Mister Cole!

--Faith's Perspective--

This guy... seemed okay, but another feeling in my body told me to be wary of him.

Dani was about to leak Dad out to him, which was a bad decision, considering everything I knew. I was there to face Fico and Eirikr, and I know that spreading his name would lead to misfortune.

Fico already seems to be at a heavy standard for Dad, hating him with all of her beings, and I couldn't help but think that there are others like her.

For a guy who just randomly appeared in the forest, I didn't trust him one bit... but, this was my strategy all along. Sort of.

Ruby said to bring all new people to her, so I would listen and bring this one to her as well... but I'll tell her to keep quiet about Sky around him. I get a bad feeling about this guy...

Well, I shouldn't be so annoyed with him. We just met, and it's possible that he could be a valuable asset. I'll try being nice to him.

"So, Mister Cole, where do you come from? You never told us." I asked him. I watched his body language closely.

Ruby was teaching me how to tell if people are lying or hiding something based on body language. Like, whether he plays with his hands, hides his dominant one, or avoids eye contact. I would watch these things closely.

"From a faraway place. Truth be told, I'm not really sure what kind of place this is. I'm exploring as you're showing me around. If you don't mind me asking... where are we?" Cole asked.

"Antarctica. Do you know that much at least?" Dani interrupted our discussion, and Cole nodded with an uncomfortable stance. He was disrupted by her tone.

"Sorry, it seems that I'm still under suspicion," Cole suggested. I nodded, meeting with some of the guards by the front gate.

There were two stone towers that were at the border of a large moat, sitting above and watching down. The drawbridge between the two of them started to shift in position.

"Hey Faith! Who are these two?" I heard one of the guards say. I did meet all of the guards with Ruby, but I hardly remembered any of the names.

"This is Dani! She lives here with me! And this is Cole! Can you get Ruby out here? I want her to check him!" I yelled out to the guard.

He nodded and moved as fast as he could down the staircase beside him. I gave a thumbs-up to the other guard and turned back toward Dani and Cole.

Dani had Cole pinned down onto the ground, her hand clasped tightly around his throat.

"Woah! Dani, that's no way to treat him!" I yelled out to her. I saw her with her black eye... The Eye of Providence. She was wielding it and staring right at his head.

"I see Strands and a shit load of them. Tell me why you have them, and who you are." Dani said.

"Okay! Okay! Fine, I will!" Cole said, surrendering his cover. What had he been hiding from us?

"I got them from my Dad! He gave them to me and it made me stronger! I was meant to defend my family home from any danger! How many strands is it? I didn't know I had a lot!" Cole screamed out.

I didn't sense any lies from him, but Dani shook her head.

"Bullshit. This is on par with... me..." Dani said, saving her comment about Dad's strands.

"Why do you have an eye that can see strands?! Isn't that a fair question to be had as well?!" Cole shouted out again.

"I'm not the suspicious one here, it doesn't matter where I got it from. Would you have come clean about these strands if I didn't have this eye? I think that's a fair question as well." Dani said to him. She finally let go of his throat and kept a close eye on him.

"Sure, it would be a fair question if I knew I had that many! Come on, a few strands is nothing. Everybody has some, right?" Cole asked us, brushing dust off of his clothing.

"Sorry about the weight. Nice to meet you, I'm Ruby, the leader of Zealous. And you are?" Ruby asked Cole finally.

I didn't even notice the drawbridge fall down to our level.

"I'm Cole, and I was just apprehended by that feisty girl, Dani." He mentioned playfully. Dani wasn't impressed, but Ruby laughed.

"I was too, don't worry. Anyway, do you mind if I check you for weapons?" Ruby asked.

"All good, I do have a knife in my right pocket, but it's for skinning." Cole said. He motioned his head to see if it was okay to pick it up, and slowly put it down on the ground, kicking it off to Ruby's side.

"Thanks. Anything else?" She asked him, to which he shook his head. Ruby then closed the distance and patted his body down.

"All good then. Alright, follow me, I'll show you where you'll be sleeping." Ruby stated. I quickly ran over to Ruby and slightly pushed her away from Cole, borrowing her ear for a moment.

"Don't say Dad's name. Keep him away from everybody." I whispered to her.

"So, don't tell him! I don't want his presence to be ruined!" I said out loud to make everybody think that the whispers were for something innocent.

"Fine, I won't! Okay, this way, Cole." Ruby said. Her course had shifted from our group home to another place by the barracks, and I was interested to see where he would be.

"Just for safety precautions, we do have to put you in a cell, but you'll be watched and monitored if you ever need anything. It's not really a prison, it's more like an insurance for our people. I trust that you're safe, but just in case, I want to be sure." Ruby explained to Cole.

"Oh, I completely understand, I would be weary as well. Okay, so just walk on in?" Cole happily asked.

He walked down a slight stone staircase and into a cell with weird metal bars around it. It didn't appear to be metal... not a traditional one, anyway.

"Ruby, what is that metal?" I asked her.

"Mahina Metal, to shut out strands. That is all of our cells." She stated.

Well... that was weird, considering that Dad used his strands to break down his on multiple occasions. I don't think he should've been able to do that... right?