Meeting of fate

Arathorn's sweat broke in his spines while staring at the wall clock. He knew that this was the time written in the letter, the date was also the same. And he was sure of the location. Then why, a punctual man like Zeichs had not arrived yet? Arathorn fumbled in his pocket and retrieved the letter again, rereading it for hundredth time.
The neat writing of Zeichs stared back at him;

Dear Friend,
Its been a long time since we had last heard of each other. I know we are busy with our own issues, but the issue of Asdhaa still begs our attention.
Hope you still remember the promise, to meet at the promised place. What about when sun meets the moon?
I look forward to meet you there and then,
Yours truly,
Patron

Small, concise, and to the point. So much like Zeichs.
What the letter indicated on was a secret well kept between them. Arathorn did remember the promise he had made, and all the code words were confidential between the two.
At this exact same spot, a whole twelve years ago, Zeichs had talked with him about doing something together to change the world. Make it a safer place. At Arathorn’s asking, Zeichs had replied that he himself wasn’t sure how the two of them would do that. But he was sure they will, and had promised to call him when he comes with a plan.
The sun meeting the moon was also there personal way of talking. To them, the summers were sun and winters moon. So receiving this message at the late summers, Arathorn had no difficulty in anticipating the date. The time was also sure, since they regarded a.m’s as sun, and p.m’s as moon. So the noon time was when sun met the moon.
This was exactly the time they were to meet. Arathorn nodded to himself in surety.
It wasn’t that there could be someone trying to leave faux messages, but in his line of work, Arathorn just had to develop a habit of staying sure. Anyone can take advantage of a situation anytime. Maybe, so was the habit of Zeichs, that was why his letter was so grim, clouded with code words.



Raon exhaled a hard breath, in an attempt to force out the jitters he had been feeling. He sure had taken the step, but was feeling uneasy now, when he was so close to the end. Exhaling again, this time, with more energy, he knocked at the door he was standing in front of. After a moment or two passed, with some noises of stumbling around betraying the equal amount of nervousness from the inside, the door opened.
In front of him, stood a tall man at his early forties. More than six foot tall, hair reaching his neck and shave unevenly disturbing his actually nice facial features, the man needed a barber badly. His face had every bit of surprise and shock in it. That was why, he had not made any move yet.
Raon, already nervous enough, could not stand it any longer and began talking like a madman, ‘Look, I know I am not quite the one you had expected. But I am his son nonetheless. My name is Raon, son of Zeichs. I am here for exactly what I promised for, discussing with you a plan to make Asdhaa safer, I have just devised that…’
“Hey wait!” Arathorn, finally being capable of comprehending the situation, said. “What do you mean by exactly what I promised for? I don’t remember you promising me anything. The last I remember, we are meeting for the first time.”
At this, Raon grinned and said; ‘Quite hard to tell the difference, isn’t it? But the thing is, the letter you received was from me, I had decoyed Father’s writing and sent it to you.”
“You expect me to believe that the letter was from you? Go and joke about it with someone else.” Arathorn said, a line taking shape in his barely visible between the hairs forehead.
“I would if Father had this amount of trust in someone else instead of you. Or he would listen to me himself. Since both aren’t the case, I had no choice but to do it.” Said Raon. He sure had taken the step, but was now feeling unsure. What had his father seen in this guy anyway? To have such a high opinion. Raon could only see a guy who couldn’t as much as take care of himself, much less do something to change the tides of this world. Now, Raon wasn’t even sure he had done the right thing. His already hard cause seemed to be dying it’s own death right now.
But the next move of Arathorn was equally surprising, he moved aside and left space for Raon to enter. Dumbfounded, he walked inside. The room, with brown wooden walls and small wooden furnishings, could be considered anything but spacious. With a countable amount of furniture, a bed, a single couch lingering in front of the fireplace and a small writing table laying in a corner.
Arathorn gestured toward the couch, indicating him to sit. He did just that. While Arathorn dragged the chair from the writing table, and thumped in front of him. Saying, ‘Okay, now tell me what is it that made you to go through all this trouble? I am not interested at how did you found out about something personal between me and your father. Neither do I need to know how have you came here. My only concern is; why?”
That’s the way he liked it, Raon smiled and began. “As we both know, the Asdhaa isn’t as safe as it should be, or shown as to be. There is some hidden enemy lurking in this world who wants absolute power. His motive is the most obvious ones, ruling Asdhaa. Now we couldn’t let him do that, can we?” He said, still grinning.
Arathorn smirked, ‘Why do I have a feeling that you are liking this situation?’
“Well of course I do. The mere thought of living in the radar of a dangerous foe, who can strike at you anytime. That is so thrilling.” Raon’s smile broadened. “Okay, let me finish. I know if I go in right hands, I have every bit of the talent necessary to make this guy’s name only a history textbook material. But to do that, I need proper training. Getting into the One Academy at my coming of age would also be necessary to beat this guy. And as you might know, the admissions there are way to hard. I need to train for that too.
‘I can’t leave all of these important things in incapable hands. And has heard a lot about you from my father. That’s why, I had decided to let you get the honor of training me. In means of rewards, I will acknowledge you at my speech after finished with saving the world business.”
Arathorn replied in exasperation. “But haven’t you heard this from you father. I am a soldier, a really busy man. I don’t have time to be part of your fantasy future.”
“Oh come on, this is our big chance of being the saver of the world. You would not want to miss that, would you?”
“Yes I would. Legends had said that someone will come in the time of need. Why do we bother when someone is already destine to do that? Now when the time comes, the capable person will come himself. Until then, it’s better to not even discuss it. Would you like to have some tea?”
“No thanks, by the way, sometimes what legend says is totally different from the reality.” Raon replied, lips turned from upward grin to downward slope. “The guy from the legends, he is so coward I doubt he will be able to do anything. And even the legend hasn’t said anything about the results. No doubt, leaving the fate of Asdhaa at hands of someone like him, you are bound to lose your homeland.”
“Okay, when that happen, then we will see what to do next. Until then, let me do what is important.” Arathorn replied, this time his tone was so brisk, Raon could do nothing but mumble; “Okay then, I better take my leave. Everyone back in our tents would be looking for me.”