Dusan had to leave for Cape Town as he couldn't prolong his stay further at Nanda Parbat. He had received Nyssa's letters asking him to come back and deal with an urgent matter that had sprung up in his absence. So he had to leave and decided to bid his farewell to his sister before setting out for his journey to Cape Town.

But Talia was nowhere to be found so he decided to look for Veruna instead. The two would often be together but that wasn't the case at the moment either.

Veruna had just gotten free from a training session with her troop when Dusan found her. But even she didn't know where Talia had gone.

"Is everything alright?" Dusan asked, seeing that her features were set in a worried look.

"I don't really know, Master Dusan," she replied, her voice somewhat perturbed, "I feel like I did something that made her angry."

"And why do you feel like that?"

"She doesn't talk to me anymore," she looked away, trying to hide the hurt expression that was too evident in her hazel eyes, "sometimes it feels like she intentionally avoids me."

Dusan was aware of the reason behind it partially so he tried to reassure her, "maybe she's just burdened. You know her better than I do, she takes her responsibilities very seriously."

Veruna nodded in reply but the frown from her face hadn't faded, making it obvious that she was overthinking everything.

"Did Talia tell you something she might have never said before?" He asked in a cautious tone, knowing that he couldn't ask openly as it would put Talia in a compromising position.

She shook her head, "no. But the last we talked, I messed it up by not telling her what she wanted to know fully. It made her think that I don't trust her anymore." Her eyes flickered with a very resolute gleam as she resumed, "but that's not true, Master Dusan. I trust her and I will not hesitate even for a second before sacrificing my life for my Lady."

He nodded, grasping the situation to some extent, "if you don't mind me intruding, what exactly did she ask from you?"

Her cheeks fired up with color and it could have misled Dusan into thinking that Talia had conveyed her feelings to her. But she spoke up, clearing his suspicion, "she asked me to tell her about a friend of mine. And I didn't tell her in detail because I thought it was unnecessary and well, it's not been long since I have met that person either so... If I had any idea that it would make her angry at me, I wouldn't have done that."

He could piece a few things together and by then he also had a fair idea of where he would find Talia. "Don't fret so much, Veruna. She's not angry at you, I will talk to her and everything will be back to normal. Trust me."

"Thank you," she breathed in relief but then added, "it seems you and my Lady have gotten closer than earlier."

A small smile played upon his lips, "you could say that. Perhaps we finally acknowledged each other as siblings. It was long overdue."

"That's nice... And are you leaving for Cape Town now?"

"Unfortunately yes," he answered, "my other sister has a situation ready to dump over my shoulders. But I'll visit often."

"I'll look forward to it."

He reached out, gently patting her head just like he used to years ago when all of them lived at the same base. "Take care of yourself, child. And don't worry too much, at this rate, your hair will start to rival mine in no time."

The remark made her laugh, seeing that he was referring to the fact that she would go silver-haired due to unnecessarily worrying about a lot. Dusan himself had shoulder-length silver hair that he usually kept tied in a traditional bun with braided strands.

His smile widened to see her laugh. He clearly recalled that ever since he had come to Nanda Parbat, the only times she had ever looked relaxed or smiled were when he tried to cheer her up. Otherwise, she would always be going about with a rather solemn look on her face.

But then anyone in her position would feel the need to always be on guard.

"I think Talia would have gone out to the forest to hunt," he remarked, deciding to go to the stables and retrieve his horse, "so I'll go and check up on her. If you're going back to the base, tell Mastaan to bring me my riding bag."

"I'll do so right away."

Veruna left to convey the message while Dusan waited for the stuff he had asked for to arrive. Mastaan brought the bag shortly after and slinging it over his shoulder, Dusan mounted his horse.

There was still some time left for him to leave for the train that would take him to the port so he decided to go to the forest after Talia himself.

He was hoping that she wouldn't have caused any destruction in her fit of rage. Talia was rather formidable when angered, just like their father, so he couldn't overrule her not causing any damage entirely.

The somewhat assuring fact was that no one lived close to the place where the Al Ghuls hunted so chances of any destruction to mortal life would be negligible.

***

She took aim and released her arrow, the sharp metal point piercing through the bird she had pointed at. But no matter what she hunted, it didn't help in calming her down.

