Village of the Sandy Dunes (3)

"Dear, before we head out to meet Rahim, I have to tell you something very important." Hissa's sudden words had Lynch somewhat anxious.

"What is it?" Lynch questioned back, feeling a dark sense of foreboding coming from the rather mature woman. "Is it… is it something bad?"

A cough in the middle made Hissa soften her eyes at the young boy, before kneeling down and bringing him into a hug.

"Nothing too bad, I assure you." Hissa's gentle strokes through his dirty-blond hair managed to relax the anxious boy. "It's about some of the villagers here."

Breathing in and out deeply, Lynch gently wiggled out of Hissa's hug, looking at her straight in the eyes. "What about it?"

A slight frown broke through her lips.

"Your skin." The revelation made Lynch freeze. "You remember what little Hasana called you before running off?"

"A ghost?" Lynch reflected, beginning to see why the small girl referred to him as a ghost. He doubted that the girl had seen any kind of person with white skin in this god-forsaken desert.

"Yes, a ghost." Hissa turned and looked out the slightly ajar door, into the scorching sand where the harsh rays of the sun made their descent. "The parents here tell stories about ghosts to their young ones to keep them in line."

"What's so dangerous… dangerous about being called a ghost then?" Another cough in the middle, but Lynch was able to question Hissa before going silent.

"Within normal context, a ghost in a children's story is just that, a figment of imagination." Hissa turned back to Lynch, her dark-brown eyes bearing down on him. "In the village's context, the so-called 'ghosts' are those from the neighboring country."

At the reveal, Lynch felt his breath hitch. He may not be that smart, but he knows just how grave the situation is.

'Fuck, I'm in a village where racists are living.' Lynch stared at the brown woman in front of him. A minor nagging feeling in the back of his head made itself known, telling him to flip her the bird and run off before being subjected to who knows what kind of discriminatory actions.

He shoved that nag, threw it into the abyss, and deleted it from his memory.

'No, I can't do that to her.' Lynch shook his head from side to side, causing Hissa to raise an eyebrow at the sudden action. 'She, Asad, Kareem, Rahim, and Hasana all seem like good people. I can't let a few bad apples ruin the image I have of them.'

"W-why…?" His voice came out a little shaky. Understanding welled up within Hissa, who patted Lynch on the head.

"It's okay, I'll make sure they won't hurt you." Hissa gently whispered into his ear. She gave him a peck on the forehead before retreating slightly from the boy. "As for why, they're…"

Hissa trailed off, incredibly uncomfortable with relaying this kind of information to a child. Said child looked a bit smart for his age, but a child is still a child.

The piercing gaze Lynch had on her, however, helped her make her decision.

"They're conquerors." Hissa stated, making Lynch freeze once again. "They invade the land and enslave those still alive after the battle."

"… Those that hate… hate my skin color are… are those that survived, aren't they?" This time, there was no cough in between. Lynch's fair skin began to pale to an even more unhealthy shade of white, creating no small amount of concern within the mature woman kneeling in front of him.

"It's okay." Hissa pulled Lynch into her bosom, allowing the young boy to feel her pumping heart. "I'm here. I'll protect you from them if they do anything… untoward."

Feeling warmth spreading across his body, Lynch felt himself melt into the hug, his two arms slowly circling around the woman's slender back.

After a few minutes of hugging, and with Lynch's cough slightly coming back after the whole exposition, the two of them exited the house and into scorching sand.

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Lynch didn't notice it before since he was preoccupied by Hissa tugging him along and soaking in the arid scenery, but now that Hissa has expressly instructed him to be alert, he could feel some looks cutting through him.

A quick glance around him made him see some of the villagers milling about and glaring at him like some kind of beast, ready to be butchered. The intense rays of the sun from the clear skies make it much more difficult to notice them out in the open. Of course, only about one out of ten of them could be seen openly glaring at him, but he didn't know about those who were hiding…

Or those who were glared at by Hissa before scampering off like a kicked puppy.

'I guess she wasn't all talk.' Tightening his grip on Hissa's hand, to which she replied with a firm grip of her own, the two of them trekked through the sweltering village.

It wasn't long before they reached their destination. Rahim's house wasn't anything different from Hissa's. In fact, Lynch dare says that most of the houses in the village looked pretty much the same.

Except for the big house at the middle. The young boy theorized that Kareem lived there based on the fact that he was called Elder by Hissa yesterday.

"Oh, you're here!" Lynch was shaken out of his thoughts by Rahim, who was hauling a hand basket full of…

'Okay, that looks disgusting…' Lynch cringed at the basket filled to the brim with unknown plants that looked like they had died almost a decade ago.

"Thank you for doing this, Rahim." Hissa said with a beaming smile.

"No problem, Hissa." Rahim opened the door and placed the basket on the ground just next to the slightly ajar door. "Can't have the kid keeling over when he works the field."

"… Understandable." Lynch nodded at the point of Rahim's words, prompting the young man to grin.

Didn't make the plants look any better, though.

"See? Even the kid gets it." Rahim walked toward Lynch and patted him on the head.

'What's with people patting me on the head anyway?' The young boy questioned in his mind. 'Is this what it feels like for those kinds of fictional characters?'

"Anyway, get in." Rahim motioned for the two to get inside. "It's damn hot outside, and I may be a desert man, but I like cool and shady over the desert anytime of the day.

Hissa chuckled at the young man's grumbling while Lynch just blinked, before the two of them followed Rahim inside.

"I'll brew him up a potion in just a few minutes. In the meantime, you can take a rest in the living room."

As Hissa and Lynch made their way inside, Lynch's mind went blank for a moment, before rebooting.

'Did Rahim just say potions?'