It was a rare sight for Farah to be on his own in the village. If he wasn’t with his father then Farah was generally under the care of Reven and his wife. Since this was the only way that the villagers felt at ease with him around Farah had agreed to it, but he still would buck under their control. He preferred to be on his own when Faydis wasn’t around, though the chances of that happening was slim.

Still, it had happened today and he didn’t know how to handle it. Reven was supposed to pick him up from the market after Taavetti left for his shift, but the other Matorian hadn’t showed. Farah waited at his usual spot near the big, stone wall that separated the village from the coast and yet…Nothing. He waited for a while, kicking his legs out into the air, before sighing and hopping up. Maybe he should just go find him? If Reven found out that he had left then he wasn’t going to be happy, but sitting there all day for Taavetti to get off work didn’t sound good either. What if he just went home? Farah could remember the way-

“Excuse me, can you help me? I’m looking for the village of Viridis?”

Farah turned to see a rather squat man with orange hair and bright, violet eyes. He’d never seen anything like it. His skin was the color of fish scales, as light as the sun itself, with crystals that looked like sea moss.

“This is it.” Farah quirked his brow as the man lifted his map and scoured over it again. “Why are you looking for it?”

“Ah, well, my wife’s family lives here! We’re moving in.” He smiled and wrote a little note on the map with charcoal before folding it up. “I’m from Belrea originally, but she always mentioned how charming her childhood home was. When our kids were old enough we knew we would move here, and now’s the time.”

Belrea? Farah furrowed his brow. He’d heard the term in passing from his father, but it had never been discussed in detail. “Seems like a pretty big change? Isn’t Belrea a lot…busier than this?”

“It is! And that’s why we moved here. You’ll understand one day when you get out on your own that nothing beats peace and quiet in your old age.”

Would he? Farah had never really considered travel before, but now that Faydis had disappeared he was giving it more thought. Where would he even go? Should he go to Belrea? Or maybe just another area of Matori? In all honesty Farah was perfectly happy on his island, and yet…if he did get out then he wouldn’t have to be escorted anymore. He could just go.
If his father would even allow it.

“You haven’t seen her, have you? My wife? She’s taller than me, painfully thin woman with white hair; it’s not natural, she dyed it that way.” He turned around to look through the village, but in a sea of blues and greens there wasn’t one speck of white hair.

“Is it…hard? To travel?” Farah broached uneasily. “I don’t have any coin saved, but…I was just wondering if it was harder to go without?”

“Coin does make it easier, but so long as you know what you’re doing I’d say it’s not hard. You could always do odd jobs for folks along the way or hunt for your own supplies I wager. Not much of a hunter myself, but I’m cracker jack with ledgers so I’ve been helping out couriers.” He stood a little straighter and the pudge of his stomach jutted out. “Actually I might invest in a courier service here if you’re interested! Could use young lads like yourself to help run some of the supplies.”

“…No, I don’t think I’ll do that.”

“Well, if you change your mind, you’ll come find me?”

“…Sure.”

He kept rambling to the point that Farah started to tune him out. All this business of fleeing got him thinking about what steps he might take next in life. While he could stay in the village he might be better off finding someplace new to hide out. Someplace that didn’t know him, wouldn’t judge his oddities and where he could just exist. Faydis was gone now to where he would never know, and he just…hated being here.

So, maybe it was for the best that he leave? It was something he was going to have to ponder.

[754]