Confrontation (Part 4 - Pebbles)

[Cameron, East Area - Amestris]

A day had passed since Oliver arrived at Cameron, and since then he was hanging out with the four children who helped him take Thomas Maxwell, the leader of IFF to hospital. Thomas was unconscious from the time when he was thrashed by the creature at the goods station of Central City when he tried to protect Oliver. And coincidentally, he and Oliver arrived at Cameron after they took the train to run away from the creature. But, Oliver was not aware that the small town was his birthplace, he only found out that he shared his name with a very old olive tree at the lake.

Oliver was playing with the other children near the lake, when they saw a person was sitting under the shed of the olive tree, facing toward the lake. It was the same person who killed the Ying-Yang twin's father and the same person who was once being surveilled by Roy in the early years. It was Krid Novak. The oldest among the children, Alvin stopped playing and said, "Hey Oliver. Do you want to see something?"

"What?" Oliver asked.

"Something amazing," Alvin smirked while facing toward Krid. Other children also stopped playing and looked toward Krid. Meanwhile, Krid was facing his back to the children and enjoying the carpet like grass under the shades of the olive tree. And the sound of the small waves of the lake hitting the ground with the scent of the olive tree was reminding him of one time when he was on a beach. But, suddenly a pebble flew just a little bit off from his shoulder and made a splash sound when it hit the water. Krid was still not taking any action against the pebble thrower. He was sitting quietly as he was already doing.

On the other side, Oliver was fidgeting when he saw Alvin throw a pebble at a person. "Stop it. You will hurt him," Oliver tried to stop Alvin but, Alvin picked another pebble from the ground, and none of his friends, except Oliver, were stopping him.

When Alvin threw the pebble, it was heading straight for Krid's head, and before it could hit Krid, Oliver covered his eyes with his palms and gritted his teeth with an open mouth. However, in a few moments, he heard a splash sound. He was not sure how the pebble could miss. So, he opened his eyes and saw Krid was sitting at the same spot quietly. Meanwhile, Alvin was picking more pebbles from the ground and this time Harvey, Reggie, and Isa were also picking pebbles from the ground. "What are you guys doing?" Oliver asked with widened eyes.

And then within a few seconds, Krid was bombarded with a volley of pebbles. Pebbles were being thrown toward Krid so that he couldn't dodge them. However, Krid dodged some of them and he blocked the remaining with a small branch of the olive tree he was holding.

When none of the pebbles hit Krid, Harvey shouted, "YOU ARE AWESOME MR. NOVAK."

Oliver was speechless to see the agility of Krid. "Wow, how can he do that?" Oliver questioned.

"I told you, I will show you something amazing," Alvin replied.

"Let's go, we will introduce you to him," Isa proposed and held Oliver's wrist. She then walked near Krid and greeted him by saying, "Hello Mr. Novak."

Krid was still facing the lake, but when he heard Isa's voice, he turned around. Now that Oliver was closer, he could see Krid's brown untidy beards and the clouded eyes. But, for a person who had retired from the military many years ago after achieving a lot, he was still looking as if he was in his thirties. "How many times have I told you that it is very bad to throw pebbles at people?" Krid scolded with a polite voice.

But, Oliver's eyes and mouth were wide open when he saw the clouded eyes of Krid. He shouted before any other children could answer Krid, "How come you can dodge so many pebbles thrown at you at the same time? When you are clearly a blind person."

"He can sense them. That's what he told us," Reggie interrupted.

"That's true," Krid smiled.

"Are you some warrior from Xing? Cause they can sense things," Oliver questioned.

"I am not a warrior from Xing, but I can still do that," Krid answered.

"He was in the military during the Ishvalan war though," Alvin added.

And then out of the blue Krid asked, "How is your mother, Oliver?"

That was the most unexpected question that Oliver could ever imagine. A stranger knew his name, and over that, he asked Oliver about his mother, when Oliver was himself desperate to find anything about his mother. And before he could reply, Alvin informed, "I forgot to mention that he can hear sounds from quite a distance. So, he might have heard your name when we were talking."

"That's true as well," Krid smiled.

Oliver didn't care how Krid found out his name. His mind was curious to find out how Krid knew his mother. So he enquired, "How do you know about my mother?"

Even Isa backed Oliver and asked, "Yes, how can you know his mother? He has been to this place for the first time. And as far as we know, you have never left this town from years."

"Oliver won't remember me, because the first time I met him, he was not even a year old," Krid replied and continued, "I used to encounter his mother every time I was returning back to my home from the lake. But, after few days I last met her personally, she disappeared from this town."

"How can you possibly know that? You can't even see, and I was just a baby when we met according to you," Oliver questioned with narrowed eyes.

"Sorry I should have told you," Alvin fixed his glasses and said, "He can identify people just by their smell."

"WHAT!" Oliver exclaimed.

Meanwhile, Harvey, Isa and Reggie said, "That's true as well."

Krid smiled when he heard the children stealing his line. And in the meantime, Oliver stuttered, "That doesn't make any sense unless you are a chimera, but I have read lots of books and in none of them is there any case of stable human chimera."

"Well, everything is not given in the books Oliver. After all, the books you read are all written by the government, and they don't want you to know everything," Krid responded.

Oliver looked at Krid for a few moments without speaking a word, and then he gulped. Then Krid again asked, "So, how is your mother?"

Oliver averted his eyes from Krid and looked at the ground to hide his sadness from other children. "Well, I don't know anything about my mother or you can say I don't remember her. My father told me, she left us," He replied.

When Krid learned that his mother left him, he instantly said, "Why would she do that? All the time, I passed by your mother's flower shop, she seemed very happy with you."

That was the first time Oliver heard something about her mother which seemed to be true. And after hearing Krid's explanation, a big genuine smile appeared on his face. "My mother sold flowers?" He asked with the smile still intact on his face.

"Yes, in fact, she was very good at that. I remember the time when I bought a bouquet of gardenias, and you started crying when she was talking to me," Krid replied.

Those happy moments that Oliver couldn't remember were still able to bring happiness on his face. "Mr. Novak," he called.

"Yes, Oliver?" Krid responded.

"Do you remember her name?" Oliver questioned.

"It was Elizabeth," Krid answered.

"Elizabeth, my mother's name is Elizabeth," Oliver kept on thinking and smiling after learning something about his mother. He always pictured his mother in his mind on how she would be looking, and the answers from Krid helped to complete that picture a bit. Now his mother was surrounded by beautiful flowers in his mental portrait.