Orphan 1
KiNa wasn’t much of a thief. He just had the ability to make people look the other way. Like right now, as he crept up next to the rickety fruit cart, holding his breath, hoping his rumbling stomach wouldn’t give him away.
He wasn’t much of a thief. But if he didn’t steal, he didn’t eat.
Turn.
He thought the word, said the word in his mind and instructed the word all at once, concentrating hard on the merchant behind the bench. The man turned his head, not even realizing what he was doing.
Look.
KiNa told him. There was nothing all that interesting to look at, but the merchant stared off down the path anyhow, brows furrowed.
While he looked, KiNa moved. One little hand shot out and grabbed two of the nearest fruits, stuffing them inside his shirt. He never took more than he needed. It wasn’t fair to the merchant who made money from selling the food. The boy also learned early on that it became very conspicuous when he was trying to hide ten large fruits down the front of his shirt.
That was a mistake he wouldn’t make again.
The boy stood up and began walking away, acting as normal as possible. As the distance between him and the merchant grew wider, his mind-suggestion began to fade. The man shook his head, the frown of someone pondering something they forgot crossing his face.
KiNa simply walked around the corner and kept walking, holding his prizes tightly under his shirt. The boy didn’t know exactly how he did things. He just knew that he could. Often, he sensed the feelings of people around him. He could tell if they were happy or sad or mad. He could also tell if they had good or bad intentions and if they were trying to lie.
Sometimes, if someone was a loud-thinker, KiNa could hear the things they thought. Though it wasn’t with his ears, of course. It was all in his mind, the same as he could hear the words of his own thoughts. He knew that if he really tried, he could probably hear thoughts of people who were quiet-thinkers, too.
However, it didn’t always work. So he learned to be very careful. To start out small. To attempt little suggestions and test the person’s immunity to the commands.
Lucky for him, the Darkman had been very easy to command. That was the reason KiNa was now out on the streets, living on his own, rather than in the compound where the Darkman kept the rest of the orphan children. For that, he was glad. Living off the streets and stealing food was better than what the scary Darkman had in mind for the children he captured.
Just… they don’t know about it yet.
Ever since then, KiNa was very careful not to be found. He learned the secret ways of the back streets and found safe places to hide and sleep. Every now and then, he’d run errands for adults that he knew he could trust, which would earn him a small coin here and there. It was enough to keep him fed and clothed, and life was never boring.
As the boy rounded the corner, he pulled out one fruit, freckled face lit with anticipation. Before he could bite into it, he sensed someone watching him, someone who looked at him with familiarity. Green eyes flicking up, he could see two little faces peering at him from across the square, boys that KiNa knew, who were still under hold of the Darkman.
KiNa looked warily around, but did not see the Darkman or any other sign of danger. When the boys saw his look, they rushed out to come and greet him.
“KiNa!” called the first. His name was Roh. Though, no one knew if that was really his name or if it was just a name he picked for himself. He was rather blocky and large-built for a boy his age, but was friendly enough. Somewhere in his life, fortune had knocked out one of his bottom front teeth, leaving a strange gap in his easy smile.
“We thought you were dead!” exclaimed the second. This was Puddle. Puddle’s name wasn’t really Puddle. It was something like PoDu… or PuDa… or PahDul… Well, KiNa wasn’t sure what it was, to be honest. Rumor said that the kids gave him the name Puddle because he used to wet the bed when he first came to the Darkman’s compound.
Whether this was true or not, KiNa also didn’t know. But the name Puddle stuck. Out of respect, KiNa chose to call him Pud instead.
“I’m fine. I’m fine,” KiNa waved a hand nonchalantly. “How are you guys?”
“Hungry,” Puddle answered, giving hypnotic puppy eyes at the fruit in KiNa’s hand.
Roh elbowed his companion with a frown, “We’re fine.”
KiNa could tell Roh was hungry, too. He was just too proud to say so. The boy paused, looked between the fruit and the other boys, then handed each of them his stash.
“Wow! Thanks!” Puddle immediately chomped into the fruit, juice going everywhere.
“What about you?” Roh asked, a bit more hesitant.
“I can always get another,” KiNa told them. They could not, though. They didn’t seem to have the same ability to make people look the other way.
“If you’re sure…”
“I’m sure. You can have it,” he nodded.
“Did you steal these?” Puddle asked, mouth full.
“Of course I did,” KiNa crossed his arms, giving a cool look.
“I bet you didn’t,” the other boy retorted. Fine way to thank someone for generosity.
“I did,” he repeated.
“Prove it then!” Puddle spoke the deadly dare.
KiNa frowned, “Why?”
“Because you can’t do it,” the boy smirked from around the fruit core.
“I can so! I’ll show you. I can pick anyone’s pocket!” KiNa finally gave in.
