As Aaron ran his way to chase after the guards, he tripped on seemingly nothing. This commotion caught the attention of the city guards, who looked upon the know grounded Aaron with a stone cold indifference written on their faces.
"Do you need something?"
The familial sternness of the lead guard's voice addressed Aaron, who was picking himself up and dusting off his lower clothing.
"Y-yes, I wanted to tell you that-"
As Aaron's eyes rose, he found himself face to face with the lead guard. Aaron's eyes also couldn't help but wander in a panic, and were drawn to the drying blood adorning the lead guard's fist.
"Well? Tell us what? Spit it out already."
"That I, I know the tree you were asking about earlier."
The demeanor of all the guards change, and Aaron could have sworn that there was now interest hiding behind the cold lead guard's eyes.
"You see..." Aaron finally found the strength to compose himself.
"...many months ago, I stumbled upon the tree you are searching for during my time I was wandering through forests."
"Just wandering? And what do you mean through forests, which in particular?" Another guard quickly cut in. They were even more quickly shushed by a hand gesture and glare from the lead guard.
Aaron was thankful as to not have to answer those questions, as he knew not the answer neither now nor then.
"You actually saw it with your own eyes? What did it look like?"
"Very much like how you have it in your posters, except the color and fruit are all wrong."
"The fruit?" The lead guard seemed genuinely caught off by this new piece of information.
"Yes, the fruit. Your illustration of the tree has it bearing no fruit, when it actually was brimming with it."
The lead guard took a second to absorb the new details.
"What did it look like? Did you eat any?"
"Lieutenant Stellan, shouldn't the captain be asking questions to anyone with information?"
The same guard who had previously spoken up spoke again.
Stellan turned his head with eyes that seemed to freeze the guard over, as he began to slouch into himself in an attempt to make himself smaller.
"We've been going to every other backwater alley and bath house asking the same things over and over again, and we aren't even told why. Aren't you the least bit curious, Officer Barii?"
The last two words were spoken in such a hateful manner that Aaron thought that venom may start spitting from Stellan's mouth.
"N-no, I didn't eat any. I didn't even touch the stuff, the shape was too strange for me to want to get a closer look."
"What was the shape?"
Aaron took a moment in an attempt to collect his thoughts in way that would make him sound still sane.
"It's stems, they protruded and then reconnected at the bottom, like the fruit had its own bag or something like that."
Stellan's once inquisitive expression now turned to one of doubt.
"I...see. Well, what of the color? You said that was off too, what color was the tree?"
Aaron scratched the back of his head out of nervousness, as he knew the answer he would give would not make sense to anyone who hadn't seen the tree as he had.
"I...I couldn't say. I had never seen its like before. I don't think it has a name, or has been discovered."
Stellan's face almost immediately returned to his cold and lifeless expression. The guard who wasn't Barii let out a snicker, but Stellan didn't even turn to glare at him or issue a threat. His eyes were locked onto Aaron, and although Stellan had only a few inches on Aaron, he may as well have been a mountain peering at an ant below.
"So what you're telling me is that this tree, which only you have seen, in a forest you don't remember, which bears fruit no one knows of, and is the color that you have described as also being unknown. Have I heard you correctly?"
Aaron felt even smaller somehow, having it all laid bare before him. Maybe it truly was a dream, a bit of magic Aaron had tried to insert into his life that had so lacked any.
"Yes." Aaron whimpered back.
While Aaron had readied himself for scorn, ridicule, or most likely both, Stellan's armored gauntlet being plunged into his stomach was not something he anticipated.
Aaron instantly fell to the ground, clutching his mid section as if his insides were about to fall onto the ground if he didn't.
"I have grown so tired..."
Stellan readjusted his armor before starting to walk away.
"...of having my time wasted by scum and low life vermin."
This was not a new feeling for Aaron. It had the unfortunate familiarity of something he'd known throughout his life. When he was young, his mother would take out her frustrations of Aaron's father leaving on the living reminder of the fact. Growing up, Aaron had to take a similar level of torment from children his own age who had taken it upon themselves to teach him many of life's cruel realities. Now as a supposed traveler, Aaron was often accosted by thieves and bandits who would single him out due to his lack of companions.
No more.
Aaron was tired of wallowing about in his own sorrow and self pity.
"Hey!" Aaron called out with as much confidence as he can muster, a voice he hadn't heard himself in some time.
The guards stopped to look back at Aaron.
"The tree. It shows you things, right?"
The guards paused for a moment, until Stellan quickly marched back over to where Aaron was now standing.
"How do you know that?" Stellan angrily whispered through bared teeth.
"I'll tell you, after you answer my question."
Stellan took a step back to reassess who he was talking too. His face didn't show respect, but an attentive alertness.
"Which is?"
"How much are you willing to pay?"