Moving on...

They all gathered, forming a circle around the makeshift tomb.

They fell silent, Relles's body beside the hole, covered by a brown cloak Remus pulled from one of his saddlebags. Eastar's eyes filled with tears as he hugged Sindar, resting his chin on the top of her head. Even the old merchant was there, quiet and with the straw hat in his hand.

— Remus, are you sure you don't want to go back to Londrian and bury Relles there? — said Edwin, staring at his companion.

The red-haired sirion shook his head, firmly denying it.

— We always told each other that we would be buried here. Once we even looked for the old cave of the wolves, but the centuries have changed a lot. Even so, I think he would like to be in the woods. — Remus gave a small smile with a dirty face. He walked to the side of the dead brother and turned to the others.

Eastar avoided looking at him, not knowing what to do at that moment.

Remus inspired and, for group's surprise, smiled again. A light and sincere smile.

— I told you that Relles always admire king Trembor. He spent hours admiring his statue and saying he would be like him one day. He always wanted to be the most famous and most powerful warrior of all. Meanwhile, I just admired him. I had no interest in fights.

Sindar began to sob in Eastar's chest when the words of the giant invoked the death of his grandfather and, consequently, of his brother as well. Sean and Drun were sitting, hugging their knees, and looked sadly at the giant, who continued:

— He never charged me anything, and I think that's why I felt even more eager to join him. He always took care of me and I always feared that one day I couldn't do the same for him.

Tears rolled down his cheeks again, he used one of his huge hands to try to wipe them away, getting more dirty.

— He was fiery and hard-headed, insensitive and rude… and I loved him, loved him so, so much. I remember when he gave me the first tip on which young sirion I had to invest and the first friend I introduced him to. I remember all our love stories in our youth and all the discussions we had. But in the end we always ended up in our usual place, lying in our beds, laughing at everything we did. However, I think now...

He stopped talking and began to be overcome by sobs. Allyn went to him and touched his back. The sirion looked at her and shook his head, recovering and finishing saying:

— ... I will have to learn to live as one...

Remus crouched beside his brother's body, looked at the blanket, put a hand to his face, and began to cry. Aros also left the circle, joining Allyn as they comforted the red-haired sirion.

Edwin and Jaime positioned themselves, each on in one end of the blanket, took the body and deposited it in the shallow grave. They had dug it with their weapons, poking and shoveling the earth, then taking it out with their bare hands.

Remus took the first handful of dirt and stood up. He looked at the covered body for what seemed like a long minute and with a sigh opened his hand. Everyone approached and began to lay the earth upon the body. Sean and Drun came together, wept copiously, but tried to make no noise, sniffled and wiped the tears from their faces, turning them into mud stains.

Finally, Remus dug his brother's big golden hammer into the ground, turning it into a tombstone.

— I hope the tree you'll become is as imposing as you were, my brother, and that your hammer will hold it firmly for many centuries. He touched the hammer one last time and walked away.

When they were finished, and Relles's body was resting on his grave, Aros turned to Edwin.

— Lieutenant, we have to resolve the situation.

Edwin nodded and turned to everyone.

— The commander is right. We are sad, I know. Relles has accompanied me for a long time and it was a great soldier, however, what we just discover is... too important.

— We have to go back to Londrian and warn the king. — Jaime said, wiping the tears from his face.

— We can't, we waste too much time, we have to go ahead. — Aros sighed.

— But how shall we warn? — Allyn looked at the commander.

— A letter. — Sindar joined the conversation. — I'll write a letter to my father, explaining the situation. Now, more than ever, I need to go with you, Sirion Kingdom needs a representative on this trip.

The soldiers nodded, Aros and Eastar looked at each other and shrugged.

— Very well then. — The commander approached the princess. — Let's prepare this letter. — Put a hand on her shoulder and they went out talking to get paper and ink in the middle of the roadside luggage.

— Very well. Now, the boys... — Edwin frowned. — You're going with Mr. Donny to Londrian, he'll deliver the letter to the king.

— No! - The young ones said together.

— There is no decision from you. Nor should you have come. It was a mistake to let you follow us. I thought I could take care of everyone, but I see now that I can't do that. — Eastar noticed that the lieutenant clenched his fists and locked his teeth for a few seconds before sighing and continuing. — I don't want anything to happen to you. It would be better if you didn't follow us.

Sean stepped forward. He stared steadily to the lieutenant, trying to look as dignified as possible despite his mottled face.

— But, lieutenant Edwin, we are training! And we both already know we have storage, but... but the best trainers are here! We don't want to go back without training with you and learn everything we can. Please!

— Lieutenant Edwin, they are right. — Jaime smiled.

— Still, it's no reason. As much as we took hours of the day to train them, in Londrian they would do it more smoothly.

— I agree with Edwin, boys. — Remus turned to Sean and Drun, the first one still holding his head high and refusing to admit defeat, the other step back and keeping his head down. — We don't know what else tries to stop us from reaching Deschain. And even if we arrived, I don't want to see you guys participating in something like that. You're too young to get involved in it.

Then, to everyone's surprise, before Sean could come up with an answer, Drun lifted his head and looked steadily into Remus's eyes.

— I doubt Mr. Relles would agree with you. He'd be saying the same thing than Sean in his age, he'd be on our side.

