As the Athamanas followed Kamu towards the exit of the Immortal Mist center. Just like when they came down here under Floating Barracks, several figures dressed in black hurried in different directions. Of course, when they passed the ghost-man, they all greeted him in their secret language, from which the Athamanas only understood the word Ishán.
But when a blonde lady hurried past them and greeted Kamu, Rahul for some reason looked after the woman. It was as if he had seen this woman before. The memory was very difficult to surface, but he was sure that he had seen her somewhere before, even if he had no idea where. The woman, as if sensing that she was being watched, looked back at Rahul. Their eyes met and for a few moments they just stared at each other.
"Whispering Breeze?" Rahul muttered, but the next moment his eyes fluttered and to everyone's surprise he collapsed and might have been in even worse trouble if Razvan hadn't caught him immediately.
Although the blackness swallowed Rahul, his mind did not rest. The memories that had hardly wanted to come back while he was awake, now unconsciously they came to the fore front much more easily. Or rather, Rahul was not aware that he was seeing memories. It was as if he had just been sleeping. Everything seemed natural and he did not even think for a moment that something was wrong.
"But mom, mom, mom. What did you do before you met dad?" Little Rahul asked his mother one gloomy morning, as they were playing with some blocks.
"Okay, I'll tell you, but you have to promise not to say a word to your father about this." The tanned lady held out the little finger of her right hand towards the little boy.
"I promise!" Little Rahul snapped and squeezed his mother's little finger with his own.
"I was an assassin." The woman announced as she started stacking the cubes on top of each other again.
"An assassin?" The little boy asked back with his head tilted to the side.
"An assassin. Yes, I was." His mother said seriously.
"What is that?" Little Rahul asked.
"I'll tell you when you're old enough." The woman stroked the child's head, and they returned to playing.
Rahul didn't even realize that he was seeing a different memory when he found himself in the forest in that particular clearing next to the small lake where the red-leafed trees grew. The only thing that occupied his mind was finding the person he was looking for. His friend. As always, when little Rahul came looking for him, the man was sitting on the lakeshore, smiling and waving at him.
"What are you doing here?" The man asked, and the little boy crouched down next to him and took a deep breath.
"What is an assassin?" He asked with wide eyes, as he stretched himself out and looked up at his friend, his hands resting in his lap.
"Where did you hear that word from anyway?" His friend blinked widely, and Rahul grimaced.
"Mom said he was an assassin before she met dad, but she won't tell me what it means until I'm old enough. I can't ask dad what it means, because mom made me promise not to tell him we talked about it." The little boy pouted grumpily and folded his arms in front of him.
"Ah, I see. So you came to me because you thought I would tell you what you wanted to know." The man stated, and little Rahul's eyes began to sparkle and he nodded vigorously. "An assassin is someone who is paid to kill someone else." The man announced, and little Rahul furrowed his eyebrows.
"Kill? Like Dad and Uncle Tete did with the nyiumgyi?" The little boy asked.
"Almost, but not." The man raised his index finger, and then, as if he had created it from nothing, a piece of paper and a pen appeared in his hand.
"What is that for?" He tilted his head to the side.
"To show you what a really good assassin is like." The man chuckled as he caressed Rahul's nose with the tip of the pen.
"You're weird." The little boy shook his head, then picked up a handful of stones and started to duck on the lake surface. A few minutes later, a night-black bird appeared over the lake and flew straight to Rahul's friend. The little boy watched curiously as the man put the piece of paper in the bird's claws, and then as the animal flew away.
"In a week at this time you will know what a real assassin is like." The man chuckled.
The memory changed again, this time it was not as bright as the last time, but it was not so dark that Rahul had to go home. In the clearing, however, when his friend arrived, a blonde lady was also standing next to him. Rahul approached the couple suspiciously and did not say a word, his mother always warned him that it was better to talk as little as possible in front of strangers.
"Ah, Rahul. There you are. This is Whispering Breeze. She will show you what it takes to be the perfect assassin." Rahul's friend chuckled.
"I don't like the aunty." Little Rahul muttered, but didn't say anything more. The images blurred a bit after that, as if he had seen some kind of duel and the woman was playing hide-and-seek with him, they hunted, they put on a disguise and pretended someone had died, but maybe they were just sleeping.
"Now you understand what an assassin is?" Rahul's friend asked, but the little boy just started to grimace.
"Yes. I just don't understand why did we do all this?" He grumbled.
"Because I was bored." The man shrugged, and the blonde woman's eyes widened.
"Bored? I have a thousand more important things to do. You should be glad that you pays so well.," She folded her arms in front of her. "So do you still need me or can I go?" She asked.
"You can leave. You will receive your payment in the usual way." Rahul's friend smiled, and the woman nodded.
"Then the Mist will go on." The woman bent down and after a moment there was no sign of her, and Rahul was finally swallowed up by darkness.
"What is he mumbling?" He suddenly heard Citar's voice.
"I don't understand properly." Razvan's worried voice came as well. "Rahul, please get up." The aforementioned chüvigh boy felt his shoulders being shaken and that was what made him slowly start blinking.
"Will you stop, Tapló boss? My stomach is starting to turn." He groaned.
"Thank the ancestors. It's okay, he can scold the boss now." Citar shouted.
"Hey, Bolacsuk, lower your voice. My head is exploding." Rahul held his head with one hand as he finally came to. "What happened?" He finally asked, when with Razvan's help he managed to stand up.
"You fainted and gave us a heart attack, that's what happened." Citar sighed heavily.
"Show yourself, maybe I can spare you a headache." Rahul heard Kamu's voice, but when he stood in front of the ghost-man and put the man hand on his head, he started to grimace. "This won't work. Hey, Zovárd boy! Suk, right?" He turned to the yellow-clothed hegin.
"Yes." He nodded.
"You might be able to do something with him. There shouldn't be any trouble again." He announced as he stepped away from Rahul, then turned to the still frozen blonde woman. "When I get back, report to me, we have something to discuss." He said in the secret language of the Immortal Mist, whereupon the woman visibly tensed, so Kamu smiled. "You didn't do anything wrong, I'm just curious." He reassured the lady.
"It's done. Better than when it was new." Suk announced proudly.
"Then we can move on!" Kamu clapped his hands. "Follow me, children!" He started towards the exit again.