The Brightest Shadow

Chapter Six: Evil Lives Anywhere

Fields of cereal and tubers extended before them, the first sign they'd reached Orindis. The trees scattered to the side, leaving an open space in the middle for the tall, secular walls of the city.

Wooden houses with sod roofs formed Great Bull, the closest county to the forest, and house for the majority of the farmers. The Orindian traditions dispersed a little from the cities around when it came to colorful houses, because the forest had always been their biggest protection.

Only Cherri, their Northern county, had some straw and bale houses that remembered Jule of Widemill.

The farmers working the fields watched them pass while kids ran closer and waved at them. Phineas played around, making them laugh. Jule smiled.

Carrillo had a gentle smile on his face, too. She recognized sadness in his eyes, as if memories had a hold on him.

No one deserved bad childhood memories. Those were the times that would define them as adults, and every kid deserved only happiness and love. The way he stared at those children, as if their smiles were foreign to him... It talked louder than any words.

She followed him to Great Bull, where some sellers shouted attention to their products, exposed in a small flea market. Handmade wood furniture shone under the sunlight, varnished and carved into perfect nature motives.

Statuettes, small jewelry boxes and even toys decorated the tables, calling them further. Phineas got suspiciously interested in some artifacts the owner claimed were vintage, some of them from the Western countries.

She admired a collection of board games, carved with such care and attention, the flora around them portrayed flawlessly.

The girls would love that in their garden. They could play when boredom hit, and taught the new girls how to play them, too. It'd be a fantastic way to connect to those seeking shelter.

"Do you know what this is?"
She turned. Carrillo waved a small wooden box in front of her face, dark blue paint peeling on its edges. It diverged a little from the other motives. It had no flowers or leaves carved in it, but shells and waves, parting to the corners of the lid and revealing a creature. Part women, part fish.

Carrillo hummed in question, waiting for her to guess.
"Hum... A box?"
He smirked and shook his head.
"Not just a box. This is a music box, but not a normal one. It's lacking the mechanism we use. It might be Serenian."

Jule frowned. Not that she'd ever seen a Serenian music box, but didn't it need the mechanism to work?
She swallowed the question, appreciating the amused glint in Carrillo's eyes. The way he turned the box around, fingers sliding over every line with care, it showed interest. Such dedication.

Perhaps he'd treat a woman the same. Soft touches, a spark of devotion lighting up his eyes, and a roguish smile on his lips.

She cleaned her throat.
"Why would a Serenian music box be here? That's on the other side of the sea."
"I don't know." He shrugged, still marveled by the box. He turned to the seller. "Sir, can I ask you how you got this?"

A middle-aged man put some change in his pocket and turned, barely glancing at the object.
"Ah, I found that in the house I rent. The owner said I could keep it. I gave it a good clean, but I don't know how it works."

Carrillo's smile turned into a smirk and he bit his lip, still eyeing the object. For a second, she stopped breathing and just watched, mesmerized by the vibrant expression on his face.
He should wear a smile more often, it gave him a charm that could weaken the knees.

"I'll take it." He negotiated with the seller and she too, grabbed the board games she had found and paid for them.
"Do you know how it works?" He sent her a conspiring glance and she chuckled.