CHAPTER 2: A CURIOUS NOBLEMAN

Impatiently tapping the sole of his shoe into the hard wooden floorboard, a young man is sitting in a small brightly lit room. Sitting in front of him, there is only a dining table and a dark skinned woman with her hands tied by a chain sitting across. This young woman, judging by her short stature and looks seems to be no older than 20. Her skin is dark gray as if the colour of the night sky with golden spots on her skin glistening as if the stars were etched on her body. Slowly, she began to regain her consciousness.

"Finally, Good morning my lady." Arno, The young guy who has been waiting for a long time smirks and playfully mocks the girl.

"What? What is this? WHO THE HELL ARE YOU?." The girl screams and forcefully tries to break the chain on her hands. All of her effort seems to be useless as the chains only made loud clanking noises.

"Stay calm, explanation is in order. Try to relax for now."

"Yeah? Really? Why don't you take off these chains and I will show you how relaxed I am."

"Wow, a threat from Ash-Tasheena herself." The man exaggeratedly gasped. "I must be lucky."

"Yeah, say what you want. You will not be smiling after I–, wait, what did you just call me?"

"Ash-Tasheena, that's what the locals call you right? The noble ghost of Aizdihar. I know a lot about you."

The dark skinned girl went silent for a few seconds. Her heart beats faster than it should. Especially after she hears that name. There is anger and shame swirling inside her head. Her patient is running thin as her eyes try to assess the situation around her. She cannot find a single darkness in this room. All of the dancing lights from the lantern are positioned overlapping with each other to minimize any shadow created. Whoever this guy is, he seems to be prepared to prevent her from escaping.

"You know, as the esteemed Ash-Tasheena, I always imagined you to be more of a noble gentleman, or a refined lady, or even an eccentric old man that loves to help people. Never once did I think that it would be a girl like you. A nightchild to add. Imagine how I felt when I saw you walk into that room. I am shocked." Arno continues to speak.

"No, I am the one being shocked. You bastard." The girl glares and snickers at him. "Now what? you presumably managed to caught the menace that terrorize the city. Let's assume that you are correct. What will you do now? Put me in prison?"

"I also wonder the same. What should I do with you? A prison is out of the question though. You will be coming out of that place even before anyone notices that you've been there. And honestly, I don't even care about what you have done. The only one you terrorize is the fat lazy noble who kept their wealth for themselves after all. Like hell I would care if they lost a few pocket money." Arno stood up from his chair and walked around the room. "I caught you to make a point at first. To prove myself. Now that I've seen you in person, I have an idea in mind."

The girl tilted her head slightly and stared at the man. The man in front of him is a tall lanky gentleman with a slicked back undercut ashy black hair. Unlike the locals, his skin is soft peachy white that shimmers under the dancing lantern lights. He is wearing a velvet three piece suit and carries a cane in his hand. She cannot help but wonder. Judging from his appearance and demeanor, the young man who stands in front of him must be one of the rich azdhaka in the city.

"Just that? You stand in the way of justice just to make a point?"

"Justice? Please, what you just did can hardly be called justice. What you are targeting at that museum is a decoy set by me anyway. If you do help me though, it will be a different story."

"My help? Why would an azdhaka like you need my help?" The girl cautiously assesses the situation.

"Azdhaka? that is rude." The young man was taken aback when he heard that word. "With all due respect, I was born here. My mother is one of the locals."

"Same difference. The blood of my people in your vein did not make you less of an asshole."

"Touché, I will not argue on that, but that word is a remnant of the past. I admit what our ancestors did to your people was cruel indeed, but their intentions were good. They came to help your people realize the potential of their land. I am sorry that they ended up as an oppressor who brings sorrow to the city. They should have known better. We should have known better. But we have changed now, we do not have the same way of thinking as our ancestors. At least I did not."

"Very convincing, tell that to my dead grandparent, they sure will be happy." Esther mockingly snickers, "We never asked for your help. Your people are the one who came to our place, knocked at our door, and promised us a better life. We put our trust in you. We accepted you as our own brother and sister. Yes, you may have been teaching us how to improve ourselves. You taught us how to manage our people, how to raise our cattle, how to plant our crops. And we believed in you, we let you be the one to be in charge as our leader. We even call you Azdhaka, that word once had a beautiful meaning before you ruined it. It means an act of giving. A charity. Look what happened now. You stole our lands, taxed our crops, took every single position available at the government and lived lavishly while leaving our people to die either by exhaustion or hunger. And we will never forgive you for that."

"I know why you are frustrated, my lady. But you are being absurd now. Screaming at me will not change a thing. When you get out of that door, people will still suffer, and the people who you call as Azdhaka will still rule the city. Besides, what do you expect me to do? Grovel in your feet and ask for forgiveness to your people because I was born with a different skin colour? Because I will absolutely do that if I can gain your trust. Believe me, pride was the last thing of my concern. What I am trying to do here is to amend what my ancestors have done. My purpose is to restore the balance so we can live side by side. Now, do you want to listen to my proposal and save the people or do you want to make the difference in our skin colour become the reason we hate each other? And here I thought that you as a nightchild should know better."

Arno let out a disappointed sigh and sat back in front of the girl. His eyes stared intensely at the girl's deep black eyes. He is visibly frustrated with the girl's response, but he cannot say that she is in the wrong.

"Listen, I apologize for electrocuting you, okay. It seems like we get up on the wrong foot here." He clasped his hand on top of the table. "We have something bigger in motion. Somewhere out there, a creature that has never been seen before is lurking, taking prey on innocent citizens of Aizdihar. I thought it was you at first, a nightchild, that's why I made a plan to capture you, but, after seeing how passionate you are to defend the people, I changed my mind. That's why I have a proposal for you. Help me."

"Well, you would be more convincing if I was not being chained right now."

"Ash-Tasheena…"

"Stop calling me by that name! Not with your Azdhaka tongue." The girl lashed out. "That name is an honor given to me by my people. You have my answer. We've trusted your people once, never again."

Awkward silence fills up the room for a few moments. Both Arno and Esther were deep in their own thoughts, wondering how the conversation should have ended. After a few moments, Arno stood up from his seat. The sound of his iron chair that scrapes the rough stone surface of the floor up breaks up the silence. He pulls out a key and unlocks the chain that binds Esther.

"Ash-Tashee–, no, I apologize. My lady, you are free to go. I am deeply sorry to put you in this unbearable conversation. However, everything that I have been saying is true. When you feel like it's time to make a change, you may contact me anytime you want at this address. Now you may leave the room. I will instruct my guards to let you go."

Rubbing her wrist, Esther stood up from her seat. She stares at the man who stands in front of him for the last time and without leaving any trace of sentences, she silently opens the door and disappears into the dark cloudy cold night.