"Oh Sun God!" The woman yelled upon opening the door. The sight in front of her deepened even more the wrinkles on her pale forehead. "Lach...What happened to you?" Her hands though petite and wrinkly grabbed the bluish and reddish face hard enough to prompt a hiss from the young man.

Lach jerked his face away. "Just an accident," He mumbled through thick annoyance lacing his tone. He brushed past over her concerned eyes.

"Elson! Make haste," the woman yelled, eyes following her battered son inside the warmth of the cottage. Lach hissed as he shrugged off his jacket and collapsed on one of the stools sitting in front of a roughly polished wooden table. It squeaked under the force of his weight.

"Brother!" Tiny arms swept Lach with so much force it pushed the air out of his lungs.

"Elson, please. Not now." he let out in a strangled voice, hissing in pain. The boy took a step back and that's when his eyes widened.

"Why-"

Yehime chased the little boy away with a fleeting hand. "Elson. Leave your brother alone. You can see he is not in condition to play." Lach rubbed his noise. "He apparently had a lot of fun in the market." Lach suppressed the rolling of his eyes. He knew better than to do that in front of his mother. "What happened to you?" she inquired a second time but Lach offered a stubborn muteness. Her disapproving gaze burned holes on face before it fell on his hands. "Oh my..." she drawled out, discovering other cuts and bruised. He tugged the tunic of sleeves down while she rolled her up her own with a sigh. She stomped away, retrieving a bucket on the way before the door shut down. A few minutes that stood like an eternity in which Elson hit him with a hundred questions at the speed of a mill passed before she was back. Her back bent from the heaviness of the bucket as she stifled a hiss. Lach was half-way standing when her icy glare put him back on the stool with a grimace.

She poured the water in a pan marinating on the flames of the hearth. Each movement were accentuated by a heavy sigh. A steaming bucket sat down heavily on the wooden floor. "You better have a clear explanation for this." She kneeled down before him and extended the cloth to his face.

Lach hissed when the fabric touched the red string spreading over his cheekbone. It was still rough, open and sensitive, sending his fists into tight balls. "As I said it was an accident -" he managed under another painful hissed when she tapped the pearls of blood away from his forehead. "I fell down the hill." The lie slipped easily.

The dark water splashed as the cloth was thrown inside it. Drops flew on the used and discolored wood, spreading dark dots. "Do you believe your mother a fool?" Yehime's eyes were burning, the ice had melt to let place to a building anger that made Lach's adam's apple bobbed. A look that had made him sweat more time than he would want to admit. "Look at you," she pointed at him. Lach's eyes dropped on himself, his eyes widening as if it was the first time he noticed the battered skin and the holes on his pants. He fidgeted with the hem of his poor tunic -one of the two he possessed- which was torn from the collar down. His boots were covered in mud and he unconsciously pushed them under the stool. "I saw." Yehime pointed out. "And I saw all the mud you brought inside too." he could feel her blood boiling with the dreading thought of scrapping dried mud off of the floor.

"I will to remove the mud," Lach promised quietly.

"Do not bother," she huffed before grabbing back the cloth and twisting it over the bucket until there was no drop left. "I always told your father how reckless you were." Lach frowned. "He never took that seriously. Look now where you-" she glanced around her. "Where is the basket?" Lach fidgeted with his shirt spurring a raised brow from his mother. The basket... Lach vaguely remembered leaving it at the merchant stand before he black out. It was probably in someone's greedy hands by now, the food sitting warmly inside this unknown person. "I lost it."

Her shoulders dropped. "How?"

"I- I got into a fight," he admitted. A diluted truth that still stirred a worried look mixed with disappointment on her features. Suddenly, ten years spanned on her face. Despite the satisfaction he got from seeing the Lord's face stretched in fears, regrets still panged his heart.

The Lord's word flashed through his mind and a frown settled deep on the stableman. He wouldn't believe his mother would let a lord prick to get into their financial situation.

Elson's face appeared over the woman's shoulder with sparkling eyes. "You kicked their asses didn't you big brother?"

Lach's lips tightened. "Yeah! I kicked their asses and send them right crying back to their mamas!"

Elson's mouth opened so wide, it exposed the gaping hole between his front teeth. "I knew it!" he launched a fist in the air. "My big brother is the strongest."

Lach gave him a lopsided smile that disappeared gradually as his mother rubbed the place between her eyes.

"I can't believe this," the woman drawled in a murmur before raising her voice. "And what did you think lying would do?" she pointed the wet cloth at him.

"You tell me!" Lach threw and the woman's eyes widened. "It didn't occur to you to tell me that you are indebted to the Harringtons?" The woman looked away and Lach could feel his features pulling with disbelief.

"This is not yours to know," the cloth splashed into the water.

Lach's eyes widened. "It is mom! I am still taking care of this family. I am still taking care of

you..." he added, voice strained by the weight on his shoulders. "I know I am not dad but..."

Her features dropped. "Lach..."

His chest heaved. He was the one taking care of this family. Why couldn't she trust him?" "They paid the house," he let out like a fatality.

The woman rose slowly, her eyes tightening as if a throbbing pain bothered her under Lach's narrowing gaze. "The landlord threatened to throw us to the streets if we do not pay before Solstice."

