"Good day, your honor." Hanaele and Cassius bowed respectfully in chorus in front of this muscular old man in a leathered brown suit with different logos sewed at the right side of his arms. He was sitting on his wooden chair, facing the window away from us. While all of them were doing this noble stuff, I felt awkward about the situation. I have noticed that these people who live here were mostly courteous with one another. But I guess I was judging too fast. Besides, it was just my first time meeting the society here.
When these two at my sides were done making a bow, the old man stood up. "You two are here, so I'd be expecting good news from the both of you." His voice was deep and fitted for his position. Base on what he said, he was probably the one who tasked Hanaele to bring me here.
Cassius glanced at Hanaele for a while before he spoke. They were communicating with each other by using their eyes. Now I wondered what these two were thinking. Aside from this, I still did not get the reason why I need to be here. Their society is different from ours, so it is hard for me to process a single possibility of the three of us meeting from the past.
"The lady of flames, Hanaele, and the man of fluidity, Cassius, wants to report ourselves of successfully bringing here with us the mission which the most honorable one gave," Cassius informed the old man in too much casualty. Well, maybe from my perspective, but he acted too polite by saying those words. Did he really need to address this man like this? I got the point of doing so. Maybe I was way ignorant about their culture here.
Going back again about what he said, I have guessed that calling Hanaele as the lady of flames and Cassius as the man of fluidity added fire to the early fuel I have been feeling lately. It built more struggle to cope up with the confusions and fear I had.
I was looking at our dim surroundings at this moment while waiting for any sign of a response from the old man. As I said, it was dark here, with only a few candles lighting up the way. Those lamps were also helping us to have a clearer view of everyone's faces. Well, not to mention, the sun rays coming from the outside of the window added a light inside. Estimating the sun's position and the calm, bluish-purple color of the sky, I can say that it was already afternoon.
The tables and chairs were the same as ours, but the only difference was the design. Theirs looked more sturdy, while ours was as simple as a chair brought together with woods and nails. I can't totally say that this place is entirely uncivilized, but let us just consider it as something a bit outdated from our place. I did not even saw at least one person holding a phone here.
When my leg started to hurt once again, it came to my mind that I was wounded. I almost forgot that I was. My knees felt more sore and painful, but I tried my best to remain in my posture by balancing myself. Cassius noticed my uneasiness as he slightly put his eyes on me, observing my movements. When I stepped my foot at my back, my ankle was triggered in pain. I was about to lose my balance by falling backwards, but Cassius's reflexes were fast. He silently held my back by just using his right arm. He was the one who positioned me back to my place where I was standing. When I looked at him, he wasn't looking at me. His emotions were unreadable while staring at the old man.
I also tried my best to alleviate the pain in my ankles.
"Why was that? What happened to her?" The old man spoke all of a sudden after a minute or more of silence. I was surprised when he asked those questions despite not facing us. At this point, I only have one reason why he asked those. His hearing might be strong.
So he heard that tiny silence I made a while ago, huh?
"She escaped when we were about to enter the village a while ago. I chased her silently and quickly brought her back after I made the Acacia tree calm." Cassius explained. My eyes locked towards him when he said that he was chasing me in silence. So all of the sudden, he was following me a while ago?!
I faced him and gasped, wanted to speak a word, but I couldn't do it since his face was unaffected. He seemed did not care about my reaction after all. Tsk.
When I faced back to the old man, he just nodded his head while tapping his fingers on his palm at his back. He looked like thinking too much lately, or maybe, he had been thinking about something else.
"Let her join Agila." He continued, which made me startled. Agila? Is that an organization or something?
What was the meaning of this?!
I looked towards Hanaele and Cassius, wishing for me to vocalize my thoughts right now. But I cannot! I don't even know how to start a conversation with these people!
"I already set an appointment with the Agila's leader, your honor." It was Hanaele. Wait, what?!
"Good, now go and check their improvements."
After the conversation between the old man and us-I mean, these two random people at my sides-we immediately left the office. So what now? It seemed that I need to stay here for a long time, huh.
-
I was standing right now in the middle of the crowd full of different serious faces of people, probably trainees or something. The surrounding place was full of houses made from wood, weave leaves, and a small part of it was cemented. When I glanced at those children playing from a distance, I have realized that they had a complete society here. Plus those horses and ancient transportation passing by the roads, this place is a simple version of the city we had.
Hanaele stood at my right while Cassius went on a platform, explaining something towards those people with organized postures.
"I am Larch Laverens, the team leader of Agila, and you are?" My attention went back to the person who was speaking in front of me. He was wearing black clothes same with Cassius, but with white inner long-sleeved. There was a bunch of strands on his red-colored hair at his back that was tied up, making him looked soft even though his arched eyebrows looked tough.
He did not lend a hand in front of me so I managed to have one. "Nice to meet you, my name is Sophia," I responded in a bit witty manner. I was expecting him to accept my hand, but he wasn't. He just stared at it. Damn! I felt so embarrassed and couldn't look at him.
My hands were shaking as I withdraw the gesture. I smiled, but later on, gulped about this inconvenient situation. I pretended to wipe my hand on my skirt while looking away.
"Enjoy your journey here, Sophia." He said. At this time, I did not know if he was facing me or whatever. I need to gain back my confidence at this point.
Duh!