"You're lost, aren't you?"
Buriel blinked, his eyes scrutinizing the figure curiously. "I'm not lost. I'm here for community service." He was sitting in a dango shop at the time, and before him sat a cup of tea and nothing else.
"Community service, eh?" Wood thumped against wood as an older gentleman with a greying beard came into view. "You don't look the type."
"I'm a criminal," Buriel sounded a bit pleased when he said it, his fingers clasping the side of the wooden table he sat at, his cup of tea in one hand as he drank a bit more. "And a very dangerous one at that."
"Not anymore, I'd say. You've got a tame look about ta, you know? You've seen some things. I can't even place your age." The man mused, and Buriel found himself a bit shocked with his powers of deduction.
"Does it matter if I've been...tamed?" He said the word with difficulty. Did it matter? No, it doesn't. Another calm settled over him. "It's alright to be tamed, I suppose, though I don't believe I was ever wild to begin with."
"You're that Amori kid, aren't ya?"
For some reason Buriel froze mid-sip, his eyes widening slightly as he removed the clay cup from his lips and, eyes closing, set in on the table. "...which....Amori kid?" There had been rumors of another Amori, one Buriel admitted that he was (justly) a bit envious of.
"Buriel. Aren't ya? The other one's too young."
Relief coursed through him. "Yes, that's me."
The man watched Buriel as he picked up his cup again, this time lingering before he brought it to his mouth. "I'll be wishin' ya luck, then."
"Luck is for fools." It was automatic and his eyes narrowed slightly when he said it, only to smile a bit. "...and I am a fool. So thank you."
He remembered those words as he left the final village- Sakuragakure- months (or what he thought had been a few months) after they had spoken to one another, silently thanking the nameless old geezer (though he had not right to talk about old geezers!) for his words of kindness.
"...what am I searching for, then?"
