The wise old man.

“If we are in search of something that is missing, no one knows what it looks like, where it was found. It’s origin…”, Dragomir trailed off, “What is the first step we have to take?”

“There has to be someone that knows something, someone still alive you know?”, Raisel asked.

“Not just anyone. A wise person who knows something that is not written in the book”

Her eyes widened. “Yesss"

Dragomir smiled, “Of course, lucky for us we are in Mercia. The wisest man to ever live happens to live in this quiet city”

“That’s great to know”, Raisel smiled, “When do we go to meet him?”

“Immediately. He is a very busy person. We can’t stay in this city any longer, we can be caught out any time soon”, Dragomir answered.

Soon they set out. Dragomir glanced at her, “You’re not going to faint now are you?”

She glared at him, “The corset is just fine”

“Good”

They walked into the large cottage and were offered seats to wait out.

The lady attendant came back with two cups and a jug containing tea, she served them, “The wise one will attend to you soon”

“Thank you ma'am”, Dragomir smiled at her.

The lady returned the affection with a small blush of hers.

Raisel rolled her eyes, “Why do you even bother?”

“You have to be nice to everyone you meet. You might never know when you need their help”, he answered.

She sighed when she took a sip of the tea, “This is lovely”

Dragomir sniffed it, “It is a rose and lavender tea. Supposed to help you relax”

She leaned back in her chair, “I’m relaxed alright”

***

The attendant walked in, the scene before her caused her to become still before her eyes adjusted to the darkness.

The table was slightly unkempt, the jug was upside down beside an empty cup. The dark-haired lady in a violet dress was upside down. Her back was to the ground, her hair sprawled around her. Her legs were on the bench. A cup still in her hand.

The white-haired boy that had flirted with her and complimented her every chance he got was in no better position. His head laid on her stomach, his legs were tossed wide open, a teacup still in his mouth.

She tapped them lightly, then tried to rouse them. At first, they didn’t bulge but later on, instead of waking up, they somehow found a way to tangle into themselves more.

The guy rolled into her leaning his head into the girl's neck. One of her stocking-clad legs was resting on his shoulder.

She stared in wonder, the girl was indeed very flexible. She picked up two aluminium plates and slammed them against each other.

They both shot up abruptly.

“What?”, Raisel quickly withdrew her leg from his shoulder immediately.

“What are we doing here?”, the man asked in a sleepy voice. It caused her to smile, he was dreamy.

“The wise one is ready to see you” she announced.

“The wise one is what?!”, Raisel asked genuinely confused.

“He is ready to see you both now”, the attendant answered.

“What the hell it’s like dusk already”, Dragomir replied. He stood up to stare at the night sky through the windows.

Raisel sluggishly got up from the ground. She moved her wobbly legs to stare out of the window, “How long have we been out?”, she asked no one in particular.

He pulled her suddenly towards the direction of the inner cottage. The attendant opened it, ushering them in.

Raisel smoothed her dress over and over again.

“Greetings, wise one”, they both said in unison. They both turned to stare at each other.

Their gaze was broken off when the door opened up. The attendant was by the door fresh cups of tea in her hands…

“Do you guys want so…”

“No!”, they said it together again their eyes locked.

“Ok.. okay”, she closed the door after she left. However, their eyes were still locked. It was the loud rasping noise of the stick of the frail white-haired old man that interrupted the moment.

“Surely you seek from the wealth of knowledge, what is it that you seek?”, the wise man drawled out slowly, “There’s no question without an answer under the sun”

“The origin of the heart of magic, where it currently is, who took possession of it. How can I get it?”, Dragomir asked in a rush.

The old man paused for a while, “If you were looking for someone or something. Where do you look first?”

“I don’t know where, maybe where I think it should be?”, Raisel shrugged.

“Yes…but what if you don’t know where it ought to be?”, he asked again.

“Surely someone else will…”, Dragomir trailed off.

The old man took another sip of the darned tea, Raisel cursed under her breath. She had looked like a fool her leg resting on Dragomir’s shoulders. If her mother were here, she would have said: “That is not in any way how a lady ought to behave”. Raisel could almost hear her voice clear in her head. Her very polished accent was adopted from all her dealings with people of the high class. It caused her to smile dreamily, she greatly missed her mother. She pushed her thoughts aside and focused on the conversation going on over her.

