1 Pt.1
Birds chirping in the background, the wind making the green lush trees wave back and forth.
A vast land lies ahead, high mountains, dense forests. Amidst this terrain below, a small boy is noticed, walking along a rocky narrow road in the forest.
His face is gentle, his hair black like coal, his skin white and his eyes green. The boy has a small physique, he seems to be around the age of 10.
As he walks along that path, going past gentle hills up and down and bushy terrain, slowly something starts to emerge in his vision. First the crown of a tree, then the trunk, then long thick roots, and finally the ground.
It is a tree, an old tree, a great tree, some might call it a sage tree. This tree is so enormous that you may need 20 men to warp their hands around the trunk.
To look at the crown from below you need to turn your neck almost at a perfect 90° angle, the roots warp in eerie ways up and down, going in and out of the ground, so wide that you can walk on them as if they were a road to walk on.
The small boy rushes forward, a sight of joy for his eyes, an honest smile rises on his face as he heads towards the tree.
"Yaaaayy!" He exclaims as he gives the tree a hug that in his mind seems big but in reality, it seems more like he is laying on the trunk rather than hugging it.
"It's been some time my old tree!"
Says the boy as he sits in front of it.
"I came here today again to talk, since, you know, only you understand me and I can be open with you." The boy's face takes a saddened look.
"The other kids are being mean to me again, they call me names and say that I am a bastard, I just want to laugh and play with everyone you know?"
A moment of silence, the wind makes a soft calming sound as it whistles through the leaves of the great old tree.
"The other people from the village try to be nice to me, they never yell at me, but for some reason i never go well with the other kids, what do you think? What's wrong?"
The boy stares at the tree as if he is staring into a person.
"Is that what you think? I don't know, their parents don't seem to act harshly towards me, why would they talk such things when i am not around?"
The grass waves back and forth, the tree stands all high and mighty, silent, small grasshoppers jump here and there, only the sounds of nature can be heard.
"I guess you are right, people really do gossip, it doesn't matter if you do good or bad..."
A branch cracking sound is heard. The boy turns his head.
"Who's there?"
A small blonde girl can be seen.
"Uncle, I found a boy here." The small girl says.
A man shows up behind her, his physique is big, his hair long and a scar can be seen on his left cheek.
"Enar! Is this is where you have been all this time?"
The man approaches slowly.
"For god's sake, you make your mother really worried walking off like that. You know that?" Says the man.
"I know uncle Freyt, but i wanted to pay a visit to this old friend of mine."
Says Enar.
"What friend?" Asks Freyt.
Enar turns his head towards the tree.
Freyt stares at the tree, then back at Enar.
"Heh, just as weird as your father. C'mon Enar, say bye bye to your friend, we have to go home now, don't get your mother more worried."
"Yes uncle."
Enar turns his head towards the tree.
"Bye old great tree!"
He then stands up and starts leaving with his uncle.
They face the small girl.
"Oh I forgot to mention, this is my niece, she is the same age as you almost, her name is Anna, she will be staying over for some time. Anna this is Enar."
"Hello..." Enar greets her.
"Hello!" Anna greets him back with a cheerful smile.
Outside the forest, in a greenish field of grass, there's a small house and the three of them walking towards it. A woman opens the door and rushes towards the kids and Freyt.
"Enar! How many times have I told you not to leave like that huh!? You realize how worried I get when you disappear like that don't you?" The woman scolds Enar in a worried tone.
"Yes mother, I know, I am sorry but I had to."
"Just, don't leave without saying anything. Okay?"
"Okay..."
The mother turns towards the man and thanks him.
"Thank you Freyt, you always help me, I am very grateful."
"It's nothing Astrid, It is the least I can do for your family, after all I am in dept to your husband." Freyt says.
"You are a great help."
On the other side Anna and Enar are next to each other, Anna sits down staring off in the distance. Then she stares at Enar and taps on the grass next to her, indicating that he sits down with her.
"Lets sit here Enar."
"Alright Anna."
Enar sits down next to her, the sky has a soft turquoise color as smooth puffy clouds float across the sky making small patches of shadows here and there. The gentle sound of flowing water is heard, probably from a small river flowing down the hill nearby.
"Enar, why did you call the tree your friend?" asks Anna.
"Because, only the tree is there for me when I need someone to talk to, or when I need someone to give me advice the tree is always there for me."
"Advice? You mean as if in the tree responding to you?"
"Mhm!" responds Enar in a cute excited way following it with a movement of his head up and down.
"Wait, the tree talks to you?"
"Yes! That old great tree, I can hear a voice in my head when I am near it and I talk to it."
"No way! That's so awesome!" Anna stands up in an excited manner.
"I know right! Wait... you believe me?"
"Of course I do, why else would you go there alone." Anna smiles. Enar's eyes shine. He then proceeds to wipe his eyes on his sleeve.
"Are you okay Enar?"
"M-mhm, its nothing!" He responds with a wide smile.
Freyt calls Anna from afar, indicating that she has to leave.
"Sorry Enar, seems like i have to go." She leans closer to him and whispers. "Here's the deal tho, how about we visit that tree again tomorrow together?"
"Yes! I would love that!"
"Yay!" She leaves running happily in a childish way. Then Astrid calls Enar to get back in the house.
"Enar, come inside son we have to prepare something to eat."
"Yes mother!"
Enar is seen from afar running inside the house on the cobbled narrow road, green lush grass waves in the wind, the house lies on a green paradise, they have some sheep held inside a fence, further back lies a field full of crops, some farming tools and what seem to be medical herbs. Even further back lies another road, which leads to the small village, the houses are made of stone, the rooftops made of hay, small children run up and down the medieval alleys of that village.
In the center of the city, there's a bazaar, the people of the village seem to be gathered around that area.
"Everyone! Here we have the best deals, come and get 3 fish for only 2 copper coins!" a man without a shirt in a stand shouts. Some other women are gathered around another stand searching for items that might be useful in their houses. They are talking.
"Hilde, did you hear, that boy in the Hayse family got lost again in the woods."
"Really? Ah, that kid, I guess you cannot expect anything more from someone like him."
"I also heard that Freyt Vant went to search for him."
"That Freyt? You mean the one they suspect of him being the real father?"
"Yes, exactly."
A man in a soldier uniform walks close to the women and stands next to them. He then gets their attention, they stare at him.
"After all doctor, Hayse did for the village is this how you reward him? Gossiping around for his beloved son being a bastard?" The soldier scolds the women.
"A-ah no that's not what we are s-" The soldier pushes the basket they have in hand with vegetables and threatens them.
"Go, enough staying around the bazaar and shopping for today. Spread your filthy lies somewhere else."
The women gather the things on the ground angrily and scared, afterwards they leave in a slightly hurried way.
The soldier then stares off in the direction of the Hayse family, thinking to himself: "I hope someday people will give you what you really deserve... Astrid and Enar..."
