It took a while before he could shrug and brush it off.
A few hours later, he had heard the patterned click of his mother's sandals from above, which was their coded cue. Toren counted 1 to 5 before finally coming out of the hidden room and quietly escaping from the pantry's window.
When he was finally at the rear part of the house, he went around and pretended to have only recently come home.
Right at that exact moment, lights were shut off and they were all forced to go to bed.
Muren could not do anything but hold off his anger and reluctantly prepare to go to bed.
The night had an awkward grip of a flowing coldness and dullness.
At twilight, Toren used his small body to elude the house through the pantry's window. He had such light feet and agile muscles which let him go past the vigilant soldiers.
He sat there and leaned comfortably at the wooden wall, looking up at the moon.
He was once questioned about a certain ability of going to the otherworld and he had lied about not having a clue about it. He suddenly felt guilty for lying to his kind and beautiful mother.
Looking at the round, full moon that night reminded him of Airen.
Her face was truly the most fascinating among all the women in the village.
While gazing up at the eternal dark sky quietly with the cold air softly caressing his skin, a soldier from the side of the colonizers happened to be behind the houses, a few meters away from him. He was seen dropping something over his tongue.
He looked around and happened to meet Toren's curious gaze.
The soldier slowly went to the boy and sat beside him.
"What are you doing out here, kid?" The soldier whisperingly asked.
Instead of directly answering the question, Toren only stared at the sky above them.
"You should be inside with your family now and quietly sleeping."
"What were you dripping on your tongue earlier?" Toren asked.
"It is nothing."
"I do not think so. I have seen those things quite often at the orphanage before. The other soldiers were also doing it as if it was some kind of fad. Sometimes, in groups too. Would you like to know what it was?"
The soldier breathed a chuckle and ruffled the child's hair. "Shall we become friends? My name is Brochille, captain of first division."
Toren turned over his side, glancing at the man. "Grown ups sure are quite messed up."
"The sooner you realize that, the better."
"My name is Toren. It is nice to meet you, Captain Brochille."