In the rain

Hlora was making dinner that day. After the rest of the crowd had left she had explained their situation to the old man. They were in the midst of moving and everything they had owned was in the cart when they were ambushed by the bandits. She introduced her husband Damien and her son Khamet and requested to stay until they figured out their next step. The old man was not unwelcoming and told them they were welcome to stay as long as they liked. He went as far as to infer that they weren't lacking in space gesturing to the openness of the area. Hlora wanted to make sure that they weren't just freeloaders and offered to do the work that Minerva usually did and was now making dinner.

Her husband had seen this offered to do some of the rougher jobs like taking care of the horse and log splitting but since some were either already done or done using magic they didn't have anything to do and that was when in the afternoon he had the idea of catch some fish in the lake. After a time sitting and waiting they had caught a small one and a large one which were being cooked by his wife and were currently sitting by the fireplace. The mood was quite relaxing compared to the night before. It was raining outside. The sound was almost musical on the roof above despite being muffled by the all wood ceiling. Sitting by the fire could only make anyone envious of their situation. However Damien was worried about something else and had been discussing it with the old man: that was the possibility of the bandits coming after them by following them down the lake.

John was looking at the old man after hearing his response

"Even if they come, I can assure you of your family's safety." off course this was said to assuage Damien's worries and the old man turned to look at the perplexed John. There was a bit of silence and it didn't take long before he noticed that there was quite the activity in the house. Minerva who had practically woken up after John had walked into the room as was even more shocked than John was. The entire time she had lived with the old man it had just been the two of them, and could even go as far as to consider their situation as parent and child so it was quite a change to have this many people in the house. Luckily it was people she was already familiar with.

"What's all the noise about?" she broke the silence referring to John.

"Good you're awake, and still wearing clothes from two days ago, we can talk as we eat clean yourselves up." she said indicating at Johns appearance. Minerva felt like a child being chided especially in front of Khamet and she strode away towards the bath. John didn't know what to do as he waited for his turn. He back to his room grabbed his swords and stepped outside into the rain. He had not practiced that day and this was the first chance he had to with actual swords. He unsheathed it slowly. This was the first time he had done this since the nigh before. He took it in both his hands ans immediately realized something. It weighed the same as the practice sword besides being broken. He returned it and did the same to the long one and held the grip with both hands and true enough it weighed exactly the same. This is magnificent, he thought to himself. He looked at the sword and thought it was dark out side he couldn't help but admire the length of this black blade. He swung it a couple of times and couldn't bring himself to associate the name Hitokiri with such a beautiful swords.

He touched his hand along the length of the sword from the hilt to the tip and cut his finger drawing some blood. Feeling this slight pain he could tell blood was flowing and put his finger in his mouth, the taste of blood filling it. He looked at the sword once before wanting to sheathe it but then it started to glow red. He panicked. Am I going to die, he thought about the peculiar nature of the sword especially the hunger for souls as explained by the old man and just as he was about to drop the sword he heard it. That same voice from his first night. He couldn't understand anything it said then and he didn't even now. But the voice itself was like a temptress. There was only one word to describe the sounds he heard: angelic. He could already picture the voice behind the voice.

He looked around and he seemed to be transported to a vast open white space and a woman sat on a throne like chair in front of him. She had long silver hair that reached her feet and rolled into a neat pile around her making him think of Rapunzel. He skin was pale and she seemed incandescent. He eyebrows were white and her eyes were blood red and slit eyed like a cat especially in the brightness of the room. He was just standing in the rain and now he was already dry and quite clean. He looked at her as she stood and walked towards him. She wore a white floor length robe but exposed her shoulders. There was a gentleness in the way she walked, slow yet rhythmic.

She circled him once and now her hair formed a circle around his feet and she now stood right in front of him. She was about half a head shorter than he and she looked younger too. Whether this was true was yet to be revealed.

"Don't worry young boy, I am not going to eat you," she said in old tongue. He could surprisingly understand her and this eased his worry.

"Welcome, I am the voice of the soul and this is my domain." she said and did a small curtsy.

"Is that your actual name? It's a bit mouthy." John said nervous.

"You are a rather fascinating creature, that's the first question you ask, you are not from around here are you?" John looked at her and shook his head. She started to walk towards the chair and halfway there she turned around. John looked at the floor and the strangest thing was that instead of her hair tangling up at his feet it moved in the same perfect circle as it was.

"You are my master, you can name me whatever you like."

"How about Ann."

"Oh come on i don't want such a mundane name, you gave that spirit the name Fireball, surely you can do better."

"Fine, Nora." he said after some thought. She seemed pleased and walked over to her chair and sat down once again.

"I am allied to you and you only and now we are sealed by blood. Our connection runs as deep as the soul. This means when you die I die."

"WHAT!? Are you serious." John was shocked.

"No, I'm only Joking," she said and chuckled and then she got up and moved towards him again. John's shoulders relaxed. "But I am serious, the sword will shatter and cannot be repaired."

What a roller coaster, John thought.

"I'd love to ride one of those."

"Are you trying to read my mind?" John stared at her.

"I told you we are connected. I see what you see, I feel what you feel, I know what you know and right now you should probably get back into the house or you'll be sick." John was shocked and couldn't show any reaction as she kissed him and he was brought back to reality. He was in the rain and Minerva was calling him from the door. He had completely forgotten the reason he was outside. The sword was back to being black. He looked at it again, sheathed it quickly and then ran into he house.

"What were you doing? I've been calling you for a while, your bath is ready and Hlora is done with food so hurry up."

"I was-uh-meditating" he could only come up with a flimsy excuse and rushed to the bath.

EVERYONE was sitting by the small kitchen table which seemed rather cramped. Fish was the meal on the table. Khamet was too pleased to sit next to John who was now undoubtedly his hero now.

"Thank you for your hospitality." Damien said.

"Thank your wife for this food, Its amazing." and it was amazing. "You can stay here as long as you like, you can even extend the house to have a place to stay, these two are leaving soon and its quite nice to have people around."

"We're leaving? Again?" Minerva asked, this was news to her. "Where are we going?"

"Ask him, even I don't know." he pointed at John with his fork. "I'll only lead you part of the way. You'll be shocked"

"What are we talking about?" John could sense the tension building.

"I was just telling her that she will be accompanying you home."

"Oh." he said and continued eating.

"You knew about this," she asked John.

"Well I assumed he asked you," John unknowingly shifted the blame, "Anyway you scoffed at me when I told you about my home now you can actually see it."