"Dad, can I get some pink candy? The black is my favorite, but the pink is the cheapest….. it's ok if I can't, I understand Daddy. We have rice broth at home anyway."
Seeing his daughter control the drool that had come out of her mouth on seeing the candy stall across the road, Kalidor cursed at himself for being an incompetent father.
With her mother passing away when she was only two in a caravan ambush, Kalidor had raised Cara all by himself. As a shoe-maker, although he couldn't make enough to live a life of luxury, he had some regular customers who let him and his daughter lead a happy life.
In fact, Kalidor had already enrolled his little girl in the school set up by the King. As she was an inquisitive girl, he had known that she would definitely love learning about the world and had insisted on her going even though she wanted to stay at home and help him with the shop.
After reaching a small two-bedroom shack, Kalidor opened the door before Cara bounded in and took out two chipped bowls.
Pouring the last of the rice broth, she made sure to check that her father's had more before bringing them to the dining table in the hall.
Sighing, Kalidor simply took a sip and asked Cara to finish the rest. He knew that she was hungry, and he had already spent the last silver Lan he had to buy materials.
Recently, she hadn't even been giving him the chance to answer questions related to food or money. Even though she was only 8 years old, it seemed that she had understood the situation in the house.
His shop was simply on the front part of the house, with a small room in which customers could sit down to have their feet measured.
Indeed, unlike those who made footwear of all sizes with customers coming to buy what fit, he made customized shoes and sandals which cost higher but fit and looked a lot better.
Alas, these days, everyone had been flocking to a new store opened two streets away which was giving deals such as buy a pair, get a pair free.
Although the taxes had been decreased, it wasn't as if life was easy. Even his regular customers had stopped coming, and it had already been two weeks since someone had walked into his store.
Sitting in the store, Kalidor reminisced about the time when his grandfather had actually once made shoes for the King. Until the day he died, he had touted that event as the most significant in their family, even though the King had been the one to increase the taxes at the time which had almost made their family starve.
Yet, according to his grandfather who had taught him the trade, a shoemakers joy came from the stature of the person who was wearing his shoes. Thus, the path chosen to tread in those shoes didn't matter to them. What was important was that they had chosen to be their patrons, which brought value to their creed and skill.
It was on ideals like these that he had built his life, yet he was reaching a point where he might regret ever having chosen this path.
Even though the name of the Saloni Shoemakers would mostly die out with him, all he hoped was that he would be able to earn enough to feed his daughter so that she wouldn't have to starve.
Hearing the bell on the door ring, Kalidor got up with a start and dropped the shoe polisher he had been idly holding in his hand.
A customer! Could his family be saved?
"Welcome to Saloni Shoemakers! Our custom designed shoes were once praised by the King of Lanthanor himself! What are you looking for, business or casual?"
The man who had walked in wore black robes covering his entire body. Although none of his features stood out, his broad jaw and slightly hooked nose lent him an air of seriousness which was amplified by his dead serious expression.
"Casual."
Throughout the process of measuring, design selection and payment, the customer did not speak a word more than necessary. Even the selection of the design had been made by a point of his finger-to fit his outfit, he had selected an all black shoe with a touch of brown.
Counting the silver Lans in joy, Kalidor ran back in his house to tell his daughter that she could, after all, buy that candy she wanted.
…..
Seeing the joyful man picking up his daughter and swirling her in the air with joy, Faxul slightly turned up the corner of his lips before turning away from the window.
On Daneel's behest, he had recently been spending time among the people of Lanthanor. Understanding their needs, witnessing their troubles and comprehending their lives had been changing him slowly, making him connect more and more with the person inside him who had been snuffed away the day he had to run away from his own Kingdom.
How were the people of the Black Raven Kingdom? Were they having even more difficulties? Was their King taking care of them well?
As these questions passed through his mind, he was shocked to realize that without even realizing it himself, he had begun calling them 'his people' in his mind.
Before, he had been filled with the thirst for revenge: he wanted to get the man who killed his father and shattered his life, making him run away from his birthplace and his birthright.
Thus, his desire to grow back which had only stemmed from this reason had been kept as bay due to him not being strong enough.
Yet now, after experiencing and living the life of the common people, he felt some sort of connection with those he had never even thought about once since coming to Lanthanor.
Yet, try as he may, he simply couldn't figure out the reason behind this. The memories of his stay in the Black Raven Kingdom were fuzzy, and he wondered if it had anything to do with them.
With no answer in hand, Faxul shook off his line of thought before heading to the Palace to fulfill a certain task he had recently been given.
…..
Meanwhile, on a beach filled with red sand instead of white.
A tent made from a strange material that looked like the fur of a beast had been set up at the spot where the waves from the 'endless' sea around Angaria met the shore.
With the redness being so similar to the color of blood, some around the area had used to say that the beach had originally been white or yellow until a massive war which shook the entire continent had taken place here.
Although no one knew the truth behind these stories, the local citizens kept away from the area as if it were the plague.
Inside the tent, a man sat calmly sipping tea while watching a display trinket showcase some sort of rally at a distance place.
A person whose gender couldn't be figured out was giving some sort of speech which was riling up the people in front of them. After a few more moments, the entire crowd devolved into chaos before starting to attack and kill those around them.
Watching the entire scene turn into a bloodbath, the man who wore a purple habit laughed silently before taking another sip.
Yet, his laughter was cut off as he saw something light up in the corner of the room.
Getting up, he approached the corner which held a wooden table with holes in it.
Each hole held a torch whose top was empty, yet one of them currently had a green fire dancing on top that almost looked like a skull laughing.
Seeing the position of the torch, the man spoke into a trinket, saying, "The Withering Leaf Sect has called in its favor. Awaiting your order to deploy."
After giving the message, the man took out an information trinket which held the happenings from all over Angaria.
Noticing that the Withering Leaf Sect was currently in an altercation with the Lanthanor Kingdom, the man smiled wide showing his golden teeth before an expression of expectation came on his face.
An attempt had failed, but it seemed that providence had given them another chance to try again and 'convert' the heathen who had had the gall to chase them away from a Kingdom that they had almost managed to purge.
...
As Kalidor and Cara slept peacefully in their beds with their stomachs full after a long time, Eloise prepared to give the order which would change their lives forever.
"Begin the first test for advertisement deployment on NOA", she said, before excitedly seeing the announcer take out a parchment which held the lines that would decide whether she would be able to reach the King's expectations or not.
Dreading to meet him but at the same time hoping that she would be acknowledged again by the man who was often appearing in her dreams these days, Eloise gave the go-ahead while Daneel, who was currently training in the chamber above her, coughed as if someone had thought of him.