Welcome to Gaia! ::

That the boy answered at all was immediately encouraging, and at the first inquiry, he nodded. “It is our only true coastal city, and the second largest in our nation.” It was the most likely place for a foreigner to arrive, being their port city, but also, for all it’s flaws, not the worst of ways to be introduced to Oba—if scuffles like the one this boy had started were avoided.

When the boy laid back, Kedean thought for a moment that he had opted for rest first—which was just was well. He clearly needed it, and it brought a subtle sense of ease in him to see at least some thread of the boy’s volatile, guarded disposition ease as he settled himself.

He blinked at the words that followed, surprised—and impressed. Though he hadn’t expected to bargain, it seemed to him an immediate sign that the child was no fool. He was paying attention. And he did not trust Kedean.

Which was to be expected, he supposed. Seeing no reason to argue for the time being, he considered for a moment. In the interest of presenting himself as an unguarded source, it seemed best to address the question with an answer first, and yet, though his instinct was that, ‘It would have been wrong to do anything less…’ he didn’t suspect the boy had lead a life thus far that instilled in him a firm belief in altruism or moral duty. And above all, he wanted it clear he had no motives counter to the boy’s own—so far as he knew yet, in any case.

“I make some of my living there,” he said. “It would not have helped anyone if either you or any of the men there had died. Beyond that…” He shrugged, a loose roll of his shoulders, “…it does not sit well with me to watch grown men exhibit the restraint of children and utilize their strength as a policing tool. They should not have done as they did, and if I had done nothing I would have been no better.”

Kedean watched as the boy curled, his words softening with grogginess even if he was making evident effort to stay conscious. While very aware of the boy’s offer to answer his ‘earned’ number of questions, Kedean didn’t feel pressed to get them all out of him immediately. Rather, he suspected he was likely to get more and better information regardless if he waited.

For now, however, he still felt it pertinent to say, “I would like to know your name. Then I will leave you be…we can speak more after you rest. I will keep count, if that is the system that feels fairest to you while we share space.”

He was, on the one hand, certain that he didn’t trust the boy alone in his house. If he had the strength to manage it, it was painfully evident he had nothing to lose and an attitude that put him on the pre-emptive offense against the world for what it was about to throw at him next. He would take what he could out of self preservation—or certainly, he would if he didn’t somehow come to the conclusion that he had more to benefit from Kedean’s presence and cooperation. For the immediate present, however, Kedean felt he was suitably exhausted that he didn’t have much to fear. Whatever he attempted, if anything, the boy couldn’t get far, and if he managed to let himself trust it, he had far more to gain from taking his recuperation where he could find it.

Only the hours and days to come would tell in that regard, Kedean supposed.

Finn.

Kedean let the name sit in his mind as the boy drifted to sleep, and even as he rose to leave, taking the dishes with him, the name associated itself with the flickering glow of the boy’s eyes as his lashes had drifted and fought sleep. Like winking stars, dimming irregularly with the approach of scattered clouds and storm.

Later, he would have questions and more food, and attempt to determine the direction he ought to take with his unanticipated guest. For the moment, however, he had only a limited period of time while the boy—Finn—was still tired enough to keep himself out of trouble that Kedean could get business done without fear (he hoped) of returning to catastrophe.

He didn’t know the boy well yet, and so it might have been a misplaced concern, but he didn’t think it an unfair one under the circumstances given what he had seen. Thus, after making quick work of tidying, he set out of the house. There was much to be done, and only so much time to do it in. His first stop was a return trip to where he had initially headed that morning.