Mannat helped Raesh to his feet and walked him to the anvil.

Raesh leaned on the anvil as Mannat asked, “Do we still have herbs for burns?”

“Yeah,” Raesh said. “There should be some in the storeroom.”He was starting to sweat. His body was trying to cool his face, but it was definitely not helping.

Mannat hurried to the storeroom and looked around. For some reason, the place looked messier than usual.

“Where is it?” He yelled so his father could hear. “Father?” He asked again when Raesh didn’t answer.

“It’s on one of the ledges.” The slightly tired voice made Mannat hurry. He found the brown wooden box on the ledge over the door and ran back. He stopped at the threshold and returned to take one of the clean towels from the stash before leaving the storeroom.

Mannat returned to find his father gently poking at the burnt side of his face with a finger and blinking in pain. Raesh pulled the finger back as Mannat stopped beside him with the polished, smooth box in his hand. Carving of three medicinal flowers decorated the box lid.

Mannat silently opened the lid and a minty, herby odor washed out of the box. It had had six small storage compartments. Two of the four square spaces in the center were empty. One of the other two spaces contained burdock roots that his father picked up and started chewing. It would stop the burns from blistering. The other one contained dried powder that smelled like dirt and moss. The rectangular space left of the squares had a set of white ceramic mortar and pestle, while the one on the right had long semi-dry leaves of Icca something-something. Mannat hadn’t paid attention when his father was explaining the herbs, but he remembered how to use them. They were smooth and long. He picked them up, grid them in the mortal, and then applied the paste on his father’s burns.

Raesh stared at Mannat. The paste and the roots were starting to work and improving the irritation, but he didn’t feel much better.

“What happened?” He asked with a cough.

Mannat stopped for a second. He looked between his father and the furnace and shook his head. “I don’t know. The furnace exploded somehow.” He said rising up to apply the paste on his father’s face, but that was not what Raesh was asking about.

“I’m talking about you,” Raesh said. Mannat was arm's length from him, and he could hear the boy's heart ringing in his chest. “You have been in a daze all day. Is anything wrong?”

Mannat remembered his conversation with Pandit, the bunny, and the task, and his eyes opened wide.

“I’m fine,” He finished applying the paste and pulled away from Raesh. He hurriedly picked up the wooden box and started to leave, but the change of his eyes didn’t escape his father.

Raesh let out a sigh. “Then why are you in a hurry? Where do you have to go?”

Mannat’s came to a stop a few feet away. His head dropped, but he didn’t turn back. He was anxious. He could hear his heart thrumming in his ears, and feel it in his veins.

“Tell me what’s wrong.” The calm and mature voice of his father came again, and he couldn’t hold back the emotions pent up inside him.

“I fear, father,” Mannat said, turned back and stared straight into his father’s eyes. “I fear I have missed something important in my confidence. And I fear it might hurt us all.”

“The last time I checked, you were neither the Sarpanch of the village nor a soldier under the count,” Raesh said. Mannat looked at him with shaking eyes. He continued. “Let the adults do adult's work. You worry about learning… whatever the Witch’s teaching you.” Raesh said softly, but he had a naturally loud voice, which penetrated deep into Mannat troubled heart and straightened his contorted thoughts. Mannat fell into a daze and Raesh let him be.

He knew the boy would be fine now. He couldn't count the number of times he had seen Mannat enter the same state and come out with answers to his problems. He remembered the old days when Mannat was little. He used to come home at night to find Noor standing at the door and staring at the tiny boy sitting in his crib and staring out of the window, looking at the night sky with a hand raised up. Nothing could disturb him.

Raesh chuckled and got on his feet shaking his head. He pumped the below to hear if the air was leaking, and was happy to find it working fine. Bellows were not cheap. Thankfully, it had escaped the fireball. He was hoping to get the fire out, but he was a bit too late. Mannat’s mental abilities were not the same as they used to be.

Raesh was pulling the bellow away when Mannat mumbled aloud, “And what if it is something only I can do?”

“Are you sure no one can help you?” Raesh said without turning back, then remembered something and stood up straight. “Is it about the witch’s quest?”He answered his own question and explained when he saw Mannat’s body stiffen in surprise. “Gande told me. Yes, she made Pandit tell her the truth. Your friend can’t keep secrets. Not sure if it was a secret since half the village knew about it, but the boy sure has more leaks than a mite eaten barrel.”

There was a pause and then Mannat apologized. “I’m sorry for not telling you.”

Raesh raised a hand to twirl his mustache, then remembered it was gone. He was devastated. “It’s alright.” He said with a long face, which dispersed some of Mannat’s unease. “You have your worries, and so do I.” He sniffed. “Right now, my heart is telling me to stop you,”

Mannat tried to speak, but Raesh interjected before he could. “But the boy I know is stubborn. Just like your mother, you won’t stop. She climbed over a wall and it was very stressful to get her down from there. I don’t want to see you sneaking out of the house and going into the woods alone at night.”

