Paley watched the clouds peacefully as he walked on the dirt path. He enjoyed the wind's caress and its silent company.
'What time would it be now?' He asked himself, trying to discern the time of day by looking at the sun's position in the sky. He had to look for a while due to the abundance of clouds in the sky. 'It's probably 3.' He deduced eventually.
As he approached the town between the orphanage and the city, he saw a little grey wolf quivering next to the path. He approached the wolf, noticing that bits of the grass around it were covered in blood.
The wolf slowly opened its gem-like blue eyes as he crouched down to its level.
"What are you? A monster?" Paley talked to himself, but the wolf seemed to half-understand him. It showed an expression of fear but more of pain.
"I'm nearly out of mana..." Paley contemplated healing the wolf, but it was a tiny cub. It could've been a monster, but at the same time, it seemed to be in great agony. "Ah, whatever." He reached his hand out toward it and enveloped it in the green light of Healing Magic. It took a while because of his low amount of mana, but the wolf soon could walk.
He expected it to thank him, but instead, it ran off as fast as it could. With an unamused expression, he watched it cross over the horizon, then sighed, stood back up, and continued on his walk.
He came home to all the orphans lounging around near the fireplace. Jurie sat with Madella, telling her about the school day. The other orphans either slept nearby or just rested. Paley walked over to Madella and Jurie and joined them.
"You're back," Madella greeted.
"Yeah," Paley rested against the wall with his hands behind his head.
"Don't you want to get changed?"
"Yeah, in a bit."
"So, how'd school go for you?"
"It went normal, I guess. I had to drop this girl off at her house. I don't think she knows that I'm a Quimnia, but she knows I can fly."
"She keeps blackmailing him into doing favours for her." Jurie laughed softly.
"Well, flight spells *are* one of the hardest ones to pull off," Madella said, "If she tells anyone, then it'll be trouble for us."
"I don't think she'll say anything. She's nice." Paley closed his eyes and relaxed. Madella gave Jurie a puzzled look, to which Jurie replied: "He doesn't like her that much."
About half an hour later, Teerom burst into the cottage. The orphans were still lounging around in the living room and turned to see him panting in the doorway.
"Guys! Look!" He held out a bag and shook it, making the coins inside it rattle against each other. Paley watched from afar as Madella and Jurie approached him.
"You got paid?" Jurie stared at the bag, proud of Teerom, who nodded erratically.
"Twenty gold coins!" He grinned and showed them the glistening gold.
"I'm so proud of you, Teerom." Madella hugged him to cover up her tears.
"I'm going to spend it all on you, mom." Teerom returned the warm embrace.
"No, It's your hard-earned money. Spend it on yourself." She closed his palm, which held the coins.
"It's my hard-earned money, so I get to decide what to do with it, right? So, I decide to spend it on all of us." He said, "Don't we all need a change of clothes?" He encouraged. The orphans had worn rags for as long as they could remember. The five hundred gold coins Madella received per month weren't enough to sustain all of them and buy new things like clothes.
"Not really. I don't mind wearing old clothes," Adimia said.
"Same," Reben agreed.
"I want knight armour!" Amasha exclaimed.
"Come on, guys." Teerom groaned and stared at them, trying to guilt-trip them into going out shopping with him.
"Can I get something?" Bacha asked with Rauba tailing behind her.
"Of course," Teerom said.
"But I don't wanna come along," She added; Rauba nodded in agreement.
"What's wrong with you guys? It's a shopping trip! We've never even set foot in a market."
"I don't know, man. It seems kinda boring to me," Adimia replied.
"We'll come with you," Jurie said, including Madella.
"What? I can't leave them by themselves," Madella looked at the other orphans.
"It'll be fine. They can take care of themselves." Jurie argued.
"So it's settled then. Let's go!" Teerom was eager to go, but he was stopped by Paley.
"You're including me, right?" He asked. He really wanted to go to the marketplace and buy some new clothes.
"How else are we gonna get there?" Teerom tried to continue but was stopped again. This time by Madella.
"Let's go after dinner, shall we?" She suggested.
They spent the day, as usual, playing around and chatting. Paley and Madella cooked up a simple rice-based dinner, and after eating, Teerom, Paley, Jurie, and Madella went out together.
