Each step had been carefully placed, as well as stretched as far as he could without displacing his balance too much. It wasn’t noiseless, but the boy’s attention was too focused on examining his prize to take note of it over the ambient sounds of Sunberth. It had allowed him to come up right on the boy without notice. Kynier snatched the parcel from the hands of the other. As the boy raised his head to look up at him the realization of being caught was plain to see. Without twisting his hips, the sorcerer had hooked his astral fist into the boy’s unguarded face.
Incorporeal knuckles caught the bridge of his nose, and he felt the bone give way a little. The boy toppled over with a shriek onto the ground. Kynier took a step back to be out of reach should the fellow flail at him. The astral hand was beginning to feel tired, so he contracted it back to a length to match his physical body. As the boy complained about his nose and rolled around, the sorcerer was resynchronizing his astral and physical forms. The boy rolled to his left and reached out for a splintered length of wood. Kynier was less than a quarter of the way through his synchronization, and his other hand still held the parcel, which was now partially open.
With two quick steps, Kynier circled around and kicked the desired weapon further from the boy’s grasp. Looking down he saw how the boy was likely in his mid to late adolescence. The youthful voice groaned about his options of survival before propping himself up on an elbow. Blood wasn’t necessarily gushing from the nose, but it was providing a decent flow of blood from the look of it. The bridge was also crooked, though Kynier never got a good look to know exactly how straight it had been before. “It is broken,” he stated. As he stared down at the thief, he felt a twinge of sympathy for him.
With one hand, Kynier managed to close the parcel without letting any of its contents slip out. Then he tucked it into one of the inside pockets of his vest. “There are plenty of options. After all, there are no rules, right? What exactly has stopped you from becoming anything else beside a thief?” In truth, he didn’t understand the struggle they boy was probably facing. Kynier could only speculate about it. But the boy had managed to survive this long, probably on his own. So, he must have a strength of spirit that few had.
The wheezing sounds coming from the boy’s nose pulled at Kynier’s guilt. He didn’t have to assault the boy, but he was, and still is, rather angry. If people repaid simple acts of kindness with petty theft and aggression, then nothing would ever improve. The cycle needed to be broken at some point. “I could set it back, that way it heals better. Otherwise you’ll have a crooked nose for the rest of your life. But it you attempt to steal from me again, a broken nose will be the least of your worries. Understood?” If the boy was agreeable, Kynier would squat down for a closer look at the nose. His right hand would no longer be hanging limp by then and he’d raises his hands to gently put a thumb on either side of the nose.
“What’s your name?” The question was to serve as a distraction. When the boy was answering, Kynier jerked his thumbs to force the nose back into proper alignment.
Credit for the boxcode goes to Luminescence!
