I took two steps outside my house and pathed myself toward the small brick abode of the kind lady who lived next door. “Ms Melan, I’ve got a present!” I shouted as I knocked on the cosy oak wood door.
“Oh, if it isn’t Theodore. How can I help you?” her aged eyes reflected my young figure which stood towering above her.
“I was leaving for external schooling; I was going to give you my food as a parting gift.”
“I remember when Andreas left the town for the very same academy.” Her frail voice echoed inside her small house.
“My father?”
“Why of course, he went to go and further his magic.”
“How old was he?”
“Your age, how old could he be?” she joked as she took the food case off my weary hands.
“I was just wondering, you wouldn’t happen to know where he is now?” I inquired.
“No, not a clue as to where Andreas would be.” She began, “Well, you’ve got to meet someone at the hill right?”
“Indeed, I’ll be off now.” I said, realising the time. “Thank you for the information on my father!”
“Thank you for the food!” she shouted back as I ran toward the hill, suddenly realising something I swivel my head to peek at the old lady’s house. The door shut tightly made me question if I even visited her.
“How did she know I was meeting Rachel?” I muttered to myself as I returned to the path to the mountain, bewildered.
Eventually, I concluded that she overheard Rachel as she left the house with the luggage. However, that opened several other problems. Why would she bother reminding me? How did it affect her? Did she just genuinely think I’d be late for a meeting? I felt my mind releasing smoke as I contemplated the ‘why’. I promptly gave up, there was no ill-intention… so why did I feel uneasy?
“Theo!” I felt Rachel’s obnoxious shout shake my eardrums, “Five minutes late!”
“Does that really matter?”
“Not really,” she said with a grin, “Lets go, I want to meet this Mr Defargo which you told me about last year.”
“You remember that?” I said dumbfounded, why bother with the useless stuff?
“Of course! You said he was strong, I was interested.” She said, emphasising strong. Did she think I was daft, I remembered that conversation too.
“You can meet with him while I go say bye to Piper.” I said as I began to see the castle like structure appear on the horizon.
“Piper, you mean Piper Merases? The alchemist?”
“She’s famous?” I said, unknowing to her fame in the capital.
“Well… if you know a staff member of the academy you get plenty of stories… She’s a unique topic which comes up at dinner time at home.”
“Your mum?”
“Of course, well dad tells some stories… but usually economics doesn’t interest me.”
Shanon.C