“Come on! Hurry! Do not get too wet.” I say while holding the house door open for Balth. It was our first flying lesson, but the rain became pouring too harsh, plus the already strong wind, we were simply forced to come back. I told Balth he could stay with me for a few days until the wind calms down and we are able to go down the mountain. I do not mind the company, in truth be told I quite enjoy it. We used to be so many around the house, but now it is only Gethy and me, and she is away. We usually visit her brother together, but this time it was meant for me to stay and wait for her. Here comes Balth, I better get a towel for him. This rain could get anybody indisposed in no time.

“Here! take this towel and quickly go put on some dry clothes. I will prepare some hot tea. Come down when you are ready.”

“Gee! Thank you! That storm started menacing since late morning, but it took so long that I reckoned it would just go away.” He says without looking at me and trying to dry himself.

“Weather on these mountains comes and goes as it pleases. We can never be too careful, but at least it waited until the end of the afternoon. ”

“Is it always like this?” he says while realizing he is still dripping.

“Yes, as it would seem we are not only at the wind but also at the rain mercy. As a matter of fact, I can barely count the days when the sky was clear and the sun smiled to us. When we were kids, we were caught in bad weather many times, and came back home all wet and muddy, but even so, we always preferred outdoors.” I say as I turn around and walk to the kitchen. He has now placed the towel around his neck, but instead of going up to change, he follows me. I momentaneously realize I might be exaggerating  for I have many memories under the sun light. I even remember days when we had to look for shade and then it comes to my mind all the cheerful moments under the tarmaline tree.  I better tell him about this, or he will think Zephyr Town is not only tiny but gloomy.

“Actually, even though it does rain enough to keep the verdant of the mountain, we have just as enough bright and warm days. There was a time that in those days we would spend our afternoons eating tarmalines. Do you have tarmalines where you live?” I ask him and place the pot with water on the fire.

“I have heard of them, but never have I seen or tasted one.”

“Oh! but you must! They are usually silver with velvety peel, but inside they are sometimes blue, sometimes purple, or red, or orange, or green or practically any colour you can imagine. You can never know which is which. You have probably heard stories about them, some say the colour depends of what you are feeling, what you are really feeling. Some even say that they predict future or even bring luck. People also say that they all taste the same. Regardless of what people say, I prefer the purple ones, they usually taste sweeter.”

“Do they really?” He asks skeptically.

“Of course, but you will have to chose your favorite by yourself.”

“I have heard some stories. Do you have any now?”

“No. Not right now. If it does not rain tomorrow we should to go to town and get some. They usually grow in a lower part of the mountain, but there used to be one right in the middle of the road coming from Gethy’s house to mine. That is where we first met.”-It was so long ago, but I close my eyes and feel as a little boy again playing with my brother and then suddenly she is there.  How much I love her! and how much I miss her now that she is away.  Balth pulls out a chair and sits to hear the story. As I begin to talk we both forget of the thunders outside and our wet clothes.

“There was not a road before, we made it through the many times coming and going from our houses. It all began that day that mother insisted that Alessio and I go to town for some errands. I have forgotten what we were supposed to do, but on our way we saw a boy. He was carrying a brown ball which drew our attention greatly. His affairs seemed far more interesting than ours.   He caught us glancing at him, so we rose our hands up, as if asking him to pass the ball. He doubted for a few seconds but then he did. Just like that we became friends. We played for a while until the ball got stuck on a tree, the tarmaline tree. Alessio, who was the oldest and tallest one, climb up to retrieve it, but as he jumped down we were startled by a girl’s voice. She was calling her brother’s name, Todd. That is how we learned his name, for we had not asked him yet.”

The water is boiling now, so I point at the pot to let him know that I need to pause my story and put the fire out. I have forgotten how to properly make tea, so I stop for a second to figure out the right measure of tea leaves, when I finally do I stop again to remember where the golden edged tea set is. Gethy would not like it if she knows we had guests and I used the old set. Darn! I cannot find it, so I guess normal mugs will have to do. After all this is not a tea party. I finish pouring the tea and in those few seconds before I go back to the table it all passes through my head. I remember how the-six-years-old me felt when I first saw her. I was paralysed for a few seconds by her beauty, my lips got numb and my knees weak. Alessio must have felt something similar, because it was impossible not to, but he never acknowledged it, seeing that I loved her since that first moment.

