The castle gates fell behind us as Ray and I made our way toward the bustling market district. For me, who had known only the castle's stone walls and training grounds after coming here, the cacophony of market life was an assault on my senses. The air was thick with the mingled scents of spices, fresh bread, and humanity.
"Brother Ray!" I said , my voice pitched with manufactured excitement. My eyes widened with practiced wonder, and a carefully crafted smile spread across my face. Inside, nothing was the only emotionless void remained untouched, but I had learned that others expected certain reactions from a boy of my age. "Everything is so... colorful!"
It was a worthless reaction just waste of my energy but it was necessary
Ray chuckled, ruffling my hair. "You know, I used to sneak out to the market all the time. Drove my teachers crazy."
"Really?" I asked, genuinely curious despite myself. "What did you do here?"
"Mostly got into trouble," Ray said that with a grin. "There was this one merchant who sold mechanical toys little clockwork birds that could actually fly. I spent every coin I could get my hands on at his stall."
As we walked, Ray pointed out various stalls and shops. "The best meat pies in the kingdom are right there though don't tell the castle cook I said that. And see that shop with the blue awning? They sell maps that supposedly mark the locations of dragon hoards."
"Are they real maps?" I asked, maintaining my childlike face while mentally noting every detail of our surroundings.
"About as real as my excuses for missing Master Edhir's lessons," Ray laughed. Then his voice grew softer. "You know, Rudra, you don't have to pretend quite so hard. Not with me."
At that moment, I didn't quite grasp what he meant. With a joyful voice, I asked, "What do you mean, brother?"
Ray looked at me with pity in his eyes and said, "You don't have to put on an act in front of me..."
I remained silent.
"It's okay... You can put it down... You are my little brother," he continued. "I cherish you greatly... Even if the time we've spent together wasn't much, even then, I cherish you." He gave me a look and added, "Not because I feel safe around you... but because I am your big brother."
"You can just be how you are... Uh... You don't have to mimic them. Human emotions are complicated, but that's the beauty of humanity. To hold something dear out of your own will, for humans, cherishing something that's what makes us human... You will eventually find something you will cherish."
I looked at Ray's face , It was how it always was bright, warm, goofy. Slowly, I let my mask slip just a little and looked up into Ray's eyes. "When did you come to know?"
"Uh... mm... I... I left..... Amarok in there with you... in a hurry... I was just concerned about you. So... I ordered Amarok to stay there... Sorry, brother." His joyful face became dull.
I looked at him and said, "It's nothing. Don't worry about it."
I don't care whatever he finds out or not my only concern was to survive in that unknown forest for now but hear I am wandring around a market
"Do you know, brother?" Ray said. "Your voice actually sounds cute when you talk normally." He smiled awkwardly. "Ha... ha..."
"You don't have to force yourself to say such things... I know how I sound, how I look..."
A silence stretched between us....for a moment and After several seconds, Ray broke the silence and said, "I understand, brother."
I, who was walking beside him, patted his head and thought, "Am I doing it correctly?" Then, realizing what I was doing, I quickly withdrew my hand. "What the hell was I thinking, doing that nonsense?"
Stopping at a stall, Ray bought two sticky sweet buns and handed one to me. "Try it."
I gave him a flat look.
"Just... try it."
I took a bite, letting the warmth and sweetness fill my mouth. I didn't manufacture an expression of delight, didn't force an exclamation of joy. I simply experienced it, my face remaining largely neutral, save for a slight softening around my eyes.
"See?" Ray said softly. "The world doesn't end if you don't perform. Just be how you are..."
Then i thought am i... what the hell I am thinking
We continued through the market, me alternating between my usual acted enthusiasm and moments of quiet observation. Ray seemed to understand, adjusting his own behavior to match whichever face I was wearing at the moment.
"Brother," I said suddenly, my voice carrying its natural flatness, "why did you bring me here today? Don't you know I need to prepare for..." I looked at Ray's face and let those thoughts bury themselves.
Ray was quiet for a moment, watching a group of children chase each other through the market stalls. "Because you needed to see it," he finally answered. "Life beyond the oneself how People live, laughing, arguing, loving being human in all its messy glory."
"And you think that will make me more human?" I asked, i had no angery or any judgment in my tone, just pure curiosity
"Did you think I don't see you as human just because I know you don't feel emotions?
I remain silence to let him answer even then i had my answer Read whatever he thinks about me i didn't care
" You're already are a human, Rudra."
Our conversation was interrupted as we approached a small purple tent set slightly apart from the main market bustle. Incense smoke curled from its entrance, and strange symbols were painted on the fabric walls.
"There's someone I'd like you to meet," Ray said, his voice taking on a serious tone that stirred my inner void with interest.
Inside the tent, an elderly woman sat amid cushions and hanging crystals. Her blind eyes were a milky white, but they fixed on me with unnerving accuracy. "Ah," she breathed, "the prince brings me a curious visitor indeed."
"Madam Vessa," Ray bowed slightly. "I hoped you might read for my young friend here."
The fortune teller's wrinkled face creased further. "Friend, you say? But what sits before me..." She reached out with gnarled fingers, not toward my hand as expected, but toward the space just above my head. "Two paths I see, intertwined like serpents. Each bears the pain of life..." She drew back suddenly, her blind eyes widening. "As your soul drinks emotion, child."
My carefully maintained facade cracked for just a moment, my true flat expression showing through before I caught myself. "What do you mean?" I asked, injecting innocent curiosity into my voice...
The elderly woman's cracked voice fell out of her mouth again. "Life surely holds a cruel fate indeed... Patting my head... Giving a choice between things that you hold dear..."
She remained silent, but just as I was about to speak, her crackly voice filled the tent again. "Fate whispers... Oo... pupp...e...t... of the world."
Ray grabbed my arm gently. "Rudra, what she said—"
"Did you not hear it?" I asked in a flat tone. "I think that elderly woman was just crazy..."
After a second, I spoke again. "Why did you really take me as your brother, Ray? Was it because you saw something in me? Or because...?"
Ray's face showed pain for a moment before he schooled his expression. "I took you as my brother because I felt a sense of safety from you."
A sense of safety... from me? A child of his own age?
"Look!" I said , my voice bright with artificial cheer, pointing at a nearby food stall. "Can we just try those dumplings? They smell amazing!"
Ray smiled. "Didn't I tell you not to put on a mask... Hey, hey, are you listening? I am talking to you!"
I walking ahead of him ignoring him for a while later i said
"Can you just follow me quietly?"
And from a nearby house, Master Edhir was smiling, watching us both.....