It had already been a week since Ling started working with the Sikat Troupe. Since he had no experience acting, he had not joined any performance and was in charge of odd jobs that nobody was willing to do. Therefore,Mayari's promise of helping him practice with the 'mist' during a performance has not happened yet.
Carrying a few logs all taller and wider than him for the stage repair, Ling was not even panting, used to carrying the large game he had caught. The banging sounds as he dropped the logs behind the stage made the actors stop their practice and some stage hands also dropped what they were holding.
"Sorry."
Brows slightly curling, the actors returned to their scripts while the stage hands picked up their dropped stuffs. They knew that this boy was just helping around with the permission of the troupe's owner. More importantly, the dragon from before was owned by him and they heard a few stories from Kisig regarding his experience with it. He was still shuddering as he recounted it to them.
Ling wasn't aware that he was feared because of Maga. He thought that the people here were too busy with the start of the year's new performances to deal with a little kid like him—especially Tala and Mayari who were the main star and owner of the troupe.
Fortunately, he was still eating together with Tala but he could not disturb her with his concerns since she was always tired from practice. As her usual, she was practicing alone in a separate room to not be disturbed as well as to get used to the strong 'haze' let out in the room while she practiced.
When Ling went out of the tent, he had no idea what to do next so he sat down on a bench and sighed, blowing up the unbound hair falling on his forehead. He remembered that his mother or Rin was not around to trim his hair now.
Farther to his side, he sensed a familiar presence sneaking around, which brought a smile to his face. When he sensed that the creature increased its pace, he tensed as he slowly stood up, as if stretching, then leaped up to avoid the other's pounce. Unfortunately, the dragon also knew his habit so he was hit and they both tumbled on the ground.
As they rolled around, Ling laughed but his eyes were still dull. Afterwards, Maga was still crouched on top of the fallen boy, swishing his tail as it waited for the boy to act. When Ling just kept smiling while patting the dragon's arm, Maga let out its tongue and licked the boy's face. This garnered another laughter from the boy.
"What have you been doing? Are you bored too? What do you want to play?"
A whimper was the dragon's reply. It rolled over, with its feet up in the air, then turned its head to look at Ling beside it. Its dark red eyes was slightly wet. The two just kept staring at each other for a while before Ling sat up, sighing.
As he sat with crossed legs, Ling put his hands on the dragon's belly and started to rub and scratch it. Maga moved its body to give Ling better access as it crooned softly.
"Do you also miss Rin?" Ling was still staring at Maga's face so he caught its eye again when it turned. Maga let out another whimper to answer his question.
Before any of the two could voice out their thoughts again, they heard a call from nearby.
"Hey~"
Ling could somewhat recognize the boys running over to them. He did not stop scratching Maga's belly so it took some time for these boys to speak to them again since they had to run a few meters to reach them, instead of reaching each other faster if Ling actually stood up and ran over after their call.
However, these boys did not raise the issue as they were still afraid of the dragon, especially Kisig. Upon reaching the other two, Kisig and the three boys with him stepped sideways to move closer to Ling and away from Maga. During all this, Ling just kept scratching while his squinted eyes were turned to the four boys. He still remembered them trying to steal from him.
Akwardly, Kisig spoke up after a few seconds of silence, "Uh, so Ling, we're sorry with what we've done to you. I hope you forgive us."
Still with narrowed eyes, Ling nodded and hummed quietly, then turned his full attention to Maga. He was not ignoring them. He knew that these boys were asked to apologize to him, so after receiving the apology, a week from that event, he had no cencern for them anymore.
"Well, I had to say you already got your revenge on us anyway with that attack in the alley." Kisig was irritated by the younger boy's attitude. He was thinking that he should still receive respect, being older with his age at seventeen to the other's thirteen. He was not being arrogant but, since he learned that his pretty face could get him through a lot of things, he was not used to being ignored.
However, he as well as the three other boys had a chill on their backs from the cold voice coming from the still turned back of the other boy. One clutched on the shirt of the other in front of him, hands also sweating as he remembered what happened in the alley before. Ling's hands stopped moving as he spoke, "I thought you were already done. Since the both us knew that you were only doing what you were told, then it was better to just ignore each other after this. Isn't that what you also want?"
The four were silent after hearing that. After a time, Kisig stepped forward with gritted teeth, thinking that he shouldn't be scared of this little kid. However, he was hindered by a hand on his shirt. Looking down, he just noticed that a sweaty hand was clutching the bottom of his shirt. His shirt was now wetter, added to his cold sweat.
So, after a glare to the other boy, he really managed to step forward this time and unwaveringly said to Ling, "Ok, I get that. And I really am sorry for what we did. Seeing it being done by other people doesn't mean we should do it too. But it was just one gem. I thought you still had more and you were going to get it, so I had to steal that one from you immediately before the others got you again. I mean, who would bring all their gems in that dubious market.
"Uh, so where are your other gems? Can we get some too? Where did you even get that much?"
Hearing that, Ling was devastated so he just mumbled incoherently, "They're all gone."
He never thought of not bringing all the gems to buy since the bigger ones were stolen when he left it in the boat they sailed in to get here.
"Huh?"
"I brought all with me so they're all gone!" Still feeling sulky, Ling shouted as he turned to glarile at Kisig, "Besides, why do I have to tell you?"
Kisig was shocked by Ling's reaction so he raised both his hands up in case the other exude his 'mist' again. "Sheesh~ Then, don't. Anyway, I was also about to ask you something since it doesn't look like you're too busy."
As the others continued talking, Maga became irritated. Because the scratching of its belly was stopped, it sat up to glare at the other boys too. The black figure sat up straight, a lot taller than the boy sitting beside it, making Kisig have his words stuck at his throat.
Earlier, he was going to ask Ling to 'help' them with their work, the work assigned to them as punishment, because he saw Ling carrying all those logs without looking tired. Now, he changed his mind when he looked up at the dragon. Then, he thought of something else before the dragon attacked them.
"Hey, hey! So weren't the both of you bored? Then, why not have this dragon act too?"
After that suggestion, the four standing bodies tensed as they heard the reply behind them. "That's a great idea, Kisig! Why don't you use that great mind of yours to help the troupe more?"