“Here, I hope you like the tea, it is from our garden. There is some sugar over here, if you would like.” Balth thanks me and takes two teaspoons of sugar. I pull out a chair, sit and continue my story.

“The girl asked her brother if he was alright and who were we, but Todd did not respond, instead he used his hands and made a series of signs with them along with a few sounds. Alessio and I were confused at first but then the girl turned and sweetly smiled at us. Very eloquently she presented herself and said her name was Gernelthy and that the name of her brother was Theormod, but that he could not pronounce it, so everybody knew him as Todd. She continued to explain that her brother was partially silent and partially uncoordinated and that was the reason he had to use his hands and voice to make himself understandable. We were half perplex for what she was saying and half bedazzled by this girl’s beauty, which we could not seam to understand hence we could not speak a single word.”

I take a sip of my tea which is not too hot anymore. “A few tarmalines had fallen down the moment Alessio retrieved the ball; by now Todd had already picked up the good ones and was sharing them with us.  It helped break the uncomfortable moment and we finally introduced ourselves as Edrecchio and Alessio. During the rest of the afternoon we stayed under the shade of the tree talking about many things trying to get to know each other. We find out that she and I are the same age and that I am barely seventeen days older than her.  She said that Todd took care of her because he is a year older than her, but at the same time she took care of him because there are many boys that like to pick on him.  Alessio told her that she needs not to worry anymore; he says that from that day on we would also be his brothers and to prove so we changed our names to Ecco and Esso, something that Todd could pronounce them.”

“And you still go by that name.”

“Of course, both Alessio and I adopted our short names, but Alessio lives in a different place now, somewhere far away and he has to use his complete name now.”

“I see. Where is he?”

“He lives in Ecru Burh. The only place I could think of where there are no mountains only a vastness of sand and a deep ocean at the end. Sometimes I wonder if he would not prefer to be here, in the windy mountains of Zephyr.”

“Ecru Burh? Where is that exactly?”

“The Sand City. The original name is Ecru Burh. ”

“The Sand City, of couse! I have been there before.”- Balth says, then he lowers his eyes and make a pause, as if he was digging into his memory. This moment is a window for me and I am able to visualize some of the images that are running through his head.  I am about to grasp it, when he starts speaking again. -“I remember the sand-guards and there is a light festival, or am I mistaken?”

“No. It is precisely there.”- I respond with a grin. I could read that thinking on Ecru Bruh brings back the memory of someone of great importance to him. I can tell. I want to ask him about the time he was there, but he is faster and asks me something else.

“What does your brother do there? ”

“Well, you will be surprise and it is quite a story, but I will shorten it out for you. In one of the adventures we had, we met this girl with whom he fell in love. This girl happens to Ecrutian, or from the Sand City. If she would have been any other person, I would have probably succeeded in convincing him of bringing her here, but it turned out she is of the duchesses. If you remember when you were there, being one of the duchesses means she is the sister of the high Ecrutian ruler of the Burh. Oh! so many titles, I get overwhelmed by them. Anyway, as you can see, that is also the reason why he has to use his complete name.”

He is trying to smile and digest all what I have just said, but -“teehee”-  There it is, that amusing expression again.  Mouth agate with daze, overrun, stupefy, or all of them at once.

“I could not do it. The wind is for me, the sand is too dry and the ocean too wet. But, at least when I visit him, I get to ride a mantine.” – I suppouse he knows what a mantine is, or perhaps not.- “You know, a mantine, a domesticated stingray. They are very docile”

“Sorry, I did not see any when I was there.”

“Well, next time you go there, ask for my brother and he will personally take you on a mantine ride, although nothing is like a Zephyr bird.” I proudly say, but in truth swimming on a mantine is almost as exciting as flying.