Heede cursed under his breath as he climbed back out of the house and onto the ground. He hid the knife behind him and had ensured Nara stayed out of sight. He'd judged by her initial reaction of spotting the figure in the distance that she wasn't expecting any visitors either, she'd thankfully found an area in the roof where she could hide if needed and had gathered a knife for herself as well. He'd been thankful she'd done it all by herself without having to try and communicate something to her through hand gestures.
He walked through the valley's fertile soil and grass, it was so green it was almost unnatural. There wasn't any gradient to its colors, in the north beyond the Gods'pine there was, so many beautiful gradients that arranged themselves into a beautiful collage.
In which us and the greatshells would crush, he thought as he stepped on the strangely perfect grass while strolling down towards the figure.
The figure came into focus as Heede and the–now clearly identifiable–man came into talking distance. The man was tall for the east, he was likely the same ethnicity as Nara and the older man due to his angular and thin eyes–much like almonds–along with tanned beige skin. He had thick black hair which parted in the center granting the man an unusual level of symmetry within his face. He finally wore an overly confident and friendly expression upon his face.
The friendly face figure stopped about twenty meters from Heede who did the same. The man said something in the same language that Nara and the older man said, that much he could tell. The man looked at him, with a smile still on face and put a cupped hand to his ear.
Heede nodded.
The man's smile grew for a moment and he nodded back to Heede. The man pulled out what appeared to be an enormous roughly cut opal which reflected a rainbow from the sun. The man walked forward to the center point between the two men and placed it on the ground before turning around and walking back to his initial point. The man nodded towards Heede.
Heede stared at the enormous uncut opal which shone unlike anything else he'd seen for months beyond count. He wondered for a moment whether perhaps the thing was cursed, it was possible he'd heard enough stories and read enough books to know that such things were not uncommon. It made him happy he'd never visited the most arcanely active regions in the world.
The man had held it for a sufficient amount of time and had only been prompted to bring it out after Heede had indicated he couldn't understand the man. It was likely a translation device of some sort he decided, before he walked over to pick up the stone in the middle and returned to his initial position. The entire time he ensured he faced the man, never once turning his back.
"Do we understand one another now?" The man asked, holding another stone of the same kind in his hand.
"I believe we do." Heede said.
"Very good," the man said with that too happy expression, "I'd like to ask permission to return to my home."
Heede felt slightly reassured at the words. The man was family to Nara and the old man. He studied the well dressed man who wore odd seemingly refined clothes. What would he have been, an older brother to Nara? No he was too old. It would've been unlikely for the old man not to mention his younger brother, but no that too wasn't right, this man was a little too young for that. That only left one option, a son of the old man.
Is that Nara's father? Heede wondered to himself.
"It seems that you've been gone a good long while then." Heede said to the friendly faced man.
"Yes," the man said nodding, "I have not been home in over ten years. This was supposed to be a surprise visit to my father and his granddaughter…and may I ask you one thing kind man, who might you be, at least within relation to my father?"
"A travelling man who's waiting for his friend to recover."
"Ah," the man said, "just passing through are we?"
Heede nodded.
"Where do you plan on going after your friend recovers?"
Heede shrugged. "It's up to him, either way we'll be heading further away from the hobgoblins and the mess of a war they're creating in this part of the world."
"I see, that's good," the smiling man said, "I wish you and your friend luck in your travels to come."
"Thank you." Heede said with a new found calmness to the situation.
The smiling man walked a few meters closer and inspected him. "You've been working have you?"
Heede nodded. "The crops apparently require constant care."
The smiling man let out a small chuckle. "I can't believe my old man is still working at that, now he's roped you into it as well."
"It's one way to keep me occupied."
"It certainly is," the smiling man said, "now shall we perhaps go inside?"
"I should really get back to the fields."
The smiling man let out a small chuckle. "Oh please, look at you drenched in sweat, covered in muck, surely you could at least come inside and enjoy a drink with me."
Heede turned his head towards the fields in the short distance. He deliberated for a moment before nodding towards the smiling man. "Perhaps the fields can wait for a little bit."
The smiling man grinned once again and gestured towards the house.
"The sword that sits in the library is sacred, an artefact handed throughout my family for generations and itself has developed into something entirely different from what it was originally." The old man said slowly. "Its metal does not come from anywhere on this side of the world and it was given to us by a teenager who does not age."
Zern felt sceptical at the man's words. Magic swords, given to them by an ageless child. It sounded far too fantastical. The idea of an ageless person was also just too fantastical, everyone aged just depended on how slowly. Elves lived for somewhere between three hundred to six hundred depending on the kind, dwarves about four hundred and humans of course somewhere between sixty to eighty. Nobody was immortal, nobody.
"Tell me, how do you know all this?" Zern asked, trying to keep the conversation moving and not in an awkward lull.
"The sword grants the bonded user the memories of the former wielders up to a certain point."
"Why up to a certain point?"
The old man paused for a moment. "None of us has been entirely sure, but most of my ancestors came to the conclusion that the sword itself developed the ability on its own. As if the sword itself had developed a mind of its own."
"A sword that's alive?" Zern asked almost sarcastically. "Yenjin, I mean no offense but something like that sounds almost impossible."
