ODE TO THE END: A BALLAD OF BROTHERS

CHAPTER 34

ACHIM

Never in his life had Achim known how still the world could be. The breeze stopped blowing and the clouds became statues in static air. Even the ambiance had abandoned him, for the tall grass froze at the root while the leaves refused to sing their rustling song. As if the universe had gasped, all things waited for the dark boy to see the source of the pause.

The years had been long in their passing and so he appeared a little different then how Achim remembered him, but the boy could tell. Beneath the darkly cloak rippling in the gale and the unseemly grit now graphed unto his visage, his identity was undeniable. Achim spoke his name."Adlai,"

"Hey, Achim," Adlai responded. The long lost Arbitor was standing in front of Naomi like a long shadow, and he looked to Achim as if he too had seen a ghost. Adlai struggled to speak without his well-remembered meek. "It's been a while. S-since we've seen each other," Adlai stuttered with eyes down.

Achim stepped forward. "Yeah," was all he managed to say.

At the dark boy's silence, Adlai seemed surprised and perhaps emboldened. He lifted his gaze to Achim, if only for a glancing moment, before his attention drifted toward Naomi. He did not address her. Adlai simply spoke to Achim, his tone timid, in an effort to break the long silence. "T-two or three years? M-maybe four? That's how long it's been, right?"

"Yeah," Achim replied. He was too deeply snared to say anything else.

Adlai laughed, his words nervous and awkward. "I-I guess you've been keeping track. Not that I'm surprised." The eldest Arbitor shuffled as he stood, his anxieties worn and visibly palpable.

    "Yeah," was all Achim contined to think. That and his bubbling desire, or rather his desparte need, to close the distance between. For that, Achim continued to approach his brother, but a breeze blew hard against his frame. Almost as if the very spirits objected. The dark boy staggered, but Naomi, despite her injury and their argument, caught him by the arm and held him in place. She did not let go though. She refused to. At this, Achim saw the first signs of turmoil. His brother frowned.

"Y-you're with that girl...again,"  said Adlai. He looked at the two with a slight bend on his brow, and his stutter was soon shed. "You two seem to be rather close," said Aldai. He then shook his head and snickered as if he heard a bad joke that only he could hear. Achim remained a blank, but Naomi? He saw her face flare with hostility.

"What do you want?" It was a question, but Naomi did not ask. She demanded. She was not loud either -Achim might have even noticed her whimpering - but the girl's words were spewed with a most contemptiuous venom. Achim, sensing Naomi's ire, furled at the sight. Her voice, her confrontation, beat back whatever emboldened the eldest Arbitor, and Achim watched as he withered in real time.

Adlai's eyes went low. Lower than they had before. "I came to see my little brother," he said with crippling stutter.

Naomi clung to Achim before taking a wide step between him and the object of his fate. Like a bear, she was both fierce and completely ruthless.  "You said again," she snarled. "You've been watching us?"

"I-I'm sorry," said Adlai. He did not deny her accusation, but, where Adlai at first seemed the subserviant suspect, a split second saw a glint of  sinister intrigue. All at once, Adlai shifted into a new demeanor, a new self, and addressed the angry allegation firmly, quickly, and confidently. "I'm sorry, but you must have me confused."

Naomi eased Achim back as she shouted at Adlai. "You're lying!" The eldest Arbitor looked at the girl with narrowed eyes. He then stepped closer, but Achim felt Naomi shoving him further back.  "Don't come any closer," she yelled.