The Orphan
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.
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.
It was like something out of one of those super-secret spy stories, and KiNa was sneaking accordingly. True, there wasn’t anything to sneak from. True, it was only SoYa who was leading him down a worn path through the forest. Yet, he had been sworn to secrecy on what he was about to see, so that called for a first-rate sneak-walk.
KiNa slipped on the pair of boots that SoYa left for him. They were a size too large, but certainly better than what he had before. The man also provided him with clothes, all much more sturdy than what he was used to wearing.
Though SoYa didn’t say anything about the origins of the garments, KiNa could sense a sadness about the man. Not sad that he was providing clothes, but sad about something related to the items. It was a sadness so deep that not even the mind-silence could hide it.
KiNa had no time to ponder the strange vision from the Stone. The forest around him came to life with agitated chirps and hums and other strange sounds. It was a clutter of dissonance, fighting to straighten itself out within his mind. It didn’t quite work.
Large, pointed-eared, furry beasts appeared at every exit of the structure, some bearing bows and spears. Their glittering eyes focused on him, no doubt, called by the display of light from the Stone. The humming was coming from them. And they weren’t happy to see an intruder in their glade.
“You’re here early, Hunt.”
SoYa’s cheerful voice seeped into the quiet depths of KiNa’s slumber. The boy shook himself awake, at first not remembering his appointment with the Ingway. The creature’s voice took care of that, though.
“Are you ready for our first lesson?” SoYa asked, dropping his pack on the table near the window.
KiNa still ached from the training with Hunt earlier, but that wouldn’t keep him from learning something new. There was only one problem, one thing that he never addressed with his new teacher yet.
“SoYa, I’m not sure if there’s a nice way of saying this,” KiNa wiped his brow after chasing the last of the black smoke out of the kitchen window. “But, you’re a really lousy cook.”
The mind mage just sighed, taking that like he took everything else. “I know. Most the time AsaHi won’t let me near the food. I just thought something like this would be simple enough not to scorch.”