The sun slowly drifted towards the horizon. Red sunlight blazed from above colored the leaves of the trees in the nearby forest.

The wind had rocked the cage. Up above here, there was less to do than listen to Ettran puked. The boy was puking every time the cage was shaken by the wind, and Nefaaya started worrying about him. One time when the wind was scraping hard the tall trees where their cages are tied, Ettran puked and his vomit had hit someone below. They realized it when they started hearing the shouting voice of a woman, she and Nelrue looked at one another and blushed on what they had heard.

Thankfully the boy didn't ask her about it. Nefaaya didn't know how to explain it anyway.

Every afternoon, Nelrue was giving them entertainment, singing ballads that told the stories of the past. Fall Of Adrina'lanar was one of her favorites, she didn't know that she would find joy in listening to someone's tale of distorted history. It was the longest that Nelrue had performed, he started it five hours after dawn and ended on the appearance of the fifth moon. The story was about how Adrina'lanar was created by the Fenrain. It all started when a group of horned animals similar to a stag but much larger and had two sets of horns was transformed by Nendesariah into human, she was the daughter of the Eye. For some reason only one set of horns had vanished, the Fenrain retained one of their horns and it grew in their forehead.

The first High Lord was introduced, Jahlan The Builder, who was responsible for building and planning the Adrina'lanar after the tribes decided to stop being nomadic. It was established in the mountains that would be known later as Adral, it was where the Fenrain believed the Supreme Nendesariah had descended and transformed them.

It was just one of the many stories that encompass the Adrilliazar or Fall Of Adrina'lanar. It spiraled from court intrigues, rebellion and tales of famous heroes and princes in their conquest to greatness. The story ended on the War Of Ascension, when the Araolinar didn't respond to their call for help in defending the Nenden Pass from the armies of Arhalath or what is known today as the Rotseekers.

And so long the world would remember

The fall of the greatest creation of the Creation

It wasn't the Arhalath who defeated the Creation

It was greed and jealousy who defeated them

As she listened to Nelrue, Nefaaya realized that she was glad that the musicteller was with them. In truth, she didn't know how they would survive if they crossed paths with those Rotseekers.

She was hopeful that the stories would cheer Ettran and make him forget about the dizziness he was experiencing, but it didn't. In fact, the boy had been acting weirdly towards Nelrue. She noticed it for the first time when Ettran saw the two of them laughing at the story of the Rolling Man. Ettran had glanced at them briefly. This brief glance was all it took for her to realize the boy's uneasiness on Nelrue's presence. But why would he act like that towards whom he used to fawn over was something beyond her comprehension.

One night when it was too cold and she woke up on a mosquito bite, she saw Ettran hugging his knees, glowering at Nelrue. She pretended she didn't see as she rose and walked on the closest thing that could be called to a latrine.

Nefaaya stopped few meters away from Ettran and asked softly, "does something happened between you and Nelrue?"

The boy jolted at her, eyes filled with shock. The boy was so busy watching Nelrue that he didn't feel her approach him. Nefaaya doubted that he even saw her walking towards the latrine

The shock in his eyes slowly changed to worry and horror as he glanced at Nelrue. He stepped his left hand forward, mouth opening to speak. But the boy immediately decided against it.

"Ettran..."

"Sleep now," he said.

She stood there longer than she had intended before she walked towards her place and dragged the blanket thrown to them by their captors. She slept the night away beside him, not so near to make him uncomfortable but not so far for him to think that he was alone.

As days passed inside the cage, Nefaaya kept thinking about Renaeril. The guards that visited them during the early days of dawn when mist covered as high as these gigantic trees, had remained indifferent towards them.

But she could see them looking at the wooden bars of their cage, when Nelrue was singing or telling stories.

It was on the fifth day when a stout old man wearing a red vest walked slowly towards their cage. He was different. Nefaaya could feel his authority radiating even if he was still far from them. He's also the only one whom she saw wearing a vest.

Men in this forest only wore clothes that were wrapped around their waist. Some she saw wearing fur that was wrapped around their neck, similar to a scarp. But nonetheless all of them were bare chested, decorated with elaborate tattoos from their chest and on their shoulders.

As he passed on the two guards posted watch over them, they started following him. The old man stopped, his eyes almost closed from old age. But Nefaaya could feel his eyes on the two of them.

"I heard you could sing," he said, Ettran looked at her confusedly before he decided to moan which got a look to the man.

Nelrue abruptly stood and bowed his head, his left hand was positioned horizontally on his back while the other was on his chest

"Aye it is," he said. "I'm a musicteller who had travelled as far as Loh'rain and had been expert in almost every known song."

The man laughed and put his thick hands on his chin, "then perhaps you should know about the Lost Lyrics?"

Nelrue stiffened, his head was still bowed. Nefaaya wondered what's this Lost Lyric that the man was talking about

"The Lost Lyrics was called lost for some reason. If I may ask, why is His Majesty interested in the Lost Lyrics?"

"His Majesty," he chuckled. "Don't call me like that, we don't do those things this far south. Farsain perhaps but we don't, we retained the old ways of the Fenrain here. The highest respect for acknowledging one's authority was bowing, honorifics don't bother us, you could even call me by my name. Kliras."

"Your name musicteller," he said. "And those kids too."

Nelrue raised, "Nelrue Aysanier a simple traveling musicteller who was burn in the Central Plateau. And thi-"

The man shook his head, "let them speak their name."

Nelrue turned his gaze at Nefaaya and nodded at her to speak.

She straightened and bowed her head.

"Nefaaya Telanil." She cursed herself for being nervous. "The child was Ettran let me speak for him cause he hadn't been doing well this last few days."

She raised her head expecting a counter from the old man. But one of the guards whispered something to him and he nodded.

"Oh he's the one who keeps puking," he said. "Poor one, they should have told me so we can move her to a new cell."

He flickered his eyes back to Nelrue, the musicteller met his gaze. She didn't know what was going on his mind that time but Nefaaya felt nervous about what he was doing.

"You would be judged," he said. "By the White Guardian, when the sun sets in the east, she will arrive. Black for sin and white for innocence. The other kid that we also nursed would be judged for what you had done to the forest."

Then he looked at her and announced, "A man named Learo Telanil had visited us long ago."

"He's my father," she said.

The old man nodded, "I hope the Flow favors your path. Let's talk, perhaps some other time."

He said and started walking away from their cell. The wind picked up around her, and with it the familiar scuttling sound not so far from them.