105 Ren

** Rens Perspective ***

After a few days of searching and some gold passing from my hand to that of informants. The place that I had been looking for was finally in front of me. It was a small village tucked away in the middle of nowhere.

Lush grass grew tall and the sound of buzzing insects chirping brought life to the area that could only be considered a very poor country town. The people here all wore plain clothes and ate meger meals but there smiles were some of the brightest I had seen in a long time.

I walked down the unkempt foot path while strangers carried on with their lives. Some had stopped to stare. I wasn't sure if it was because I was an outsider or my red eyes but I wasn't too worried.

I was finally exactly where I wanted to be.

I looked down at the sketch that I had been given by one of the men I served with in the army and checked all the houses one by one until I found what I was looking for.

I couldn't help but smile as I noticed not to far away there was a trash pile with some children playing on it. There was old bricked that the kids had stacked high and used as a tunnel system. While some branches with old cloth wrapped around served as makeshift flags upon the kids empire.

" Stay back you foul beast" one of the kids said pointing a stick at another.

" Rwaaaaarrr!" the kid who had the stick pointed at them cried as they pretended to try and sneak into the trash built hideout.

I was so engrossed watching them fight that I didn't notice a little hand that grabbed onto my sleeve.

" Hey mister" a kids voice called from my side.

" Can I help you?" I said to the young girl as my voice trailed off. She had long blonde hair and blue eyes with the same facial structure as Ki. I couldn't help but stare for a moment as I lost my voice.

" Mister?" the girl said again.

I coughed to clear my throat and bent down so I was at eye level with her before I produced a hand draw sketch of Ki from my bag.

" Do you know her?" I said with a shaky voice and I held the picture up to her.

" Hey what are you doing over there? Come here Linny" the voice of an older man called.

The girl who I guessed as called Linny looked at me before running to the man and grabbing his hand.

" Daddy, he is looking for someone" Linny said to her father.

The man glanced over at me before walking over and smiling.

" Sorry you can't be too careful now days" The man said apologetically.

" I understand.. Do you know this girl?" I said again holding up Ki's picture.

" Kireen?! Of course I know her! She in some sort of trouble?!" The man said as his face contorted.

[ Kireen? ]

" I am not here for any trouble.. I am looking for her parents." I said solemnly.

" I see. You are out of luck then. " The man said shaking his head.

" What do you mean?" I said surprised.

" They were in a spirit beast attack a few years back.. You can go visit their grave if you want" The man said as he pointed to a nearby hill.

[ Least they are all together now…]

I looked at the ground and sighed for a moment before looking back up.

" You happen to know there names?" I said slightly frustrated.

" Of course I do.. That's my brother up there" The man said as he chewed his bottom lip.

" So Ki… Kireen was your niece?" I said stuffily.

" We should go inside" The man said as he pointed to his shack.

I nodded before following the man and his daughter into his humble home I couldn't imagine what it would have been like for Ki growing up here. It seemed like there was less room to move around in then I had back in my tent on the battle ground.

It was all starting to make sense to me why Ki had chosen to be a mercenary but the faces I had seen on the walk over were very kind. It must have been just as hard for her to leave as it was to stay.

" So did something happen?" The man said bluntly as he poured me some tea.

I didn't reject his offer as took a sip. I let the tea burn my tongue a little and paused for a moment before I nodded.

" I see" The man responded as he sent his daughter outside to play.

All the words that had been sitting on my lips for the last few days had somehow disappeared. I tired to open my mouth a few times but nothing came out.

" You two close?" He said as he looked me up and down.

" We were looking after the same young master" I said after a moment.

"Kireen was a feisty one. I hope she didn't cause you too much grief" He said as he looked at his glass.

" Ki was never any trouble, expect for when I first…" The words started to pour out of my mouth. I had described how we first met leaving the old man laughing before talking about some of our training and even Yuki who we both served.

The man listened intently his face changing to suit the mood. He even interrupted sometimes with his own recollections of Ki as a child. Apparently she used to cause a lot of trouble always running off into the wilderness to find her own "Spirit Beast" to hunt.

He even went so far as to say that he knew she would be a mercenary even before she herself knew. In Fact everyone in the village had scraped up some money to buy her first sword.

I couldn't help but laugh thinking about how much trouble she would have gotten in and a warm feeling spread around my chest.

We had finally gotten to talking about how she died.

I didn't explain it in any full details, I just said that she died honorable in the line of duty.

He nodded as he listened to every word I said.

" Thank you for coming here and telling me" the man said as he sighed.

" It sounds like the way she probably wanted to go out anyway… even if she was much too young. The world can be a very cruel place" The man said as he clenched his fist.

We sat in silence for a moment before he walked over and reached under his bed.

" This tea is a special type.You probably need it as much as I do right now" He said as he took a swig and handed me the bottle.

I looked at him and then the bottle before I took partook.

It burned down my throat and warmed my belly.

" It's good isn't it." the man said.

" It sure is" I replied.

" What are you going to do now? We could use some help here if you want to stay?" The man said after a few moments.

I reached into my bag and pulled out a small sack of silver coins. It wasn't much but to this family they could live quite happily for at least the next ten years.

" I can't do that .. although I want to. This isn't much but please take it" I said as I stood up and left the money on the table.

Before the man could even argue I thanked him and left. Ki's uncle was too shocked to move after he saw the money left on the table and I used that time to make my escape.

This wasn't the closure that I wanted but it was all that I was going to get.

[ Yuki… your father will be returned to you from those Vance scum, be brave a little longer okay.]

My fist clenched as I pasted the final gate to leave town.