Orphan 2
KiNa made sure to bite into every piece of food put on his plate at least once, before he proceeded to eat his meal properly. He learned that more often than not, people didn’t try to swipe food after you already bit into it. This didn’t always work, but SoYa didn’t seem the type to want to eat after someone else. His robes were just too clean.
The man offered to take him to supper, promising that they would discuss the thing called mind magery in more detail after KiNa ate his fill. No one ever offered that much food to KiNa before, so he didn’t decline, despite the fact that he wasn’t so sure about the whole magic talk thing.
What I do isn’t really magic. Is it?
SoYa wiped his mouth on his napkin and peered over his teacup with a little sip, “You tell me.”
The boy glanced up pragmatically, “You hear thoughts, too.”
“Sometimes. If you don’t shield them,” the man nodded and buttered another roll on his plate.
“Shield. You mean, hide your thoughts?” KiNa mused. That made sense. “Is that why your mind is so quiet?”
“It is,” SoYa nodded. “One of the important things mind mages learn is how to protect themselves from other mind mages.”
The boy blinked, digesting that thought. Then he asked, “Why?”
The man paused and let out a deep, troubled breath. “Because not everyone uses their power for the right thing.”
KiNa looked down at the clean, clean napkin in his lap, feeling ashamed. He used his power to make people look the other way when he stole things. He knew stealing wasn’t right. But he never thought about the looking part.
“I didn’t hurt them…” the boy’s voice was very small. “I just made them look away.”
“I know you didn’t,” SoYa seemed understanding. “I’m talking to you like this now because I sense you’re a good person. I think you want to do the right thing with your power. Am I right?”
KiNa nodded. He never thought about it before. Days spent running and hiding and searching for food didn’t lend much time to consider right or wrong. Despite that, he didn’t like to see people get hurt. And if someone was hungry or in trouble, he tried to help.
“What if someone wanted to teach you how to properly use your power?” the man asked, sipping his tea again.
“Like a school? Like the Manor?” the boy gritted his teeth. He could sense enough about that place to know that’s not where he wanted to go.
“Not like the Manor,” SoYa told him.
“But don’t you work for the Manor?”
“I do.”
“Then why not the Manor?” KiNa furrowed his brow.
“How do I say this…” SoYa tempeled his fingers in front of his face. “Just because I work for the Manor doesn’t mean I agree with everything the Manor does.”
“Oh,” the boy shoved random food into his mouth, watching the man as he chewed.
“You don’t seem to like the Manor much.”
“I… don’t know,” KiNa answered. “I don’t know much about it. I know it’s a school. I know they teach magic and that people in robes, like yours, live there. But I know they send the Darkman to find kids… and I know the kids that go there never come back.”
“Darkman?” SoYa’s brows lowered. “Who’s that?”
“He takes the orphans in the city,” the boy answered with a shudder. “I think he feeds them to the Manor. Nobody really knows. I escaped him, but there’s still others there.”
“Like your friends. The ones I saw earlier?”
KiNa nodded, “They’re sorta my friends. They dared me to pick your pocket, though.”
“Good thing they did,” SoYa’s tone grew lighter. “Because otherwise, I wouldn’t have gotten to meet you. Don’t you think?”
“You… wanted to meet me?”
“I didn’t have anyone else to share supper with,” he said. There was a casual look on his face, but KiNa could tell the man was troubled by what he had learned about the Darkman. After a moment, he spoke, “I’m not like the Darkman. I won’t send you to the Manor.”
“What do you mean?” KiNa take a long drink of his milk.
“I mean that maybe you would like to come and be my student,” SoYa said.
The boy almost dropped his glass, but caught it before it made a mess. “Your student? Why?”
“Because mind mages need to stick together,” the man told him with a whimsical smile. “Besides, what am I supposed to do? Just send you back out on the streets now that we’ve become friends?”
“Friends?” this was moving rather quickly for him. It was the first time SoYa had indicated the “f” word.
“Alright, alright. I see you’re not so comfortable. I guess after what you’ve been through, I don’t blame you,” he folded his napkin and placed it next to his plate. “I’m not going to force you into doing something you don’t want to do. But let me just say one thing.”
“Okay…” KiNa watched him, hearing the seriousness in his tone.