Remus started and opened his mouth to answer, but couldn't think of anything. He looked at the two boys for a while, realized how determined they were and, suddenly, saw they like twins, with red and messy hair. The giant laughed, a tear streaming from one of his eyes, but now he was looking happy at the boys.

— You're right. Relles will beat me for trying stopped you! After all, he said it was my turn, didn't he? — He turned to Edwin. — Leave them to me. I'll train them.

— Remus, are you sure about that?

— I have, forgot that I trained all the time with my brother even without using the storage? I know very well how to make these boys evolve as quickly as possible. — He turned to the sirion wearing a ponytail. — Jaime, I want your help with Sean, already knew by the captain Jorg that you're a great swordsman.

Jaime nodded and smiled. He never intended to send the boys away. He liked the noisy, lively atmosphere they created.

— As for Drun — continued the giant. — Do you have a spear, don't you have, boy? — Drun agreed, with a shy smile. — Well, if our sublieutenant wants to help me, I'd be grateful.

— I would be honored, Remus. Allyn gave a small nod, placing her right hand on her chest.

— Then we have everything we need. I'll take care of them, Edwin. I promise.

Edwin watches him, then looks at the boys.

— Okay, okay. You win! They'll come with us.

They both jumped and clapped their hands. Eastar smiled and looked toward the road, Aros and Sindar were back with the material for the letter. The white-haired sirion approached them both.

— We'll need for reinforcements, and preferably followed by sea.

— Yes. — Sindar nodded.

— There's one more thing. — Aros crossed his arms.

Edwin raised an eyebrow as Sindar began to write.

— I know how your kingdom is about humans..., but I talked to the princess, and we agreed to ask Herimbor to take refuge from those fleeing the war.

For a moment the soldiers were afraid. Edwin crossed his arms and sighed.

— If your highness agreed, I just hope the king also agree.

— Will he really agree to everything just by letter? — Eastar asked, looking at Sindar, who was writing.

The princess did not look at him, but smiled.

— If there's anyone who knows how to blackmail my dad, it's me.

The lieutenant and the young star looked at each other and swallowed ram dry. Edwin then turned to the merchant, who stood quietly, just watching.

— Ready to your next trip, Mr.Donny?

— Yes sir. — The old man put his hat on his head.

— Great. — Edwin turned to the group. — Now come on, it's time to see some sunshine. I got tired of those colorful lights coming from your eyes.

***

The rest of the group headed down the road. At lunch break, the boys began their classes with Remus, who showed them how to detect their internal energy and use it safely.

On the third day, Eastar rode near Remus.

— I thought you had no storage.

— I had never sought my energy. I never wanted to have it, Eastar. I knew it was there, but I didn't want it to wake up.

— Why not?

— Because fights involving storage and all that power are dangerous, and I never had pleasure with that kind of thing.

— Ah.... — The image of the previous battle took the mind of the stellar, who had to agree. — Still, how can you control it?

— I trained my brother. And he tell me all about it, what was needed and what I should help him with. So I became your student and teacher at the same time.

— So that's why you managed to control yourself like that?

— Do you think I controlled myself? No, my energy woke up because I lost control. That was very risky, if it had happened to any of the boys, I doubt they would be here now. The first times you use this power should be done carefully. I'm still feeling the wear and tear on my body.

— How long have the boys been training?

— Edwin told me they felt the storage about three years ago. It's really impressive, even great storagemen like the lieutenant or Jaime take decades to discover the power, but it also worries me. They are too young, and I'm afraid this youth will disrupt their control.

After hearing this, Eastar looked at the boys, who were ahead, arguing excitedly about crossing the edge of the forest where they had never been before. That was when he saw the end of the forest. A point of light, like a gateway to another world, was formed by the last trees. Eastar stood in the stirrups and raised his arms.

— FINALLY!

His horse shied, relinch and jumped. The young star widened his eyes and cursed as he clung to the animal's neck so to not fall.

— Shh, shh. Alright, boy. I'm sorry. — He patted the still- breathing horse's neck.

Remus and Sindar grabbed their horses, who were also startled, and began to laugh at the star.

— What's it? — Eastar stared at the princess. Can't I be happy for a little light?

— Oh, big boy, you can. Just don't forget to warn the poor horses next time. — She winked one eye to the star, who rolled his.

The rest of the group started laughing too. Eastar tapped his horse's flanks with his heels and stepped in front of the group as he mumbled things about everyone making a fool of himself and making fun of him.

Sindar joined him as they finally left the forest. Her eyes burned, blinked several times, and put a hand to her forehead to shield herself from all that light. Her vision finally got used, and she found herself on the edge of a plateau. Beside her, the star was completely surprised and amazed at what he saw.

The place descended into a grassy valley with sparse trees and shallow, very green foliage. On the left, a waterfall took the sound to his ears, the wind was in his face, and the fresh smell of water came from the river in the valley.

The rest of the group stood beside him.

— Finally! A much better view than we have had in recent days. — Edwin straightened in the saddle.

— It's really beautiful, it's been many years since I last came here. I think it must have been Sean's age — said Sindar.

— Well, the trip is just starting. — The lieutenant turned to all the group who agreed with a nod.