Free ICO: Castle in the Mist by Miyuki Miyabe, Alexander O. Smith

starting with the first light of morning and carrying on until nightfall. Maybe, he thought, this is how they welcome the priest.
    He wondered what Toto was doing. He couldn’t picture him singing with the other kids.
    “What nonsense did you put in that boy’s head?”
    Ico hadn’t been able to eat or sleep for a day after the elder’s visit. All he wanted to do was smash his head against the wall of the cave. But a day later, the guard had told him that Toto had returned. Weeping with relief, Ico begged the guard to tell him how they had found Toto. “Was he hurt? Why’d he leave? Can I see him, just for a little?”
    The guard was silent.
    “Do not worry about Toto,” the elder had told him on a later visit. “All you need to worry about is fulfilling your role as the Sacrifice.” His voice had sounded confident and serene, but bitterness stained his face.
    “Be sure to eat. You’ll be leaving soon.”
    Then the elder had left, and Ico was alone again in the cave. The only company he found was in his dreams.
    Ico took up walking in circles around the cave, swinging his arms and stretching his legs to keep his body limber. He had just finished a round of these exercises when he noticed something unusual. Silence. There was no singing or music this morning. He couldn’t hear the loom either.
    Something had changed.
    A silhouette appeared at the entrance to the cave. Ico rubbed his eyes. It was the elder. His long robes dragged on the ground, and his thin shoulders were thrown back as he stepped inside. Oneh followed directly behind him.
    “Mother!” Ico shouted. Oneh smiled at him, but no sooner had she done so than tears began to stream from her eyes.
    She made to run to him, but the elder put out his hand, holding her back. He took the beautiful cloth she held in her arms and reverently hung it over one arm, nodding as he examined it.
    “Ico!” Oneh called out, opening her arms wide. Ico glanced at the elder’s face, but all he saw there was kindness. The next moment, Ico ran into Oneh’s arms.
    “Ico, my dear Ico, my sweet child.” Oneh called his name over and over again, like a song, and she hugged him tight and stroked his hair. “How lonely you must’ve been—how sad,” she repeated, crying. “Please forgive us. We forced this on you. If we’d only been stronger—”
    “Mother…”
    In Oneh’s arms, Ico looked toward the elder. It had only been a few days since he had struck Ico on the cheek, but it seemed as though he had aged years. Still, the gentle look, filled with authority, that had fled his eyes when the Time of the Sacrifice had come, returned. This was the elder who had raised Ico. He had come back.
    “It’s time, Oneh,” the elder said gently, and then he smiled. “It is difficult for me as well. But we must say our farewells. The Sacrifice waits for no man.”
    Oneh nodded, her eyes filled with tears. She gave Ico’s head one last hug before letting him go and stepping back to stand beside the elder.
    He spoke. “Last night, we lit the signal fire. The priest’s entourage should arrive before midday. Once the ceremony is complete, you will leave for the Castle in the Mist.”
    Ico swallowed, quickly wiped a lingering tear from his cheek, and straightened his posture. “I understand.”
    He would have liked to sound a bit more determined, but his voice was choked with tears, and he couldn’t say anything more than that. Still, he managed to meet the elder’s gaze directly, to show his resolve was unfaltering. I won’t cry or yell again, no matter what. I won’t sulk, I won’t question.
    But a moment later, when the elder and Oneh knelt reverently before him, Ico couldn’t help his mouth from dropping open.
    “Elder?”
    Ico was about to join them on the floor when a strong word from the elder stopped him. “Stand.”
    Oneh smiled at him then and intertwined her fingers in front of her, bowing her head in prayer.
    On his knees, the elder’s eyes were on a level