The War For Vishera ✔

EIGHT: Encouragement

He wanted to reach around and put a hand on his knee but resisted. "Are you alright?" he asked instead.

The other man nodded. "Aye, just reliving some old memories."

"Did you want to talk about them?" he asked before he could stop himself. It was obviously a personal thing, but he couldn't stop the words from spilling out of his mouth.

Emrick didn't seem all that offended by the question. "When I first Turian, I saved his life, twice," he said. Isiah listened intently. Emrick's word felt like ones that hadn't been said in a long time. "The first time, I stopped him from being mugged in my hometown. People like him, Princes, I suppose, are attacked constantly in the border towns."

"Why?" Isiah asked and immediately realised that the answer was obvious.

"They're all poor. Someone like Turian is rich. And people like Turian have a bad habit of walking into these towns dressed in their fancy clothes," Emrick explained, fiddling with a stick on the ground. "They're easy targets too, meaning that anyone could go after him."

Isiah frowned. "He didn't come with a guard?"

"No," the other man replied with a shake of his head. "Turian was a bad Prince. He left the family to become a scientist and believed he didn't need servants or guards or anything like that."

It was strange to him that a prince would choose to live like that when they could have everything, but he didn't say as much to Emrick. "Admirable," he said instead.

Emrick hummed in agreement. "When he was being mugged, he willingly gave them his money. He'd always been kind, right from the start. So when they attacked him, I jumped in to help.

"The thing was, these people were practically in charge of the town and so, when I jumped in, it made me a target. I had to leave. Turian was grateful for my help and offered me a room in his laboratory for a couple of days until I could figure my own way out."

Obviously, it had lasted more than a couple of days. With the fire smouldering between them, he took the chance to cook up what was left of the meat. It would do for lunch, they would have to buy more when they finally reached a town. "What was the second time?"

"On our way back to his laboratory. It snowed pretty heavily and his powers weren't doing anything," Emrick answered, reaching over to help him with the food. "I knew how to start a fire because it's the only way I can keep warm. We found a cave to stay in for the night and I kept us warm."

"Is that why he asked you to be his apprentice?" Isiah asked. He never expected Emrick to share so much, the man seemed so closed off from other people.

Emrick laughed again. "No, that was at his laboratory. He caught me reading his books and was surprised that I could actually read them," he said and smiled at the ground. "I corrected something he had written and when I proved it correct, he asked if I wanted to be his apprentice."

It was a happy story and once again Isiah felt guilty that Turian had been ripped away from him. The guilt would never go away, but somehow, talking about it made him feel a little about what had happened, but also a little worse. With time, it would get better.

"I can see you feeling guilty, Isiah, stop it," Emrick said, a small smile pulling at his lips.

Isiah huffed out a laugh. "Sorry." He wouldn't though, not then and probably not ever, but the severity of it would lessen. A grunt sounded behind him and he turned to watch Nerin fall in the snow, Rina standing above him with a huge grin.

He turned back around with a shake of his head. Emrick was still cooking the meat and barely paying attention to what was going on around them. Isiah watched him in silence, so many questions running through his mind. He didn't know how much of them he could ask without offending the other man.