Hearing those words, brought me to here and now. Hearing her, gave me the clarity that I desperately needed, so as my composure began to recover itself, my face slightly turned and faced the cart, where a heavy-set woman, with withered and aged copper brownish skin, whose hair tied in a single braid, sat, battling mosquitoes.

  Their dance was brutal.

  Those creatures were toying with her, as each time her palm swung before her, till it was inches away, the mosquitoes held their position, then proceeding that, as that arm neared to them, these creatures easily slid down and slipped from her huge palm, all the while a thin smile plastered on the face of the child, whose silverish black eyes sparkled under the shade, resulting in heavily shaking her arms and legs on the lap of her mother.

  "I know Loretta..."

  My voice responded on its own, because it did not require higher intelligence to deduce what the woman was stating. For it can be considered a mere bad luck if a single child runs away from the valley. And if two children were deserted than it can be considered as the failure of the system, and a coincidence. But three children, that too within the same year, no, this cannot be bad luck, nor can it be a coincidence, or a failure in the system. No, these three children build a pattern. And if another one is also added to the list. Even if it is my younger brother, then there is criminal intent behind these acts.

  And whoever these criminal elements are, they are luring and kidnapping the children with nefarious intention, snatching away from their parents and loved ones.

  And this time, they have taken someone very dear and very precious to me, which is a very stupid thing and a dangerous thing to commit. Because if they wish to play with me, then they should have come at me. But by not doing so, they really desire purgatoro that much. There are consequences for attempting to do such futile things. And that reckoning if it will not be from my hand, then it will be from the hands of my younger brother, which is even more darker and brutal thing to accept or recieve.

  Pity for them.

  Such pity for them.

  "And..."

  Upon hearing that word, and seeing the state of the woman before me, and the answer she expected from me, one thing became abundantly clear that this was neither the time, or the place for me to break down, or be enraged. So before her concern could be addressed, and before my anger could be unleashed anymore, or i would be forced to answer, the topic before us needed to be changed. It needed to be diverted immediately. And my palm plucking the apple from the cart before me did just that.

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  "Three bronze for a kilo."

  After hearing that response, a slight smile exploded on the corner of her lips. A smile worthy of countless emeralds.

  "Two, for a kilo and a half."

  Stating that, the woman, patiently waited for my response.

  "Four bronze for a kilo."

  Shifting the child from her left thigh to her right, after both of her palms swatted wide, and caught the three mosquitoes that had conquered the apple at the top. Without a single instant of pause, after wiping its blood that had splattering between her clapped palms, the woman before me responded. "Done."

  Barely after she stated that, she plucked and threw all four of those apples, whose royal red colour established its dominance into a satchel. The aroma that leaked from that satchel as it transported to my left hand was something exquisite. Not to mention the hunger and the thirst of that hunger, that was boiling within me was second to none. But as usual, my hunger comes last, as the hunger of my fellow brothers and sisters always takes precedence.

  So even though it was hard, compressing and supressing those cravings my feet marched to the other end of her cart, where a line of tomatoes was closely piled and kept one above the other, forging a pyramid of its own. After my fingers plucked and lifted the one at the topmost edge, my voice, once again danced with the woman before me.

  "A kilo of that as well."

  "Two Bronze."

  "Done."

  Stating that, switching the child back to her previous lap, and plucking another satchel above her head, the woman that sat before me, threw six tomatoes into the satchel and handed it to me.

  Proceeding that, after lifting the coins from my pocket, and my fingers paid the woman and collected the satchel in turn, barely had my body advanced a step forward after purchasing this, the woman counted the coins and spoke.

  "You paid me a Bronze extra?"

  "Buy a fresh set of clothes and slate to the child."

  Instead of responding the woman lowered her neck, unable to meet my eyes.

  So receiving that silence as the conclusion, compartmentalizing all three satchels equally between my arms, my body shifted towards my right and began to advance on the trail before me.

  "We cannot continue like this anymore, the children are scarce in our valley as it is. There must be an end to this nightmare. The kidnapping needs to be stopped. And the villains who pursued that, must be held accountable. We need intervention. We need support. We cannot lose hope anymore. So, before we lose what little we have, we need the demon of the cold valley to act."

  In this movement, and in this instant, after hearing that name a deadly silence exploded, as every heart in the vicinity that heard that name synchronized their heartbeats and pounded as one. And as that toxic quietness spread, absolute and perfect silence invaded the land all around them, every man and woman who stood in the ten paces forward, backward, and either side of me, after hearing those name, and the silence that followed, lowered their head, unable to meet or lift their gaze towards me.

  "Understood."

  After Declaring that, as the chatter and the smell began their invasion once again, thus defiling my nostrils and my ears even more, my body, turning its back to the woman who sat on the cart, advanced, and walked forward into the hustle and bustle of the old market street.

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