Abel hesitated before pushing the door open, his fingers clammy with unease.
The man outside shifted from foot to foot, his face tight with worry.
"What is wrong?" Abel asked.
"I am looking for healer U-Mao."
It was the healer’s neighbor. "Your two sons are asking for the healer to check on them. They could not take the pain anymore."
"What happened to them?" Abel asked.
"I don’t know," the man admitted, voice hushed. "Bruises cover their bodies, and their faces... swollen, like a pig’s."
A chill ran down Abel’s spine. He glanced at Lara, who rely shrugged. Abel guessed that the two people who attempted to steal last night were the healer’s two sons.
Lara left the Lenard household, Abel trailing beside her. He had insisted on escorting her despite her protests. Eventually, she relented.
"Abel, you could catch fish from the river instead of risking your lives in the mountains. You have already dug a pit. You can enlarge it a bit to make a small pond and place the extra ones in it. If you can catch so climbing perch, then much better, but you have to separate it from the rest of the fish."
"I’ll go to the rice paddies and catch climbing perch." Abel agreed.
Lara’s steps slowed. She knew that before fertilizers and pesticides, the paddies were not just for rice but also teed with fish—nature’s balance. The farrs could live off their rice lands.
"You know how to make a fish trap? There is a bamboo forest behind your house. You can cut those, make them into strips, and weave them into a basket." Lara provided detailed instructions.
Abel nodded, absorbing every word. He wasn’t skilled in crafting, but he could learn. His family had not been born in this village. They had arrived when he was ten, leaving behind the capital and most of their relatives under mysterious circumstances. The only family they had here was Aunt Lina, who had pleaded with her mother to co.
His Aunt Lina married his uncle, a native of the village. But two years ago, his father and his uncle went to war and have not co back ever since.
"Did you get all that?" Lara asked.
"Yes, Sir Kane. Thank you," Abel replied with a smirk.
The two people parted at the ford. Lara crossed the river and disappeared into the trees.
Abel watched for a while, but when he could no longer see her, he left. She followed the direction of the hill, where she saw the yarrows growing abundantly.
The sight took her breath away. A golden sea of flowers rippled under the breeze, blanketing the hill in a surreal glow. Few trees stood in the area, their gnarled branches twisting skyward.
Lara frowned.
The beauty was undeniable, yet the hill was untouched.
Why did no one co here? Was it because, from the village, the only way to get to the hill was through Mount Ourea?
Butterflies.
Brilliant blues. Deep reds. Sunlit yellows. Orange embers flickering in the wind. So were black and yellow. They danced over the yarrow, shifting like a living kaleidoscope. Lara watched, srized.
When the butterflies finally vanished, she took a different route back, as was her habit. She gathered herbs and wild fruits along the way and caught two pheasants. She no longer hunted rabbits—Sandoz had too many at ho, much to Reya’s exasperation.
She had also managed to capture a pair of wild chickens before. Their previous attempts at dostication had failed until her master built an enclosure where the wild chicken could no longer fly over.
The mont she crossed the threshold of ho, a stern voice cut through the air.
"So, you finally find your way ho."
Lara grinned. "Grandpa, I was gone for two days, and you didn’t miss ?" she teased, dramatically batting her eyelashes.
There were so monts when Lara called her master Grandpa. Especially when he angered her, she would act coquettishly until he appeased the old man.
Jethru only snorted. Lara unloaded her findings, handing bread to Reya and Sandoz, who looked relieved.
"Grandpa, I found a lot of yarrows in the hill, south of Mount Ourea."
Jethrus’s eyes widened in alarm.
Jethru’s reaction was instant—his eyes widened in alarm. "You went there? That place is filled with poisonous plants!"
Lara hesitated. She hadn’t seen any. Was that why the yarrow grew so freely?
"There are butterflies and bees in the area where I harvested the yarrow." Lara countered.
Jethru exhaled, tension easing from his shoulders. "If there are butterflies and bees, then it should be safe," he muttered.
"Grandpa," she said carefully, watching him. "I went to the village at the foot of the mountain."
Jethru’s hands stilled. He said nothing.
"I saved a boy and his brothers. They were attacked by a tiger. The boy has two gashes on his arm. I spent the night at their house."
Still, silence.
"I killed the tiger and sold it in town."
That made Jethru look up sharply. "You went to town?"
"Yes, Grandpa. The tiger was sold for twelve ingots, and I bought food for the six siblings. They were pitiful. Their father was sent to war two years ago, and their village was attacked by bandits weeks ago plundering their food and livestock."
Jethru’s expression darkened. "Hmph. These bandits... If I ever et them, they will suffer."
Lara hesitated before speaking again. "Grandpa, the village’s chieftain... his na is Hook."
Jethru’s entire body tensed.
"Hook?"
"Hook!"
Reya and Sandoz gasped in unison, their faces paling.
That na. That monster.
Lara’s voice dropped to a whisper. "Grandpa... Hook is the sa man who led the human traffickers that kidnapped us two years ago."
The mory of his cruelty triggered fear that caused Reya and Sandoz to shiver.
Silence fell, thick and suffocating.
Then Jethru’s voice, low and edged with sothing dangerous. "Did he recognize you?"
Lara smirked, tapping her chin. "No. With this disguise, how could he ever connect to the terrified child he once captured?"
Jethru did not share her amusent. His fingers tightened into fists.
"Master," she continued, her tone shifting. "I have always wondered... why do you avoid Calma? Why do you always take the border route through Estalis for supplies?"
Jethru’s eyes flickered with sothing unreadable.
A shadow passed over his face.
And for the first ti since she had known him—Lara saw hatred.
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