The Search for the Firvare

Chapter 2

~Azero~

Azero bent down to pick up the coins on the ground, rubbing the back of his head. He could not believe that money could be so painful. As he put the coins back in his coin purse he realized that he was, yet again, left with no leads. Azero sighed in frustration. He was so sure that the girl in the tavern was the one. Azero remembered how he smelled the scent in the air around the tavern, felt his heart swelling with hope as he overheard the man say it was her sixteenth birthday, and became amazed when he saw her abnormally gold eyes. She could not have matched the description more perfectly. But when he got a good whiff of her when she was serving him, he could only detect wine and earth, causing him to gag.

What was worse was that he did it again. For some reason, his body always moved on its own to save someone. It was really annoying, especially when the people he saved tried to repay him. It was not like he wanted to do it. It was just instinct to fight since he was trained to do so. Then again, it was not too bad getting the chance to look at her amber eyes and her gold hair up close.

As the sun continued to beat down on him, Azero took off his hood to cool down, revealing his shaggy, raven-black hair and olive-skin face. He then looked up and gazed at the clouds surrounding the bright sun. He wished to be up there, passing through the puffy white clouds, seeing the sun shine onto the earth below, and feeling the wind skim over his body. Azero was too involved in his imagination that he almost failed to hear the bushes near him rustling. When he did, he gripped the hilts of his twin daggers, faced the rustling bush, and felt his body tense.

"Alright come on out!" Azero shouted at the bush. All of a sudden a white little rabbit leaped out of the bushes, its nose twitching furiously. Azero released his grip on the hilts, his body slumping in relief. Azero hated to be alert and suspect that any sudden sound was someone -- or something -- that wanted to extract the information he had. Azero groaned as he remembered the fights he was in all because he had the small amount of information. Some days he just wanted to quit and settle down in a place where no one could find him. Azero looked down again and saw that the rabbit was still there.

"Nerynu, why did you have to go and scare me like that little one," Azero said, bending down to pet it. It squeaked in fear and scampered back into the bushes. Who was he kidding. The rabbit probably sensed what Azero really was or else it would not have acted like that. In fact that was the response Azero usually received, ever since that day when he was sixteen. As Azero stood up his stomach growled.

"Be quiet, I know that you are hungry," Azero exclaimed to his stomach, wondering why he did not order any food at the tavern. He guessed it was because he was so focused on his hope that the girl in the tavern was the one that he forgot that he did not have any breakfast. Once Azero spotted a fallen tree, he walked over to it and sat on it. He then reached into his food pouch and brought out a little biscuit. Azero hit the biscuit on the log and it softly clacked.

"How wonderful, a rock for lunch. Thank you Lanu," Azero sarcastically said to himself, sticking the biscuit into his mouth to soften it. Well, Azero could not complain about Lanu that much. In fact, Azero knew he shouldn't complain about her at all. He owed everything to her.

Another bush rustled, extracting Azero from his thoughts. His body tensed again, but thinking it was just the rabbit, Azero did not get up from his log. The bush rustled more profusely.

"Alright, come on out fluff ball. I'm not happy that you keep scaring me," Azero ordered the bush. Instead of a rabbit this time, a little boy popped out of the bush. The little boy appeared to be about eight years old in Azero's estimation. The boy was  barefoot and all he had on was a dirty and tattered white tunic. The boy's face was also smeared with dirt streaks and he was carrying a small red coin pouch in his dirty hands. Azero saw fear dazzle in the boy's dark eyes as he looked up at him, and the boy took a step back in retreat.