The group of five children, Ling, Rin, Yabang, Lino and Tang'ga became fast friends for the past two years after their hunting test. They qualified to join the official hunting groups and they decided to still be together.
Most of the villagers were not surprised about this since strong hunters usually flock together so as not to have anyone in their group that could not keep up with them.
The five were still young so they could not be called a hunting group on their own. They were still working under the adults in the official group, however, if they got the chance, they would hunt separately from the main group.
There were also instances when they chose not to join the main group to hunt too far. They would be left behind a safer area in the forest while the rest went ahead to go further. The adults were fine with this since these children could take care of themselves. What the adults did not know was that the five were meeting with a dragon and the hunting team became a group of six.
Regrettably, the group became five again when Tang'ga got injured in one of their hunts. As usual, the idiot managed to anger another beast, this time it was when he disturbed a giant eagle's nest when he was looking for mushrooms for Rin's cooking. What Rin needed was those that could be found on the junction of the trunk and branches.
The tree where Tang'ga looked at was big so he had to climb high to check the branches above. What he saw when he brushed away the abundant leaves on one branch, however, was a nest full of dozens of fist-sized eggs in different colors. It had been a long time since he had eggs not from their farm so he, thinking that it would not be obvious with how many eggs there were, decided to steal some while the large bird was away.
Once he started climbing down, the flapping of large wings indicated that the eagle has returned. Tang'ga realized this so he climbed down faster, but not fast enough to be discovered by the bird.
It dived down when it saw the escaping boy and dropped the other larger stolen eggs in its claws so it could move faster. Panicked, Tang'ga climbed down in a hurry which led to him slipping on a foothold and falling down awkwardly on the forest floor. The items on his back somewhat cushioned the fall but his leg was twisted after which made him unable to get up.
Fortunately, when the bird pounced on the boy lying on the ground, the boy still had enough energy to gather his 'mist' and raise his spear in time with the beast's movement which made him hit it in a fatal spot and this led to its death.
Now, his problem was that the large bird's dead body fell partially on his. With how small the eggs in the nest were, he thought the eagle wouldn't be this big! It looked like this eagle also stole those eggs!
While moving as little as possible to avoid hurting his twisted leg, Tang'ga pushed the body of the eagle off of him. Following that, he managed to breath better.
After his fearsome encounter, Tang'ga took another breath then released a shout of help to his friends hunting nearby. He waited for a while lying down on the ground since it still hurt to move.
In a few minutes, he heard the running footsteps on the ground near his ear. He exhaled another breath of relief since he recognized the footsteps. It was not as he expected however, when Lino found him. He was kicked by the other a few times while he was still lying down before Lino helped him up.
"Do you think we were the only ones in the forest?! The other animals heard you too so the others had to fight them first! I'm tired of calling you an idiot!" Lino scolded.
Tang'ga did not give any response and just looked at his pack with the broken eggs inside.
During a following afternoon, Ling woke up early to visit his injured friend. It has already been three days since Tang'ga's injury, however he was still told to stay at home since he had not gotten his usual vitality yet. He would have healed faster with Maga's help but Lino stopped them to 'teach the idiot a lesson' according to him, and Tang'ga did not object.
As he was getting ready to leave, Ling tied his black hair hacked at nape-length to a partial up-do so it would not disturb him as he ran. He thought of cutting it shorter again but he remembered that his friend Rin was keeping his at waist-length now. If Rin's face was less angular, people would assume he was a girl with his pretty face.
The group of four went back earlier from their hunt to visit Tang'ga together. Lino honestly did not want to visit the idiot but Yabang managed to persuade him so the four went to Tang'ga's family's farm.
Tang'ga's family had one of the biggest land among the villagers. It was full of acres upon acres of several planted crops and the family's house was situated near the plots and occupying only a small space to fit a family of three.
According to Tang'ga, his cousins often helped out in their farm especially during harvest. Even the men do despite them joining hunts too. After the morning hunt, they return to their homes to have lunch, then opt to help out at the farm instead of going to the forest again. Since the females were in charge of taking care of the crops, these males would be doing heavy duty work like carrying the harvest, plowing the field and such.
It was a blessing to Tang'ga's father since he needed helpers in the farm and he only had one son. When the 'homeless' from the Tub'ig Village started to live in the Mal'it Clan's village, he obtained several helpers which led to an increase in his yield.
The 'homeless' led a better life too. Before, some of them looked lifeless while some were near death. The children were skinny and looked sickly while the elderlies looked depressed like they have lost all hope. But now, most were helping around the village or with the hunting groups, living a comfortable life as part of the Mal'it Clan.
Inside one of the rooms in the farmhouse, four children were sitting around a round table on the floor while sipping tea. The patient was sitting on the bed beside them with pilows supporting his back and a dejected look was seen on his face.
A while ago, Tang'ga's mother came in to offer the visitors some snacks and tea. She left soon after, reminding Tang'ga to stay in bed. Tang'ga thought he could play with his friends when they visited but his mother would probably get mad at him. Seeing their friend like this, the other four children did not know what to say to comfort him.
After a few minutes of silence, Lino became irritated so he started getting up and suggested they leave, like what he had been thinking since they came in an hour ago, "We have to go. Remember, we still have to meet with Maga later."
"I want to go too!" Tang'ga looked at the door after his shout then breath a sigh of relief when nobody entered. "I could sneak out to meet you guys. My mother doesn't check on me when I'm done with my dinner since she expects me to be asleep."
"No way! You're mother told you to rest so go rest. We don't want to be burdened with supporting you while we were in the forest."
"You don't really have to worry about me. See? I can even jump now." He got of the bed then started jumping to the exasperation of his friends.
However, before anybody could speak again, Tang'ga's mother entered the room and saw her son making a ruckus. She had her hands on her hips while she scolded her son again. "I told you not to move around. If you want to work so badly, then help your father and cousins outside."
The expression on Tang'ga's face was not enough to change his mother's mind even until she left the room, stomping her feet and calling to her husband outside about their son helping with the farm. She also asked her nephews and nieces helping out today to keep an eye on Tang'ga.
After the scolding from his mother, Tang'ga became dejected again but still went outside to send his friends off then proceeded to help in the farm.