The village school was one of the establishments at the top of the hill. Due to the increasing number of children in the past few years, the school now has two buildings to use with the fenced school grounds in front of it.
The buildings were divided into six rooms, two for each age class, namely the three-year-olds, four to nine year-olds and 10 year-olds, to separate the boys and girls which usually have different afinities. However, the rooms for the 10 year-olds were not in full use daily since they practice outside most of the time. With a few hundred residents in the village now, their children were able to fit in these buildings.
After school, most of the students left to go home while some stayed around to play in the school grounds. Meanwhile, the seven children of the chief's family met outside the school building.
When Ling saw Una, his eyes lit up while he smiled with his chubby cheeks rising and held his hands out to be carried.
"Na-na!"
Una, initially holding hands with Mina and Alim, passed the three children to the twins and smilingly accepted the baby.
Una raised Ling up high when she held him since he liked it. That was when she noticed what the baby was wearing. Her smiled froze on her face and she looked at the twins, "What is Ling wearing?"
The twins stood up straight and Dawa answered her sister, "It was what Ling was fingering when we were choosing what to have him wear."
Because of this issue, all of the sisters were engrossed in the conversation except for Ling, who was now being held properly by Una. If they looked at the kid, they would see him pouting as if understanding that his sisters were lying.
"I don't believe you guys. Besides, this dress is too hot for him to wear outside."
Una was used to her younger sisters' pranks. If the other three of her sisters didn't need her earlier this morning for their exams, she would have taken care of Ling first. Their mother was still in bed and their father got up before sunrise so she can't depend on them.
The twins still kept insisting that they were not lying. Tired of being ignored, Ling pulled a few strands of Una's hair and put it in his mouth. That got his sister's attention.
The village's girls' hair were kept long and unbound or, sometimes, braided as per tradition. It was said that having a longer hair would enhance one's affinity to the 'touch' as it lets the body absorb more of the 'mist' in the atmosphere.
Because they got up earlier and she took care of her younger sisters first, Una left her hair unbound, the black absorbing the heat of the sun and a few sweat from her scalp. Ling was really upset today so when he tasted the salty hair, he frowned but was still not noticed by his sister so he started to cry.
Good thing his sisters became aware of him then and Una comforted the baby before the noise made the people notice. This stopped the current argument and they proceeded to leave the school grounds to go back to their house.
As they were walking, they were often greeted by the villagers they passed by, but not only because they were the chief's children. Una was always at the top of her age class and she was the one who deals with the house needs with the other villagers since their mother was abed.
The twins were not only known for their pranks but were also active in their class. A lot of people also expects more from the other siblings.
When they reached their home, they saw their mother leaning on the door frame talking to an old lady with too many wrinkles showing on her face, indicating her age. However, Old Lady Burha, the village midwife was still able to walk steadily on her own, her constitution better than those her age.
"Mahina, you know you're still weak so you don't have to send me to the door," the midwife scolded.
Despite her personality being meek, Mahina had always been stuborn so there was not much of an argument.
"Take note of what I suggested. You already have a son so we can stop your ability to have children. If you get pregnant again, we don't know how difficult the childbirth will be. It might get even worse than now."
Mahina frowned and attempted to reply but her children chose that time to call out to them.
"Mother, we're home. Good afternoon, Old Lady Burha."
The conversation of the two adults stopped with that, so the children wouldn't hear, but Una managed to glean bits of information from afar. When the old lady left, the family went to the garden to get the ingredients for their dinner tonight.
All houses in the village have their own gardens for their daily food needs. Most of the produce from the fields were for trade to help sustain the buildings and public facilities and support some families with less powers.
To help in the harvesting, Una put down Ling on a bench just a little ways away from the garden then proceeded to help. The garden includes most of the usual vegetables available in this island. There were potatoes, onions, garlic, carrots and others.
A short time later, while the girls were still busy, they heard a sweet giggle coming from the bench. They smiled, thinking that Ling wanted to join their 'fun' or was laughing at them.
When they turned, they saw a large, gray dog rubbing its nose on Ling's belly, smelling the bundle. Waving his tiny hands, Ling was still giggling as if ticklish then the dog suddenly sneezed. That made the baby giggle harder.
The scene would have made anybody feel horrified and amazed. After that, however, Ling wasn't happy when the dog averted its face after sneezing. Rolling to position himself, he crawled to touch the nose of the dog.
"Cowd!" Ling said and acted as if shivering.
Seemingly just escaping from her daze, Una shook her head and was about to stand up to go save Ling. The dog looked at them when it noticed her movement, then bit the ribbons and frills at the back of Ling's dress and ran off carrying the still giggling baby.
Una reacted fast and ran after the two. She knew it will be impossible for her to catch up if the chase went longer but her mother and sisters will surely ask for help.
The bad thing was that the dog ran off to the forest, not passing by any houses or people. Una got a few scratches from the branches but she pushed through since she could still hear Ling's shouts and laughter.
"Ya-ya!"
After a while, Una was losing her energy to continue the chase. Meanwhile, the dog turned from the path and stopped. Standing in front of it was a man. Seeing the dog with a giggling baby on its back, he crouched then took and held the baby while rubbing the dog's head.
Una, meanwhile, just caught up to them. Panting while propping her hand on a tree trunk for support, she stared at the dog first then the man holding her brother.
The man stared at her, surprised, then talked to the dog, "Osa, I thought I told you to help me find the old village, not find a kid and," he paused and looked at the bundle in his arms, "food?"