As evening rolled, Raven snuck out of his room to look at the town. It was his first time coming to a place like this so he wanted to explore the place. There were lanterns hanging everywhere. As he roamed around the atmosphere was full of the fragrance of delicious foods being cooked at the stall. As he engulfed the aroma he felt hungry, and unconsciously he went and stood in front of a dumpling stall. He was mesmerized. His stomach started growling loudly. It was so loud that he came out of his fantasy to eat dumplings.
The old lady politely asked him if he wanted to eat dumplings?
The boy was stunned by the question and he snapped out of his world with a jerk. He started rummaging through his pockets but he did not find anything. There was not even a single penny with him.
But I do not have any money. Said Raven as he felt extremely embarrassed.
Ah is that so but you are wearing quite good clothes. Your clothes give the impression that you come from a wealthy family. But it's all just an appearance for the fest. I see. Now that you do not have money please step aside and you are blocking the que. Everyone behind you is waiting for their order. You are spoiling my business. Said the old lady grumpily.
Elliott was observing what happened to the boy who looked his age. He then got up from his seat and dragged Raven to their seat as they had already got their order and they were going to eat.
Elliott offered the dumplings to Raven. His mother saw this and felt that it was good for Elliott to make friends his age so she did not stop him. Even though it will cost her quite some penny to feed another kid.
Raven first rejected Elliott's offer but then eventually accepted it as he was really hungry and the fragrance of the food enticed him.
The three had the dumplings together.
Later that evening the three roamed around the market together and saw many game stalls that people were playing. But Raven and Elliott just saw and cheered the people playing. They were happy just by watching the games. They thought that it was a waste of money to spend on games. And it is better to eat something delicious with the money than spending it on games.
All of a sudden there was a thunderstorm. The wind started blowing faster And it started drizzling. A large wooden plank came out of nowhere and hit Elliott's mother's head. She started bleeding profusely. Elliott and Raven panicked. Everyone started running in havoc. It was total chaos. Nobody was there to help them, everyone was trying to take shelter from the rain and lightning.
Elliott started crying and shouting for help but the loud noise of wind and rain buried his voice. Raven could not see his benefactor suffer. It made his heart break. He felt suffocated. He then placed his hand on her head where the blood was coming out of. Elliott thought that it might pain his mother more so he tried to push him but he was not able to shake him at all. So he started shouting at Raven.
After a minute the bleeding stopped and the wound started to heal on its own. It felt like Raven had transferred something unusual to her. Elliott's mother then opened her eyes after a few seconds.
Raven felt as though he had transferred her wound to himself as he felt a sudden sharp pain in his head. But he kept his eyes open and sat down.
Knife's crow saw this and reported it to the knife. As smart as knife is, he came to the conclusion that Raven might have the power of healing others.
Sofia was already looking for Raven as soon as she found him missing. The Crow came flying irrespective of the heavy rain and told Sofia the location of Raven.
Sofia and the Knife then went and found Raven with Elliott. The moment the knife saw Elliott he knew, he was his son. And then he saw the woman squatting beside Elliott was also someone Knife Knew. Sofia was surprised to see this woman too.
Is he your son? Sofia asked.
Yes he is my son. Isn't he cute? Said the woman.
"Alright it's pretty late now and it's raining cats and dogs, let's go to the inn fight and we can continue the conversation there," said knife as he picked the woman on the floor into his arms and walked. Raven and Elliott held Sofia's hands and walked behind Knife. On the way to the inn, nobody spoke a word. It was pin drop silence that followed them. The crow that used to talk a lot was also quiet. All of them were drenched. So they first took a bath and changed their clothes, Raven gave his clothes to Elliott to wear and Sofia gave her clothes to the woman while looking at her attentively. It looked like both of them had a lot to say but just could not utter even a single word. It looked like they knew each other for a long time. They were behaving as they had found the long lost friend. The room was as silent as an abandoned place. The silence was unbearable. After fifteen minutes the woman suddenly hugged Sofia. They embraced each other and nobody spoke a word. Soon they started weeping and sobbing.
How have you been? Asked Sofia.
I am fine. I have a son and I live for him. I am happy. Said the woman.
Oh it's good to hear, said Sofia with tears in her eyes.
Suddenly the door of the room was opened with a slam and knife entered.
Stop crying now, both of you. And you and your son will be going back to the estate after the fest. You will accompany Sofia as her maid and your son will be the knight I choose for the Raven, " Knife ordered. He looked dead serious so nobody refuted him.
The lady thought that maybe Knife wanted to acknowledge Elliott as his own now that he had seen him and got a clear look of him. It pleased her internally and she smiled unconsciously. This smile did not go unnoticed by Sofia, but she could not get what made her smile so brightly? She thought that life must have been very hard on her seeing how she and her son were dressed so Maybe thinking about a stable life made her happy so she shrugged off any worry coming in her mind.