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He recovers and disappears through a doorway at the back of the room for a moment before returning with a small loaf.
“I’m ’fraid it isn’t fresh,” he says as he hands it over.
I thank him before other patrons call him away.
“Here you go.” I split the loaf in two and hand the boy the larger portion.
He takes it without hesitation and munches on it thoughtfully for a while. Not sure what else to do, I take a bite as well. It is so dry, it almost chokes me. I have to drink a mouthful of ale to get it down, but the boy does not seem to mind how stale it is. He continues to chew, his feet swinging from the tall stool as if this is a perfectly reasonable place for a five-year-old to be.
“Do you mind me asking what you are doing here?”
He looks at me with bright-green eyes, odd against his dark skin tone and hair. “I’m eating some bread,” he mumbles through a mouthful, and I spot a mischievous lift to his dimpled cheek.
Despite myself, I smile. “And are you alone?”
He swallows with effort and shakes his head. “Wehna’s outside.”
I don’t know who Wehna is, but I am glad, at least, to hear he has someone with him. Although I am not sure I trust her if she lets him wander into a place like this.
The boy continues to eat until he has consumed every crumb. I offer him mine, but he crinkles his eyebrows at me. “Aren’t you hungry?”
He is not wrong. My insides growl. Under his watchful gaze, I manage to eat all the dry bread. It settles my stomach.
With that out of the way, I turn my attention to him again.
“What are you doing here?” I gesture at the room. “This is no place for a man like you.”
He wrinkles his nose and giggles. I almost want to laugh too. Almost.
“I was bored, and you looked sad.”
Again, I am struck by how intuitive this little boy is. “I was, a bit.” There is no use trying to hide it from him.
“Whatcha sad about?”
I frown, wondering how I can put this into words, or if I even should. But he keeps looking at me with those innocent eyes. To tell him anything but the truth would be a crime.
“I lost someone, a long time ago. And I am remembering it all a little more these days. But I am also sad because I have a daughter, and my sorrow has made me do and say things I regret.”
Look at you, baring your soul to a child,a voice in my mind chides.You really are pathetic.
The boy has no consideration for my brooding thoughts. He raises a hand and scratches an itch at his temple. A bracelet made of tiny flying birds adorns his small wrist. “I did a bad thing to Wehna when I was mad. I stole a pie and ran away, but then I got lost.” A look of complete contrition plays across his boyish features.
I clear my throat. “Well, I am glad she found you.”
He nods and kicks his feet against the counter. “My mada and pada are lost.” A sigh much too big for his small frame whooshes out of him. “Sometimes it makes my sister sad like you.”
Compassion strikes at my core. “But not you?”
He thinks for a moment, puckering his mouth up and staring hard at the ceiling. “Not really. Elyon will keep them safe.”
Elyon. The mere mention of the ancient deity washes me in a flood of guilt. Ellehra always spoke of him, and I always brushed her off.
“I bet she misses you,” he says.
“What?”
“Your daughter. I bet she misses you when you aren’t with her.” His face falls. “I miss my parents,” he whispers.? My heart breaks. I want to comfort him, but I don’t know how. And anyway, I am a man and a stranger. In a tavern. Nothing I could do would be appropriate.