"See you!" Adimia and the others waved, watching them walk off into the sunset. Paley and Madella walked behind Teerom and Jurie. They were quiet people, so they just enjoyed the relaxing environment. Whereas, Teerom and Jurie were chatting away the entire walk.
Paley's mana had recovered, and he had offered to fly them to the marketplace, but they preferred to walk. As fast and fun flying was, it couldn't beat the relaxation of just walking. They entered the city about half an hour later. The number of people wandering the streets had thinned down, and the sky had cleared up, letting the stars out.
Madella walked in front since she knew where the market was. It was situated slightly northwest of the bazaar. They walked through the bazaar, but it was closed that day, leaving only a deserted, calm street with empty stands on either side.
"The city's nice this late, isn't it?" Madella asked Paley.
"Yeah, it's so quiet." Paley loved the fresh air. Both he and Madella disliked crowds. You could say they were introverted, yet they still enjoyed spending time with the orphans and any friends.
"It's this way," Madella said and turned onto a long street with lights twinkling in the distance. She glanced at Paley, who blankly looked ahead. No thoughts ran through his mind. He only listened to the ambient sounds of the city at night.
"The stars are beautiful tonight, aren't they?" She looked up, and so did he.
"Yeah," He replied.
"You know, apparently every single one of those stars is like our sun. A big, round ball of fire, waaay bigger than our world."
"But the sun's so small,"
"It looks small because it's far away," Madella explained.
"Fair enough. Then, all of those stars are that huge and exist around us?" Paley asked.
"They don't exist around us; they exist with us. Do you think that the sun goes around us?"
Paley nodded.
"No way. And that the world is flat?"
Paley nodded again, making her laugh lightly.
"I guess from our point of view it'd look flat. But it's actually round." She drew a globe with her hands.
"Then why can't we see it bend?" Paley was genuinely puzzled.
"Because it's so big that it looks flat," Madella explained.
"Ohh," The revelation shocked Paley, "So we're not the centre of the universe?"
"Nope. We're just little people floating around in the void." Madella joked, but it genuinely scared Paley.
"So, we're meaningless..." Paley looked up at the stars once again. This time melancholily.
"Of course not. We're special. Out of the entire Middle Realm, we're alive. That's all that matters, in my opinion." Madella's words managed to soothe him.
They arrived at the marketplace a few minutes later. The lights from within the shops lit up the streets brighter than the lamps of flame lining the sides of the road. Madella and Paley followed Teerom and Jurie as they ran around, exploring the market.
Paley came here recently with Jurie to buy her a dress and Teerom a suit for their date, but they didn't stay to explore. There were so many different shops selling so many different things; food, clothes, books, furniture, and even strange objects that you could play music on.
"Hey, you go ahead. I want to check this stuff out." Paley looked into a small shop that had; a grand piano that was half-covered by a rotting blanket, a variety of old-fashioned guitars, and other string-based instruments.
"I'll stay with you." Madella joined him.
"Okay, shall we go ahead, then?" Jurie held Teerom's hand, making his heart nearly break out of his chest.
"O-Of course," He replied, "See you in a bit." They left Paley and Madella to go into the music store. It was a cosy, quiet store with a thick, red carpet covering the floor and aged bricks making the walls. Beyond the instruments scattered haphazardly around the room, an old brown man slept on his desk. He had a few papers under his arms he had yet to take care of, but he slept peacefully.
Paley and Madella tried to be quiet, but as soon as they took a step onto the carpet, the man slowly woke up. He rubbed his eyes, yawned, and smacked his lips. His wrinkled face's movements kind of freaked Paley out.
"Hello," He greeted in a weak, old voice, then picked up a walking stick to stand. He wore a suit, but without a jacket and tie. It, like him, was old and wrinkled.
"Hello," Madella bowed, and Paley mimicked her.
"Would you like to pick up an instrument?" He was keen but failed to show it because of his lazy expression.
"Paley? Which one do you want to try?" Madella asked Paley.
"That one." Paley pointed to the grand piano.
"Are you sure? It's not a very... liked instrument anymore. Unfortunately." The clerk said.
"Why?" Paley asked and walked over to the instrument. Before the clerk could explain, Madella cut him off.
"The usual religious balderdash, Paley. It was made by a Dark Conjurer, so people think it's a cursed instrument." She explained.
