Chapter 13: The burned house

 Andiel was by his side, but Darius's chest still tightened. His heart beat like wild against his rib cage. A flower clutched in his right hand, his left clutching at Andiel for dear life. This was it, the place where his first precious person had died. 

I couldn't even bury her, and I meant the world to her. My mother died, and the dogs ate her. 

His eyes teared up, and Andiel bent to hug him. The elf didn't offer any words. He simply held him close, and didn't let go, until Darius shifted in his arms. They walked to the half-collapsed door, and entered the burned house. There were rags to the side, but no other traces of occupants. Darius took one good look at the rags. He knew them. Had helped stitch them up more than once, when Beth's hands shook. 

"These are her clothes," he said, voice wavering. Andiel let go of him, and Darius went to the rag pile. The clothes looked even more torn than he remembered. And worse, there were bones between them. Darius's hand went to his mouth. 

No one bothered to come here, despite knowing we have lived here. No one bothered to check up on Beth. To bury her.

She deserved better. 

With shaky hands, he began to push away the rags, and to collect the bones. They were gnarled. The skull had fang holes in it. This was all that was left of Beth. 

"Dad, will she be able to rest, if we bury her?" Darius asked, and Andiel came to kneel next to him. 

"How about we bury her in our garden? Then you can plant flowers over her grave, and water them and take care of her resting place?" Andiel offered, and Darius nodded. 

"She loved flowers. When we went outside town, she always took me to the meadows to collect them. But not to keep for herself. Rather, to make into flower crowns and sell at the market," Darius explained. It had been a game for him, to make the crowns. He had been good at it, too. Not once did his crowns go loose, before they were sold. Some customers had said, they didn't go loose until the flowers withered. 

"Well, then. I guess we can place her a flower crown over her grave. Once just for her with a preserving charm," Andiel said, as he placed another bone into the big bag, they have taken with them. The elf had not wanted to believe that someone was going to leave the bones of a woman, or a being, really, out in the elements. But it seems, that this was precisely what had happened. 

"You'd spend money on a preserving charm?" Darius asked, and Andiel nodded. 

"It will be a bit tight, this month. However, I have prepaid your swimming sessions, and your archery practice for the entire year. You just won't get any new How To guides, and we will be eating more noodles in the near future," Andiel said, and then Darius shook his head. 

"I will be the one to earn the money for Beth's preservation rune. I was her son," Darius argued, but Andiel just shook his head. 

 "And now you are my son. Which is to say, that I have to take care of you. Come now, son, is my lasagna so bad of a prospect?" Andiel asked, and then straightened up when there weren't any more bones to collect. 

"You already do so much," Darius mumbled, but Andiel just took him by the hand, and led him outside. This house had a roof, but that was about all. As Andiel thought how the two must have tried their best not to freeze during the winter nights in here, he felt sick. It was easy to ignore all the misfortune people of Fairstar world. Heck, of Apiline Town, when one was in their cozy office and surrounded by warmth and good company.

But here, in this husk of a house, the reality was smacking him in the face. And, what was he doing? Sure, he got Darius off the streets, cured the occasional homeless person for free, but what was he doing? With what was he helping?

"Don't be sad, dad," Darius said, as he brushed off a stray tear from his eyes. "You are a good man." 

"Sometimes I wonder if I am not a coward," Andiel murmured, as they walked towards the rune shop. "I took the easiest way to help, and then let myself calm myself down, with that fact that I helped you." 

"Your clinic can't support more people," Darius told his father. "And the town can't afford to lose your clinic. You are the only one who gives free treatment to the homeless." 

"I wish I was not," Andiel spoke. Maybe he could speak with the other healers? Get something like more work places for the homeless? They were all desperate folk, who just needed a chance. 

They rounded a corner, and made it to the rune shop. The bell chimed, when they entered. There were parchments with runes on offer, and Andiel recognized the preservation one from both the curve of the writing, and the price tag. 

"One gold coin?" Darius gasped. This was beyond insane!

"Well, do you know how hard it is to make runes, little boy?" The shopkeeper asked, amused? "You need to have enough mana to power up the entire town for a preservation rune. Enough, so the ink can begin to generate its own mana." 

"We don't argue that your product is priced unfairly," Andiel said, as he fished out his coin pouch. In there, there was a single gold coin. It had taken him months to earn it. Yet, now, he knew that there were more important things than it. "We would like one preservation rune." 

"And a book on runes," Darius said, as he fished out his own six silver coins. "I can pay." 

"You want a book on runes?" The shopkeeper chuckled then. He took out a big notebook, and placed it on the counter. "I tell you what, if you manage to make even one functional rune from this notebook by sunset, I will teach you all about runes myself." 

Darius nodded, and opened the notebook.