Lach's mouth hung open for a while. "Why didn't you tell? I would have work more hours-"

"I am still your mother!" the yell threw a brazen wind inside the small cottage, jolting Elson's body and freezing Lach's limbs. "I am the one making decisions in this house." She pointed to herself. "I do not owe you an explanation on how I manage this house Lach." She grabbed the bucket and went outside. The door slammed down, waking the bones of the two boys. The young boy's fearful eyes found his big brother's.

"Did you know?" Lach asked quietly.

Elson nodded, eyes down. "Mama said to not tell you." Lach sighed heavily before dropping his face between his rough and cut palms. "Maybe, you should stay more with us." The sadness in his brother's words settled deep inside him and Lach's lips tightened.

**

The dark night stretched over the small village when Lach found the courage to go out. His mother sat a trunk before a firepit, a shawl engulfing her petite form. The fire gave forth a dark smoke rising to the dark heavens full of sparkling dots.

A form shadowed her before it spurred a painful hiss as the trunk shifted. "Mother. I-"

"I am sorry I didn't tell you," she started, eyes weary. "But you are already doing so much for us." Lach shook his head. "All men your age are getting married, starting families and settling in their own home and you- you take care of my old bones," her voice edged with a sorrow that Lach had rarely been a witness of so much she kept everything bottled down. He couldn't blame her. In a way, Lach was the same.

He searched her gaze. "Of course, I will take care of you. I am your son." There was no confusion about that. He would always take care of her until his last breath, no matter how many bruises he would get. As for marrying, he knew where the concern came from. The thing was Lach himself hadn't had the space to think much about that. "Besides it is not true." He huffed, the light of the fire danced orange in his eyes. "Not all men are getting married. "Just look at Rid."

A small smile tugged at her lips. "You look so much like him." Lach's heart gripped with a tightness that had yet to loosen even after all these years. It was always like when he mentioned him. "You also talk like your father too." A slim hand caressed a dark strand away from his forehead. "As a young boy you used to be amazed by the slightest thing. The stars..." They both looked up to the dark canvas full of sparkles. "Ants. You used to lie down on the grass and watched them for hours." Lach smiled softly and Yehime tightened the shawl on her. "But what made your eyes shine the most was watching your father riding his horse in the plain in full gallop." Lach's lips tightened. "He always said he would teach you but-but when he left us," A sob threatened to escape her mouth. "It was as if the spark faded forever from your eyes-" her throat blocked as tears traveled her cheeks. "All he ever wanted for you and Elson was to have a great life."

Lach's heart tightened at the pain, at the grief that lingered over their head, that sleep with them, eat with them. All he wanted was to lessen the weight of her heart, to wash away the pain. The light of the fire burned red on his irises as he made a decision. "I will go to the castle." The woman's jaw slackened. He grabbed her hands gaze at her. "I will help for the Princess's ceremony and bring back a greater pay."

"Lach-"

His grip tightened. "But you have to promise me you won't break your back for the Harringtons anymore."

"Only if you promise me you won't get into troubles again." A soft palm found a bruised cheek. "I can't lose you too."

"I promise."

Relief carved into her smile.

That night as he laid down on his bed of straws, a souvenir visited Lach like an old friend that had been gone for too long but which visit warmth his heart with gratefulness.

A man with a face marked by the sun and head full of brown curly hair hopped off a chariot with a grunt. "I am going to deliver these merchandises." He dusted his worn out jacket off before discharging heavy bags from the back of an old wooden cart whose wheels winced with each of its steps. The little boy next to him nodded, his straight black bouncing on his pale forehead.

"Can I go see the horsies?" the young boy pointed to the wooden structure near the trees.

"All right," the young boy jumped off the chariot, already racing through the greenery extend. "But Lach," the boy stopped. "Don't cause any troubles," he warned before smiling at him, the cue for the boy to race away.

Upon entering the massive stables, his lips stretched widely. Rows of stalls habitating horses, extended to infinity. "Hey, lovely," he waved at horse who neighed back at him. They were strong horses, with thick sparkling hair. One in particular stroke Lach. In the corner, almost hiden by the others stood a smaller horse, with a mane as white as the snow. "Hello you!" Lach greeted, caressing his nose. The horse melted in the touch and he licked the boy face stirring a gleeful chuckle. "You are a funny boy aren't you?"

"It's not a boy."

Lach startled, he turned around swiftly. "Who's there?" he grabbed a wood stick on the floor and pointed it towards the opposite row of horses. His eyes bounced from horse to horse before a melodious chuckle rose. He jerked his head to theside. "You are not brave if you don't show yourself!" he yelled, pointing his wooden stick. The melody of a laughter echoed into the barn once more and the boy frowned. At the corner of his eyes, he sensed a shift. Behind one of the wooden pole supporting the roof, a purple tissue stuck out. A smirk spread on the boy's lips as he got closer, steps quiet like a mouse. When he was close enough, he jumped and roared like a bear, pointing his wood stick to the coward spy, ready to show them what real bravery was-

He froze.

A young girl stood, there, clad in a purple dress. Her skin was as deep as the night glistening with stars. Thick and lustful coily hair made of tiny curls framed her face. Deep and big dark brown eyes like a deer stared back at him with fear before another beautiful melodious laughter escaped dark rosy lips, beaming her features. The wooden stick fell on the ground.

The sun shone bright as his face but Lach couldn't look away.

"You found me," she said with that melodious voice.