Yassine followed the man just to make sure he found his way to one of the guest bedrooms. He watched him lay the sleeping teenagers softly on the bed with a smile. There was no doubt that they had just went through a lot and he was glad he was able to offer the teens enough calm and security for them to simply fall asleep like that.

“Did you say you had clothes I could borrow ?” asked the man as he closed the bedroom door behind him. Yassine nodded and showed him to his own bedroom. His guest was a bit taller but also thinner than he was and he knew he had many warm pullovers in his wardrobe -like the one he had lent the children- that could fit him as well.

“Here.” he said. 

The other man was already half undressed and seemingly in a hurry when he took the clothes he was given. Yassine went back to the living room to wait for him to finish changing and give him some privacy. His guest did not wait for him however once he came back down, and made a beeline from the stairs to the main door. He seemed eager to get the job done.

“There’s a glacier up North and a stream East of here.” said Yassine as he joined his guest on the front porch. “It goes down into the Fjord. There’s a road along its coastline.” He didn’t like the way the man looked around anxiously with small jerky movements as if he was expecting something to jump out of the nearest lump of snow. Yet, he felt understanding. As all Sons of Ra were to be, this man was a trained soldier forged in the fire of war since childhood and it would take more than words to convince him that they had nothing to fear here. “There’s a house around ten kilometers from here. It’s a church. It’s called Melgraseyrarkirkja. They’re my closest neighbors. And the closest ‘town’ is Ísafjörður although it’s more like a small fishing port on the other side of the Fjord.” He added. He too had fled for many years before ending up here, far from everything. This place embodied the peace he had longed for all his life. As much as he wished he could share it with his guests, he also very much wanted them gone so he could get back to it. “I have maps, if you want to check.” he said. “Or playing cards.” he added with a smile, hoping the man would choose the latter and relax a bit.

“I don’t play cards.” the man answered blankly, a bit too quickly too. “You hunt ?”

“Sometimes.” said Yassine. “I like to know my surroundings and it helps me empty my head. Sometimes I go to Ísafjörður. There are some small traders over there. During fishing season I also lend a hand and make some money.” he explained with a calm smile as he looked at the trees around his cabin. “Other than that, magic makes the world infinitely smaller. But as time goes by, I enjoy more and more simply staying here. Everything is so much more… Real. And simple.”

“You’re far from home.” the man stated sharply.

Yassine felt partly amused and vexed by how he seemed to want to pull him out of his reverie. But even without malice, it was to be expected coming from a Brother of the Temple of Ra. When Yassine had fled the war, he had also left behind him the Temple of Ra. It was his birthplace and where he had grown up. He had thought he had fled long and far enough not to be considered as a Son of Ra anymore but the presence of the Chief himself in his house was proof that he was undeniably wrong about that. But whatever it meant, he wasn’t ready to simply fall back into his old life and let it erase all the years he had lived running from it.

“This is my home.” he corrected calmly. 

He knew it would be hard to understand for someone who, like him, was born within the thick walls of the Temple of Ra. To them, it was much more than a birthplace. Being a Son of Ra was their birthright, it was in their blood, it molded their faith, it defined their mission on Earth, the purpose of their entire existence. But Yassine did not want to fight in the name of Gods anymore. He did not believe he or anyone had been chosen by Ra to spread his Holy Light over the land of Egypt. He wasn’t even sure he believed in Gods anymore. He believed he was just a man, and that meant he wasn't a Son of Ra anymore. But it had taken him so much time and so much pain to get there, he knew he couldn’t expect the same from anyone else. “Anything else you want to know?”

“One man. Several bedrooms?”

Yassine cracked a smile. Sharp question. “I might’ve gotten a bit carried away. I had a lot of fun building this house. Building… My home.” He turned towards his modest cabin. He had assembled it log by log after h discovering this barren piece of land many years ago. He knew this place meant a lot to him. He had left everything he ever knew and had behind him when he left Egypt. He had roamed around the world for many years with nowhere to go but far away from whence he came, never settling down. He had feared so much losing everything once again that it was easier for him never to have anything. In the end, it took him more than ten years and finding this place for him to be ready to rebuild his life. He built it with magic, time and a lot of sweat but seemingly his hopes and dreams he thought he had lost forever had also seeped into it somehow. Some of them apparently involved spare bedrooms.

“I could add more just to have fun and pass the time so if you ever need anything or y’know if you’re feeling claustrophobic, just tell me.” he added enthusiastically.

“Need some wood?” the man asked promptly.

Yassine pinched his lips, not knowing whether to smile or not. It was as if the stranger did not want to let himself affected by any form of good mood. He knew that it wasn’t him being helpful in anyway as much as it was him just looking for something to do that didn’t involve small talk.

“Why not. It’s always useful.” he humoured his guest. “Trees are sturdier west. One kilometer into the woods.” He walked to the wood pile next to the cabin to take out two axes. “Unless you wanna use your own.” he added.

The man took one of the two axes he had on his belt and used his magic to make it go from big enough to cut off hands, to big enough to cut down trees. “That answers your question.” he said before heading west.

Yassine looked at him walk ahead, weapon in hand. It was obvious that the man would’ve rather went by himself. But he wasn’t ready to let a stranger roam around in the woods by himself. He had no doubt the man could well defend himself, in fact, he gave off a vibe that made Yassine worry for anything or anyone that would cross his path.

“Better not to cut too many in the same area. Keeps the forest healthy.” he explained once they reached a denser parts of the woods. “We can cut one or two.” Since they were here more to entertain his guest, he sat back and let him choose a tree. Once he did, he simply nodded for him to go for it.

He knew from the first strike of his axe that the man was in dire need of letting off steam. Bark exploded everywhere as he hit faster and stronger, again and again without stopping. His face that had remained a placid mask until now began to crack revealing unspeakable pain, anguish and despair underneath.

Yassine sat back and cleaned his own axe in silence.  He wanted to give the man privacy to let it all out and to give him the opportunity to smash down the second tree if he felt the need to. He didn’t need to ask questions, he didn’t need to know to know where it was coming from. The war. That was what the war did to men.

“Alright, that's enough.” he warned the man as he heard the unmistakable crack of the tree trunk about to fall. But the man underneath it was so blinded by his rage that he did not hear any of it. “You should really get back!” he insisted, seeing the tree slowly tilting towards his assailant.

Yassine dropped his axe and leapt into action. To avoid risking being hacked by the madman’s axe, he rather targeted the falling tree and tackled it with all his strength to change its course. It crashed onto the ground with a symphony of cracking wood and broken branches then followed by silence. The two men panted with effort and exchanged looks. The man had put his stern mask back on and even though Yassine could see in his eyes that he knew he had done wrong, he did not apologize. He sighed. Judging by the darkness he could still see flickering behind the man’s black eyes, Yassine thought maybe he should simply be thankful not to have ended with the man’s axe in his back. It had been a risky move to jump in front of him like that.

“Let’s cut it into logs.” he instructed before picking his own axe back up. He knew none of them wanted to speak about it. He hacked at the wood with controlled skill, hoping that this time his mate would simply follow his rhythm and not get carried away. It worked, thankfully. Both men chopped at a steady pace like puppets from a cuckoo clock until the whole tree had become logs they could carry back to the cabin without straining too much with their magic. The man did not ask to chop another tree down.