"Though for an instrument made hundreds of years past, they've only begun to hate it just a few decades ago." The clerk added, watching Paley sit down on the stool and lightly tap the keys. He didn't know what to do, but he thought that if he started one key at a time, he would eventually be able to play something.
"Did you play it in your days?" Madella asked, grabbing another stool to sit next to Paley. "Let me try," She said to him, and he moved away to let her position her fingers on the keys.
"Well, that was my main instrument. Have you ever heard of the WindMaker?" The clerk asked as Madella began to play a slow, calm melody.
"Nope," She said, making small mistakes and biting her lip at them now and then as she played.
"Of course you haven't." The clerk shook his head, disappointed, "That used to be my stage name. I made it when I was stupid and young, but most of all, when I loved to play the piano. And when everyone loved to listen to me playing it." He noticed that, despite Madella making a lot of mistakes, the symphony she played sounded fantastically melancholy.
"I must say, you play it beautifully," He smiled. Paley sat beside her, watching in surprise.
"Why don't you try?" Madella stopped and got off the stool.
"Oh, I can't. These old fingers probably can't move like the wind anymore." He laughed awkwardly.
"Just do it. I want to see." Paley demanded.
"O-Ok..." The clerk gulped and walked over to the piano, taking a seat next to Paley. As he positioned himself, Paley could see life and youth returning to the man. Just by being near it, he was reminiscing in the nostalgia.
He composed himself, sighed, and began to play. At first, it was a calm melody, and Paley understood why he called himself the WindMaker. He truly did move like the wind; they couldn't tell at all when he'd moved on to the next note.
The melody slowly built up, getting louder and harsher until it suddenly dropped back to a calm flow. Out of nowhere, the man jumped from key to key, smacking his fingers down. This was the peak of the arrangement.
The piece slowly aged back into calmness, then into an almost sorrowful arpeggio, then to silence. Paley and Madella were too stunned to say anything. Paley was more surprised by the man's almost violent, quick, and yet gentle movements during the drop, whereas Madella took more notice of the story the arrangement told.
"Was that your own piece?" She asked.
"Yes. I composed it recently to try and get back into playing the piano. But I..." The clerk stared at his hands.
"You should keep playing. You're really good." Paley stood up and looked at Madella, "I'm gonna save up for one of these." He said to Madella.
"How much is one?" Madella asked the clerk.
"Normally, it'd be around 1500 gold coins. But for you two, I'll halve it." He offered.
"Really?" Madella became excited.
"You don't need to do that. I'll buy it for full price." Paley said.
"And how are you gonna do that?" Madella asked.
"I've been thinking... And I decided that I want to use my magic to help people. I'll do little jobs around the city, but in a few months, I should have enough."
"That's a very unrealistic expectation, Paley... Well, there *is* one thing that you can do." Madella seemed hesitant to say it to him.
"You can use magic? At that age?" The clerk asked, but they didn't hear him.
"What is it?" Paley asked Madella.
"I'll tell you in a bit." She turned to the clerk, "So, we'll come back later to buy it. Is that okay?"
"Of course. I'm not planning on going anywhere, so." The clerk smiled.
"Also, I want you to teach me how to play it," Paley added.
"You want me to- No way, I can barely play it, let alone teach someone-"
"Stop lying to yourself. Just because people think it's a cursed instrument doesn't mean that you should let it go. You clearly enjoy it a lot, so stop acting like you don't. I'll pay you ten gold coins a month to teach me." Paley wasn't negotiating, he was hiring.
"Are you sure?" The clerk asked, putting his hands on his knees to get up from the stool. He wasn't that tall but was still a few centimetres taller than Paley.
"I'm sure."
"..." The man's wrinkles made a look of joy look like a frown, but luckily Paley and Madella could see through it, "Thank you, young man. Thank you." He held Paley's hand. "I'll teach you absolutely everything I know."
"You're welcome, and I'm looking forward to it." Paley smiled. Madella couldn't help but grin. Lately, Paley had been smiling much more frequently, and every time he did it, she would be overjoyed.
"Come on, let's go meet up with Teerom and Jurie." Madella patted him on the back and they made their way out of the shop.
"Wait," The clerk called to them as they opened the door, "What are your names?"
"I'm Madella."
"And I'm Paley." They left the clerk in his cosy shop. He slowly sat down on the stool and turned to his piano, sighing and smiling.