The crowd closed dangerously around them, their narrowed eyes crushing as rocks launched at them.

A staff rose over the crowd before a baritone voice resonated. "Enough!" The foot froze, and silence weighted over the people who moved away to let place to a man with long decades scarring his skin. His eyes were dull and heavy with large under bags as if to bear what he had witnessed over the years. His hair was waves of grey strands cascading to his shoulders, stripped of their youth but healthy with care. He moved and limped with his staff towards the foreigners, one of his pants legs hollowed and floating. Respect whiffed from his aura so much that anyone wouldn't dare talk.

His eyes then landed on the group, hard and scrutinizing. Amaya's breath stilled. "What do you strangers want?" he jutted his chin high, standing firm and imposing as if his staff was there for mere decoration and not for keeping him standing.

"They attacked Arthur, Father! We must chase them away-" The older brother started, his mouth closing shut with a stare from the older man.

Amaya was reminded of her father, who could lift a crowded room or silence it with the move of his finger. "We don't want you any harm," she said, giving a pointy glare at Bett for the head of the young man still hanging from their tight grip. "Bett," Amaya whispered, and they sighed before dropping the boy on the ground. He crawled immediately to his father but glared from behind his back.

The old man raised his voice again. "My question was left unanswered."

Amaya stepped forward, still wary of the crowd, "We are here because we are looking for the Favor."

His eyes narrowed in a slit. "Why do you think you can find it here?"

Lach chimed in, "We know how you people have arrived here," he glanced at the crowd. "You flew away from the war and-" a flash of red hair. Something sharp and cold pushed against Lach's throat. His eyes fell to the tip of the blade the snarling older brother held. Lach raised his hand. "We don't want to harm any of you," the words were intended for his ears only.

"You touch my brother again, and I kill you," he spat.

"Well, he is more useful than his brother." Bett snorted.

"We are not here to fight." Amaya turned to the crowd. "Ornuv is in danger, and if we don't find the Favor soon, it will be lost."

"What is happening in the continent is not our problem!" Someone shouted from the crowd, rising roars of agreement.

"Release him," the old man said quietly, eyes fixing his son. The young man clenched his teeth before releasing the pressure on Lach's neck. He rubbed the sensitive skin, and Amaya's shoulders deflated.

"As you know, we no longer have any link with the Continent. What is happening there is not our concern." The old man posed his palms firmly on the round handle of his staff.

Amaya frowned deeply. "You have fought the war of the Continent. How can you say that?"

The man raised a hand, his sleeve falling to the hollow of his arm, a dark drawing visible on his wrist. "We left the Continent for a reason. Whatever you are looking for is not here." His eyes were sharp. "Now you must go."

"Let's get out of here," Lach said, eyes glancing at the crowd.

"Wait-" Amaya stepped forward, and Lach reached for her, but she was already in front of the old man.

"Please, listen to us." The old man raised a brow. "You must know that whatever conflict arises on the Continent will also touch Keso. You won't be left untouched. Keso still belongs to Ornuv."

The old man inhaled deeply before glancing at a woman with red hair, the same shade as the two young men. She gazed at him knowingly before looking at Amaya. "A young man claiming to be from Mias arrived two days ago," she exclaimed. "He said that Mias and Ornuv will unite to keep the peace."

Amaya's eyebrows raised. "Who is that man?"

"He stayed nameless but arrived injured and in pretty bad shape. But now he is better." The old man nodded and jerked his head to his youngest son, who raced towards a tent.

Amaya hadn't had time to rummage her brain again because her thoughts purged when the crowd moved away again. Her mouth slackened as she drank the sight of a man with a makeshift bandage wrapped around his arm, the only tissue covering his umber skin. He looked disheveled from the last time she saw him, but that bright smile was unmistakable.

"Ezri?" Amaya forced through a lump inside her throat.

"Amaya." The softness of his voice burned her eyes wet, and she rushed towards him. Lach's eyes widened, and Bett raised a brow.

Her arms caught his neck in a tight embrace. "It is you. It is really you. How did you..." her words faltered, and he tightened his good arm around her.

"I am glad to see you too," he said, tears spilling down her cheeks.

Lach stayed frozen, mouth agape. Bett waved a hand before his face, but his gaze didn't shift. "Did you see a ghost?"

