196 Side Story Chapter 2

Riftan could not get the red-haired girl out of his head. He fastened the sacks he had filled with pitch-black charcoal and pushed her from his thoughts. It was a fool's fancy to believe that his loneliness abated when he thought of her.

After slipping out of the firewood storehouse, he piled the sacks onto the handcart waiting outside. He grabbed the handles and leaned all his weight forward to get it rolling. Several round trips later, he had moved a day's worth of charcoal before the sun had fully risen. He wiped his sleeve over his sweaty face before going to collect water to quench his thirst.

If there was a silver lining, it was that he was stronger than most children his age. Though his arms and legs were scrawny from lack of nourishment, he was tall and of enough heft that people mistook him for being two or three years older than he actually was.