1 A Letter

"Hey! Get back here you punk!"

People stopped what they were doing and looked to where the ruckus was coming from. A middle aged man was running after a hooded boy who was carrying a basket full of fruits that he stole from the man's stall.

The man raised his arms to grab the boy, however the boy was quick as he dodged and ran towards the crowd. Using the crowded marketplace, the boy swiftly escaped the man. He dodged the people in his way, as he looked back to see the man having a hard time making his way towards him due to his large build.

The boy continued to run till he was out of the crowd, he could hear the shouts of annoyance from the man he stole from. His eyes darted around the place till his eyes landed on an alleyway.

The hooded boy cradled the basket in his arms and turned and ran towards the alleyway, the middle aged man stopped in front of the entrance of the alley. It was too narrow for the man, he had a big build so he naturally can't fit in such a narrow space.

The man could only let the boy go, he clenched his fist and spat on the ground, stomping his way back to his stall.

"Damn brat, I'll catch him next time and I'll definitely teach him a lesson.."

— — —

Tap– Tap– Tap–

The boy ran through the wet cobbled floor, going through multiple paths inside the alley. As he turned to walk another path, light could be seen at the end of it. He ran and he came out to find another street in his city, looking around he walked to an isolated part of the area and knocked on a door.

Knock Knock Knock— Screeeech

"You're back?" A blonde boy slightly opened the door, he looked at the hooded boy for a moment before opening the door fully "Come in, hurry."

The hooded boy came in as the blonde boy closed the door while locking it. The blonde boy turned around and faced the hooded boy who placed the basket of fruits on a table.

"I got a little surprise for you Elwin." the hooded boy paused before turning his head towards the blonde, he raised his hand and took off his hood, revealing his face "What is it?" the boy asked.

Now that his hood was off you could finally see his face and features. He had black hair and black eyes, the most common hair and eye color in their country.

However the shade of his hair was somewhat darker and his eyes had a slight shade of blue. Allen smirked and pulled out a letter in his back pocket, he waved it around for a while before handing it over to Elwin.

Elwin looked at Allen and then the letter, he looked at the seal that sealed the letter close. His eyes widened, he looked up at Allen who was smiling. He hurriedly opened the letter and read it. His hand slightly shook as he slowly raised his head to look at Allen.

"Hehe, like my surprise? The recommendation I sent to Kestramore was accepted. You can go to Kestramore by ship in three days."

"This.. when did you..?" Elwin spoke as he stared at the letter in a daze, "You don't need to worry about that, what you need to worry about is getting Aunt Julie to let you go to Kestramore."

"Eh? W-Wait a second–!" Elwin stuttered as Allen pushed the basket of fruits into his arms, "Nope! You should go home now, Aunt Julie might get worried." Allen said as he pushed Elwin out of the house.

"See you later Elwin!" The blonde spoke gleefully as he slammed the door shut on Elwin's face. Elwin stood there dumbfounded, he then sighed as he curled his lips into a smile. "Thank you Allen!" he shouted before he ran away.

Allen stood behind the door, his back against it. He had a small smile on his lips, "Idiot." he whispered before pushing himself up and walking into a different room.

— — —

It was getting late as Elwin arrived at the area he lived in, the place he lived in had no name, it wasn't given a name. Elwin put his hood back up, he walked cautiously in the dark eerie street. Elwin lived in a rural area near the slums, his family was poor so they couldn't afford to stay in their old house. Thankfully, they still manage to earn some money to feed themselves and were able to rent a small run down house in the area. Even though it wasn't much, it's still better than living in the slums.

Elwin avoided some parts of the street as those were where most of the people from the slums stand by, since the people who lived in the slums were people who didn't have any money nor shelter. The only way for them to feed and shelter themselves was to steal from others, so sometimes there will be someone beaten up or killed in the street.

In some cases, the people from his area would join up with the people from the slums to earn some cash to either feed themselves, to gamble, or to buy alcohol. You would see all sorts of fights often in this area, this area was as chaotic as the slums, but maybe less.

Elwin arrived at a run down building, he knocked on the door and spoke, "I'm home!" He could then hear footsteps dashing towards the door.

And as he expected the door slammed open and arms wrapped around him, it was his little sister, Elaina. "You're home, big brother!" her small arms wrapped around his waist as she rubbed her head on his stomach.

Elwin chuckled and raised Elaina up by her armpits and hugged her, Elaina wrapped her arms around his neck and hugged him back. Elwin then let her sit on his forearm, he took off his hood and he looked inside the house to see his two other siblings. "No hugs? Eiden? George?"

Eiden and George looked at each other before walking closer to their older brother, Elwin crouched down and using his free hand, he hugged his little brothers.

"Welcome home." said by both Eiden and George, Elwin smiled "I'm home."

The three pulled away and Elwin put Elaina back down, Elwin then patted the three children's heads. Eiden blinked and pointed at the basket on the ground beside Elwin's feet.

"Brother, what's that?" Elwin smiled and grabbed the basket and ushered the three inside, "It's a present, where's Aunt Julie?"

"I'm right here." Elwin looked forward and saw a red haired woman who was wiping her hands with a towel, "Welcome home El, hurry inside. I made sweet potatoes." the woman smiled.

The woman's gaze landed on the basket in Elwin's hands, "El, what's that in the basket?" Elwin closed the door and walked towards the table and placed the basket on it, he opened it up to reveal delicious red apples.

"Woah?!" The children cried in awe, they had never seen fruits like this before, well they've seen an apple in the past however all of them were black and rotten. This is the first time they're seeing ripe fruits.

"Big brother! Where did you get these?!" shouted George as he reached his hand toward an apple, Elwin stopped George's approaching hand "It's a secret, also you can't eat these yet, we haven't set up the dinner table have we?" Elwin smiled and reminded the children.

"On it!" Eiden, George and Elaina all dashed to the kitchen grabbing plates and tableware. Julie looked concerned as she approached Elwin, she whispered "Where did you get this El? I know you don't have any money to buy apples…"

Elwin had a guilty expression, confirming Julie's suspicions "You stole them, didn't you?" Julie sighed. "I did.. I'm sorry Aunt Julie, but I wanted to give the kids a gift, we haven't given them any presents for their birthday this year so I thought.." Elwin scratched his head.

Julie sighed "Alright, fine. I'll let you off this time, but don't do it again. You might get in trouble if you keep stealing." Julie scolded Elwin "Yes yes, I won't do it again, I promise!" Elwin smiled apologetically.

"Big brother El! Don't just stand there help us with setting up the table!" shouted Elaina who was carrying five forks in her left hand and five spoons in her right hand. "Haha, alright alright. I'm coming!"

Julie laughed and helped George who was carrying the pot of sweet potatoes. Eiden and George helped set up the table as Elwin and Julie distributed the sweet potatoes and apples, Elaina just sat at her seat staring down at her meal.

"Alright everyone let's eat!"

— — —

"Goodnight brother Elwin" Elwin smiled and kissed the foreheads of Elaina, George and Eiden. "Goodnight, sleep well you three." He bid them goodnight and went out of the room.

He saw Julie sitting in the dining room, waiting for him. "Aunt Julie.." Elwin cautiously called out "Yes El." Julie watched Elwin as he sat in front of her.

"I have to tell you something.."