Midnight Wonders

3.3.3. Greetings Along the Path

Conversations came within hearing distance. A very loud, very indignant, and very young voice was huffing on about something or the other, getting constantly interrupted by another very loud, very indignant, and very young voice. Luc eventually passed over the hill, and at the bottom were two young boys (older than his students, perhaps in middle school) on either side of a mass of gray, which Luc recognized as a wolf carcass as he approached. Kay stood in front of them with his arms crossed, not saying anything.

Luc wondered if he would be interrupting. Kay glanced up at him coming down the hill, but the boys continued to argue with one another, oblivious. They didn't notice as he came up beside Kay and took a pea out of his pocket.

"What is that?" said Kay.

"They gave me peas," said Luc.

Kay frowned. "And you took them?"

"I gave them hazelnuts," Luc said. "She said I owe no debt." And he had the strange thought that Kay might be upset that Luc had given Kay's gifts away, so he said, "I still have some more."

"I told you not to take food that's offered to you," said Kay.

"I am not your child." Luc felt that he had been very good at listening to Kay and trusting him in this strange world, but it was not as if he were still in third grade and was expected to follow orders from someone else. He was grown, and based on appearances, he was older than Kay, and he did not know why he was getting scolded for being nice and fair.

"You're not even paying attention!" one of the young boys said. Both Luc and Kay turned to him. He was the shorter of the two, probably younger, too, with a mess of chin-length brown hair and angry brown eyes. He glared at Kay, then glanced at Luc, and his expression turned to shock. "What? Who are you?"

"Pellam!" said Kay.

"Pay attention to this!" the other boy said, throwing out both hands at the wolf.

"What is that?" said Luc.

"I should have killed it!"

"I killed it!" Pellam shouted.

"And that's the problem!"

"What?" said Luc. "Isn't the problem solved because the wolf is dead?"

"That's why you're not a knight," the tall boy snapped.

"You're an idiot!" cried Pellam.

"Shut up!" said Kay. "I've been listening to you yell for the past ten minutes, and neither of you can tell me why you keep screaming!"

The two boys fell silent.

"It wasn't my fault," said Pellam.

"It—"

"Stop," said Kay. He pointed to Pellam. "Why are you here?"

Pellam glared at the other boy. "I heard someone calling for help. So I came and this idiot was waving around sticks like he thought it would do anything, so I killed the wolf."

"He—"

"Stop," said Kay again, cutting off the other boy with a hand. "Did he ask you to do it?"

"He was calling for help," Pellam said. "It's the same thing."

"Pellam—" Kay sighed. "I'm talking to you later." He turned to the other boy. "And you? What happened?"

The boy huffed and crossed his arms. He looked like a miniature version of Kay. It was rather cute. "This wolf came around. I was startled, yes, so I did call out at first. But then I set out to kill it, and then he came around and dishonored me by doing it himself!"