Life 01: Choice

"No, there has to be another option!" Lloyd thought.

"Can we get some time to think about it?" Martel asked.

"Fine, you have until tonight." Belgarath said.

"Thank you." Martel said.

"But, until that, you're going to be in one of the ground houses. And, I will personally escort you there." Belgarath said.

"Just tell us where it is, and we'll walk there." Yuan said.

"That won't be necessary, and I will accompany you… For safety reasons." Belgarath said.

Begrudgingly, the group agreed.

"I don't like him." Lloyd thought while glaring at Belgarath.

The group slowly walked until they reached a shabby house.

"You'll be staying here until you have reached a decision." Belgarath said, then left.

Inside the house, Lloyd noticed that the only thing inside the house was a 'bed', which was a pile of dirty leaves.

"If they don't want us here, they should just tell us." Mithos murmured and, when Lloyd saw his expression, Lloyd was reminded about what Mithos would become. But, Martel gently put a hand on Mithos's right shoulder and Mithos relaxed when he felt her hand.

"For now, we shouldn't dwell on that." Martel softly told him.

"But, sis-!" Mithos got interrupted by Kratos, who said, "She's right, Mithos. Now, we have more important matters to attend to."

"Like our final decision." Yuan said.

"We can't leave Calder alone!" Mithos said.

"Maybe we won't." Martel said which caused everyone to look at her.

"What do you mean?" Kratos asked.

"Maybe one of us can remain here or he could stay." Martel said.

"Who is 'he'?" Everyone in the group (except for Lloyd, who was beginning to fall asleep) asked.

"Yes, him." Martel said while pointing at the Protozoan, who was peacefully sitting on a corner of the house.

"Why do you keep referring to it as a 'him'?" Kratos asked.

"Because it is as he." Martel said with an assuring tone, which caused Kratos to respond back, but he decided to quit it at the last minute and, instead asked, "Do you think Belgarath will accept having… Him here?"

"I think so. Do you remember how he reacted when he saw him?" Martel asked.

"We can't put all of our hopes on that." Yuan pointed out.

"Is all we have." Martel thought, then she looked at her son, who was peacefully sleeping.

"I don't want him to be alone." Martel said while pulling her son closer to her.

"I can ask him for me to stay here." Mithos said.

"He won't accept it." Yuan said.

Mithos didn't want to admit it, but he knew that Yuan was right. So, Mithos stayed quiet with a sad look on his face.

"Don't be sad, Mithos. We will come back and it won't take long." Martel said, which managed to cheer up Mithos a little.

"Anyways, should we tell Belgarath or will he come here?" Kratos asked.

"Let him come here." Yuan bitterly said.

"It's better if one of us goes to tell him about our decision." Martel suggested.

"After the the way he treated all of you, why do you suggest that?" Kratos asked.

"I grew up in an elf village and believe me that in order to not anger him. It's better if one of us goes to tell him." Martel with a gentle, yet serious tone.

Before anyone could respond back, they heard footsteps getting closer to them which immediately made them get ready for a battle.

"Is this how you greet all of your visitors?" Belgarath asked with an amused tone.

"Just those we don't fully trust." Yuan said.

"If it was said be a pure elf, I would be hurt, but coming from you it's just amusing." Belgarath said with a smile on his face.

"What do you want?" Kratos asked.

"First, put down all your weapons." Belgarath said, which the group begrudgingly obeyed.

"That's better. Now, I heard 'rumors' that you have already come to a decision." Belgarath said with a big smile on his face.

"Whoever you heard this 'rumors' from didn't inform what our decision is?" Kratos asked.

"Lucky for you, I personally wanted you to tell me your decision." Belgarath said.

"We have accepted your offer on the condition that one of us stays with my son." Martel said.

"I'm afraid that the elves of this village aren't so keen on being with your kind, which also includes you." Belgarath said while briefly pointing at Kratos at the end of his speech.

"What about him… The protozoan?" Martel said, which managed to catch Belgarath's attention.

"Well, under normal circumstances no stranger would be welcome, but I can make an exception for the Protozoan." Belgarath said.

The protozoan menacingly glared at Belgarath, who was unfazed by that glare.

"Thank you." Martel said.

"I'll see you at dawn." Belgarath said before he left.

"I hate him." Yuan said when Belgarath left.

"Still, we already gave him our decision." Martel reminded him.

"But what he is making us do-!" Yuan stopped talking when he realized that the volume of his voice was making his son wake up. Luckily, Martel managed to make Lloyd fall back asleep.

Yuan gently caressed his son's face as if it was made of glass. Then, Yuan glared at Protozoan, who meekly put his head down avoiding Yuan's glare. Slowly, Yuan walked towards the Protozoan and said, "Protect my son with your life or you'll have to deal with me."

"I don't think the Protozoan will understand you." Kratos said.

"You're wrong." Yuan said after the Protozoan seemingly nodded.

"We should rest. We have to wake up at dawn." Martel said.

"You, Mithos, and Calder take the… Bed. Kratos and I will sleep on the floor along with the Protozoan." Yuan said.

"Are you sure?" Martel asked which made both Kratos and Yuan nod.

After that was agreed on, they all went to sleep, but late at night Martel woke up and realized that Mithos wasn't asleep, instead he was sitting and appeared to be in deep thought.

"Mithos." Martel whispered loud enough for Mithos to hear.

"Sis, you're awake." Mithos said.

"And, so are you." Martel pointed out which made Mithos smile.

"Sorry. I just couldn't sleep." Mithos said.

"Why?" Martel asked.

"I was thinking about mom… Even though I never met her." Mithos said, but he murmured the last part.

"She was nice, kind, and loved us very much." Martel said.

"But, is it true that she was married to this 'Magnus'?" Mithos asked.

"Yes." Martel said with a sad expression on her face.

"Did you ever meet him?" Mithos asked.

"Yes, but only once and it was very easy to see why our mother had left him." Martel said.

"Why do you say that?" Mithos asked.

"Honestly, when I saw him, he had the appeared to be a prince of some fairytale come to life, but his personality was anything but a prince's. He was arrogant, selfish, abusive, and self-absorbed in his ego." Martel said.

"Then, why did mom marry him?" Mithos asked.

"From what I know, elves prefer arranged marriages that would benefit the spouses' families and mom's family was no exception. From what she told me, her family had a lot of influence and so did his, thus they were betrothed to each other when they were babies." Martel explained.

"There was no way out for her." Mithos said.

"Until she met dad and… She was happy." Martel said with pained tone because every time she remembered what her family used to be it brought her sadness because she knew that those times were never going to come back.

"I wish I could have met them." Mithos said.

"Do you want to hear a secret they told me?" Martel said and Mithos eagerly nodded, which caused Martel to say, "It doesn't matter where we are, we will always be together."

Martel gently patted Mithos's head and told him to go to sleep.

"Sis, are we also going to always be together?" Mithos asked.

"Yes." Martel said with a smile in her face.

"Good night, sis." Mithos said.

"Good night, Mithos." Martel said.

Author's Note

New chapter and don't forget to RSS!