Here, in Gandrodi, the reign of time has always been above all the other reigns. This is accepted for both known and unknown lands; at least, the inhabitants of the island countries suppose so. On earth and in the sky, or if there is, in another facet of life, all the living or non-living beings have always striven to adapt themselves to time. However, this endless-seeming flow doesn’t ever seem to care all that. It simply moves forward and flawlessly fulfills the necessity of its existence. Who evaluates the remnants of time left behind as tales, legends, or stories are miserable lost folks; at least, the wisest known people think and say this.

  While time flows together with its changes, many reigns and governances rise and fall in Gandrodi. In the cycle of time, certain places and rights are reserved for them. It has been said that numerous rulers who have mind and consciousness have been condemned to the rule of the unconscious one. Every age left behind and will be left behind is called with a name in Gandrodi.

  Year 347 of The Age of Moon was a very complicated time. The era it will open was such an era that will be filled with both disaster descriptions and heroic stories. And for the ones who can notice this, the footsteps of this era were echoing throughout all the island kingdoms.

  ---

  In the sky resembling a pale blue pearl, snow-white clouds had come alive with the gentle morning light. Now, they were moving towards the south in clusters. While this was happening, the wild winds of Gandrodi blew from the west, and they rumblingly climbed the foggy peaks of the Windy Mountains, beat the fresh leafy branches of trees, and then continued eastwards. As sparrows on branches of silver poplars were moving together with the wind from one tree to another, mice were running on the ground. Wild cats were very excited; they were hovering around clustered mouse holes. For the ones who can see, in further west, in the great river emanating from the heart of The Mountain of Elders, in Yujiti, fish shoals were advancing group by group.

  Now today, on that blessed mountain and throughout the whole Yafren country, the rose season had spread with all its glory as if challenging death. Spring itself and what it carries within were gushing out from the air, water, and soil with a life-whispering motion.

  A little bit below, a little further from the stone hut, there was a child watching the sparrows. An outsider might say that he was just like this morning. Just as calm as the snow-white clouds and just as happy as the sparrows he was watching, this could probably be said for him. However, nobody but he could know what was inside. As the wind waved his grey cloak and blew his long white hair, he turned his head in the direction the birds were flying. Where were they going? To Belcas shores? To the ocean? Far away, where the sun was shining on the lush plains of Fongria? Or even farther beyond the island kingdoms, to the unknown lands mentioned in ancient tales?

  “Letruce?”

  When he heard the call of a rich-voiced old man, his master, the boy was thinking about those probabilities. He had started to climb the hill before he heard the call, but he stopped.

  “Letruce, come here.”

  At the call of his master, he came down by running rightabout and entered the stone hut through the ajar door.

  “Your orders, master,” he said to the old healer who was preparing something at the wooden table with his back turned to him. The man was calling himself Manhu. In this town, Agrum, he was known as Manhu the Wise.

  “Come closer,” Manhu said calmly. As the boy approached him gravely, the old healer smelled the bowl full of the mixture and then put it on the table. Now, his apprentice had come nearby, and he was watching his master with curious eyes.

  “So… Could you solve the signs?” The master asked him seriously. This might be one of the questions to test his apprentice and force him to think.

  Actually, the healer has begun doing this more often these days. So Letruce has been finding himself while thinking about his master’s questions during the day and sometimes even at midnight. However, he couldn’t understand what his master had implied this time as well.

  “No, master,” he said, feeling guilty and embarrassed. “I was just watching the birds.”

  “And what were they doing?” Manhu the Wise asked with raised eyebrows. He took a pinch of herb from a small jar and put it into the bowl of mixture, then nodded in satisfaction. “Were they clamoring around the old poplars?”

  “It seemed so,” Letruce replied timidly. “They were cooing and flying from branch to branch.”

  The boy looked at his master’s face to understand whether the old healer was satisfied with the answer; he tried to find a sign of appreciation or amenity, but his master’s face was vacant.

  Noticing the boy staring carefully at him, Manhu smiled.

  “The universe is the best book, Letruce. For the ones who know how to read.” He caressed the boy’s head, then pushed the clay bowl in front of him. “Birds and trees are among the beautiful pages of this book. Henceforth, look at them more attentively.” He dropped a spoon next to the bowl. “Now, let’s mash this well and mix it.”

