Arel saw Nolan walked into his fields with holes in his shirt. He carried a pouch of gold. He vaulted on the fence and waved. “Yo, just got back from the hunting”

“You work fast,” Arel said.

“I arrived yesterday, but I had business with the Lady.”

Arel nodded. “The work here is done so no need to help today.”

“Sorry,” Nolan said. “Here’s my rent.”

“Oh, no need really, just help me around and that’s fine.”

Nolan smiled wearily. “This is shameless, but I really need the gold right now. Especially when I have no clothing or gear other than handouts. I think your shirt is holed now.”

“Goblin?”

“Well, things happened. Oh, have you heard that there’s a famous wanderer that’s going to stay on our island?”

Nolan’s expression turns blank for a moment. “I’ve met her already. Do you know her?”

“The High Lady of the Alf’s, Ashia Brayleigh. She’s someone respected as a mentor of the current heroes of the elemental light. I say that she’s one of the prettiest teachers and respected.”

“I won’t deny that she’s the prettiest, but didn’t expect her to be a teacher. I see, no wonder.”

“What?”

“Nothing,” Nolan shook his head, he leaned on the fence. “How do I reach the other side of the island anyway?”

“Just use the tram service,” Arel said.

Nolan widened his eyes. “A tram here?”

“What are you surprise about?” Arel laughed. “Concordia can be called the resting stop of the world. No bandits would come and disturb anyone who sails on a ship piloted by a Concordia Islander. After all, there are only unbelievable people in this island.”

“A Golem that guards an island, and a Lady Dragon that watches the skies and the infinity. I may be an idiot but even I could tell that this is the crossroads of the baubles. This is a wonderful island. Peaceful.”

“It took years to achieve this peace,” Arel said. “People died fighting for this peace, and I saw them cheer on the plaza of the kingdom. Ania and I were walking around when we met up with people who wanted to give us a place to stay. She took administrative affairs while I choose to have this farm. You could say that it was a dream.”

“I’m glad that you guys achieved this.”

Nolan smiled. The sun behind him along with the empty blue skies. He was leaned on the fence, his hair fluttering freely as he spoke. “It makes almost jealous.”

Arel started to wonder if he could ask him. “So, do you really nor know?”

“Yes,” he said, placing his hand on the fence. “I do not know what continent is this. My home is far away, impossibly far that it just painful to think about how I could reach it.”

“Then, I won’t ask.”

“Thank you for the understanding,” he said. “It’s not that I don’t like talking about home. It is just that I don’t know what most of my home is now. I’ve been traveling so far and for so long that the thought of going back home or even remember the faces of my family seem like an impossible task now.”

“Oh,” Arel pursed his lips. “I don’t know your situation, and I don’t dare to ask. I just hope that what bothers you would be at peace. I sympathize with the thought of home, but we have our hurts that I can't comprehend what you are being hurt by. That would be too self-serving for me to assume that I can alleviate it. Ania used to say that it is only you who could fix your hurt.”

“I know that too well,” he laughed. “It’s easy to say that we just need to stop thinking about it. That doesn’t work so well. We’ll hurt to the point that it just aches the heart thinking about it. You go thinking that it won’t hurt, and you try to remove it, but then you don’t even realize that there are fragments of it that you could never remove. They are wounds and even though some are healed. Wounds that have cut deep don’t easily stop hurting.”

Arel didn’t reply. Nolan nodded at him. “Thank you for telling me about the tram. Looks like I’ve become talkative after reaching this island.”

“I guess you let your guard down,” Arel said.

“The resting stop of the world. Hah, no wonder she was so relaxed despite knowing.”|

Arel didn’t understand.

“Very well, I do hope that I can continue working with you, Arel.”

“Oh, don’t worry. I’ll be watching the fields.”

“Okay.”

*****

Nolan found his way passed the plaza and saw the tunnels where the tram is. He saw a marble building on it. There was a woman stationed in this building. Nolan asked for a ticket and he got his ticket. Boarding the tram, he spent time watching the blurring scenery and the rolling landscape. Once he got out of the tram he saw another wall of blue, the horizon reaching far beyond. The sun-kissed ocean, the gentle giants walking and swimming on it like they were bathing. Where in the world would he see such wonders again? Not even the tower worlds had scenes like this. No, even if there was he too busy fighting for his life with Aria.

There was a bench on the side of the cliff. As he sat there he fished out a cigar and started smoking. He wasn’t fond of smoking, but it made him calm. He wasn't concerned with smoking now that there was no need for his body to worry about it. He wasn’t as fragile as he was in his first incarnation. It was then that he heard the footsteps of someone, upon looking he saw a woman whose blond hair was shine by the sun. Her beautiful blue eyes, her rightfully curved body, and the cloak she wore did not betray her beauty. The curve of her face was rather lovely.

“Good afternoon.”

She craned her neck and patted her forehead. “The Lady did say that you’d be accommodating. Can I sit down?”

“If you don’t mind."