The morning breeze blew, swaying branches while rustling the lush leaves of the tall trees overhead.
It was still early in the morning. Most of the villagers were still sleeping except for Gale who was standing watch and a few women who were preparing breakfast.
After Yu was well enough to travel, the group of villagers left the cave. It had been slightly more than a week since they fled from the village. They believed that the bandits would have left the area by then.
They decided to head North towards the nearest town. Without a map, they relied on Gale and Edward's knowledge of navigation. Information from traveling merchants that used to pass by their village was also helpful for their journey.
The meager supplies that they had haphazardly brought along during their escape were almost exhausted. With the help of Gale who hunted and Edward with his knowledge on plants, they somehow managed to survive with the sustenance from the forest.
Yu sat under a tree and watched the swaying treetops from underneath. His hair that barely touched his shoulders swayed in rhythm with the branches above. His mind wandered to the things that Edward told him during the past four days.
He was currently in the Ulfvidr Forest. The forest was derived from a language from a fallen kingdom which meant Wolf Forest. According to legends, a young king from the fallen kingdom once saved a wolf cub which then became the Wolf King in the forest. To repay the favor of the king, humans were granted safe passage through the forest since then.
It was, however, just a legend. Nobody knew if it really happened. After all, the forest harbors many dangers and there had not been recent news of humans meeting friendly wolves. There were no sightings of wolves in the forest in recent years as well.
Inhaling the fresh forest air, Yu felt himself invigorated. He was brooding over the fact that he could not remember anything. The fresh air somehow made him feel slightly better. He just has to take it slowly, as Edward said. The latter told him that his memories should return eventually and that it is quite common for people to forget traumatic experiences.
Yu gingerly touched the leather collar on his neck. It was the only personal item he had besides the clothes that he wore from that night. He noticed that he touches the collar whenever he felt uneasy. Somehow, feeling the collar resting on his neck gave him reassurance.
He stared at his left hand. It had an old, ropey scar that stretched from the edge of his palm, diagonally along his forearm and ended at the base of his forearm. Its color was almost the same as the rest of his skin albeit slightly darker. He flexed his wrist and watched the scar move along with the muscles underneath. He then rubbed it and thought about the possible origins of such a large scar.
"What are you thinking about?" A cheery voice sounded, alerting him from his thoughts.
Yu turned to see Elise looking at him with her waist slightly bent sideways and her hands behind her back. Although initially shy, Elise quickly warmed up to Yu. Besides her father checking on his condition, she was the one that helped him most with his bandages. Their interactions made them familiar with each other.
Besides, Elise felt sorry for Yu's current memory loss and tried her best to keep him company and cheer him up. She would gladly answer his questions and tell him stories about her village to bring him up to speed about the world through her eyes.
Yu flinched as his action accidentally stretched the scab over his wound on his waist.
"Ah, I don't mean to startle you," Elise smiled coyly.
Yu just shook his head.
"Right, it's that time of day again. Time to change your bandages," Elise clapped her hands together.
Yu nodded.
Elise sighed. She got somewhat used to Yu's silence but still wished that he would talk more. She began removing his bandages.
"Did you sleep well last night?" she asked.
"Yes."
"Really? That's nice, I couldn't really sleep. The insects were loud last night. How do you feel today?"
"Good."
"That's great. How good?"
"… good."
Elise sighed inwardly.
'He's giving these one-word answers again,' she thought.
Elise really wished that he spoke more but she did not mention it to him. She wanted to give him space to settle his thoughts.
The wound on Yu's side was healing nicely. The redness had mostly receded. Elise was amazed at such speed of recovery. She thought that it would at least need a few weeks for it to reach this state.
"Your wounds are healing nicely!" Elise said cheerily as she reapplied medicine.
Yu nodded. He remembered Edward telling him that his wound recovered faster than average. He observed his hands again. A pair of hands tell a lot about a person, according to Edward.
Yu still could not wrap his head around Edward's conjecture that he was trained in the sword, judging by the calluses on his hands. Edward had told him when they were alone because he did not want to startle the villagers.
What if Edward was wrong? What does sword training had anything to do with faster regenerative abilities? He did not raise his doubts before because he was digesting every bit of information given to him.
Truthfully, if Edward was right and could discern this much just by looking at Yu's hands, Edward must be more than a simple villager. Yu glanced over at Edward. The latter was rousing the rest of the villagers.