  As Manhu the Wise wiped his hands on his apron, Letruce took the spoon. He mashed the mixture nicely and then mixed it well. His master nodded as if approving the apprentice.

  “Now, taste it.” The old healer said. “But keep in mind, this is a medicine.” While pointing at the mixture, he looked at the boy’s eyes. “So don’t set your expectation too high.”

  Letruce took some from the mixture with the spoon and put it in his mouth. As his eyes widely opened with astonishment, his old master smiled again, this time even more lively.

  “Master!” Letruce shouted with enthusiasm. “This… is excellent.” Even though he tried to describe it with words, he fell short. So he said what came to his mind at first. “Even magicians can’t do something like this.”

  By hearing the word ‘magician’, his master’s eyebrows furrowed slightly.

  “They don’t know how to make medicines.” He said. “At least, most of them.” He pulled the mixture back in front of himself; after stirring it a little more with the spoon, he smelled the bowl and nodded with satisfaction.

  As Letruce was wondering whether he had offended his master or not, the old healer patted the child’s back and slipped the bowl into the boy’s hands.

  “Here you go.” He said while tucking a small, empty bag into the boy’s belt. “Take the mixture to The Hunters Alliance.” He turned the pile of small sacks filled with herbs. “On your way back, bring me a dark flame mushroom. One is enough, but bring all if you can find.”

  Letruce has been going to collect ingredients, especially in recent days. However, he had never heard of this fungus.

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  “Master…” he said shyly. “Where can I find the mushroom you wanted, and how can I discern it?”

  Manhu the Wise thought for a while to define the most suitable place. Although the mushroom was a rare kind, it could be frequently encountered around Yujiti in this season.

  “Look at the closest part of the river to us,” the healer said then. “There were plenty of them around there last year. I thought you might remember. It is a black fungus with red spots. Don’t go too close to the river and be careful.”

  “Alright, master,” Letruce said as he excitedly headed for the door. “I’ll be right back.”

  Whenever Manhu gave him single-handed tasks that would require leaving his master, he would get excited and feel like a significant person.

  “Take your time,” his master called out while Letruce was going. “Don’t forget to send my regards to the hunters.”

  When the boy went out, the old healer looked out the open window, smiling. When he saw the accumulated dark clouds far ahead over the sea, his face fell instantly.

  “I hope it won’t occur earlier than I foresee,” he muttered to himself. Feeling a chill, he closed the window, then headed for the door and closed it as well. Later, he lay down on his mattress to rest a little until his apprentice returned.

  ---

  Letruce noticed the crowd as he arrived at the town center. There was a beautiful bustle today. Usually, at celebrations or when foreigners came to the town, the place would be lively like this. Apart from these events, Agrum was mostly a quiet town. But, Letruce didn’t suppose that there was an upcoming festival or celebration; obviously, strangers had come. Perhaps a merchant caravan, or mercenaries looking for work; well, even these two were very rare to see for a remote place like Agrum, where people live in their own world and matters.

  Before going to The Hunters Alliance, he wanted to drop by Master Rantem’s shop. Who knows, maybe he had finished the bow which he promised to Letruce. After he had a bow, he could join The Hunters Alliance, go on adventures in endless forests, and make many discoveries by getting plentiful money from hunts. As he was lost in dreams and heading towards the weaponsmith’s shop, he heard a familiar woman’s voice.

  “Letruce! Come here, sweety.”

  Letruce looked to the young woman at the grocery counter, then his gaze despairingly went back and forth between the road and the woman. He had been caught again.

  “I have important work to do, sister Usemil,” he said boredly. “I have to go.”

  However, he knew this like the back of his hand that the woman would not leave him, and that’s what happened. Though his waiting customers, she left the counter and came near him frowningly. Usemil was the most beautiful woman in the town, and like all men, other women in the town were also aware of this. There were always flatterers around her, and harsh wives of naughty married men hated her to death.

  The woman was usually simply dressed, sometimes even manlike, and today was one of those times. The days she wasn’t dressed manlike were the most favorable times for fighting with other women in Agrum.

  There was a white shirt under her apron now; for a chandler, her shirt was very clean. And she was wearing trousers the same shade of brown as her eyes and long hair.

  “Where are you off to?” she said, squeezing the boy’s cheeks not so gently.

