About two days after slaying the sapphire tigers, we near Timon where John’s friend hopefully still lives.

  John seems quite tense and nervous, so I sit down next to him with a smile causing John to sigh loudly, “Yes I’m nervous, no I don’t need to talk about it.”

  “Okay.”

  A few minutes pass and he says, “I’m just unsure of what I’m going to find there, you know. She might be dead, she might have moved, she might not recognize me or she might have changed her mind. Most scenarios I can think of are negative in some way or another…”

  “But it still will be nice to have closure right? Even if she turned into an evil old woman at least you get to see her one last time and if she’s dead you get to say goodbye.”

  “I guess…”

  About an hour later we come upon Timon. It looks pretty similar to the village we were in for our quest.

  Looking a bit disappointed, John sighs, “This place sure has changed, Sherry…”

  “That’s to be expected, it’s been forty years after all.”

  “I guess…”

  We move our wagon further into the village with John telling us where to go until we stop in front of a nice house on the outskirts with a big garden.

  Getting out, John says, “Welp…That’s the house. If she still lives here, that’s the place…”

  Sher Aka asks, “Do you want us to come with you or do you want to go alone?”

  “No, please come with me. You two as well, if she’s still alive I want her to see that I made some friends…”

  Together, we all leave the wagon and walk to the door. John then takes a deep breath and knocks on the door.

  A young woman with emerald green eyes and long brunette hair answers the door causing John to be a little shocked and ask, “Miranda? Is that you?”

  “Huh? No, my name is Kayla. Is there something I can help you lot with?”

  “Uhm…Is there a woman by the name of Miranda that lives here? She should be in her late sixties now.”

  “Do you mean grandma? Yeah she does, do you want me to get her?”

  “Y-yes please.”

  John nervously fiddles with his clothes as we wait, while Sher Aka holds his hand to calm him down. Then, after a bit of time, an old woman with a cane and emerald green eyes comes to the door together with her granddaughter and hugs John, “It’s been so long, you look like you’ve grown up well.”

  John starts to cry a little and answers, “It also looks like you grew up quite a bit too Mira…”

  She then looks to Sher Aka and says, “My…You look just like the day when you two left…You really do age differently to us.”

  Kayla the granddaughter asks, “Do you know these people grandma?”

  “Yes, I was quite close to them when I was young. Sher Aka practically raised me and most other old folks in this village. How long has it been? Thirty? Maybe forty years? Anyways, don’t just stand there, come in! Let’s have some tea!”

  She then leads us inside and locks arms with John before bowing closer to him and asking, “So is that hunk of a man your boyfriend?”

  “Hahaha, no he’s a good friend though, his name is Thoma Ahad and this is his sister Rayla.”

  A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  Looking over to Rayla and me the old lady gives us an impressed smile, “Friends huh? You must be good people if John opened his heart to you, thank you for taking care of him. Kayla, could you get the box of sweets and put on a kettle of tea please?”

  “Sure grandma.”

  Sitting down at a lunch table, Miranda looks John and Sher Aka up and down with awe, “My…I never thought I’d see you two again. To be honest I’m a bit embarrassed to show you this old and ugly form of mine…”

  John puts his hands on hers and looks her straight in the eyes with a kind smile, “Please, your beauty always came from that beautiful emerald green soul of yours radiating outside through your great personality. To me you are as beautiful as you were before.”

  “Hahaha, thank you but seeing as you were chasing after the village boys I’m not sure if I should feel honored or offended that you think of me as beautiful.”

  “Please Mira, I might like men but I still know when a woman is beautiful.”

  “Pfft I know, I know, I’m just joking. So, what brings you here after all this time?”

  “To be honest I just wanted to see you again. We’re trying to travel to the south and I just wanted to say goodbye to the only friend I ever made in Skar before potentially leaving forever.”

  Looking down to the ground, Miranda lets out a sigh, “So you’re finally taking the journey…Remember back at the creek when we were stargazing together? We promised that we would take the journey together when the time came. Who would have thought I’d be a brittle old woman by then…”

  John looks at his hands for a bit before saying, “It’s not too late you know? You might not be able to help much but we can still bring you with us.”

  She gives him a slightly sorrowful smile and answers, “Even though I’d like to come with you, I would not survive the journey. If the cold won’t get me, illness will…”

  Nervous and desperate, he answers, “There might be a way…But if you take it you’re sure to die in a violent way. Mira…Do you want to die peacefully with your family or do you want to come with us to a foreign land and live a second life with a violent end?”

  “What are you suggesting John?”

  “My friends…They practice the spiritual school of magic. They could teach you natural mana absorption which will turn you young again.”

  “Really?”

  “Yes, really.”

  “I…That’s not a decision I can make right now. Do I have to decide now?”

  “You’ll have to decide within the next two days, afterwards we need to leave.”

  Rayla then puts her hand on John’s shoulder, “Can we talk for a minute?”

  “S-Sure.”

  —--------------------------------------------------

  “What are you doing?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I understand that you’ve met an old friend that is important to you but you can’t just promise them a place in our party or for Thoma and me to teach her natural mana absorption without talking to us first.”

  “I said it because I trust you and I know you would do it.”

  “It doesn’t matter. No one in this group has the right to make decisions for others like this unless absolutely necessary or with prior consent. Please, in the future always ask us first.”

  His teeth chattering slightly, he answers reluctantly, “Alright…I-I’m sorry.”

  “It’s alright, you are obviously really emotionally affected right now. I understand why you said it, what’s done is done. Just try to not do it again.”

  “Okay…”

  —------------------------------------------------------

  “Uhum, sorry about that Mira…I wasn’t thinking too much when pushing something big like this onto you. How about you tell me how things went for you? You have a granddaughter now so you must have been married at some point. Was it Daren?”

  Looking embarrassed, she averts her eyes, “Aha, no…I married Jimmy.”

  Sher Aka raises an eyebrow, “Jimmy the peeping Tom? I thought you’d have a bit more self respect than that Miranda…”

  “Ah…No it’s…He got better once you left! He was just bewitched by your beauty Sherry. He became normal again once you left!”

  Raising her voice a little, Sher aka asks, “Are you implying it’s my fault he peeped on us while bathing?”

  “No not at all it’s just…Sigh He is a good man now so I’d rather not remember those times…”

  “If you say so Miranda…Did he ever complete that private lake thing he worked on?”

  “Ah…No. He stopped with that when we got married.”

  “Oh? Why is that?”

  “Well…It’s because he said now that he’s married he won’t need to peep on other women anymore…”

  At this point Sher Aka just looks at her disappointedly.

  “Uhum…Maybe let’s not talk about my husband anymore…Anyways, would you like to know what Jannis has been up to?”

  They talk more about old times until late into the evening. Rayla and I have long left them to their chats at that point.

  “I’m glad we came here, ane. John seems to really enjoy himself.”

  “Yeah, Sher Aka seems to be a bit more relaxed too.”

  “Isn’t she always relaxed?”

  “It might look like that but I think she is also just trying to keep up appearances for John. I feel like she’s the sort of person that doesn’t like bothering others with her problems. Someone who has worn their mask so long it’s hard to take it off again.”

  “Hmm, do you think we can help her with that?”

  “I think we’re already helping. It will just take time.”

  “Hey, ane?”

  “Yeah?”

  “I’m really glad that you’re my sister.”

  “Pfft, where did that come from?”

  “I dunno, I just felt like saying it.”

  “Heh…I’m also really glad you’re my brother.”