1 No One Is Here

"Someone stop that boy! I'll give 5 gold to whoever stops that boy!" A middle-aged, overweight merchant was running down the street chasing after a young boy.

The young boy was small-framed, able to easily weave in and out of the dense crowd walking down the street. As the boy was running down the street, he was constantly dodging the attempts of the city guard and the middle-aged man's guard that tried to grab him.

The middle-aged man then hollered, "I'll give 10 gold to whoever catches that boy!" That got the attention of the crowd. Several grown men and women tried to grab the boy while he kept running. After running for a few more blocks, the boy dipped into an alley. At the end of the alley, he scaled a fence and entered the backyard of a home where he frantically hammered on a door. In a few seconds, the door opened. He was greeted by another boy, slightly older than him at about 13 years old. He hurried into the house out of breath. Looking at the 13-year-old, he said, "Tahir, you've got to help me."

The young man backed away from the door and hurriedly ushered the boy into the back room of the house. He pointed to the side of the back room and told him, "Quickly go hide. You know the way."

The young boy released a deep breath and ran to the side of the room where a cabinet was placed. He entered the cabinet to hide.

As soon as the young boy went into hiding, there was a banging on the front door of the house. Tahir looked towards the front door and said, "Gin, you need to learn how to do a better job or find another way to get what you need." He then walked towards the front door of the house.

As he walked towards the front of the house, he looked to his right and noticed his mother was still lying peacefully, resting in her room. He was relieved that she hadn't woken up to the ruckus outside. He continued to quickly make his way to the front door. On the way, he looked towards his left towards the kitchen counter where he was preparing a meal for his mother and himself. As he arrived at the front door, he snatched it open with a sour expression planted on his face. He looked at the middle-aged man that was chasing the young boy and said, "I'd appreciate it if you'd stop banging on my door like a wild ape."

The middle-aged man clenched his fist, trying to hold in his anger. He looked at the 13-year-old boy and spoke through his clenched teeth. "I know he's here, Tahir."

Feigning ignorance, Tahir looked at the man inquisitively. "Who's here? There's no one here but my mother and me."

The middle-aged man jumped forward towards Tahir. He started yelling. "Get out the way! I'll find him myself!"

Tahir moved to the side. He gestured for the man to enter. With a deadpan expression, he said, "Feel free to inspect. However, you know that my mother is sick. So, if you were to suddenly come down with the same illness, don't blame me."

The middle-aged man froze mid-step. "You…!"

Tahir smirked at the man. ��Me what? I'm just letting you know of the potential consequences of invading our home to search for someone who's not here."

"I'll make sure to catch you someday."

"If you catch me, then I'm caught. Nothing to be done about it."

The middle-aged man then turned around to leave, but not before saying, "You're going down the wrong path."

Tahir laughed for a few seconds, and then abruptly stopped. With another deadpan expression, he asked, "Is there really a right path to take given our situation?"

The man sighed and walked away shaking his head. Once, the man left, Tahir went back to the back room and knocked on the cabinet door 3 times and then another 2 times after a short delay and then opened the cabinet. Gin pushed open the false back panel asking, "Are they gone?"

"Would I be here knocking if they weren't?"

Gin chuckled while scratching his head. "I guess you wouldn't." He then exited the cabinet and dropped a small sack in Tahir's hand. ���There should be a couple of silver in there."

Tahir checked the bag and saw 5 silver coins at the bottom. "Fine, this buys you 2 weeks worth of lessons for you and your sister. The same, reading and writing?"

"Throw in some math as well."

"Sure. Will you be joining us for lunch?"

"Can I take some home for Rin?"

"No problem. Come keep an eye on mom while I finish up."

Tahir led Gin to his mother's room. She had woken up sometime during the altercation at the door. She looked at her son and sighed. "I wish you'd stop with the stealing."

Tahir pointed at Gin. "He's the one stealing. I'm just selling lessons on basic reading, writing, math, and other small subjects."

She scoffed, which started a coughing fit. Tahir walked to the table beside her bed and poured her a cup of water. "Here. Drink this."

His mother grabbed the cup and began to sip on the water. "If you keep this up, I'll just refuse to eat what you prepare. I don't want you to get in trouble."

