The ropes slipped from Fredric’s wrists as Lucian tugged the last knot loose. The young man rubbed at the red marks, glancing nervously at the boy who had freed him.
"Thank you. My na is Fredric. I... I was born in Luma settlent. I never knew my parents. They said I was an orphan soone left on the steps of the quarterhouse."
Fredric murmured, his voice low, as if afraid to be overheard. After a hesitant pause, he bowed his head.
His throat worked as he swallowed.
"I... I do have an ability. Telekinesis. But... only a little."
He raised his hand, and a pebble from the ground trembled, lifted shakily into the air, and then dropped with a dull thunk. His cheeks colored with sha.
"That’s all. Nothing strong. Nothing useful."
Lucian’s sharp gaze didn’t move from him.
Fredric’s shoulders hunched under the weight of that silence.
"Because I was weak, the elders cast aside. I wasn’t wanted in the main squads, so they pushed into a random team just to make ... soone else’s problem. They said at least I could carry supplies."
His words ca faster, tumbling over one another as if spilling out years of bitterness. Then he caught himself and ducked his head, trembling.
"I’m sorry. I shouldn’t be saying this. I just—"
He clenched his fists, then forced himself to et Lucian’s eyes.
"Even if I’m not strong, I’ll work hard. I’ll do whatever you ask. I won’t complain. Just... please don’t throw away like they did."
For a mont, nothing stirred in the clearing but the faint hum of fairy wings. Lucian’s expression didn’t soften. His voice, when it ca, was as cold and steady as winter stone.
"You’ll work under Berry."
Fredric blinked.
"I—what?"
Lucian turned slightly, gesturing toward the man busy stoking the fire.
"Berry, he’s yours. Use him however you see fit."
Berry glanced up from the flas, his brows lifting, then he chuckled and gave Fredric a nod.
Fredric, however, froze. The blunt dismissal made his chest tighten.
Lucian had saved him, but... had he already beco a burden again?
His stomach turned cold, and in that mont he wondered if he had made a mistake—if trusting this strange boy and his hidden valley had been nothing but a step into another kind of rejection.
His unease must have shown on his face, because Berry clapped a sturdy hand on his shoulder.
"Relax. That’s just how he is."
Fredric blinked at him.
"Lucian talks like a blade cutting at, but don’t mistake his tone. If he wanted you gone, you’d already be out in the snow. Do your work, listen well, and you’ll be fine. He’s just a little grumpy because of his curse, making him a kid physically.
Berry said with a lopsided grin."
"I..." Fredric hesitated, doubt still clouding his eyes.
Before he could answer, Mira skipped over, holding a bundle of dried herbs against her chest. She bead up at Fredric with the open warmth of a child.
"Don’t worry! Lucian is a good person. He takes care of all of us, and he makes sure nobody goes hungry. He even teaches things sotis."
She chirped.
"Lucian is a good person."
"A good person."
The fairies darting around her echoed her words with musical laughter, their wings shimring in the firelight like tiny fragnts of a rainbow.
Fredric stared at them, stunned by the easy affection in their voices.
’They all trust him this much?’
Behind them, Lucian’s frown deepened.
’Nice? Kind?’
He wanted to scoff. He was neither. Yet he didn’t correct them.
He had already learned one truth about people: let them believe what they wanted. If they thought he was cold, they worked harder to earn his approval.
If they thought he was kind, they clung tighter out of loyalty. Either way, the results were the sa.
So he let them talk. And as Fredric’s posture slowly relaxed under Mira’s smile and Berry’s reassurance, Lucian turned away, hiding the small spark of satisfaction in his eyes.
His plan to repay his debt was still on track.
Dinner arrived, the scent of roasted roots and grain cakes filling the clearing. Berry handed out food, Mira fussing at his side while the fairies carried small crumbs to nibble on.
Fredric, eager to prove his worth, offered to deliver bowls to the bound prisoners.
When he approached, their eyes lit up with desperate hope.
"Fredric, you have to untie us. Quick, while they’re not watching."
One whispered urgently.
"Yeah. We’re your squad, rember? Think about all the tis we covered for you. Do this for us."
sanother hissed.
Fredric froze, the bowls trembling in his hands. The mories clawed at him—cold nights, sneers, being shoved to the back of the line.
He looked at the warm fire flickering behind him, at Mira laughing as she helped Berry, at the food in his hands that no one had begrudged him.
Slowly, he shook his head.
"I can’t. Not without Lucian’s permission. This place... in just one day, I’ve eaten more than I used to in a week. I don’t have to shiver in the snow. No one here looks at like I’m worthless. Why would I throw that away?"
He said.
The prisoners stared at him as though he’d struck them.
"You’ve already turned soft? One al and you wag your tail like their dog?"
One spat.
Fredric’s jaw tightened, but his voice was steady.
"Call it what you want. I finally feel like I can belong sowhere. I won’t risk that—not for you."
Lucian, listening from a distance, narrowed his eyes. The system pulsed faintly at the edge of his vision, confirming what he already knew - Fredric was no longer wavering. His loyalty had been decided.
That was what mattered.
The other prisoners, however, looked shaken. The sight of Fredric’s calm refusal, of his contentnt, gnawed at them.
They turned their eyes toward the valley—the food, the warmth, the fairies’ glow—and for the first ti, the possibility of staying here clawed at their thoughts.
But unlike Fredric, they had families in Luma. Wives, children, parents. To abandon that for the unknown was no easy thing.
One man finally rasped.
"This place... it’s real, isn’t it? The food, the fire... none of it’s a trick?"
Mira heard him and puffed out her chest proudly.
"It’s real! I helped grow it! Look at the fields! Lucian made this valley. If you stay, you’ll never go hungry again."
She pointed toward the crops swaying gently though no snow touched them.
The n fell silent, their eyes clouded with conflict.
Lucian watched them with cold patience. He knew what choice each of them would eventually make. But tonight, he would let them stew in it.
The snowstorm raged beyond the hidden barrier, but inside the valley the fire burned bright.
And Lucian thought, not for the first ti, that this fragile peace would not last.
’I still have no idea why they think I’m a ’good person’.’
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