The Fellowship of Tears

His Restless Soul

After all the guests had departed, it took nearly a year to sort and secure all the gifts received by the couple. Milal jokingly accused both their fathers of trying too hard to show off—their gifts alone required a palace as big as a mountain to store them. In the end, Milal had to build a colossal palace somewhere north of Karyan’s domain for him and Agnos. This house was so huge it took a full week to walk around it.

The couple were so happy together. Milal could not bear to separate himself from Agnos, and everything was fine as long as he felt that way. Agnos was pleased by this attitude of her husband.

Then, years passed like those cooling breezes in summer. Milal grew restless, and those long walks by the river the couple used to take before sunset could not ease his restlessness.

Seeing the change in her husband’s demeanor, Agnos decided that they should take regular trips and visit relatives and friends. This worked for a while. Until Milal had grown weary of all the traveling and the empty, pointless chatter that filled in for what could otherwise be awkward silence but did not quite fill up the void in their hearts.

One morning, while taking a leisurely stroll during a visit to one of his cousins on a faraway island, Milal happened to hear the tinkling of a piece of iron striking against something hard. When he went to take a look, he found a broad-shouldered muscular man hammering away at an iron stake against a rock. The man was making a sculpture of a lion’s head. It was not yet done, but it was already a sight to behold.

Milal wondered who this man was who could create such beauty with a hammer and a stake.

As Milal was mulling this over, the man turned around. He recognized Milal and smiled at him. Milal had never been more shocked in his life. It was Qat’l Banwar!

Based on the quality of his sculpture, Qat’l Banwar had been a sculptor for a very long time. Qat’l Banwar revealed that he had been sculpting from a very young age.

This left Milal stomped as he could not understand why such a legendary warrior with unparalleled skills for battle still felt the need to engage another occupation, more so one as tedious and uncompromising as sculpture.

Qat’l Banwar explained that shaping objects into a thing of beauty had always been his passion and that he just happened to be very good at wielding both the sword and the spear in combat.

Milal sat down to observe Qat’l Banwar when the latter resumed his work on the stone lion sculpture. Milal asked several questions about sculpture and Qat’l Banwar happily indulged him.

However, it was during dinner a few days later that Qat’l Banwar did two things that became an eye-opener to Milal.

After everyone had eaten, their host, Milal’s cousin, asked the great hero to sing them a few verses. Qat’l Banwar happily obliged and sang to them the story of his pursuit of the Borsine, a boar-like monster that ravaged three kingdoms. Milal was stunned by the magnificent resonance of Qat’l Banwar’s singing voice but was even more awed by the beauty of his poetry.

Then, before the night was over, Qat’l Banwar told their host to get in shape as he intended to bring him along when he would climb to the peak of Mt. Anganto, the tallest mountain in their world.

Their host complained that Qat’l Banwar was to be married before the end of that year. Qat’l Banwar replied that climbing Mt. Anganto had been one of his lifelong goals.

It’s what he said afterwards, however, which had awakened in Milal a realization that had been trying to break free from the clouds in his mind since he felt a restlessness he couldn’t quite explain.

Qat’l Banwar said, “I’d still marry her and love her with all my heart, but it does not mean I must stop living my life.”

Qat’l Banwar jarred awake a lot of slumbering thoughts in Milal’s mind. He kept thinking of the great hero’s passion for sculpture as well as his interest in poetry and mountain climbing. But the words Qat’l Banwar spoke had the most profound effect on him. These thoughts persisted in Milal’s mind, like a toothache he could not ignore, until he and Agnos finally returned home.

Milal tried to think back to the things he had wanted to do before marrying Agnos became the most pressing desire of his heart. At the time, the desire had been so overwhelming such that it left no room for any other.

In that moment of pensive recollection, all of his past ambitions, his most cherished goals, the passions of his youth—all of that came flooding back. Most, he came to realize, were not really as important as he once thought they were. At least they were not so important for him to have to exchange for time away from his young, vibrant and beautiful wife.

But there were some which were impossible for him to let go. Except for his most treasured lifelong goal, Milal figured that he could accomplish the rest together with Agnos. That lifelong goal was to rid the two continents lying around his father’s domain of all demons and vicious monsters.

After waiting for a few days to pass, Milal sat down with his young wife and told her of his plan to go out and hunt demons and monsters.