Duty

With the setting sun, disappointed voices echo throughout the city's streets.

"Typical. We get one day to celebrate and it starts raining!"

In their retreat home, the citizens fail to notice the escape currently unfolding. In a quiet alleyway, freshly formed puddles are disrupted by footsteps. A young boy sprints with an unsteady form. His dark hair glistens, soaked through by the rain.

"Kaina... Where the hell did you go?"

◇ ◇ ◇

I awake to the sight of yet another unfamiliar room. Shum, this is not.
I think the princess was arranging a place for me to stay, but it started to rain after I ditched Lankard, so I hurried to find shelter and ended up sleeping in a random hotel.
I complained about the weather to myself at the time, but now that I'm not so sleepy and grumpy, it's kinda nice to see it rain. I'm glad the weather here has been so familiar to Earth's, and anything is better than more snow.

I step outside to welcome the morning sun with a stretch. I'm supposed to visit the castle at mid-day, but I'm okay to laze about or explore until then...
Huh?

On the opposite side of the alleyway this hotel opens up into, someone sits, curled up in a ball, covered in rain.

"Hey, you okay?"

No response, so I continue to talk. "No one should be sleeping in a place like this."
He flinches. Either I woke him up or he wasn't asleep...
I wouldn't have guessed that the city would have a homeless problem. He looks very out of place, too; more like someone from Lann than Yve. Dark hair's very rare around here... Oh, wait, I'm an idiot; he's a kid! He might not understand universal language!
Okay, how about...
"Aavi milo, soona ma..." I string together some words I know into speech that almost constitutes an Eraidian sentence.
"Eraiden-!?" He looks up with brief happiness before taking note of my appearance, then quickly curls back into a ball. Sorry kid; an Eraiden I am not. With how light my hair is, he probably thinks I'm a local. At least he's acknowledged me.

I fall down to his level, making sure not to touch the wet floor with anything but my shoes, and ask him if he needs any help. Without even looking at me, he shakes his head. Still, it wouldn't feel right to just leave him here.
I don't know if it's because I hate seeing a kid out in the cold, or if seeing a bunch of memories of a guy from Eraidus has made me more empathetic towards people like him, but... I've seen what happens to people who have a normal life taken from them: they become fighters, often used against unprepared victims.

It might just be because I'm an older brother. This kid must be around my little sister's age, and imagining her in this kind of situation...
"Haah", I sigh. I wouldn't even be there to help her if she did wind up in this state...
Okay, back to reality! I need food. This kid probably needs food. Let's get food.

There are a lot of cafes and a few restaurants in the area, but takeaway does not seem to be a thing here. Lann had quite a lot of stalls and seafood takeout was being advertised everywhere, but that's just the difference between a city for the citizens and a city of tourism and trade. It probably helps that universal language was everywhere in Lann.
Anyway. I do the best I can and buy some... savoury snacks, I suppose... from one of the cafes. They look like they're made of pastry, but I have no idea what's in them. Hopefully kids like this kind of food. Hopefully I like this kind of food!

I return to find that, yeah, the boy's still there. Now how the hell do I say "food" in Eraidian?
"Sa", I say. "Via mi?" It's a mess of a sentence. Basically... "Here. You want some?" but not as eloquent "Sa" just means "here" or "there", while "Via mi?" is a generic way of asking someone what they want to do.
I don't know if the meaning I intend to convey actually gets across to him, but he looks up at me and sees me offering food to him. Actions speak louder than words, some say.

He looks worried for a moment, but when I don't retract the offer, he takes the food with a bit of a hesitant grip. Someone so afraid to accept another person's generosity can't be a bad person, right? What did this kid do to deserve living on the streets?
I imagine different possibilities while eating away at the pastry-type food. If I were this kid, I know I'd hate to be pestered by a stranger, so I won't hang around after I'm done eating. I shouldn't force my worry onto him. He's a teenager, and all teenagers want their own space.

Thinking as such, I smush the paper bag the pastries came in into a ball, then head off to look for a place to throw it away. My exit, surprisingly, is interrupted with immediacy. The boy grabs my sleeve from behind, but when I turn back to look at him, he flinches and lets go.
I really wish I knew the language better, but I do my best...

First, I ask if he's okay. I don't get a response, so I try to explain that I'm not from Yve, so I might not be the best person to help him, but if he needs someone, I'll be in the city for some time.
After some internal resistance, he exhales and begins to quietly speak. What he told me was, in basic terms:

"I'm looking for someone like me: Kaina."

Somewhere in this grand city, a kid from Eraidus has gone missing. Alas, as soon as the name "Kaina" leaves his lips, a frustration overcomes him. He turns to punch the air, then runs off.
Whatever it is he feels—the shame of asking for help; the guilt of being unable to save someone—he's clearly not prepared to deal with it. He's too young, no, maybe age has nothing to do with it.

It might just be because I'm an older brother, but... I think I know how it feels to be in this boy's shoes.
Even when I was a child, it was my duty to protect someone.
For someone this young to feel such responsibility for another's livelihood, he's either Kaina's very good friend, or... her very worried brother.

I was that child, once, and now that I'm an adult, it's my duty to protect them both.
That's what you would've done... right, Dad?