Beneath the warm sun

4

I was staring at the bright sun, not directly of course, it would damage my eyelid. The warm feeling of the sunlights caressing my tanned skin felt good. I was 16, finally I was able to go to army boots. I wouldn't do much because there wasn't any war or conflict between this nation and another one so far. The king was mostly peaceful, he didn't care about his people but he did care about his kingdom, my city was appart of it. Army was rough on us, but that's what I liked, I never felt bored anymore. They made us fight each other with wooden weapon, I personally prefer the spears, but in up close fight, the sword was the best option. I was slightly taller than most guy my age but most of them had wider bodies than mine. I guess that my biological father wasn't really the most big man you could've found. Alot of the boy here with me came from men that were already in the army, I wasn't suprised. The first year went by pretty quickly, I was so excited most of the time that I didn't see the time pass by. They told us how to polish weapons and armor, how to fight. There often had races with for price random things to motivate us. At first I didn't won much, I hadn't run much when I was smaller but I slowly got better at it and was able to finish first most of the time. The only thing that didn't change was my loneliness, when I was too lonely I used to go see my father and ask him to tell me about his battles.

My second year in the army was quite different, as the son if the general I was one of the boys who had to give a tour to some of the new boy this year. I didn't really want to but my dad ordered it to me so I didn't talk back his order. I had to take care of 3 guys. I almost chocked on air when I saw the crying boy. Why did I kept randomly meeting him, he must have recognized me with how he was staring at me. A tear of stressful sweat running down his face. I closed my open mouth and cleared my throat . He was now my height and his shoulder had grew wider within 2 years. His cheek were digging a bit and he looked uncomfortable. I gave the three of them a big smile before managing to say something.

- I'll show you the dorm!

I tried to seem confident around them even if I was as awkward as a bird who just flew into a window. I could fear the glare of the crying boy analyzing me up and down. I told them the story of this place that my own dad used to tell me when I was younger. An abandoned castle that the king decided to re use as a army boots. With dorms, dining hall and more. I showed them the dorm. They chosen a bed, my heart skipped a beat when the boy I kinda knew picked the one next to mine. Did he knew? No he couldn't all the beds were the same beside the stuff on top that was our own. I personally only had a shield gave by my father and a bunch of letter wrote by my mom. I watched him place his stuff under his bed before coming back to my side. I swallowed hard, my eyes flickering to him every 10 to 20 seconds. He looked sad, melancholy even. The corner of his thick dark eyebrows raised to give him the look of a beaten up puppy. His lips were tightly pinching each other, I could tell that he did not want to be there. His hair had grew a little longer, falling on his shoulders. I stared at his neck, then his arms, analyzing him as much as I could. His eyelids were as dark as I remembered, he caught me staring and I looked away quickly. I rubbed the tip of my thumb against the one of my middle finger as a sign of stress. The two other boy finally came back and I was able to continue the tour of the castle. Dining hall, unused throne room, kitchen, small room to pray and ect. At the end I was happy it was all done, the boy dismissed and left me, all beside one. I sat on my bed and he sat on his, staring at me with the side of his eyes as if I wouldn't notice, I wasn't clueless. I frowned.

- What do you want.

The boy blinked slowly, he seem embarrassed. He wasn't giving me an answer and it was pissing me off.

- What's your name? I asked with a more calm tone.

He swallowed hard.

- Isidor...

Isidor? Never heard that name before, I nodded and grabbed a rolled up parchment under my bed. An old myth wrote by one of the best historian of greek. I loved it and would read it often.

- Are you ... Sirius's son?

His voice was calm and shy, I looked at him before sighing and nodding. Everyone knew me by that.

- Atticus is it..? Do you like this place?

I glared at him and chewed the inside of my cheek, how did he knew my name. I closed the parchment and sat on the edge of my bed.

- How do you know that name. I spoke dry.

He fidgeted with his hands avoiding my stare.

- My dad used to be a soldier..Sirius's right arm.. until he lost his own arm and couldn't fight anymore. Sirius talked about you a lot and told my dad your real name...

His voice was low, almost unheard by me. I hummed as an answer.

- Don't call me that, my name is Orion now. I spat the world at him.

He flinched slightly and apologized. Soon enough we were called for supper. A fish soup with bread, some onions and chickpeas were inside the soup. I ate slowly, enjoying it even if it was probably one of the worst meal I ever had. I felt observed and lifted up my head to notice Isidor staring. I frowned and went back to my food. What did he want and why did he kept staring at me. He was such a weird boy, normally people would ignore me and give no attention to what I did in general. After I was finished I quickly hurried to the dorm and went to sleep.