  “To Master Rantem,” he spoke, as if choking. “But my master is also waiting; I must hurry.”

  Before Letruce could object, Usemil ruffled his hair, held his shoulders, and kissed him first on the cheeks and then on his head.

  “Old Manhu can wait a bit,” she said cheerfully. “You will be my apprentice today.”

  Letruce could barely hold the bowl in his hand. Usemil tucked big red apples into his pockets and straightened his collar. When she realized Letruce was turning right and left ashamedly, her brown eyes shone with love.

  “Okay, okay. Go to Master Rantem then.” She said with a smile. “Eat your apples and come to me on your way back, alright?”

  After Letruce rubbed his cheeks with his free hand, he shyly turned to the woman and nodded.

  “Okay,” he said. “I will come.”

  After squeezing the boy’s cheeks one last time, Usemil walked back to her counter with quick steps and got into a heated argument with customers who were complaining about the wait.

  With his free hand, Letruce rubbed his cheeks again, then he took one of the apples from his pocket and continued to walk towards Master Rantem’s shop by biting the apple.

  While the apple was creating a taste feast inside his mouth, Letruce felt gratitude towards Usemil; he continued walking by looking around. Indeed, everywhere was overcrowded today; he found the weaponsmith’s store in the same situation. When he opened the door, he saw many people inside; voices were tangling with each other. He slowly stepped over the threshold, and he looked around, not knowing what to do.

  “Master Rantem?” he called out then. There was a heap of customers near the weaponsmith, and it wasn’t like he would hear Letruce. Yet the weaponsmith noticed him, tilted his head slightly, and looked at the boy. His face turned sour as he saw the bowl in the boy’s hand.

  “Oh boy! Don’t come in with that thing. I hate the smell of medicine.”

  Letruce looked at the clay bowl in his hand. “My master ordered to take it to The Hunters Alliance.” He said. “Master, I had come to ask you about my bow.”

  Master Rantem motioned with his hand for him to go.

  “Your bow is ready. Go and deliver the thing in your hand. You can get your bow on your way back.”

  The weaponsmith returned to tending to his waiting customers.

  Filled with joy, Letruce was about to head towards the door, but he noticed someone. In the middle of the crowd, there was a dreaded man with his head covered and his face in shadows. He was frowning and looking at Letruce. At first, Letruce wanted to believe he was looking for someone or something else, so he stepped back and looked behind, but there was nothing there. When his eyes caught the man’s eyes again, Letruce feared and took a step back; he leaned against the door. The man didn’t divert his focus from Letruce to somewhere else, but he didn’t make any other moves either. To free himself from the intense pressure, Letruce went out. And as soon as he left, he started running.

  Even though the town square was closer, he had run towards the alliance’s camp rather than there. After he became thoroughly tired, he threw himself on his back; his pulse was beating crazily, and his respiration was extremely rapid. Who the hell was this man, and why did he stare ill at Letruce? It was necessary to ask this man to both Master Rantem and Leader Yak-Pab. One of them would definitely know.

  To put the man out of his mind for now, he imagined his new bow. Master Rantem had finished his bow, and this meant that he could apply to The Hunters Alliance after he delivered the medicine. He decided to tell Yak-Pab today that he wanted to join the alliance. While walking with a bowl full of medicine in his hand and thoughts in his mind, he reached the grove where the tents of The Hunters Alliance were located.

  The summit was here for Letruce; everything was starting and ending here. The hunters’ grove was the very beginning and end of everything. Without this place, Agrum was a tiny village; without this place, Agrum was a huge water world with no piece of land. The hunters’ grove was probably the very self of the truth, or a book that needed to be read to understand it. And Leader Yak-Pab was standing above all these. Yak-Pab was one of the two men who had been creating Letruce’s Agrum, even Letruce’s Gandrodi. And he was the most mysterious of those two men.

  While the boy was advancing, two of the hunters had noticed him; they were grinning by pointing at him to the others.

  “Oh, guys! Look who’s here!”

  “Oh, old boy… Welcome.”

  -

  -

  “O miserable! What is visible on the horizon that you distort it by interpretation? What you see, what you hear, what you touch are only in you.”

  -Library of Sixteen Days, The Encyclopedia of the Lost Heaven, Opsano-Zifars