Yenjin paused and nodded. "I understand your disbelief, however its not the sword that I care for, but who wants it. You must ensure that no matter what when my disowned son arrives you give up that sword to him without bloodshed."
Zern nodded but in his mind wondered. Wondered–
"Why is it so important to you and seemingly Nara?" His body said.
He cursed in his mind.
Yenjin shifted in the rock for a moment as if uncomfortable with the question. "The last holder of the sword was not my father as it was supposed to be, but instead Nara's own father, my second born, my only real child. That child watcher as her uncle slaughtered her pacifist and untrained father in front of her in order to claim that sword and take his own form of twisted revenge."
"Hang on, you said Ittin was there to claim that sword from its wielder–Nara's father–if that man was the sword's wielder how come Ittin didn't claim it when he killed him?" Zern asked.
Yenjin smiled softly. "You notice things quickly, although Ittin certainly killed her father he–nor I–was aware of what the sword itself would do next. Instead of simply the sword's bond breaking and allowing for Ittin to claim it for himself, the sword reattached itself to its previously bonded owner, me."
"Wait so you–"
"Yes," Yenjin said, "when that sword returned to me I witnessed the death of my son by his brother in my own mind. I'd previously held the sword before my two children came of age, however due to difficult circumstances in my life I'd passed the sword down to Nara's father."
"Did you know the sword could return to you?"
Yenjin shook his head. "I was the first in my family to give up the sword before my own death, therefore we hadn't experienced such an event before. However what's more important is that after the sword's disappearance Ittin murdered his brother's wife and his own mother to try and find the sword, however when it came to his niece he couldn't do it. I've taken her to shamans and seen her memories through her eyes. He raised the sword above his head but couldn't bring it down upon the tear filled eyes of a child. Perhaps his adrenaline had worn off, or his guilt returned, but he left that girl alive before burning the house down ensuring she was out of it."
Yenjin paused, however Zern knew that was not the end of it.
"However…"
"However now I believe that as she's grown up into a woman Ittin could kill her and claim the sword which I have left in the house." Yenjin said as he put his hand into the water and splashed some onto his face. "I fear that my final family would sacrifice herself over a priceless artefact. If she does so, I will have failed in everything a patriarch is supposed to be, I cannot bear to know that I failed my son in protecting his daughter. There is something more valuable than anything priceless… life."
Heede gestured for the smiling man to enter as they reached the entrance of the man's home. The smiling man smiled once again and walked inside.
He turned towards the smiling man and held the rock up for a moment. "Can I quickly borrow your one for a few moments while I explain to Nara who came to visit her."
The smiling man nodded and held out the stone in his hand but before he gave it to Heede he said something. "I'd like for it to be a surprise, considering I haven't seen her in so long, just say that I'm an old friend who'd like to see her."
Heede thought it was a strange request, but who was he to judge how this man was to speak to his own daughter. He'd go along with the request, perhaps he'd get to see a face from Nara apart from boredom, annoyance or glumness, that would be good to see.
He sighed and walked over to the makeshift library where he presumed Nara would be hiding. There was a hole in the ceiling which led up to the attic and storage room in the roof. She'd probably be hiding in there.
He turned into the cramped makeshift library which Zern had been camping in for most of the last few weeks. He walked over into the corner and looked up into the small square hole.
"Nara."
That was the only word she understood from him, her own name. It was hopefully enough to get her to come out.
A moment passed, and then a few more.
A small bit of noise came out from the top of the square until the small face and long hair dangled down looking at him.
Heede held up the stone.
Nara cocked her head at him and down at the stone. Heede gestured to take the stone and so she did so slowly.
"Can you understand me now?" Heede said.
She almost fell back at the shock and looked down at the rock and then back at him. "Yes?"
"Good."
"How can you… how can I understand what you're saying?"
Heede held up the stone once again. "These stones, they seem to link two people together allowing them to understand one another even through different languages."
"And how did you get this?" Nara asked, still slightly shocked at being able to talk to him.
"Our visitor gave this to me to communicate to him and you."
"Visitor? You let him inside the house."
"He said he's a friend." Heede said. "Said he has known your father for a long time."
"Regardless, you shouldn't have let him in here." She said with an annoyed face.
"Well he's in here now, isn't he, if you want him gone, go talk to him yourself. You'll probably be better at it than me."
Nara's face twisted and relaxed, again and again, as if she was arguing about it within her own mind. She sighed and nodded. Heede helped her down and led her towards the kitchen in which the smiling man was standing. The smiling man was facing away from the door as Heede and Nara entered the room.
The smiling man turned around. That ever smiling face greeted him once again.
Nara stopped suddenly.
Heede turned to look at her. She'd grown incredibly still, her face had lost the little color it had and her breathing had become erratic.
Heede was slightly confused, this was her father wasn't it? Had he been mistaken? Judging by Nara's actions it seemed so, but who had he brought in then? Surely this man was still the old man's son, as he'd said so. He went over the man's words, he'd never specifically said that he was Nara's father, but he had emphasised that he was the old man's son. So that left one option, an uncle.
"Nara, how long has it been since I last saw you?"