The Vault of Faults

The twin suns revolved in their eternal dance peacefully in the summer sky and bathed everything in a calming light. It was quite hot if you did not stay in the shade, but a cool wind would pick up every now and then and give you some solace. The street was filled with younglings playing in the streets as the wind carried their voices far and wide, their laughter and their screams intertwined and alternated just as the two suns above them. The main street of the town had it's storefronts but none was as popular as the one that sold cooled drinks on a day like this. Frozen fruits were also available and topped off with sugar or cream. The people chatted as they walked along the town and caught up with one another. Everyone knew everyone here, a small suburban town outside one of the main industrial hubs of one of the city-states that ruled in this part of the continent. Most of the women were out working, or fighting far off in other countries. The chaos and hectic bustling of a big town was a far off and distant notion in the small town of Liliputi. As was traditional in this society the men took care of raising children and even the elders of the town that stayed behind were mostly men. An elderly man approaches a younger man who is struggling to feed his child.

"Doesn't want to eat, eh?" He smiles a broad and nearly toothless grin toward the younger man. Leaning heavily on his cane he inspects the child who was being obstinate in it's decision to eat. They were seated in front of the store selling the frozen fruit. It had various tables and chairs set up, most of which were empty save for an elderly couple who were staring off into the distance. The storefront was decorated brightly with a cheap sign indicating the fact that they were selling frozen fruit, as well as other delights.

The young man, whose other two children are playing in the street not too far off, wipes the sweat from his furrowed brow and sighs "Yes, she is being difficult. She wants to be a strong soldier like her mother, but today she doesn't feel like it. It's frozen Bango darling, it's good for you!"

The child looked at the spoon with the frozen fruit and after feigning interest for a second looked away and crossed her arms. The old man laughed and asked "You have to make it look appealing. One moment, let me get one and we will both eat it. She will feel left out and want to join, you will see."

The old man gingerly approached the storefront before the server stopped him and told him to sit, as he would come bring him what he wants. The old man spoke that he would also like frozen Bango and turned back to sit with the young man.

After carefully seating himself, he took a breath and looked at the child in it's little carriage, a makeshift table in front of it, as she opened one eye to look at the old man but closed it quickly once his eyes met hers. The old man smiled and looked to the young man. He sported a small moustache and his hair was disheveled. He wore dirty clothes but they were of good quality, as was the baby carriage and the seemingly expensive chain in his pant pocket he had seen prior indicated a nice time piece. The soldiers were paid well, no doubt.

"I haven't seen you here before." The old man began, inquisitive and inspecting him from bottom to top. He noticed the young man had blue eyes, a very common eye color, as was his black hair. He looked very common but at the same time, very different. Something about him seemed off or peculiar.

"I apologize, me and my wife had been very elusive before. We own a house down the baker's road."

"The one with the baker's on it?"

The man smiled and nodded "That's the one."

"We call that the forest road, because it leads to the forest." The old man said and he turned his attention back to the child for a moment, before she quickly closed her eyes.

"Ah, we called it the baker's road... Well the mail reaches us either way, so we are quite fortunate."

"Hm yes, the delivery lady knows us well, she does quite a few towns. She should be retiring soon, I think."

"We met her once, she seemed quite nice. We spoke briefly about her routine." The young man attempted to feed the child again but it gave out a grunt of dissatisfaction.

"Here you are." The server had brought a frozen Bango to the old man as well and he slowly and with focus began to eat.

"You eat some. Doesn't have to be a lot, the child will get interested." He prompted the young man and he looked down at his frozen Bango and smiled. They ate together for a few seconds in silence. The old man indicated with head movement that he should look away from the child as he was eating. The man nodded and turned away. It took only a few seconds, eight actually, before the girl began to whine a little bit at first. Soon she banged on her makeshift table and cried a little bit, a small "Waah!" to gain attention. They both turned to her and the young man gave her a small spoonful of frozen Bango, she eagerly ate it and shook her head with joy.

The young man beamed "Wow, it worked so fast! Thank you. It's nice to have some help from the elderly. Gulya's parents are so far away and mine had sadly passed a long time ago." He gave a somber smile back to the old man and he nodded.

"My condolences. It is nice for me to hear that, my own children stopped listening to me a long time ago." He sighed and the young man looked down for a moment before he began feeding the girl again.

"Where are you fro-"

"My name is Xok!" The young man interrupted him.

"Ah, a pleasure. I am Kos, husband of Kosa."

"Kosa? As in the General Kosa?" The young man's eyes lit up as he spoke the name.

Kos nodded and slapped his cane "Yep! The same one! She was fierce but with me she was gentle."

Xok smiled "Oh I am sure she was. It is amazing, you must have many stories to tell."

Kos smiled a fake smile. He was suspicious of Xok now more than before. He leaned back to see the kind of shoes Xok was wearing. Perulian loafers.

