Heroes


    <span style="font-weight:400">Is this girl an orphan or a noble’s daughter? That’s what Talon couldn’t figure out.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“We''re almost done. Can you take this rag and wipe the flour off the table there?” Talon asked.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Okay!”


    <span style="font-weight:400">The girl bounced over and took the rag he offered her. Humming a cheery tune, she started wiping down the kneading table.


    <span style="font-weight:400">Talon smiled at her enthusiasm. That cheerful attitude had to mean she was some kind of noble. She wasn’t beaten down.


    <span style="font-weight:400">Going over to check how she did cutting the meat for tomorrow''s pies, he found it cut just like he’d asked. She had properly skinned the ashmin and removed the entrails. It wasn’t perfect, but it was way better than a pampered noble should be able to do.


    <span style="font-weight:400">So what was she? Everything about her was a contradiction. Her personality and attitude were open and friendly, but just looking at her made him ufortable to the point that he had almost brushed off her obvious attempts at friendship.


    <span style="font-weight:400">Fortunately, he had realized what was happening before he did something mean. Heroes didn’t push people away just because they had a creepy feel to them. Unless they were evil, but judging from the girl’s happy humming, she wasn’t.


    <span style="font-weight:400">Talon rubbed his purple ribs; he should know better than anyone not to treat people poorly for things they had no control over. The fact that she made his skin crawl was not her fault. Probably.


    <span style="font-weight:400">Looking around the kitchen, Talon realized with the girl''s help, he would be done with his work early.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“We’re almost done. What do you want to do?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">The girl immediately forgot about cleaning the kneading table.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“You know that game with the inted ball? I really want to try it!”


    <span style="font-weight:400">Talon could almost feel the excitement radiating off her. This was another point for her being a noble girl. What Low Ringer hadn’t yed knees or headstop before? She looked to be two or three years younger than him, but if she grew up in the Low Ring, she should have yed these games dozens of times.


    <span style="font-weight:400">Enjoying the mystery of it all, Talon grabbed a rag and helped with the kneading table. The girl blushed a bit and started cleaning again.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Sure, I have some friends who like to y knees. We can go find them when we''re done here.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">Coon and Ound owned a ball, and the brothers loved to y knees, especially when they could beat the other team. With the girl being new to the game, she and Talon would lose a lot.


    <span style="font-weight:400">Usually, being on a team with a lousy teammate would bother Talon, but he had a feeling losing with Rain would still be fun.


    <span style="font-weight:400">Once they finished cleaning, Talon took Rain by the hand and led her from the bakery before Pa coulde around and decide that something was his fault and hit him, or worse, her, for it.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“So if you don''t y knees, what do you usually do for fun?” He asked her, hoping to gain more clues about his new friend. If she said something like gardening, it would be another point for her being a noble. If she said something like chase, it would be a point for street orphan.


    <span style="font-weight:400">After a brief pause, she answered. “I like eating, I guess.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">Well, that didn’t give him much.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“What kind of foods do you like?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“I liked your bread.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">And that gave him nothing.


    <span style="font-weight:400">He was trying to think of a good question when they reached the street where Coon and Ound usually yed. Sure enough, there they were, passing their ball back and forth with their knees.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Hay guys, I got a rookie to y knees with us.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Hay Lon, did ya Pa let you go early?” Ound said while focusing on keeping the ball in the air.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Rain here helped me out, so I was able to get away,” Talon said, motioning to Rain next to him. “So, do you guys want to y pairs? I bet Rain and I can beat you even if she’s never yed knees before.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Oh, you think you can take us?” Coon said, trying to distract everyone from the fact that he had just floored the ball. “We can take… who in Arkit is that!”


    <span style="font-weight:400">The moment Coon looked at Rain, his attitude changed from friendly to hostile. Talon could understand the feelings; he struggled to hold her hand even after spending a few hours with her. Still, she hadn’t done anything wrong. He hoped he could help his friends see how nice Rain was. Unfortunately…


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Why are you with a freak like that? She’s gotta be a ck sser.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Ya man, why would you bring her near us? I bet she has all kinds of curse skills.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">Talon had also thought Rain was a ck sser when she bumped into him. At first, he had wanted to run before she could give him nightmares or strangle him with his shadow, but a hero never runs. Instead, a hero would confront the ck sser and defeat them, convincing them of the error of their ways. Then, the ck sser would join the hero on their grand quest. So that''s what he did.


    <span style="font-weight:400">Admittedly, the grand conflict had been rather short, involving him getting knocked on his butt, and she had asked him to be friends, not the other way around, but Talon wouldn’t sweat the details.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“I defeated her in battle and made her my ally,” Talon stated in the heroic voice and pose he practiced when no one could hear him.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“No way am I ying with her. My ma told me stories of Higgor the Strangler. She’ll kill us in our sleep if we give her a chance to mark us.” Ound said while Coon nodded.


    <span style="font-weight:400">At this point, Talon could feel Rain''s hand shaking. Looking over at her, he found her looking at her feet. Her ck hair had fallen in front of her face; it didn’t help her look less creepy. Fantasies of being a hero aside, Talon needed to fix this before she got hurt.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Seriously, she’s good. Let''s y a game of pairs.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">Coon shook his head. “No way, I can feel something off with her from here. Ditch the creep, and we’ll y takeover.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Ya, if you’re going to spend time with that freak, then leave us alone. We don''t want its curses to rub off on us.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">Talon didn’t know what to do. He had been good friends with Coon and Ound for years and knew them well enough to know that they were serious. They didn’t want to be around anyone who spent time with Rain. He’d thought he could convince them; otherwise, he wouldn’t have brought Rain here. But he’d been wrong.


    <span style="font-weight:400">Now, he had to decide whether to break his promise to Rain, a girl he barely knew, or lose two of his best friends.


    <span style="font-weight:400">Talon knew what the right answer was. Pardeth, one of the heroes that Talon looked up to the most, had betrayed and imprisoned all his friends and family after he caught them performing human sacrifices in the hopes of gaining eternal life.


    <span style="font-weight:400">Pardeth had been forced to kill his own brother in order to protect the innocent. If Talon wanted to be a hero, he needed to do what was right no matter what it cost him.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Come on, Rain. Let''s find something else to do.” With a heavy heart, Talon squeezed Rain''s hand and led her away.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Seriously!” Coon said.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Don’te crying to us when she curses you,” Ound called after Talon.


    <span style="font-weight:400">Talon ignored them, unsure if he had made the right decision, that is, until a small hand squeezed his, and a smaller voice whispered, “Thank you.”