Lights in the Shadows

The rooster's crow tears through the silent countryside's fields in the early morning.

A ray of light slips through the creeks of an old wooden shutter and casts an annoying glare on a boy's resting face.

To avoid the annoying mourning reminder he turns away from the window, just to sleep a few more minutes. But his rest is abruptly interrupted when the door of his room is suddenly, violently opened.

"Draaale! It's morning! Let's go!"

Yells out a kid with all the youthful excitement one would expect from someone his age, yet to face the hardships of life, still to understand the unfairness of life.

"Let me sleep a little more"

Murmurs the wheat-blonde haired young man, his sky blue eyes still hidden beneath his heavy eyelashes.

"Come on Drale! You promised you would accompany me to the market today"

"Like hell I am, ask your sister"

Replies the young man as he covers his head with the white sheets. A second figure enters the scene behind the kid.

"Drale get up. You know your Alya must go to work. You either bring Thale to see the market or you immediately go help your father harvest the fields, he's already out working next to the mill"

"Fine, let's go, Thale. Let me at least wash my face"

Says the brother as he slowly gets up from the bed and walks out of the house, towards the water well. Reluctantly he lets a bucket fall in the shaft, the noisy splash helps him wake up and, as he pulls the rope, the robust muscles of his athletic build flex and contract. After years of hard labour and intense physical strain his body is now well tempered and his sheer strength impressive even among his peers.

Drale looks at himself in the reflection of the limpid water inside of the bucket, still lost in the same thoughts he had the previous night. Still wondering if he will just wither away in this God's forsaken village; or if he will ever experience something new, maybe a voyage, maybe a pilgrimage, maybe an adventure.

Yes, maybe an adventure. One of those that he only heard about, one of those that the rumored Adventurers take part in.

In his mind he tries to picture what an adventurer would look like: strong, kind, brave, maybe a noble, or maybe a noble heart. Truth be told, he never saw an adventurer.

His village is too insignificant to even have the attention of monsters or bandits. All he knows from the outside world is from the old Granny, a retired merchant who went all around the empire and saw all sorts of things. Thinking about the old Granny reminded him that she had a small stand at the market.

"Maybe if I meet her I could ask her to tell me again one of her stories"

Lowly says Drale, his spirit now a bit more relieved looking forward to meet her. Smiling and grinning at the prospect of hearing a nice tale before harvesting the fields later in the morning, the young man waits for his little brother outside of the house.

"Here you are"

Before leaving their mother comes to the front door to give them a piece of bread each as breakfast and kisses her precious children on the forehead.

"Remember to be home by mid morning, your father needs help"

"Sure mom, we'll see you later"

After waving goodbye the two set off for the main road. On their way the two walk down a narrow gravel path that leads to a nicer paved road, as they near the village they greet passersby here and there or old ladies nodding down from the windows.

"you wanna see the market? This is your chance!"

"Yay, the market! Can we buy something new?"

Asks the kid without a care in the world. His brother looking at him with a compassionate smile replies:

"Can't you wait after the harvest? In Two days I promise I will buy you whatever you want"

Drale tries to reason, knowing the unstable financial situation of his family.

"But the market won't be back for a month!"

"Don't worry, instead of the market I will take you to Gib's toy shop, allright?"

"Ok! But you promise, whatever I want!"

"Yes, sure. Whatever you want"

As the sun is yet to fully rise over the hilly orizion the two brothers decide to go and pay a visit to a friend, while waiting for the market to start.

As they walk around the streets of the small village they reach yet another insignificant-looking wooden house.

Drale walks up to the door and knocks three times. From inside the house various noises and voices can be heard; after what could be interpreted as a heated but brief discussion finally footsteps are getting closer to the door.

"Who's there?"

Asks a timid and sweet female voice, so low to be barely hearable from the outside.

"Hey Serah. It's Drale and Thale, can we come in?"

After knowing the identity of the unexpected visitors the young woman opens the door and greets them properly. With a fine gesture she invites them to come inside, to have breakfast with her family, at the very least.

"Drale! You damn bastard! How dare you try to hit on my sister!"

Shouts a young man having breakfast in the living room, with him the older brother and their parents smile and wave in their direction.

"I'm not even trying Guz, I already conquered her!"

Exclaims Drale with a cocky smile. Looking back confidently winking at the girl, making her blush and distort her gaze. With a quick excuse Serah leaves the room to avoid any more misunderstandings and awkward moments.

As the door to the kitchen closes the whole room bursts out laughing. The two guests sit at the table and have breakfast together with Guz's family; with jokes and laughter the mood quickly lightens, so much so that Drale is, at least for this moment, distracted from his imminent work in the fields.

"So you are going to the market right?"

"Oh yeah, wonna tag along?"

Replies Drale, his mouth still half full from the food kindly offered.

"Yeah, why not. Raul, want to come as well?"

Asks Guz to his older brother.

"Sure, just let me know when you are ready"

Having finished the meal Drale thanks Guz's parents for the food and asks for Serah to say goodbye, but the girl is too embarrassed to kiss him on the cheek as it's usual and just waves at him with her hand, before running back to her room.

