15. Night jar

Those kind of stories about what happened while he was in the ships, were more interesting for him than what he said or did. Although it was as much as a thorn in his heart when he thought about what he could be doing if he was as normal as the rest. Either way, he couldn’t make contributions about that topic.

“Hey, Thesaurus.” A woman, looking as if she was around his own age, and who was seated to the opposite side of the Awkward Boy, got close to him while someone was still talking about some of their neighbor’s behavior. “Talking about the Protector it’s common in this group chats, and all of us had given their own opinions about him, so what’s yours?” In the middle of her question, the rest stopped talking, waiting for his answer.

“It’s that so? … um…” Now he wished he really did choke with his soda when the topic was selected by Pious. He could tell that people there was proud or fond to The Protector, although he couldn’t be so sure about everyone. “Well… he’s too powerful, I think that’s a bit scary?”

“You see?” a man spoke up before anyone else, Teshal remembered his nickname was Nightjar, another weird name. “I’m not the only one. Are you afraid of him or his power? I mean, I think we can trust him but isn’t him too much?”

“He does look trustworthy…” when all the glares changed from Nightjar to him, he knew he needed to answer. “I don’t think I’m afraid of him, just about his power… Negativity towards him maybe could lead him to do something bad?”

“No!” Pious and the girl, whose nickname was like a true name: Shonda, almost shouted. “He’s doing everything for us, he’s a good guy, I can tell… besides, going to the bad side will mean that we mistreat him, but didn’t we put him on a pedestal? Is that negative?”

“Of course it’s not!” Awkward Boy joined them, it didn’t look like a fight, but still Teshal couldn’t stop feeling he shouldn’t had said that as his first opinion about himself. “He looks kind and determined, like he really cares about our homeland and us.”

“I think only frustration and the overwhelming pressure of having so many lives over his shoulders could be the negativity, not rejection.” The one who spoke was one of the oldest persons in the group, she was maybe fifty or something, but looked collected and wise. “It’s a heavy burden for a boy, too young.”

“But people still shower him with love and admiration, I saw how after his training routine, all of us that were close came to give him water or encouragement.” Once again spoke the woman close to him, having her too close after knowing that she was close to him without disguise, made him a bit scared. “Yes, I know it can’t compare thankful and encouraging words to his burden, but I think it’s useful? And he’s so famous now!”

“But what if he didn’t want nothing of that?” he almost murmured his question, still the group became quiet. “The warmth of the people may give him strength to keep going, but what about his privacy? Even if he had decided not to be so public, people would chase him or intrude in his house to know more about him, because they… we care.”

“That’s a point I wanted to show too,” Nightjar was still in his side. “All we know, for what had been said by his past classmates and workmates, he was a shy boy, never in the spotlight. So, don’t you think that all his popularity could be added to his burdens?”

Suddenly the room became quiet once more. For that, none of them had and answer without being seen as selfish.

“I’m impressed Thesaurus, there’s a few topics, that I count with my fingers, that leave us this quiet.” With that, everyone raised their cups in another toast, making all of them laugh and even clap, which left Teshal really confused.

“It’s that good or bad?” finally asked to the Awkward Boy when he got back his attention.

“Of course is good! I knew you were special!”