Feeling Yu's gaze, Edward looked back and smiled with a slight wave. He saw Elise focused on applying the medicine and did not bother her. He smiled warmly with pride.
However, Edward did not tell Yu everything that he knew. Besides all the physical wounds, Yu suffered from internal injuries inflicted by magic. If it were another village healer that had stumbled upon Yu, his life would have been lost.
Edward had used some of his own magical energy to heal Yu's injuries. It had been over more than a decade since he used magic and it put a great strain on his body. He held his hand up and it shook slightly. His face was also slightly pale, but none of the villagers noticed it.
He had his reasons for concealing it from Yu. The biggest reason was that he did not wish for others to know about his magic. It was related to his past and he did not wish to bring it back up.
"Gooooood Morning!" Eugene popped in front of Elise and Yu.
Yu and Elise stared at him speechlessly.
"Aw, come on! Why the dreary faces? It's a bright new day and a new day for an adventure!" Eugene said boisterously.
"You seem to be adapting to this really well. Oh no, I think 'having fun' would be the appropriate word," Elise said sarcastically to her foster brother.
Eugene's shoulders drooped.
"Can't you see that I'm trying to lift the mood here?" he said with both palms out in front.
"Shoo. Go away. You're disturbing us," Elise waved her hand.
Eugene cleared his throat.
"I have something to announce today. From today onwards, I shall be called Gino instead of Eugene," he said as he placed his hands on his hips.
"Huh? Why? Are you discarding the name that father gave you? Besides, why Gino? Wouldn't Gene make more sense?" Elise asked, puzzled.
"No-no-no, you've got it wrong. I will be sixteen in a month and will soon reach adulthood. As adults, we get to choose our second name," Eugene/Gino said proudly.
"For the other question: Gene sounds like Jean. That's a girl's name," he continued and grimaced.
"No, Jean can both be a girl or a boy. And where does that bogus claim about adulthood come from?" Elise retorted and crossed her arms.
"Do I look like a Gene or a Jean to you?" Gino asked and crossed his arms as well.
"Maybe a Genie," Yu said softly with his deadpan face.
Elise snickered.
"Oh, come on, brother. Cut me some slack, will you?" Eugene/Gino held his arm over Yu's shoulder.
"Alright, Gino," Yu said, a corner of his mouth rose up a little.
"That's my brother!" Gino grinned and ruffled Yu's hair.
Elise saw the scene in front of her and felt slightly jealous.
'Why does Yu respond to this idiot but not me?' she grumbled internally. Then, a thought suddenly appeared in her mind.
"Oho, I think I know what this is all about," Elise grinned mischievously.
"What?" Eugene asked.
Elise turned to Yu instead of answering Gino.
"You see, there's this thing with Gino. He has never won an argument against me, so he tries to make it up by pulling the older sibling card. This time, he even tries the adulthood card," Elise said with one hand by her mouth, pretending to whisper.
"Wha-- Hey! Don't feed nonsense into Yu's head! Yu, it's not like that. It's because my father, Elise, and I have names that start with the same letter. I just want to be different," Gino said hurriedly, trying to persuade Yu to his side.
"Aha! So that's why," Elise gave a sly smile.
"Hmph, so what? Don't try to change the subject here. Who said that I've never won an argument against you?"
"Really? And when, pray tell, was the time that you won?" Elise taunted Gino.
"It's that time when I was ten, by the river behind the village..."
The two foster siblings continued to bicker about who won in their past arguments. It was mostly stories from their childhood. They were so engrossed that they ignored Edward who called out to them for breakfast. Yu, watching the scene in front of him, felt warmth blossom in his heart. The world felt peaceful.
Edward sent little Isla in his stead to call over the three who were engrossed in the bickering.
"Sister Elise, Brother Yu, and Brother Eugene, it's time for breakfast!" Isla said.
"Ah, little Isla. You're here. From today onwards, call me Eu-- I mean Gino," Gino said.
"Eu… Gino?" Isla asked.
"Yes, you're right!" Gino nodded.
Isla blinked a few times to register the information.
"Alright, Brother Eugino!" Isla beamed and ran off to the other villagers.
"Huh? Wait, Isla!" Gino called out to Isla, but it was too late.
"Everyone! From today onwards, Brother Eugene will be called Brother Eugino!" Isla announced to all of the villagers.