“Anyone?” Roh looked concerned.
“Anyone! Pick someone!” the boy motioned with one hand.
“Alright… how about…” Roh scanned the people passing by in the streets.
“Him!” Puddle pointed.
His finger indicated a man, nicely dressed in purple Manor robes, absorbed in scribbling notes from some sort of leather-bound book. His curly hair was topped with a box-shaped hat, and his face seemed unassuming, almost kindly. He also seemed unaware of everything going on around him. Though KiNa usually stayed away from anyone with the Manor badge, this one would be easy pickings.
“Okay. Just watch!” the boy sniffed and rubbed his palms on his trousers. Then, looking both ways, he darted back behind the treeline on the other side of the road, rounding the buildings behind the man from a wide angle.
KiNa could feel his target in his mind, sense his position, watch his movements, all without ever really seeing him. Maybe this should have been unusual to the boy, but it wasn’t. It was common practice for him. Inching along, he slid up behind the stone bench where his target sat.
Across the square, KiNa could feel the two boys watching him with breathless awe. They didn’t believe he would do it. Or could do it. But he would show them.
With a slow, careful motion, KiNa reached one hand towards the pouch at the man’s hip. He was furiously scribbling something that looked like complete nonsense on his parchment, peering back and forth between the page and the book in his hand. Every now and then, he muttered something to himself under his breath. But, despite the man’s frustrated appearance, his mind was quiet. Strangely quiet.
Holding his breath, KiNa popped open the top of the pouch. It made little noise, certainly nothing above the rustling of papers in the man’s hands. Biting down on his bottom lip, the boy slowly moved forward, feeling around for anything that might have been worth something. Most of it felt like pens and cloth and maybe a few strange-shaped objects, but nothing like coins.
KiNa was so intent on searching the pouch that he almost didn’t realize when the man’s murmurings turned into something else.
-There’s nothing in there you’d want, you know.-
The boy’s eyes widened and he froze. It was similar to the thoughts he heard. Except… this was speech. Clear speech within his mind, aimed to communicate with him.
“So you did hear me,” the man put down the parchment, moving his hand back to clamp around KiNa’s wrist.
“W-wait! I was…” the boy pulled back.
“Trying to show off. Taking a dare,” the man looked at him. The look wasn’t angry. There was a tired light in his eyes. Tired, yet quizzical. “You don’t do this often, do you?”
“I… I try not to…” KiNa answered, giving up his escape efforts before he really started. The man was a lot stronger than he looked. And somehow, peering into his eyes, the boy suddenly didn’t feel like fighting to break free anymore.
“I meant, pick pocketing a mind mage,” he clarified. Though that didn’t help much.
“Mind mage?” the boy wrinkled his nose.
“Ah, so you don’t know,” the man said with a sage nod. Then he glanced across the square with a knowing look, straight at where Puddle and Roh were hiding.
The boys gave a shout and ran off, wide-eyed and busted.
“How…” KiNa was trying to make sense of this. For some reason, he wasn’t afraid. It was almost as if the man had a calming presence that kept him from wanting to run away. “How did you know that? How did you know they were there?”
“I told you, I am a mind mage,” he said. Then he continued, “My name is SoYa. What’s yours?”
The boy swallowed, wanting to fight against the urge to say his name. After all, this man was a stranger. And a very strange stranger, who talked about things such as mind mages.
“I’m KiNaTu,” the words spilled out of his mouth of their own accord. He winced.
“It’s okay,” SoYa told him with a reassuring look. “I know you didn’t want to tell me. But I’m not going to hurt you.”
KiNa nodded slowly, eyes flickering to the badge on the man’s robe, “What are you going to do to me? I tried to steal from you… Are you going to send me to the Manor?”
“No,” he answered. “I’m not going to do that. Don’t you have somewhere to go back to? Where are your parents?”
The boy just shook his head and looked down.
“You’re all alone?” SoYa asked.
The boy nodded.
“You’re telling the truth… I can feel that,” he said after a moment.
KiNa’s chin jerked up at the words. “That’s funny. Sometimes I can feel when people are telling the truth, too!”
“Can you?” SoYa seemed interested. The words coaxed answers from him in a gentle way.
“Yeah,” the boy confided. He paused to consider what to say next, then offered, “Though… I guess most people don’t know I can. Or they don’t know how to do it, too.”
KiNa was starting to put things together. The silence of the man’s thoughts. The way SoYa spoke the words directly in his head. The way he could sense the truth. The talk of being a mind mage.
“Go ahead. Say it,” the man urged him gently.
“You’re… you’re like me,” KiNa asked slowly. “Aren’t you?”
SoYa smiled. It was a warming smile, “Yes. Yes, I am.”