Kael moved closer to the hut after everything outside had gone still. He was no longer traveling across rooftops, but keeping close to the ground, choosing where to place each step between the grasses and tree trunks, approaching, then stopping, bending when the place opened, holding still whenever he heard the slightest sound, until he reached the wooden wall of the hut. There he leaned his body against it and pressed his back to the wood, then remained there for a long moment without moving, steadying his breath, calming the disturbance in his chest, and gathering the thoughts that were beginning to crowd in on him. He was no longer merely following. He now stood before a clear objective, but still did not know how to reach it. He placed his palm against the wood, felt its roughness, its solidity, then closed his eyes for a brief moment as if trying to draw the next step inside his mind.
"How will I get in…?"
"Getting close was easy… but entering is not."
He opened his eyes slowly and looked toward the window without yet drawing nearer.
He drew his breath in slowly, then let it out more slowly still, as if training his body into silence.
"If I make a mistake here… there will be no way back."
"There is no room for mistakes now…"
he said inwardly, slowly.
"Any miscalculated movement… will end everything."
Before he could move closer to the window, a sound came from afar, a swift rush cutting through the stillness. It stopped every thought at once. He drew himself tightly into the corner, hiding in its shadow, his eye turning toward the source of the sound, until the armored ostrich appeared, large and heavy, with a man leaning with its speed on its back. As soon as it stopped, he jumped down with the ease of someone accustomed to it and went straight toward the door, as if the path to it were carved into his memory.
"My wife!"
The woman came out immediately, a flicker of surprise on her face, though she quickly read the urgency in him.
"Did you come to eat with us? You're early today."
He waved his hand as though cutting off the thought before it fully formed.
"No, I do not have time. I'm in a hurry and I have to go."
She stepped closer, the worry clear in her tone.
"Why? What happened?"
He lowered his voice slightly and cast a quick glance around.
"There's a meeting. I have to get there on time."
She paused for a moment, then said as she watched his eyes,
"Because of what happened to the guards?"
He lifted his gaze to her directly. A brief surprise passed through his features.
"How did you know?"
She answered calmly, as if simply repeating what she had heard and nothing more.
"I heard Officer Kairen speaking with one of the guards."
He nodded slowly, as if the matter weighed more than words could hold.
"Yes… what happened was strange. It has never happened before."
A brief silence passed. Then, suddenly remembering, she turned toward the door and hurried back a step.
"Wait, I brought you some of this fruit as well."
He looked at her, as if he had not expected that.
"Really?"
She handed him a basket containing bread, some food, and among it a golden fruit catching the light softly.
Kael's eyes fixed on the basket, and the rest of the scene went quiet in his perception.
"One… three left."
He tightened his breath, as if the number itself had become time.
"Every minute… is worth a fruit."
At that moment Dan rushed out of the doorway, with his sister Tina behind him. They had come out because they heard their father's voice. They ran to him naturally and clung to him, so he bent slightly and embraced them quickly, a faint smile unable to hide his urgency.
"Father!"
Dan lifted his head and asked him directly,
"Will you stay?"
The father shook his head and looked at his wife before answering,
"No… I have to go."
Dan took a small step forward, as if unwilling to let him move away.
"Why do you always leave?"
He exhaled, then said, speaking to his wife as much as he was answering the child,
"I may be transferred from guarding the market to guarding the main gate."
Her eyes widened.
"What? Why you?"
He shook his head.
"It's not certain… but I was nominated, and it could happen at any moment."
During all of this, Dan and Tina had moved toward the ostrich. Dan ran his hand over its hard armor, and Tina pulled at the strap and laughed, trying in innocent play to bother it. It moved its head in annoyance and stamped one foot once against the ground, then went still.
Their father looked at them and said in a calm but clear tone,
"Stay away from it. Don't bother it."
The father stepped forward, took the basket, planted his foot, mounted up, tightened the reins, and gave them one final look.
"I will come back later."
Dan waved his hand.
"Alright!"
The ostrich set off, and the sound faded quickly with the distance.
Kael waited until its last trace disappeared, then allowed himself to move the width of an inch, drawing closer to the wall and raising his head by the width of a thread, watching, measuring, while the mother gathered the children with a single look.
"Tina, go inside."
Then she said to Dan,
"Wash your hands and come eat."
Dan delayed for a moment, then turned and went inside, Tina following him, and the door closed softly.
Kael stayed still for a moment longer than he needed, because haste here was a mistake. Then he leaned toward the window and lifted only the corner of his eye, seeing without being seen, and his gaze fell upon Dan sitting there, lifting the golden fruit to his mouth and biting into it, its color shining under the light, while Tina moved nearby without paying attention and the mother watched.
"Two… two left."
He drew back slowly and returned to the wall, pressed against it, and closed his eyes for a brief moment.
"The news has spread… they'll search."