“…so if we are to find the heart of magic, we are to find someone. Someone who has lived for a long time or someone who might know someone that has lived for that long a time to when the heart of magic was found”, Dragomir paused, “How’s that even possible, Dragons don’t live that long”

The old man slowly got up, “I believe you have gotten the word of wisdom…”

“What?”, Dragomir asked in surprise.

“That’s preposterous!”, Raisel added.

“Could we possibly have wasted all our day here for nothing?”, Dragomir queried.

“I was expecting a more forthright answer and directions as to where we could acquire the heart of magic”,

“My dear child”, the man said to Raisel, “ Some thin…things are not… visible to the naked eyes but they are visible to the naked eyes. These things are not secrets because all can see it”. He stood up to leave.

She looked even more confused, "What does that even mean? How...”

“That is utterly confusing”, Dragomir replied and slumped in his chair.

***

They both sat sprawled, Raisel across the bed, her hair around her in deep waves, Dragomir on the floor, his hands behind his head.

“This is futile”, he spoke first.

She didn’t reply immediately, “Where do we go from here?”

He swallowed and hesitated for a brief moment, “There won’t be a we”.

He heard the rustling of sheets as her head shot up, she leaned towards the end of the bed to look at him.

He caught a glimpse of her perfect face, fully carved brows and long lashes, which made her blue eyes look dreamy. She pouted her very red lips…He looked away immediately...

“What does that even mean?”

“You’ll go back to your village and I will continue my journey”

“No. You don’t get to tell me what I will and will not do”, she replied firmly.

“I don’t understand Raisel, I’ve never really understood why you’ll leave the comfort of your home town…where is that?”

“Avalon”, she stated.

“Why you’ll leave Avalon, and your family behind and go in search of a certain trinket, that was acquired thousands of years ago by dragons and have been lost to the war a few years before”, he paused and studied her reaction, “You will choose the harsh weather, the continuous chase, people after your life, the poorly cooked food, the wild animals lurking in the darkness over the bliss that comes with being a young girl ready…”

“Ready to be married off”, she said her eyes staring back at him emotionless, “That’s all I’m good for alright? To be married off to some certain douchebag like…”

“That’s not all you’re good for Raisel!”, he interrupted her, “I barely know you but I know there’s more to you than that I also know you do not deserve to live like this. Raisel, you’re a fugitive”, he whispered the last bit, “Make me understand Raisel, why are you out here?. You have no obligation to look for the heart of magic. So why have you gone in search of it?”

“It is what my father would have wanted. It is all I want now. Something calls me to it Dragomir and I would not rest till I find it”

He held her gaze for a moment before he looked away enveloped in his thoughts. He couldn’t stop her, there were a lot of complications, lots of things that needed to be said but he couldn’t bring himself to say it. Whether he wanted to admit it or not, they needed each other if they were going in search of some magical stone. They would both need all the help they could use. It seemed the path to the stone would be bumpy and…

“Where do you come from?”, Raisel inquired breaking his line of thoughts.

He was tongue-tied for a moment, “Torenth”

“Why do you want the stone?”

He smiled inwardly, she was a smart one, “The king appointed me to go in search of it”

“Okay…where exactly is Torenth?”

“Torenth is a very small kingdom…”

“Never heard of Torenth…”

He thought fast, “Torenth is sometimes called the lost city. It is not in plain sight. I left Torenth as a child. It was founded by ancient hunters. It is believed it can only be found by those who knew where it was hidden, so if…”

“By those who knew where it was hidden”, she said the words out loud deep in thoughts.

“Yes”, Dragomir was worried she had caught on.

“So this means we don’t have to go in search of those who found the heart of magic since they are all dead…”

He smiled because he finally understood where she was going with this, “We only need to find those ancient elders that safeguarded it, surely they’ll know something”

“Since the war, they have been scattered around, some have gone into hiding, some captured. Some, I’m afraid…”, he didn’t complete the last statement.

Raisel smiled back at him, “So it seems we are going dragon hunting then”