"Oh, some stories. But mainly about how things were back at home. It was a horrible time for many, but such is war." Not really for me, he thought but kept it to himself.

"Indeed. Such is war... Do you think we will be past those times someday?" Xos slowly fed the child in front of him and though he kept his eyes on the child Kos could tell his eyes were really on him.

"Perhaps. It will take a lot of time. A lot of healing, from everyone. Too often and too much we fight. She did tell me a lot of stories about the war. She coddled me a lot and wanted to shield me, I think, from the horrible stories and things she had seen. The things she may have had to do. It was better that she didn't tell me, I think."

Xok slowly put the spoon down on the table, his hand was shaking slightly. He spoke "I had heard too many stories, Kos. So many stories from so many people."

Kos opened his mouth to speak but Xok continued "My mother fought as well. She was a strong soldier. Just like her grandmother. She fought in many wars and I rarely saw her, but whenever she was back, whenever she was home, it seemed as though time stood still. Those moments were suspended between us forever. It was a fantastic time when we were together. I barely remember those times however. The more time passes on, those moments seem to disappear and it's getting so hard to hold onto them. They pass faster and faster each time, I thought I would have them forever. And now she is..." The chid squeeked and he picked up the spoon reflexively and fed her and she smiled and did a little dance. He smiled back at her a somber smile, with slightly wet eyes.

Kos knew what might come next but he wanted to de-escalate the situation. This new neighbor seemed agitated, angry even. Kos ate his frozen Bango in silence for a few moments and sought to change the topic. He pondered for a moment. He looked at the storefront and then up into the sky. A Bango tree lined the one side of the storefront, and an wire stood in between him and an unperturbed view to the sky as Kos moved his eyes further upward. The clouds above were dancing gently in between each other. Quickly, as he knew, but at the pace of a lorsnail it seemed from below. It reminded him of himself and Xok just now. Their minds must be whirling, twirling with a flurry of thoughts all connected and also not with each other.

Furiously their minds must be jogging, or even sprinting, to find out a way to de-escalate this discussion that had only one direction if they were to continue. He could sense that Xok's mother must have something to do with his wife, but a long time ago. He could tell that this stranger might have a bone to pick with him. His wife, General Kosa was a fierce general on the battlefield's of the Perulian plains. The reason for the war became obscured to time. What they believed it was about was enlightening the Perulians about the virtues of the Faith of the Four, a monotheistic religion based on four tenets: strength, valor, bravery, honor. The Perulians believed in Naturalism, which was about the sanctity of the person and the path to enlightenment through hard work. The media had hyped up the war to be a showdown of faiths, and each side devalued the other and trying to show them as less than they were so that their death's were justified. It was a fierce war that ended up with guerilla fighting continuing until recently. A lot of retribution acts were conducted by General Kosa's army on the Perulians, and some would have called it genocide. It was undoubtedly genocide, but the reports thereof were scattered and or contradicting as anti-Perulians would do their best to change the perspective. The reality of the matter was that the Perulian plains had coal, and lots of it. With the advent of electricity and coal-powered motors there was a big desire to get as much coal as possible, and so the war was declared by Zorland upon Perulia. His wife never spoke of anything that happened back then. There was no doubt in Kos' mind however that Xok's parents, or at least his mother, had died in some way or form in the conflict of the Perulian plains.

Kos lowered his head and met Xok's eyes and simply replied "I'm sorry."

They stared at each other in silence for a moment that seemed like an eternity. The sounds around them ever continuing, as birds tweeted in the distance, and insects attempted to find mates. The wind carried over the shouts and screams of the children who were still playing on the street. The child in the carriage, still begging, was ignored as their eyes seemed to burn holes into each other as they stared and stared.

Xok put the frozen Bango onto the makeshift table of the baby carriage, got up wordlessly, and pushed away. Kos stared after him as Xok headed further down the street, towardd the forest road. The other two children with him playfully ran alongside of the carriage shouting and chanting. Kos stared at them walking down the street, with Xok not looking back. He felt a guilt he had not felt prior. He had never met anyone from the Perulian plains. How would he, out here? His wife might be a fellow Zorlander like himself, but he was clearly Perulian. How did they meet? What difficulties did they have to overcome? Perhaps Xok's wife was fighting in the guerilla war? He felt a sadness overcome him, for all that happened. He had done nothing to Xok's parents, yet he felt it all the same, the guilt. He wondered if he should have held his wife accountable? Confronted her? He knew, but he also did not. He didn't really want to actually. He was so busy raising their two children that he never wanted to think about it. He heard about what was happening, but never from other people. They never spoke to him about it, or probably avoided it. He realized now that many friends had never touched the topic of the war.

Kos gave a sigh as he saw the man turn the bend with his children. Would the debt ever be paid? Could it ever be? Kos looked up at the sky and the two clouds had untangled.