18th Day of Summer, 513 AV The Farson Home for Orphans For the first time in a while, the gates to the Farson Home were closed, with Adoros on the wrong side of it; the side where he was cut off from the rest of the city. The adults would do this sometimes; without warning, they would lock the children away from the rest of the world without warning or explanation. Not that this ever affected many of the inhabitants of this place. Most of the children were too young anyway to go wandering on their own, and the rest weren't adventurous enough to leave the threshold of the gates. No, only Adoros' mood was affected when those gates were closed. So he sat there, back resting against the wall, watching the younger children at play. The adults who usually looked over the children were absent, probably moving around in the East Wing on their daily errands. During these situations, where the kids were enjoying themselves outside, Adoros was given the responsibility to watch over them; maybe it was because they knew he wasn't going to be playing himself, that his full attention would be on the children and not on anything else. The adults were only partially correct, of course. Adoros was physically there, physically watching those children at play. His eyes roamed the area, watching for anything that may endanger the children. Emotionally, though, Adoros was wandering the markets, swimming in the bay, imagining himself anywhere else other than here. The kids were definitely having fun, but to Adoros, this was torture. And then Adoros heard the gates opening, signaling the arrival of the one thing Adoros dreaded more than closed gates. A visitor had come. |