The Smile

After their meeting with Rholdrin had come to an end, the group left the building and made their way back to where they were staying.

Evran mulled over on what Milfsilla had discussed with the general. They were going to march over into Mariin and attack fort Ista in three days time. It was not a whole lot of time to prepare, especially since most of the troops were still recovering from the previous battle. However, Mariin had also taken its fair share of damage with them being down a couple hundred soldiers and a few Knights. That meant there wouldn't be many defenders left at Fort Ista, which Milfsilla wanted to take advantage of.

"Evran."

He jumped slightly in surprise hearing his name being called out and saw Milfsilla standing in front of him, staring at him with those piercing blue eyes once again.

"Sorry, I spaced out for a second."

"It's alright." She smiled warmly at him. "You seemed apprehensive earlier, is everything alright?"

He shrugged. "Yeah…it's just, I didn't really know if fighting for you was right. To tell you the truth, I don't like the idea of killing anymore syrn."

Evran noticed a small frown slowly creep up on her face. "I mean, I'll still fight for you, because you need me, but…"

"What happened to your conviction when we first met, Evran? You said that you didn't care if you had to fight against your own kind."

"Well, a recent altercation with another syrn has been rather eye opening for me. It made me think a lot about my actions."

Milfsilla came closer and put a hand on his shoulder. "Look, I do understand your hesitation in fighting, but you do have to know; What you are a part of, it is for the greater good of us all."

She paused, looking deep into his eyes. "You do trust me, right?"

He took a moment to consider her words.

"Yes, Milfsilla, I trust you."

"Good." She gave him one last smile before turning away from him.

A moment later, Dyrk snuck up from behind Evran.

"What was that about?" he asked curiously.

"She was just checking up on me. Come, let's not fall behind everyone else."

As they walked along together, Evran wanted to know the reason why Dyrk was fighting for Milfsilla so willingly. He had seemed to relish every kill he got during the battle, but now considering that Evran knew that he was a good guy, he had to know why.

"Dyrk, why did you join Milfsilla's army?"

Dyrk halted for a second and considered his response. When he spoke, his voice sounded sadder than usual.

"So, you want to know huh? Well, a couple years back my village was decimated by two people. They showed up suddenly out of nowhere and slaughtered the villagers without any provocation whatsoever. My parents..." His tone grew quieter, "...they made me, and my siblings hide in a closet while they went outside to see what was happening. Minutes later the door opened back up, so I peered through the crack of the closet. But it wasn't my parents who I saw enter the room; instead, I saw them. A syrn man and a tanned skinned shirtless man. At that moment I wanted to hide so bad that I materialised my Centrum sword then. But I didn't know what I had back then, so they found us and dragged us out..."

Evran noticed anger seep into Dyrk's voice as he continued speaking.

"The only reason I survived was because they wanted to keep me alive for some reason. I remember one of them saying I was lucky that I had the sword. So, after they left me as the sole survivor of the village, I swore that I'll take revenge on them both. Seeing that one of them was syrn, I believe that they were a part of Mariin, and thankfully Milfsilla has given me this opportunity to fight against them."

Evran nodded as he listened.

"I see...and what about Marie then? Is she also fighting for revenge?"

"Marie? I don't really know. She doesn't talk much about herself. But I do suspect that It's something tragic though."

They arrived back at their tents soon after and said their goodbyes as they split up to rest. Now finding himself free with time, Evran decided that he'd go check up on the bull, Mr Betty.

He walked to the edge of camp and eventually arrived at an open field where a makeshift pen had been erected. The fence around it was made from logs set upright across each other with rope strung between them. Inside, there stood the huge black bull, its red eyes taking notice of Evran.

Mr. Betty began walking towards him, stopping when his head peered over the fence.

"Hey, how you are doing?" Evran asked as he outstretched his arm and scratched him behind the ear.

Betty whined loudly in response, clearly enjoying the attention.

"Are you hungry? Don't worry I'll make you some food."

Evran turned around to gather some food, but stopped dead in his tracks as he noticed what was in front of him. K'thlara stood there with arms folded across her chest, as she watched him intently.

"Damn. You scared me." Evran said as he chuckled nervously.

K'thlara looked at him, her lips pursed in annoyance. Of all the people Evran had met in the camp so far, she was probably the most intimidating one to him. She never laughed or smiled; she only ever glared or looked angry. It was unnerving and it made him feel like if he even accidentally brushed past her, she would rip him apart.

"So, what do you want?"

It was quick, but Evran did notice that her eyes glanced to the side ever so quickly. He followed her gaze and spotted a metallic bucket strewn to the side.

"Oh! So, you want to feed him, right?"

Evran grabbed the bucket and placed it on the ground.

"Come, help me fill this bucket with dirt. I'll turn it into to grain then."

As he started putting handfuls of dirt into the bucket, K'thlara hadn't moved from her spot. Her face remained expressionless as she stared down at him.

"Oh, come on, the least you can do is help me fill the bucket."

begrudgingly, she stepped forward and knelt beside Evran. With her hands, she scooped up fistfuls of dirt and added them to the bucket. Once it was full, Evran stood up and dusted off his hands.

"Alright, watch this."

Evran gathered essence into his palm and injected it into the contents of the bucket. Instantly the dirt transformed into budding grains of wheat.

K'thlara broke her silence as she leaned closer. "How?"

"So, you can talk huh? I just imagined it turning it into grain and injected it with my essence. That's how it usually works."

He then picked up the bucket and handed it to her. As she took it, her eyes widened slightly.

"Go on, feed him."

"I can't. I'll scare him."

"You won't, Betty doesn't scare easily."

Seeing that she was still hesitating, Evran sighed and grabbed hold of her arm and urged her closer to the fence.

The moment she was close enough, Betty lowered his head into the bucket and began eating away.

"Hold it tight, he gets pretty violent sometimes."

The warning though seemed to go over her head as she watched the bull in amazement.

"He...doesn't get scared." She whispered.

Evran's face scrunched up in confusion, "Is he supposed to be scared?"

"Yes, he should. And you, do you not feel frightened?"

"By you? Nah not really. But you are quite intimidating."

She nodded. "That is a relief."

After Betty finished his meal, the bull raised his head and tilted it to the side. His large ears flapped expectantly.

"He likes to be scratched after he's had his meal," Evran explained. "Here, reach behind his ear and scratch gently."

With wide eyes, K'thlara did as told and reached out her hand behind his ear. Betty didn't react at first, but slowly he closed his eye in pleasure. He stomped a hoof onto the ground before letting out a deep rumble.

"See, he loves being scratched!"

Surprisingly, for the first time since they met, K'thlara smiled. An infectious smile that seemed to spread over to Evran too.