Tell us about yourself...

"How.... How did you get here in such a short time….?!"

"I have excellent friends who are swift and can travel long distances without difficulties. And sometimes, we travel for days together resting only to eat and drink." These casual words from Alan rendered them speechless.

Instead of doubting Alans words they accepted it. Rather, Kristina accepted it but the other two had difficulty digesting his words. "Can we meet those friend of yours.?" Duke Ravenheart asked Alan in curiosity and with a slightly doubtful look.

"Why not, we can meet them after lunch, your grace."

After lunch, Alan took them to the stable and brought his long term friend, The Trouble Maker out. Everyone watched the tall, muscular and Majestic Black horse in awe!

"This is my old friend "The Trouble Maker." He is with me since I was 10 years old."

"What?! Trouble Maker???" Everyone were taken aback by the name. But Kristina laughed.

Smiling ,Alan recalled the incident that named the Horse as "The Trouble Maker." "Since then, the name stuck to him as he never answered to any other names."

Everyone laughed and shook their head in amusement.

"I am going to call my second friend. She .... ah..... is an exotic and rare one. Please don't panic." Then he wistled, and a huge black predator beast appeared behind Alan after a few seconds.

Dyna screamed in shock and the Duke also took a few steps back holding his terrified wife and he was terrified himself. He suddenly halted his movement and stood like a statue. Afraid if he moved further the beast might attack him.

"Relax everyone, she is my friend and also friends to those whom I think are my friends. This is Blacky. I once healed her mother and after that we were fortunate enough to find her again with a baby and spent some time in the Misty mountains. After that, she decided to travel with me for some time."

"What....!!!!! Healing a beast?! And, did you say, you were inside the Misty Mountains!!?" The Duke looked gobsmacked and Dyna was clutching her chest with one hand and covering her mouth with another. Even though Kristina didn't knew much about Misty Mountains, she had heard that it was one of the dangerous places in the entire world.

The beast started to lick his ear and neck like a house cat which made others jaw drop. After watching Alan play with his friends for a couple of minutes, they all left and got back inside, as Dyna was still weak and need to take rest.

They all sat inside the reading room and the maids served them with herbal tea and medicine to Maya.

Alan, tell us about yourself... Kristina asked again eagerness clearly visible on her face.

Alan smiled and started to narrate his story.... ...

" My grandmother, a renowned healer in our region found me when I was an infant. I grew up with her alone in an isolated area and when I turned 10, my grandfather's friend, his adopted brother took us away from our home with him to live with his family. Then I met my first friend, my brother, Williams...."

Alan spoke briefly about how he met his brothers, his friends and how they all decided to travel around the world.

All three listened to his story with wrapped attention. It was nothing short of a fairy tale for them. He talked and talked for hours. Once started, Alan was unable to stop talking about his brother's, his family and his friends.

He missed them so much. Even though he could have teleported to his home anytime he wanted, he never did. He felt like it would be cheating as his brothers would not be able to travel like him. He occasionally visited his family estate to keep an eye on the situation but, avoided meeting anyone.

By the time he came to the part where he met with Kristina, the sky had almost turned dark outside. They saw the sad and longing look on Alan's face.

Kristina knew, Alan missed his family and his brothers. She felt sad not to have enjoyed that kind of bonding between siblings. She was the only daughter to her Parents and hardly had any friends to whom she could confide her feelings due to her standing in the society. They had their dinner and went to sleep early that night.