Ahote’s expression of resentment morphed into one of shock and tension when his wide eyes winced and face cringed as Sol’s larger, stronger hand slapped upside his head. It didn’t actually hurt, per se, he simply wasn’t expecting it. Ahote raised a hand to the back of his head and rubbed it tenderly, clicking his tongue in irritation as Sol would demand he apologize to the guests. The boy looked up from his feet and glared at Yuiisai and Rain and said nothing.
Refused to say anything, rather.
As if I’d apologize to them. Over my cold, dead body. Never in a million years. . . Ahote thought to himself, ranting on about the nature of this situation. The boy looked back down at his feet again, silent.
It was not long after his silence that Yuiisai, an apparent man, walked over to him and escorted him outside the building. As usual, temperatures remained below zero. But coming from a warm and snug cabin, the sudden punch of freezing wind to the face left his nose red and ears redder.
Ahote still remained looking down, refusing to make eye contact with the guest. He apparently had some relationship with Sol. What a surprise, simply astonishing. Never in a million years would Ahote have ever guessed that this was the case. He didn’t know
anything about his Father, his parents, even the guild he resided in. His life was nothing but secrets and abandonment and adapting to the circumstances, and he was sick of it. All sorts of thoughts whirled through his mind nowadays. The villagers’ bullying, his parents’ secrecy, him not being as good as every other person who lived in the fortress. The mere thought of it made Ahote grind his teeth together in anger.
However, Ahote’s fuming can to an abrupt halt when Yuiisai’s kind and gentle words reached his ears. He created analogies and comparisons after noticing the hatred Ahote radiated, which had been more shocking than Yuiisai actually escorting him outside, as he thought he hid it pretty well. Ahote took note of that and only lifted his head high enough to see the older man’s chest. His skin looked smooth, his hair long and well kept, and suspected that his face was beautiful as the boy didn’t take the time to truly study it.
Unlike earlier, Ahote didn’t simply hear him, but listened. Yuiisai’s analogy didn’t particularly have too much impact on him, but his words nearing the end did. Once the words ‘true path’ rolled off his tongue and slipped through his lips, Ahote’s eyes widened just a bit. True path? What
is a true path? How can one discover this and how will they know if it’s their true path? These questions led him back to Yuiisai’s earlier analogy about the purity of snow and people. Was this hatred just temporary? Would it simply… pass? Like any other emotion? Ahote didn’t have enough experience with the spectrum of emotion to come to a conclusion and thus, left him stumped.
Eager to ask these questions, Ahote’s cold, dry lips parted for what seemed to be a quick second before closing again. He couldn’t work up the courage to speak. Sol’s disciplining earlier combined with the shock of the pale woman’s invasion of privacy kept him quiet. Ahote nodded in silence after Yuiisai attempt to confirm his understanding of his lecture, tossing a ball of snow at him. In that instant, Ahote kept his head as low as he could in order to hide his smile.
As Yuiisai would then bring them back into the cabin, for a brief, brief moment, Ahote raised his head to view Yuiisai in full, his eyes wide with awe and cheeks flushed with red at their beauty. It had been a long time since someone held his hand, and he loved it. Though, would not admit something so embarrassing.
The two returned to the group, Ahote quickly diverging paths from Yuiisai and over to the shelves in the corner of the cabin, unsure of what to do or say now that he’s had his share of the guests. The raven haired boy looked around the shelves for his requested flowers, which should be tightly sealed in a jar or in a sack full of soil. Ahote looked about for a tag with his name on it before finding it attached to a jar. Lucky for him, it had saturated soil inside.
And saturated soil? I’ll have to thank that man, later... He thought to himself with a soft smile, excited for his upcoming analysis. Problem was it was far too high up on the shelf to reach. Realizing the limits of his own height, Ahote grumpily turned over to Sol with pleading eyes. But immediately after which, he turned away from his Father and looked around the room for some sort of stool.
Of course, this was a cabin with furnishings and appliances. It was no surprise there was some aid nearby should anyone have trouble reaching the higher shelves. Ahote, thinking about this, wondered if it was the villager who placed it on that shelf in order to indirectly spark a fuse in the boy. The thought of it motivated Ahote enough to stomp over to the stool and do it himself. Shortly after picking it up, however, Ahote would find that one of the stool’s pegs was broken and out of place. Contemplating it for a moment, he continued on with his quest for the ultimate specimen.
Ahote placed the stool underneath where the jar was and carefully stepped onto it. It shook and wobbled, leaving Ahote hesitant to continue. But the shine of the glass jar in a fire-lit room prompted him to keep moving forward, and did so,
quickly. Unfortunately, too quickly he did move, and as Ahote would step on his tippy-toes to just grasp the jar, the stool broke in on itself forward, causing Ahote to fall.. In the same direction. Noticing the shift in balance, Ahote’s eyes widened and made startled squeaks as his upper body charged forward, but his lower half struggling to find a surface, leaving his disoriented and panicky. Ahote subconsciously made great efforts to keep a tight grip on the jar, but was further disoriented when his face slammed into the edge of a shelf, right onto the bridge and tip of his nose, and the jar slipping out of his grasp among the confusion. This did not stop Ahote, however! With a beet-red nose and eyes full of determination, Ahote shifted his position just before the last toe left the stool and catched the jar moments before it shattered on the floorboards. Safe, it was! But not Ahote. With a large thud, the youngest wizard in the room fell right on his belly, face-first.
Upon raising his head, an excited smile and eyes full of relief could be seen. And his nose? Bleeding. But worth it!
”Thank god. . .” He sighed to himself. He would surely confront the villager about the placing of his requested items from now on.