Tahir looked at his mom for a few seconds before he said, "Either you'll eat what I prepare, or I'll just start making soups and broths every day and then feed you forcefully after you pass out from hunger. If I could go get a job, I would. If you weren't injured, you'd find a way to work. But we both know that no one will hire me because of those evil people."

She sighed. She knew Tahir was right about their current circumstances.

After a few moments, he breathed deeply a few times before donning a gentle expression on his face. "I'm sorry mom. I can't acknowledge him. I shouldn't have used that tone of voice with you, but I won't let you die. Now please, rest and let Gin keep you company."

Gin then stepped forward with a smiling expression, "That right Miss Adria! I'll be here to keep you company. Didn't you tell me you'd tell me about growing up in the shop with your moms next time? She's thought of well after all these years you know. She was always helping everyone she could."

Adria immediately felt guilty. She felt grateful to have a son that was so thoughtful. However, she felt she never truly took care of him. She held out her hand, and weakly gestured for Gin to come closer. "Come on and sit down, I'll tell you a little about her. Also, where's Rin? Why is she not here?"

"She's staying at the hideout today ma'am. She only holds me up when I need to get some food for us to eat."

"I see. Well, in that case let me tell you about growing up in the herb shop. It was always something to do there….."

Tahir listened to his mother recounting her childhood for a few moments before going back to the kitchen to finish preparing lunch. It was a simple meal, a rabbit stew with more stew than rabbit, some bread he baked that morning, and some dumplings he'd set aside for Gin's sister.

He prepared a bowl of stew and a piece of bread for his mom, and then called for Gin to come get himself a bowl as well. He walked to his mother's room and placed the food down on the small side table and helped Adria sit up in the bed. "I know you prefer to feed yourself. So, I won't ask. Just let me know if you need any help."

As he began to walk away, Adria grabbed his hand. "Thank you. I've never been able to provide for you like I should, and now I can't even get out of bed."

Tahir placed his other hand over his mother's hand. "Stop. You did what you could. You held on for 8 years. I don't even know why you'd keep me instead of giving me away since…"

Adria cut Tahir off. "Now you stop." Sighing she continued, "Honestly, I kept you for selfish reasons. I couldn't get your father's face out of my mind. Every day, I felt hatred. I planned to immediately give you away once you were born, but from the moment you were born, you had the same hair color, the same eyes, and the same nose. I figured that keeping you might help create some good memories with the face I hate so much. Maybe then..."

"I get it mom. Let's move on. I'm going to eat in the kitchen. Let me know if you need me." Tahir let go of his mother's hand and walked to the kitchen table where Gin was already on his 3rd bowl of stew and 2nd piece of bread. Luckily, Tahir made a huge pot. "Let that be the last bowl. You know others may be hungry as well."

Gin smiled with stew dripping from his lips. "Don't worry. I was just a little extra hungry since I haven't eaten since yesterday. I have 2 dumplings for Rin already in my pocket."

Tahir nodded his head and sat down. "Will you be bringing Rin tomorrow so both of you can have lessons?"

"Sure. That works."

Tahir nodded his head and sat down at the table to eat his meal. While he was eating, he was struggling internally. Although his face looked calm, he was doing his best to suppress spouts of anger that threatened to erupt. He hated it when his mother mentioned the man that sired him because he came as a byproduct of his mother's rape. Her former employer forced himself upon her when she was serving him his daily afternoon tea. She never bothered to mention it to anyone. However, a few months later, it was apparent that something happened. She'd told her mother what happened. Her mother offered to prepare a draught to force out the child. However, Adria knew it would make it more difficult to conceive if she wanted kids later. So, she decided to take her chances. Eventually, she gave birth. She would never take her son outside because she didn't want anyone to relate Tahir with the family where she worked, the Jedrek family.

The rest of the afternoon and into the evening, several other children from ages 4 all the way to 14 would show up at Tahir's back door knocking. When they entered, they would hand over different items. Sometimes, it was money, sometimes, a bag of flour, a bag of rice, a piece of meat, even a block of ice. Tahir would take them all and let each child know how many lessons it bought and let them have a bowl of stew and some bread.

The orphans were eager to get lessons from Tahir because they knew that he'd give them a full meal at least once a day even if they couldn't bring any money or food on a given day. While the orphans thought it was because he was being kind, Tahir saw it more pragmatically. He just figured a starving child couldn't be expected to successfully "secure resources" while "working", doing what he couldn't do for himself at this time.