TRAILING SHADOWS

His hair was spiky and white, face edgy with a pointed but yet broad nose and eyes as blue as the sky while a tiny scar of lightning streak was just above his left b.r.e.a.s.t, his right arm holding the nozzle of the large white sack over his shoulders.

"Like I said, making noise in a place you just got to is rather rude." Spiky old man stated as he came within reach of them.

He narrowed his blue eyes with a satisfied grunt as he carefully scrutinized each of them from head to toe.

"And checking out a lady is even rude especially when you both are not Familiar with one another." Niniola curtly replied, spacing out her legs.

She was not enjoying this, not at all.

"Oh ho!" The man scratched his beardless chin. "My bad! Apologies you. I just wonder what brought you here knowing how volatile the Land of Thunder is. It is not readily in anyone's tourist list of places to visit, you know."

"And who are you to decide whether or not we stay in here?" Niniola frowned, resisting the urge to plummet a fist into this hulking brute's face.

"Well. I see. You all are not so different." The man replied.

"What do you mean?" Niniola queried instantly, drawing fists at her sides.

She was going to burst soon enough. And when she did, she knew she would not keep a lid on it until her anger had been satiated..

First, there was the silent Tayo suddenly calling for a rest. The same Tayo who was nothing else but a mercenary of some sorts.

At least, that was how she read him. And now, she did not want to deal with this.

Not when she was already paranoid that Tayo could be up to something.

She felt so helpless, wishing there was something she could do to drive this spiky haired old man so she could have time and reasoning sufficient to keep an eye on this Tayo.

Niniola's face flashed with excitement as she looked up to the old man. 

"Hey, old man. I am Niniola."

There was certainly no way that anyone heard the name Niniola did not try to ostracize her or pull away instantly. 

She was that popular.

"Oh!" The man smiled, his eyes closed now, while he drew his pale toned skin closer. "That is such a nice name you have got there."

"Uh...No... No..." She waved her hands frantically. "It is not a nice name. I am that... You know... That Niniola that was banished. I... I... I am an abomination you should not relate with." She shot out, cringing with one eye closed and her teeth gritted.

The man that already put his sack down after using his leg to stomp and push aside vegetation stopped, his face glowering.

Seeing this, excitement shot through Niniola's body. This is the usual reaction when people knew her identity and as time had progressed, she could guess what next would happen.

Either the old man tries to boot them from Thunder or the man would shoo away, running from the abomination she was.

Except things did not go as she expected.

"Hahahahahahahaha..." The man laughed, buckling over with his firm hands to his waist until water beginning to form at his eyes.

Sniffing, he rubbed his eyes with the back of his right hand and said. "That-that is a good one. Y-you ma-make a good actor. H-how ma-many people have you told that so you could get away with things? My my, you are as smart as they say the Niniola that you are is." The old man laughed and laughed, clapping his hands towards the last of his words.

Initially, Niniola had frowned. Why was the man thinking she was not the one?

But eventually, on the last words there, she realized he did not make any mistake, he just did not see anything wrong in still associating her.

In fact, he asked how many people had she pulled that  card to.

Well, if she was being honest, she'd played the card almost every day. What puzzled her now was why this man did not get affected by the man she was the abomination that got cursed on that day.

"Why you?" She grunted, trembling in anger.

"What?" The old man smiled, opening the sack and pulling out a large sheet of tampouline before picking out barbequed meat on sticks.

"I don't know why you are so charge up? I might have said you are only being wary for your friends but are you all really friends?" The old man turned to look into the street ahead before resuming what he was doing, bringing things out of the sack ranging from wooden trays to small kettle and few other things.

"If you ask me what I see, I'll say this. In you, Niniola, I see a girl who is willing to be treated as a normal being, regardless of how she achieves that. So, for you, it doesn't really matter if you are suspicious of the others but the very fact that they still remained by your side is what makes you still endure them, ignoring your own danger thoughts."  The old man replied.

"W-what?" Niniola stammered, blinking repeatedly.

All what the man had said was true about her. The fact that she wanted to stick an eye out for Tayo was only as a result of the way he stayed with her even when he found out about the prophecy.

On a normal day of sorts, if there was anyone moving with her that she ever got suspicious of, she either forced the truth out of them or simply beat them up crazy and left.

Yet, she had restrained herself through out all of it.. only for this mystery man to bring it all to light.

Just who, who was this man?

Friend or foe?