My head dipping as she finished,
"What does that even mean..."
He was probably the one to stop those after her—but what did he mean with not keeping an eye on us?
"Uh... I don't know. He just said that and left, saying that he will meet you when the time is right." She shrugged while she spoke.
I just sighed and closed my eyes,
"Ah... is that so?" I opened them again, scratching the back of my head,
"Do you want to do something today, or do you want to stay here?"
"I want to see the ocean once more!"
"Perfect! I also wanted to see it again."
"I'll get ready now!" She threw her blanket off, and jumped out of bed.
On our way to the ocean, past roads that were even busier than before—with white, glistening carriages passing by us, with servants reining the horses.
Are they here for the noble's tournament? It has to be the case... would they all be as strong as Caleb? It can't be the case—right?
"Brother what are you thinking about?" She asked, looking at me, head tilted.
"Nothing much..." I smiled as I met her empty eyes.
"Is it about the tournament? I forgot to ask, did you win!?" She shook the hand she held.
"Hahaha, I didn't—he was far too strong."
"Really!? He was even stronger than you?"
"He is almost a knight already!"
"It was impossible for the current me to win, but when I'm stronger he won't ever win against me."
"But are you hurt?" Her lower lip was trembling.
"No, no—look I have nothing, right? He was really nice!" I couldn't even feel the burn left on my chest anymore.
"Then it's alright that you lost." She looked in front of her, with a smile on her face.
"If you say so it has to be true." I said, while I put my hand on Mim's hair.
"YES! It is true! And how many people were even at the tournament—more than here?" She moved to my hand, like a cat getting pet.
"It was so busy, I'd never seen that many people in one place!" I felt a shiver down my back thinking back on it,
"My hearing is still affected from all that noise." I could catch a few eyes glued to me.
Why are all these people looking at me...?
Could I have earned money fighting?
"I had hoped Eden would have left some money with us—I need to start working soon..." I could feel my back slump.
"I'll help you work!"
"No, no—you don't have to I'll do it alone." I said, waving my hand around.
"Noo—otherwise it's unfair!"
"Why unfair?"
"Because you'd have money while I'd have nothing!" She said, looking to the other side with her lips pursed.
"But my money is your money, you know that right..." I leaned forward, searching her gaze
"But still, it's unfair!"
"Okay... If you want to work that badly—you can..." I just pressed my head into my hand.
"REALLY!?" She launched her head back.
"Really."
"Thank you so much!!"
"Hey look, the ocean is right here, we've already arrived." I said, pointing in front of us.
The bright sun was still reflecting on the water surface, after all it was still early afternoon.
Caleb and I were able to finish all of our fights quite early. With one exception for me.
"Do you want to eat the last few meals Karl gave us?" I had taken the remaining four sandwiches with me—to eat with the ocean view.
"So that's why you took it with you!"
"Of course, isn't this a nice place to eat. We can even sit on the sand!" We stood at the border between the stones and beach.
"Is it comfortable?" She pulled my arm back, hesitating to walk onto it.
"Uh... I don't know... but do we really care about that?" I stepped forward, standing on the sand.
"Noo, lets go~!" She jumped forward with both legs.
"Are you that hungry?!" I was being pulled forward by her small hands.
"Of course, you are as well!"
"Hahaha, true I'm dying of hunger" And we sat down, somewhere in the middle of the beach,
"Here are two pieces for you, and two for me."
As we both made our way through both sandwiches, we sat for a while longer, staring into the ocean in silence, the sun was halfway past its middle point—moving towards the ocean.
Time had started to pass quicker, filled with us talking as the sun started merging with the ocean in the far horizon,
"I think it's time to go back."
"Okay~"
As we both walked back, taking heavy steps to pull our feet out of the damp, cooled sand.
We reached the inn as the city lights took over from the sun.
As I pushed the door open, a man too small for his seat greeted us,
"Good evening, Tjer and... his sister."
"Good evening, we were planning to eat now, so we can talk late." I said, walking over to him.
"Can I join you for dinner?" He smiled as he asked.
"I'd prefer n—"
"I will pay for everything." His eyes narrowed as his smile turned into a grin.
"We'd love for you to join us, right Mim?" I hastily turned to Mim.
She nodded, meeting my eyes as if they could talk to one another—we knew the task in front of us.
"Are you sure you can eat that much?" The man asked, eyebrows raised.
"Yes, yes—I'm sure. Mim you as well, right?" I said with a piece of food hanging off my fork.
"Mhm!" She just nodded with a mouth full of food.
"Uh... in that case please indulge." He just smiled seeing us eat, with nothing for himself.
"Are you not going to eat anything?" I asked with my piece of food hanging at my mouth.
"No, no—I don't need it, I'll eat with my wife at home. Just a drink is enough for now."
"You are married?!" I tried my best to keep the food in my mouth while I spoke.
"Is it that shocking? You even saw her in front of the inn, I even told you that it's my wife..." His head slumped over the table.
"Oh... I forgot about it." I was distracted by the fact he could hear us talk through the wall and crowded street, forgetting about his wife.
This man is strong enough to be an incomprehensible existence to me.
"What's your name actually?" I asked him as my fork found my plate again.
"You can call me Sir Cross—Edward Cross."
"Nice to meet you, I'm Tjer, and this is Mim."
"Nice to officially meet you Tjer and Mim. Siblings I presume?"
"Presume?" Mim softly muttered under her breath, making Edward shine a soft smile.
"Yes we are. We don't really look like each other since my hair changed colors."
"So you were blonde before... you both remind me of a really old friend of mine." The smile he had stayed, but his eyes showed something else.
"If it's a good thing, thank you very much."
"Hahaha, yes—don't worry he was a great man." Even the laughter felt forced.
He silently looked at us, before asking,
"Why aren't the two of you not eating?"
"Because it's too much, so we need to let the food go down before we can continue."
His mouth had fallen slightly open,
"Uhm... no—you should just stop eating..."
"And waste all this good food? Never." I pulled my plate closer, while Mim did the same.
"Where did you even grow up to develop such mentality..." He lifted his hands up, showing he meant no harm.
I lifted my gaze off my plate,
"It was somewhere in the north." And looked him in the eyes.
"Ohh, so you two have travelled here all alone—it must have been a long journey for just two children."
"It was... but I'm glad that we lived close to the border."
He looked at me, his eyes didn't shift away as he said,
"If you are not going to eat for a while, can I borrow you for a bit?"
"If Mim is alright with me, we can. Otherwise, you'd have to wait."
"Mim, can I borrow your brother for a bit?" He turned his head to Mim
"Yes." She whispered, enthusiastically nodding along.
"Thank you very much." He said, getting up alongside me, and he followed me upstairs.
"So what did you want to talk with me about?" I asked him as we sat down on the beds.
He didn't smile anymore, holding a stern face—one I hadn't seen since meeting him.
He locked his eyes with mine, and leaned forward with his laps holding his arms.
"I'll be straight to the point about this."
"I want to take you in as my son."
My eyebrows shot up as my mouth shot open,
"Huh?!"