The only way she had ever used to distract herself when angered before was by listening to Veruna's voice but right then she was intentionally keeping a barrier between them.

And the agonizing thing was that she couldn't ascertain whether she was angry or sad. The feeling coursing through her veins urged her to set everything on fire just like it felt when she got angry. But the pain in her heart was something she had never felt before.

It was almost as if a piece of her heart had been carved out and she had to watch it being taken away by someone else.

She felt a slight movement behind her so she spun around alert, an arrow readily placed within her bow. The leaves rustled again and she thought it would be an ibex or some other wild animal prancing about.

But her guess was wrong and the arrow had left for the target already when she realized her mistake. A cry of pain startled her and she steered her horse to the place where the sound had come from, finding a child crouched in the bushes.

He was clutching his leg that had been scraped by the arrow and looked like he would burst into tears at any moment. He was no older than eight and had jet-black hair with equally dark eyes that were welling up in pain.

Talia wasn't very compassionate when it came to children but seeing the boy writhing in pain made her put aside her ego and try to help him.

After all, it was her fault he had gotten hurt in the first place.

She unmounted her horse and approached him but the boy drew back in fear, his lip wobbling and hand turning red with blood. He was scared because he could see it was her arrow that had whizzed so close to him and he was worried that she would attack him.

"What are you doing here?" She asked, her voice stiff and making him get scared further, "don't you know this is a hunting ground?"

"S-sorry," he mumbled, tears spilling down his cheeks, "I... I was looking for... Akkhi..."

She didn't quite hear the last sentence as his words were jumbled up and very low from both fear and pain. She knew she had to get him treated but convincing the boy to come with her seemed an impossible feat right then.

"Talia, what happened?" Dusan's voice threw her off guard and she turned to see his horse come up to the clearing as well, emerald eyes meeting with his light silver.

"I didn't mean to," she replied, holding her head high but feeling bad for the kid who was still there on the ground. "I will take him to the base and get his leg treated."

"No need. It can be treated here just fine." Dusan unmounted from his horse as well and came closer. He addressed the boy very gently, "don't worry, it's just a scrape. I can fix it in no time."

Talia watched in astonishment as Dusan unslung his bag and searched inside for ointment and herbs. His gentle behavior towards the boy had made him stop trembling in fear as well and he let him examine the cut before bandaging it up.

"You're lucky the arrow didn't strike you," he told him as he used the medicinal herbs to clean the blood and disinfect the wound, "looks like you were smart enough to dodge it in time."

After cleaning it up, Dusan cut off his sleeve to make a bandage to wrap around the boy's leg. Very carefully, he wrapped the fabric tightly to stop the blood and then asked the kid if it was still hurting as badly as before or not.

"Thank you, sir," he mumbled, "I'll go now."

But of course, walking would be difficult for him so Dusan offered, "or you could tell us where you live and I will drop you off myself."

The fear was lessening from his eyes gradually and he nodded, letting Dusan pick him up and place him down on his horse before mounting it himself. 

"Have you ever had a horse ride before?" He shook his head in a no so Dusan gave him the reins, holding his hands gently, "consider this your first time then."

Talia was surprised at how easy it was for Dusan to get almost everyone to like him. He was a natural when it came to forming connections, be it with people he knew or complete strangers. 

The way he had treated the little boy and gotten him to feel comfortable around him was also rather remarkable. But despite that gifted ability of his, he was still looked down upon by many people due to the fact that he was an albino.

Merely due to the fact that he was different from the rest of them.

"Talia, are you coming along, or do you want to hunt more?"

She shook herself out of her thoughts, having her horse follow Dusan's, "I'm coming."

The boy was leading them down a rough path when Talia suddenly recalled that it was the same place Veruna had said that she had found that peasant family. So she brought her horse beside Dusan's and asked from the child, "what's your name?"

"Assam," he replied, confirming her doubt.

That meant they were going to the same family Veruna had taken food and blankets for not long ago. And the thought made Talia slightly uncertain of what could happen next. 

Because there was a chance that as it was the same family Veruna had mentioned, she might get to meet the man who Veruna hadn't been so willing to tell her about. And she wasn't sure of how she could react upon meeting her rival.

***