People were putting their suitcases and briefcases on top of their seats, apparently there was an open space there where one could deposit those things, Luca thought it unsafe, what if someone took it while one was distracted, or what if an animal got into the train at night and hid in there before terrorizing the people on the train the day after. The whole thing seemed unsafe in many levels, he preferred sitting with his briefcase on his p, his arms resting on top of it and grabbing the bag with the Zenith items. He felt overstimuted, a part of him had accustomed to seeing new faces every so often and only a few, now multiple new people with fine clothing and different physiques were talking and chatting all round him as they took their seats, on the window a ndscape with mountains in the distance and trees aplenty was seen, the grass was green even for it being burning season, although it wasn’t flower season green it still felt weird to see. The ndscape changed in just a couple of hours, past the river that acted as a pseudo-border between his region and the next, Luca felt like nothing he saw out the window was real, that everything was just an illusion from being in the train, he still didn’t assimite that he had gotten out of his region for the first time in his life in just 2 hours, he had seen the train from outside, seeing it go fast and supposedly filled with people from other regions but, it just didn’t feel as fast, but at the same time the ndscape changed rapidly and he could feel the rattle of the train moving under his feet, and it moved on it’s own! Nothing huge pulled from it like one would expect from a thing like a carriage. Although to be fair it wasn’t a carriage, it was a train, a long copper colored metal train, what creature could pull it while still being fast. Luca chuckled to himself thinking of possible answers, a dragon with a harness around its body flying forward and dragging it, some pegasi with ropes on the horns pulling from it, Pierre just ramming into it from behind and pushing it forward…
It was strange, despite thinking all his life of Pierre as a beast and having had it in front of him, having had it breathe on his neck as he ran away and even knocking the wind out of him, the only image that came to mind was it limping back to its home. Luca still couldn’t fully remember the situation, he remembered running to the path the carriage was in, or more specifically the ditch next to it, he remembered being on the ground struggling to breathe, then he remembered seeing the cannonball while Pierre mooed angry on the ground and then he remembered letting go of the weight of the cannonball onto its leg. The scream from the animal made him come back from his adrenaline induced rush, and helped his panic come back, he had no idea how it happened but suddenly he was sitting on the ground, having dragged himself backwards away from Pierre as it stood up and started limping home, wailing in pain while doing so. The moment of breathing was cut short by the screams of celebration and relief from the carriage people, who cheered and hugged eachother before turning their attention to Luca, who was sitting on the grass clutching his side.
They all went up to him and cpped and patted him on the back, one helped him up while another one hugged him, Luca felt pain when he was hugged and the heat of the armor sticking to him, finally they let him breathe as they thanked him. A certain guard however, was talking to whoever was inside the cabin, they then opened the door to let someone exit, they looked at Luca through the gap in the helmet and Luca saw two deep blue eyes peering at him, however something else soon took his attention, and old man, shorter than a meter tall, wrinkly and with little amount of white hair, descended from the cabin with the help of the blue eyes guard and a couple others who aided him. He walked slowly while shivering, Luca guessed it was because of the age, not exactly a lot of cold going around and the man didn’t look shook up in the slightest, despite being clearly, fairly fragile, he walked towards Luca and spoke from the other side of the ditch, making Luca look down at him because of the elevation, and also obviously the height.
“I hear thou helped us young d” He spoke with a shivering voice and an old accent, which Luca needed a minute to process “I gramercy for saving us.”
“Y-Yeah… i-it was a pleasure sir” Luca didn’t feel right calling him sir, but he didn’t want to undermine him by calling him another word or overshoot making him made fun of, he knew how rich folk were, he had heard.
“What’s your name, young man?” he asked, reaching out to him to shake his hand despite the distance between them. Luca then carefully and slowly slid down to the ditch to get closer to him and not have to look at him from above, though he still did slightly even from the ditch.
“L-Luca sir” he shook the old man’s hand carefully as to not hurt him.
“Luca what boy?” he asked calmly.
“Just Luca, m-my mother is an orphan.”
“And thy father?”
“He probably would have told her his st name if he stuck around” he joked, perhaps a bit dark and sad but it got a chuckle on a couple guards and the man smiled, so better than most jokes he told.
“Well Luca, mine name is Director Anami Kreaspell, and from what I’m hearing, thou just saved mine life, and saved mine guards the trouble of fighting the beast” he smiled warmly, his shaky voice didn’t obscure the manner in which he acted, he had a slight hump but still felt as if he stood straight and dignified at the same time as gentle, his clothes where some silk robes of golden colors with a white line going down the middle, and he had some spectacles hanging from a chain around his neck.
“I-I don’t know what to say sir I…” it was true he didn’t know what to say, he didn’t know what came over him to do it, but he did, and he asked himself why, the answer reached his lips before it reached his brain however “I felt like I had to help, it’s only right”, the man smiled with a certain satisfaction, he seemed pleased with Luca’s answer.
“Please, allow me to thank you, say to me aught that i could grant thou and you’ll have it” he said, extending his arms towards him. Luca’s blood froze when he heard this, he would give him anything at all, he knew he could get it, somehow he trusted the director, but whatever he could give him wasn’t worth the trouble, if a rich man offers you something, he always gives a bit more than asked, namely a debt of gratitude, Luca gulped and readied a good response.
“I-I want nothing sir, I don’t want to trouble you with giving me gold or nd or something, we have enough sir, t-thank you though… sir” The man opened his eyes more looking at Luca, who felt he had made some type of mistake.
“Come on boy, help a corky man out, don’t you have aught you desire?” He looked around “I mean, thou live in a endless field! You could bid for gold and move to a nicer climature, or say a word and you’ll have a well in your town with your name on it! There truly might not but be something, perhaps a-'' At the mention of a well, Luca remembered his task, he was supposed to deliver water to an elderly neighbor of his, who could barely even lift a bucket, let alone two.
“I-I beg your pardon, kind sir, b-but I’ve just remembered I uh, h-hath a quest to complete that I left um, in part because of the ruckus here, I-I must leave to complete it” he said as he started climbing out of the ditch.
“B-But young Luca, surely there is-” he said as he walked fragilely towards him before getting interrupted as he turned back to address him.
“Sorry sir, but all I did was run away from an animal and break its leg, I didn’t do no heroic act, so if you forgive me, I have to go… with haste” Luca looked around at the guards, the fine dressed men and women and the drivers, who all looked at him silent, with a confused or shocked look, except for the guard by the door, whose deep blue eyes closed as they nodded to Luca. He saw an opportunity, nodded back and then leaned forward to grab the old man’s hand in his, he shook them carefully. “Thank you so much for your gratitude, it’s payment enough, safe travels to uh, thou all… bye” and as he finished he straightened his posture jumped the ditch and started to run to where he left the buckets, the very ones he had left dry up. As he ran away, he heard the old man mumble something and a woman agree, but he didn’t look back or understand what he said, and yet, he somehow now knew that it was about the package that a man, mounted on a horse with a fg of Zenith on the drapes he wore, brought to his house not but a week ter.
If only he insisted, if only he made sure the man understood he didn’t want anything from him, if only he would have taken Pierre out faster, or remembered the buckets before, if onl-
“Excuse me! Is this seat taken by anybody?”
A sweet voice pulled Luca from his regrets, as he looked out the window he could see a covered sky and a greener ndscape with forest-covered mountains in the distance, he didn’t know how much time he spent daydreaming, but he looked back to respond to the dy of purple hair that spoke to him.