"I might as well," Lach drawled out.

"Who is that?" They demanded.

Lach kept quiet.

"I am so sorry..." she murmured, wiping her eyes as she remembered how they had let the man on the snow, blood gushing out of him. Her heart remembered the ache she had felt at that moment.

He lifted her chin up. "Don't worry, I am fine."

Amaya had so many questions, and they hurried, jostling against each other in her head, but ultimately, what she wanted to know was, "How did you..." Survived was the silent word.

"I had enough strength to drag myself to the forest when you left. A maid who had escaped found me and brought me to a village where she mended my wound. They had said that if I had been there a few hours later, I would be gone." His features tightened. "They helped me reach the port, and I took my ship to sail, but-" His eyebrows twisted. "Something happened in the sea, and we lost most of our crew..."

"Oh, Sun God..." The creatures.

"We had to give up the ship, but a storm separated me from the rest of the crew. I ended up here."

Amaya's mouth stretched under the wetness of her cheeks, and she buried her face against his chest. "I am so relieved."

"I am so glad I found you back too," he whispered to her ear. His eyes flicked to Lach, who tensed, and he frowned. "Weren't you supposed to head to Mias?"

"I have a lot to tell you," she said before turning to Lach and Bett. Ezri kept his stare on Lach.

**

Amaya explained to Ezri what happened until the night embraced the sky.

The festering hostility of the camp also left with the last sunrays and it seemed like the ordeal from earlier had never happened as Lach, Amaya, and Bett were invited to the night festivities. The old men indulged their new guests for the night, offering to share their humble meal. A grand fire lifted in the middle of the camp, its flames dancing with the whimsical vibrations of flutes and tambourines and the angelic voice of women.

They all sat on makeshift carpets and soft cushions as bowls of food were generously presented before them.

Bett slurped a bowl of soup, trails escaping to the corner of their mouth. Amaya and Lach sat close. The latter bit a piece of bread, but Amaya hadn't touched any bowls before her.

Lach lowered the bread. "What's going on?" Since Ezri showed up again, something dreadful prickled his skin, like a bad drop on his skin forecasting a storm.

Amaya was startled, as if she remembered she wasn't alone. "This man, I feel like I have seen him somewhere." Her eyes fixed on the old man, his staff still secured under his grip as he talked to the bright red-haired woman. Lach's eyes lifted to him, too.

"You must be mistaken," Bett mumbled through them, chewing bread. "He is been living here for the last ten years."

Amaya hadn't time to answer, for a little girl stood before her. She had thick, curly, light brown hair and a smile imbued with innocence. "Let's play," she said, taking Amaya's hand, and she hadn't had time to process that a horde of little girls dragged her away. She gave Lach a petrified gaze, and he shrugged.

They sat Amaya on another carpet, and little hands started to insert flowers inside her curls. Their laughs traveled to Lach, and a smile curled on his face.

Bett snorted. "Stop looking at her like that, or I will throw up."

Lach glared at them. He would have suffocated Bett with the bread if it wasn't for the little girl standing in front of him, hands fidgeting. "Yes?"

"Come too."

Amaya looked at him with a malicious gaze, and Lach waved a hand. "I am really not into flow-" The girl had already grabbed him, and Lach was surprised by her strength as he dragged her to their little group. She was so small compared to him that he had to bend his back. Amaya stood with a winning smile.

Lach let out a pretended, annoying sigh. "I made something for you," Amaya said before removing her hands from behind her back. She placed a flower crown on Lach's head without leaving his gaze. Her scent, that smile, and the smoothness of her skin invigorated him, and his heart bloomed as if taken away by a wave of nostalgia for a time when everything was bright and sunny. A blurred memory. A flower crown. A little girl with a honey-infused laugh. The image cleared, and the little girl looked right at him at that moment.

Lach stared at Amaya, his breath stuck inside his throat.

She tilted her head. "What's happening to you? Did you lose your tongue?" She asked, playfulness dancing in her tone.

His throat was tight. He couldn't talk. "You..."

Amaya's eyes flew to the side, her smile falling. "Wait for me here," she said, stepping away. Lach's mouth hung as he watched her talking to the old man.