“I won’t, father,” Mannat said with such seriousness, it made his father release a defeated sigh. He continued despite the interruption. “But Pandit’s father specifically told me he won’t ever bring me out to hunt again.”

“Did you actually go to him and asked for his help or did you send Pandit t do your work?”

“No,” Mannat asked in confusion and Raesh grinned. Mannat pulled back in a hurry. “I—“

Raesh jerked his head toward the door.

“Go.” He told the boy, “You are of no help in here, anyways. I think there is more chance of you getting hurt in here than out there. And Khargosh will be there. He and his partner will keep you safe.”

“What about your burns?”

Raesh’s face was starting to swell.

“I’ll be fine. You don’t have to worry about this thing.” Raesh almost touched his face in an act of confidence, but wisely pulled his back. “There is a reason high constitution is more important for a blacksmith than high dexterity,” He added seeing Mannat hesitating.

He had to push the boy away and make him leave. However, Raesh’s smile faded when he heard the front gate creak open and close. He clenched his fist and stared daggers at the furnace. There was nothing more humiliating for a blacksmith than getting injured by his tools. Thankfully, the fire was starting to die; it was no longer trying to reach for the ceiling.

So what happened?

The boy was barely pumping the bellow. If anything, the fire should have cooled down because of the lack of air instead of blowing on his face. Something caused the explosion he was sure. He knew his furnace. He had thoroughly inspected it before lighting the fire. He would have known if there was anything wrong with it.

At the butchery, Pandit and his father were just leaving the shop when Mannat caught them. Vayu was not around. He would join them in the woods like last time. Mannat supposed.

Khargosh frowned seeing Mannat hurrying toward them. He noticed the helplessness on his son's face and guessed what was happening.

“Did you tell him about yesterday?”

Pandit rubbed the back of his head and smiled slyly.

Khargosh clicked his tongue. Damnation! He felt a headache brewing. He feared this would happen. The boy had a soft heart like his mother. Both of them had loudmouths and useless emotions. Hunters need to be calm, but deadly. Emotions have no place in the woods. It’s kill or be killed out there. He had taken the boy to the woods once when he was little to beat the softness out of him. The boy had fainted when his brother forced him to gut a rabbit and Khargosh had only felt disappointed. He thought the boy would never be a hunter, but then things changed and it twisted everything. Perhaps, it was destiny. He was proud of what the boy had achieved on his own, but seeing Pandit hiding his face, he knew the boy still had a long way to go.

“Look, I’m not taking you into the woods,” Khargosh said directly before Mannat could speak. A man of few words, he didn’t want to argue with a kid.

Mannat had a different question for him, and he was forceful with it, even overbearing.

“The beast that hurt little butcher,” Mannat said. The words earned him some raised eyes, but he didn’t bow to the pressure. “Did you kill it?”

“Of course,” Pandit said confidently. Then waited and frowned. Why didn’t his father reply? He looked and found his father staring at Mannat as he would stare at prey in the woods. Those focused and unblinking eyes sent a shiver down his spine.

“It wasn’t a wolf was it?” Mannat asked without hesitation. Khargosh’s s face soured as he remembered the day and the beast.

“Why do you ask?” Khargosh asked. It horrified Pandit.

The man kept his silence, but not for long. Mannat had been thinking about it ever since Pandit had told him about the rabbit. They had only found the buck in the old man’s field. So where was the doe? The Witch hadn’t asked him to find her but asked him to find the origin of the rabbits.

“It was a rabbit wasn’t it, like the one we caught in the old man's fields?” Mannat said and both Pandit and Khargosh were taken back. “A wolf or something big like it would have never managed to get the jump on you. I have seen your marksmanship, how easily you shoot the squirrels hiding behind leaves and branches. A wolf would have been an easy target for you.”

Khargosh didn’t admit it, but he didn’t deny it either and started walking.

Pandit frowned. He didn’t follow his dad and stood beside Mannat, trying to wrap his head around everything. His dad looked back after walking a few steps. “Are you coming or not?” He calmly asked Pandit.

“I think we need to get to the bottom of this,” Mannat said, earning a glare.

“Sometimes it’s better to keep your head high and ignore the potholes around you.”

Pandit’s ears shook hearing the emotionless voice. “This is not the time for puzzles, dad,” Pandit said clenching his fists.

Khargosh spared him a glance before putting his attention back on Mannat. He was watching the boy, waiting for his answer.

Mannat didn’t disappoint. He asked back. “What if the potholes are big and deep enough to swallow you whole?”

Khargosh processed and nodded.

“Come then,” He said. “Let’s see how deep the potholes go.”