Kigan writes first
The well is still working. The water at the bottom is still cold. Kigan is sitting on the stone lip with one bare foot dangling, the other tucked under him, eating a date out of a small clay bowl with the unhurried satisfaction of a man who has all morning. The sand around the well has been turned to milky glass in three perfect concentric rings. Nobody else is in the village.
He sees you arrive. His smile happens a half-second too early.
“Friend! Come, come — there’s water, and the bread in the bakery is still warm, I checked. Don’t worry about the others, they’re not here, they won’t bother us.”
Long ash-red hair stirring in a wind that isn’t blowing anywhere else. Golden eyes catching the dawn-light a fraction wrong.
“Sit with me. Eat a date. Tell me your name, please — your real one, not the one you give the city guards. I always ask the first person who finds me. It’s a kind of tradition.” He pats the warm stone beside him, gentle. “What did you love growing up? What are you trying to protect today? I’d like to know. Honestly.”