Exiting the house Drale notices that time flew by rather quickly and that they should hurry up to the market, before it's time for him and Thale to go back home.

As the four of them near the village square they notice signs of something unusual. The streets are rather empty for the market day and an eerie quietness envelopes the usually chaotic morning, nevertheless they keep walking. As they turn a corner they can now see from the distance the place of the market; but there's no stand in sight, no merchant yelling out, no buyer looking for deals.

But there's a big crowd, forming a circle with something in the middle. As they get close enough Raul makes out the shapes.

"There's someone in the middle of the square, it's someone on a horse…"

---

But in a nearby county, away from wheat fields and wooden houses, stranger to hardship and poverty a girl gazes at the room's ceiling.

She just woke up and after a loud yawn she calls for the maids. From the door two women enter the room, one moves to attend to their lady, the other moves the curtains letting a ray of light hit the brownish-green eyes of the girl, blinding her for a moment. With a swift gesture of her hand she commands the young maid to move back the curtains.

Few minutes later a cart full of delicious sweets and drinks enters the room. The picky eater analyzes and carefully chooses what to have for breakfast. Picking only the most refined and flagrant sweets she concludes her meal with a cup of black tea with a spoon of honey from the east.

Now fully awoken she gets up from her bed and sits on an elegant chair in front of a gold enriched mirror. With an elegant movement of her arm she makes the two maids leave the room.

Now alone she takes a moment to look at herself in the mirror. Long Brown beautiful hair, captivating eyes full of life and wit, refined pose and manners and an athletic physique she gained by practicing daily horse riding and fencing.

A man enters the room.

"Good morning Ortens"

"Ohh, good morning to you my dear Juliyva. Have you been sleeping well?"

"Yes, thank you"

"So my dear, have you already made up your mind for this fine morning?"

"Same as usual"

As per her wish the man starts dressing the girls' hair and applying makeup on the soft skin, singing a lovely tune he entertains his lady with the latest gossip of the palace and rumors from the city.

Everything he tells her paints a smile on her pretty face but she easily spots, after years of knowing him, the hints Ortens lets out when he tries to hide something unpleasant from the girl.

"Well, this is all nice and good, but how about you now tell me what you are hiding"

"Oh my dear! How could I hide something from you?"

Juliyva doesn't even need to reply to break the man's act. All she does is turn her head towards him and look straight in his eyes.

"All right! All right! I'll tell you! Please don't kill me"

Says the man honestly scared.

"Sometimes you can be a real bitch"

Lowly mumbles immediately after.

"What was that?"

"Oh nothing dear"

After a long and deep silent stare between the two, they burst out laughing, they keep joking around for a while but eventually the question resurfaces.

"Allright, now tell me what's really going on"

"... Dear, sometimes it's best for you to not know …"

Juliyva, taken by surprise by the honesty of the man's words, is left speechless. Never has Ortens replied in such a manner, never has his trusty friend refused to tell her something.

Left wondering about what's so important to keep it secret from her, the count's daughter, the girl could be seen silently contemplating for the whole morning. She was so lost in her thoughts that on numerous occasions servants stopped their biddings and teachers their lectures just to ask Juliyva if she was feeling well, if anything was bothering her.

All morning she can't think of anything else, all morning she thinks of what they could be hiding from her.

Finally at noon, nearing lunch, the girl finally senses an opportunity to know the truth. As soon as she is called to come to the table she rushes to her seat, surprising everyone, as she is usually the last to join for the meal.

Seeing her eat with an uncanny voracity her father asks:

"Is there something July?"

"What?"

"Is there something bothering you Juliyva?"

Says the Count intrigued and somewhat scared to ask.

"Uh noth-"

"I bet she found yet another good-looking guy to leave heartbroken after a couple of weeks, as usual"

"Shut up, Quill. That happened only four times."

Harshly replies the girl to the young man sitting on her side.

"No! It was five! I remember well!"

Adds the little girl on her other side. Despite the young age, little Cecil is very sharp when it comes to her sister's relations with boys.

"Juliyva, respect your older brother. He's much more regarded than you. And you, mister, stop bothering your sister every time"

Says the mother. After a short moment of silence Marya asks again the older daughter what's the reason for the unexpected behaviour. Understanding she could not delay the question to after the meal as she originally planned, the girl stands up and speaks.

"Dad, Mom, what are you hiding from me? I know something important happened yesterday but you don't want to tell me!"

The count, who until that very moment had a bright smile on his weary face, drops the facade, leans back on his chair and takes a long, deep breath.

"I wanted to tell you all about it, but I needed the right words and right moment"

This sudden seriousness alarms everyone, Juliyva and Quill are both taken aback as no one was prepared for such a reaction from their father, who always takes even the most serious of matters with a light heart. They both stare in silence as they wait for the answer.

"Fine. I'm going straight to the point"

"We are going to war. And you Quill, you will be an officer in the cavalry"