"Mr. Yale?"

Hero stepped in the blacksmith, his clothes dirty and ragged. A man with a thick beard and dusty apron turned from his piston and gave his son's best friend a sweet smile. "There you are, Lil' Persson! Peter's not here."

Hero clutched at his satchel and said, "No, I'm not here for Peter. I... Was just wondering..."

Mr. Yale stopped hammering a sword and looked at the young boy with a raised eyebrow. "Yeah? Spit it out, lad."

Hero gulped and asked, "Do you accept young people as an assistant?"

Mr. Yale laughed heartily and turned back to the sword. "Depends if ya got skill, Persson."

Hero stood there and cocked his head slightly, absolutely clueless on what he said. No one could understand that gruff voice! Maybe Peter would have that voice when he grows up.

Ew.

"Well, do ya?"

Hero raised his head. He asked, "Huh? What?"

Mr. Yale rolled his eyes and repeated, "Do you have the skills?"

Hero gulped and mumbled, "No but..." He spoke louder, "I can learn quickly."

Mr. Yale studied him from head to toe. He sighed and beckoned him to follow him inside the workspace. Hero followed reluctantly and an apron was pushed to his chest, taking him by surprise. He looked up at Mr. Yale, who gave him a thumbs up and muttered, "How do you say 'You're perfect' in Swedish?"

Hero put on the apron and replied, "Du är perfekt."

"Uh... Doo are per... fake."

"Close enough."

○

"Hero!"

Mr. Yale poked his head out from the door, expecting to find a customer. Instead he found his assistant's little brother. Markus waved to him and followed him in.

"Your brother and I are making a sword for the guards. Peter's in the back with Dianne. Play nice, I'll be busy," instructed Mr. Yale.

Markus nodded firmly and ran out to the back, passing by his oblivious brother who was trying to heal his burnt hand from the hot metal he brushed past. Hero turned to acknowledge Markus but found him gone. He looked down at his red hand and winced at the blisters. He gasped when his boss noticed him and grabbed his unharmed wrist.

Mr. Yale yanked him to the back of his shop and dumped the hand in a bucket of ice cold water. Hero yowled at the sudden tug and watched his boss shuffle around behind him for a clean roll of bandages. Hero removed his hand and Mr. Yale wrapped it up quickly. He patted Hero's shoulder and muttered, "I'm no doctor but that'll heal in no time. By the way, how did you get away with it with minor burns? Usually it would be worse."

Hero shrugged. He turned when he heard the shuffling of feet behind him. Peter, Dianne and Markus were all bent over him, looking concerned and worried. Dianne sat down and took Hero's hands gently. She softly rubbed at the bandages and asked, "What happened?"

Dianna Jade Yale, Dianne for short. Twin sister of Peterson Robert Yale, daughter of Robert and Jennifer Yale. Twelve years old part of Hero's small trio of best friends. She loves fashion and sketches designs of outfits during class. She somehow passes. Gentle and innocent. She dreams of being a professional ballerina. No one thinks she would hold on to her passion and dream though, very indecisive.

Peterson Robert Yale, Peter for short. Best and first friend of Hero. Quite the opposite of his twin sister and is very reckless. His weapon of choice is Hero, who acts like his guard and secretly enjoys it. Idiotic but loyal. He dreams of exploring the world. Absolutely oblivious to almost everything.

Hero stared at her and mumbled, "Minor burn."

Dianne stuck her lower lip out and stood with her arms on her hips. She pointed a finger at the puzzled Hero and snapped in a motherly tone, "Persson! You idiot! First beating up two teenagers twice your size and now touching lava-hot swords!"

Hero narrowed his eyes and retorted, "Hey! The only reckless one here is your idiot of a twin! He brought me along to steal those weird goblet things from the principal's office. ¹Patetisk."

He whispered the last word with mock venom. Mr. Yale stared at all of them with his arms folded. "'Beating up two teenagers twice your size...' Stealing? Care to explain, kids?"

"We were playing pretend," Peter and Hero protested in unison. "T-There were no teenagers," yelled Peter.

Mr. Yale did not look convinced.

○

Peter was bouncing up and down, giggling as he held on tightly on his best friend's shirt. The two, along with Markus, were going beyond the walls. Hero was in the lead with his dirty satchel and his bat. Peter hammered in a few nails on the bat without permission, but of course, Hero supported it afterwards.

It was early in the morning and they all skipped school, since Markus threw a tantrum when Hero said they couldn't go to the meadow beyond the forest. Dianne was still not informed about the exploring so she was left behind. Poor her. The sun has yet to rise but the monsters fortunately kept their distance.

"For the last time, Peter, stop yelling at everything you see. That's not even a spider, that's a skeleton," snapped Hero.

Markus tiptoed and looked around the forest. He whispered to his brother, "Say, shouldn't we run? That skeleton's preparing an arrow."

They stopped as Hero squinted at the white figure in the bushes. His blue eyes widened and he grabbed the hands of both Peter and his brother. "Run."

Without waiting for a reply, he ran forward, the arrow already in the air and it grazed across his sleeve, tearing the fabric and flesh as well. He winced and slowed down for a second before picking up speed again, Peter trying not to panic and Markus just going with the flow with a smug grin. Once the arrows stopped, the three collapsed on the ground in a panting heap. Hero crawled to lean on a tree, trailing his fingers over the gash on his shoulder. Peter had smelt the scent of blood and rushed to his best friend's side, his hands clutching at his blonde hair in frustration.

"Oh no! W-What do I do? Are you alright? Do we need to go back?"

He kept on rambling incoherent words, shaking his head from side to side in panic. Markus raised his head and without thinking, said aloud, "He's had worse."

Peter froze and looked at Hero with his brows furrowed. He asked,"Worse? What happened?"

Markus realized his mistake and scrambled to his feet. He stood between Peter and his brother, faking a grin and lied, "Oh, uh... He was affected by those green creatures' explosions! He, uh, got a few burns."

"²Markus, sluta prata. Han får misstänksam. Nu går vi," snapped Hero.

"Oh, okay. Let's go, Peter," mumbled Markus, his head hanging low.

○

"This is so cool! Real horses, everywhere!"

Hero finally got his boot out from a thorn bush and hopped to his exploring companions. He sat on the ground and started taking down notes on his notebook, looking at the meadow and sketching the scenery down quickly. Peter bent down and gaped at his classmate's art skills. He looked at the meadow, the artwork, and back to the meadow again. He mumbled, "That's amazing, can you draw me?"

Hero snickered and said, not looking up from his sketch, "You're too fat to fit a page."

They laughed, told each other jokes and stories while Markus tried to feed the horses and Peter tried to catch a butterfly. Hero kept on sketching, not noticing that it was getting dark. And his father was already coming home from the bar.

□

Swedish to English translations. (Not accurate :( )

1: Pathetic.

2: Markus, stop talking. He'll get suspicious. Let's go.