**

"Can I talk to you?" Amaya asked, and the old man looked at her as if he had expected her the whole night. He nodded before he led her inside one of the tents. He invited her to sit on a carpeted floor with a cushion, and he sat in front of her, his sole leg awkwardly bending.

"I lost it during the war," he answered the silent question.

Amaya shifted uncomfortably before shifting the subject. "The symbol on your wrist. What does it mean?"

His eyes fell on his wrinkled wrist, threaded with blue veins. "This was to recognize each other among the soldiers."

"For what?"

"For those that would leave Ornuv."

"When I was a little girl, I saw a man with this symbol." The night she last saw her mother, she saw that symbol on the two men standing with her. "I know this because-"

"You are the Princess."

Amaya froze. "How..."

"I was there when she gave you this." He pointed to her pendant.

"Where did my mother go that night?" This question had haunted them all her life, and she was finally in the presence of someone who could release her from that torturing grip.

"She was supposed to come here but could never reach it." Sorrow wept from his words. "But you, you weren't supposed to be here too." Fear tightened his face.

Amaya leaned forward. "What do you mean?"

"You said you were looking for the Favor... Don't search for it." He glanced away. "You might not like what you find. Your mother didn't either."

"Then what was the purpose of my mother in coming here? What did she leave that night?" her words strained as they came.

He inhaled deeply. "Your father was stubborn. He should have listened to her, but he never did. She had no other choices." Then, it dawned on Amaya as her face fell. "The Favor disappeared because it was the decision of your mother."

The air around Amaya was too thick for that information to make any sense in her mind. "Don't- don't lie." Her lips trembled. "She would have never done that."

"It is but the truth."

"But why?" She felt like she kept asking the same thing.

"Do you know the meaning of life, Princess?" Amaya blinked. "Neither do I, but I know we weren't meant to fight for greed." He said, eyes tight. "A war that a lot of us didn't find necessary but which we were required to do. A full army of ten thousand men rushed towards their death with bravery; only a thousand came back with some missing body parts and left with broken souls." Something dropped inside Amaya's chest.

"Do you know how the Favor came upon Ornuv?"

"The Sun God gave it to the bravest soldier."

"This is not exactly true."

"The soldier was given the Favor, but not how you believe. He did win the war and was rewarded by the Sun God. You see, a long time ago, this soldier came upon a woman inside a forest. She caught his eyes. It was said, he had never seen such a beauty in his life. The woman was the daughter of the Sun God, sent to bless the land with the prosperity."

"The Favor..." Amaya murmured.

The man nodded. "He took her back to the castle and married her with the blessing of the Sun God and had many children. Wherever she went, all the country bloomed with life and harvest. But greed is something men are born with." A shadow covered his eyes. "Like your father, he wanted more; because of that, he led wars and left the Continent in blood and fire. That was how Ornuv became the wealthiest country of the Continent." He gripped the handle of his staff tightly. "But the daughter couldn't bring herself to see the horror, the death, the sorrow. She was a pure soul, a deity. So...she killed herself during Winter. "Amaya startled. "As a punishment, the Sun God cursed his whole bloodline. Daughter after daughter would carry the Favor only to die, or Ornuv would be devasted by the cold. The last daughter who died was..."

"Mother," Amaya's heart sank.

The man inhaled deeply, "The winter curse didn't strike Ornuv because of the war but because the Queen died. It is written in the prophecy."

Amaya's eyes widened. "The Winter Sun shall not rise, Darkness bath the lands."

« For a cursed sword would strike the promised Favor... » The man went on. "You." He leaned forward, doom in his eyes.

**

Amaya left the tent, her face distraught, and Lach stood up. He needed to talk to her. To tell her because she was her. He was sure of that. All this time.

"Amaya!" He called as he approached. She looked up, but Ezri blocked his view.

"Amaya, can I talk to you for a moment," Ezri said, tone rigid.

"Ezri. I- I can't talk right now."

"It's important." His eyes were sharp and intense.

Amaya's eyes darted between the two of them. "I- Sure." She followed Ezri, her gaze trailing over her shoulder to Lach before they slipped away from the crowd behind the bonfire, leaving Lach standing, shoulders sagged.

"What's the matter?" Amaya demanded when they were far away from prying ears.

"A ship from Mias is coming soon. You are coming with me."

Her eyebrows raised. "What?"