In the Valley of a Thousand Footprints

[xvi] Life and its Freedoms - |part 1|

Ellian had set out with the intention of snooping around a little. But he soon realized that snooping was easier said than actually done. Thimbl was a very large and public city. It was quite hard to find anywhere where passerby weren't welcome. Everywhere Ellian went, some vendor or the other would call out to him. Some from the road sides, others from stalls set near buildings and others still would beckon to him from their shops. He turned them a blind eye and walked on his way.

The rain was pouring steadily. Ellian tried counting each drop that fell on his head as he wandered around byroads and backstreets. This kept him engrossed for a few minutes. Soon however, he got tired of that and decided to ask someone to point him in the direction of something worthwhile.

He had singled out a random bystander on the other side of the rode and just as he was building the courage to talk to him, a large detachment of guards on horseback rode in front of him and obstructed his view. When the group had passed, the man he was going to ask had vanished. He couldn't be bothered to find another person to ask, and anyways, a new idea was forming in his head. I could follow those guards, see where they go. . . He tried to weigh any advantages, disadvantages, dangers and the such but go bored of that and just decided to follow them anyway. 

He jogged to a secluded area behind a small building and quickly clambered onto the first few handholds and pulled himself over the top and onto the flat roof. His eyes quickly scanned the streets below and in a few seconds he caught sight of the detachment. They were cruising along at a gentle trot. Ellian snickered before running across the neighboring roofs—which were thankfully very close together—and jumping a small gap to land on the set of buildings near which the guards were passing.

He continued on like this, trailing them from the rooftops, very occasionally coming back down to ground level before finding the nearest drainpipe or out-of-the-way ledge to clamber back up to the rooftops. It was fun and also challenging to follow the guards who seemed none the wiser. Ellian dashed behind chimneys and other structures to try and keep their vigilant eyes off of him, though he suspected that they didn't really bother to be vigilant at the moment given that he still wasn't caught. 

Soon the city walls came into view and he realized that he was close to where the three of them had entered earlier that day, near the battlements. He was about to jump onto a tree to cross over to another building when he heard a 'meow' nearby. They were on a pretty high roof so Ellian grew concerned. Glancing around, he saw a young cat who had seemingly materialized out of thin air, laying on its side, on a small ledge, just above the awning of a window.

For a moment Ellian was completely sidetracked as his attention was on this cat. It was a random stray; primarily gray with white and black mixed in. The most curious feature that caught Ellian's attention was a large white patch of fur that seemed to cover the right side of its face. It rolled over on its back to get a better look at Ellian who stood tall over it.

"Hey," Ellian said, crouching to get closer to it, "You look cute." He bent down and slowly reached his hand to touch it. 

Amazingly, the cat allowed him. He stroked its head tentatively and stared into the cat's iridescent eyes; light reflected in its brown iris. They stared back at Ellian's with a sense of pride, a sense of superiority, a belief that he—the cat—was at the center of the universe. Ellian chuckled, causing the cat to swat at his hand. He kept stroking the feline for a small while longer before finally standing back up.

"I've spent too much time with you, cat." Ellian giggled quietly and moved away from the cat, waving at it; not once did the cat turn to look back at the boy. 

As Ellian jumped onto the tree to continue trailing the guards to the battlements, a thought crossed his mind; he wanted to be like that cat. He wanted to be content, proud, happy, sleepy and sure of himself, but most of all he wanted to be independent. He had the freedom to come and go as he pleased, but he was always burdened by his ailing mother, his continued torture at the hands of the followers of fire and the violence that seared within his heart. So even though he had freedom it had always been marred. The past few days spent with Efa and Cly had proven that to the young boy. Not once in the week that they had been travelling did Ellian feel burdened. He was happy. Free of all burden, independent like he wished. This, he figured must be what freedom is. I guess I'll strive to live a little, laugh a little, maybe think a bit better about myself, after all. . . I'm alive and free.