“Our kind… mind mages… aren’t well liked by the people here. It’s because we have the potential to do things that they don’t like to think about, even if we would never dream of doing something like that,” the man frowned.
“Like what?”
“Reading thoughts. Controlling people. Taking away their freedom and prying into their privacy,” SoYa told him. “People don’t have a whole lot in the world sometimes. But what they have in their heart and in their minds are created of their own choices. The scariest thing to some people is the thought that someone would take that part of them away.”
“Can… mind mages really do that?” KiNa’s eyes widened. He didn’t understand all the ideas. But he could sense what SoYa meant. He could understand why people would be afraid.
“Some of us can,” he nodded. “Mind mages are different, each with their own skills and strengths. Some of us sense feelings. Some of us hear thoughts. Some of us can influence other people. Some of us can even move physical things with our minds.”
The boy mulled over the list silently.
“What kind of mind mage are you, KiNa?” SoYa asked. “Which one of those can you do?”
He wiped his mouth on the back of his sleeve before answering, “All of them.”
SoYa’s fork made a loud sound as it half-clattered against his plate. KiNa looked up into the man’s questioning face.
“All of them?” he asked.
KiNa nodded.
“You sense feelings.”
“Yes,” the boy answered.
“AND hear thoughts? Hear mindspeak?”
“Yes.”
“AND make people do things with your thoughts?”
KiNa nodded.
“And you can move things with your mind?” SoYa squinted at him.
The boy frowned. Then he reached out one hand and concentrated briefly, causing the butter knife to leap off the far tray and into his hand.
The man covered his mouth, muttering into his hand, “Astounding.”
“Me?” KiNa asked.
“Yes, you,” SoYa blinked a few times. Then he leaned forward. “Okay. Let me just say… I have not met a mind mage in this city who displays such a range of skills. There aren’t many of us… but usually, mind mages fall into a mental-emotional category or a physical category.”
The boy just peered at him blankly.
“What I’m trying to say is… your powers are very unique. And if the Manor found out about it then…”
KiNa shivered and looked down in his plate. “I should hide very well and not let anyone know about what I can do. Is that what you mean?”
“Or you could do something better,” SoYa told him.
“Like what?”
“Like take my offer,” he reached out his hand. “Let me teach you. Let me show you how to develop your power and use it for the right thing.”
When the boy didn’t answer immediately, SoYa added.
“Let me protect you from the Manor.”
“You’d do that? Even though you work there?” KiNa boggled.
“It’s a long story,” SoYa replied. “I’ll tell you more about it, but you have to trust me on this. I want to help you and teach you. I don’t want to see you go back on the streets where you do nothing but run and steal to stay alive.”
“Why would you help me?” the boy looked down, feeling confused. After all, he didn’t even know the man very well. Why did it seem to bother him so much?
“Because it’s the right thing to do,” SoYa told him.
KiNa just squinted back.
“Sometimes you do strange things in life, KiNa, because you know in your heart, it’s the right thing to do,” the man explained. “Like giving away the fruits you stole to your two hungry friends, even though you had no food for yourself.”
“You knew about that?” the boy’s head jerked up, thinking about Roh and Puddle. Then he said quietly, “But that’s different.”
“Is it? Is it different to give something you have to someone who needs it? Isn’t that what I’m offering you?” SoYa asked.
“Those were just fruits,” KiNa debated. “I could get more any time. It wasn’t a big deal.”
“You didn’t have to do that,” the man pointed out. “You were hungry, too.”
“It wasn’t right if…” the boy stopped, realizing the point that SoYa was trying to make. It was the same feeling of generosity, maybe. And for the first time, someone was trying to offer that generosity to him.
“You understand,” SoYa leaned back in his chair with a quiet look.
“I can’t give you anything in return,” KiNa told him, abashed.
“You don’t need to,” the man replied. “I want to do this because it’s important to me. Because I know what it’s like to be a mind mage. I know that it can be tough. I don’t need anything in return except for your effort to be a good student and to learn to use your power for the right things.”
The boy frowned down at his reflection in the silverware. He knew that SoYa was telling the truth. Something about all this felt right, even if it felt like something that would only happen in a dream.
“Just think about it,” SoYa told him gently. Then he took the last few sips that emptied his tea cup.