IV . Discovering Myself

The days and nights passed without event. People still dropped food whether by accident or by pity, and we guarded the city. A few of us were taken outside the walls, our elders who were skilled in the ways of their trade. They had not returned. We did not question, for we had no one to question; the paid guardians of the city had not returned either. Only we noticed the stillness in the air of the city, and we decided it was beyond our control.

I had befriended a fellow street rat. Most of us had factions, or small groups consisting of those with common interests and the like. I did not belong to one. Instead, I peered and listened in. They can come to accept this, and did not mind, for I had a valiant heart and knew when to speak and when to silence myself.

This fellow I had come to know was named Caspin. He was a younger boy in his mid-teens, aged by his status as poor. He had come to me when his elder father had been taken from the town. Never having been alone, he found me. I never abandoned my post; never needed to. I accepted the boy. I had been alone. My voice rasped into use, and we discussed things. I was to be discovered.