He opened his eyes and stared into the wood as if he could see beyond it.
"The danger is greater… and the time is less."
He tightened his breath, then said inwardly in a steady voice that allowed no retreat,
"Either now… or there will be no other chance."
And he remained there, unmoving, because the next step alone… would decide everything.
Heavy minutes passed before the rhythm inside the hut changed, and during them Kael remained fixed near the window, watching without allowing himself any unnecessary motion, until he saw Dan suddenly rise from his place after finishing his food. He sprang to his feet with a burst of energy, as if something had ignited within him, raised his arms excitedly, his whole body moving with an unusual lightness, and his eyes shining with something new that had not been there moments ago.
"Mother! I'm healed, look… I feel strong!"
The mother smiled, but her smile was not without caution. She looked at him while watching his excessive movement.
"Do not move too much… you will lose your energy now."
But he did not listen. Instead, he turned quickly, looking for Tina with his eyes, then called to her as he moved toward the door.
"Tina! Come on… let's go play in the fields!"
Tina was nearby. She lifted her head toward him, then got up quickly, as if she had been waiting for him to call.
"Now?"
He replied while rushing outside,
"Come on!"
The mother stepped forward, trying to stop them.
"Wait, you haven't eaten yet—"
But Tina shook her head quickly while moving.
"Not now, Mother!"
The two of them rushed outside—fast steps, light laughter, and a childish burst that knew nothing of patience. The mother stopped at the doorway and raised her voice after them.
"Be careful! And don't go too far!"
She remained standing for a moment, watching them as they ran farther away, then slowly went back inside.
Outside the hut, Kael had shifted slightly to restore his angle of sight. He saw the two children running in the fields, their movement free, distant, no direct danger from them now. So his gaze returned to the hut, his attention settling on the door.
"Now… she's alone."
he said inwardly, calmly.
"Has it become easier…?"
But he did not move at once. Instead, he waited and watched, because apparent ease might be a trap, and his eye did not leave the woman as she moved inside the hut, gathering some things, then taking up the laundry and heading out once more.
She came out carrying the clothes and walked a few steps away from the door toward the line stretched between two trees. There she began hanging the clothes one by one, her back to the hut, her concentration fixed on her work.
At that moment, Kael tightened his breath.
"This is my chance."
He did not hesitate further. He slipped his body toward the window, raised himself very slowly, then pushed himself inside with a light motion barely audible, landed within the hut, and set his feet down without a sound. He stopped at once, not moving, only listening.
Silence.
No one.
But the danger was near.
He took one step, then another, his eyes moving quickly, searching.
He looked at the table.
"Where is the fruit…?"
He moved closer, extending his hand, shifting something small, looking beneath a cloth, opening a lid, searching quickly but carefully, trying not to leave a trace, not to disturb anything that might expose him.
"Not here…"
He drew in his breath and moved to another corner, opened a small chest, looked inside it.
"Not here either…"
The tension began to rise.
"Where did she put it…?"
He moved more quickly now, though still trying to control his sound, looking above the shelf, beneath the table, behind the dishes.
"It can't…"
He stopped suddenly.
A sound.
Footsteps.
Approaching.
He froze.
"She came back…"
He looked around quickly. There was no longer time. His eye caught a small door standing slightly open near the kitchen. He darted toward it lightly, slipped inside, and drew it behind him without fully closing it.
He stood in the darkness, breath held.
The mother entered.
The sound of her footsteps was clear.
She came closer.
She set something on the table.
And through the small gap, Kael saw what made his heart stop for a moment.
The basket.
In her hand.
The fruit inside it.
"There…"
he said inwardly, in silence.
"She had it with her…"
She came closer and began cleaning the table, her movements slow, very near, the distance between her and his hiding place no more than a few steps.
He tightened his body further.
"Too close…"
And at the same moment—
Outside the hut—
Dan was running through the fields, his laughter rising, his energy obvious, chasing after his little dog that ran ahead of him, jumping, changing direction quickly as if it could never tire, while Tina stayed behind him, trying to keep him within her sight.
"Dan! Don't go too far!"
But Dan did not stop. Instead, he threw a little ball in front of the dog, and it darted after it, racing quickly toward the edge of the hill where the ground began to slope downward.
Tina stopped suddenly.
"Dan… watch out!"
But the ball bounced once, then dropped downward, toward the valley.
The dog went closer to the edge, trying to see it.
Dan ran after it.
"Don't go! It's dangerous there!"
He reached out, caught the dog quickly, and pulled it back toward him, but his foot was not steady.
It slipped.
A single moment.
He lost his balance.
The ground beneath his foot shifted.
His body pitched forward.
He tried to steady himself, to seize hold of anything at all, but the edge was soft. There was nothing to grab.
"Tina—!"
He did not finish.
His foot slipped completely.
And he fell.