"I'm sure the people will be fine." Leon said trying to reassure her. Rin nodded but fear still gripped at her as she could only hold onto to her pouch for comfort. Thankfully when the pair pulled up the children and caretaker. Although all the children were crying, the worst of it was they were occasionally dirty with soot and smeared on their faces giving an unfortunate appearance. Rin hurriedly checked the children if they had suffered burns or injuries but they looked fine. Leon was the first to speak.
"Caretaker can you explain what happened here?" Leon asked in a mild tone. The lack of shock surprised Rin as she was finishing up with the last orphan. Mostly she gave candied fruit to soothe the throat and some water to wash away the taste of the smoke.
"It's the fields" the caretaker said with tears in her eyes. Leon peered closer at the swirling bonfire. Thankfully it hadn't spread to the outer courtyard but the bonfire had taken on a strange smell that drifted close to them. Rin handed out small cloths to block the scent.
"Careful not to breathe in the smoke, the herbs are quite bad in the smoke" Rin informed the crowd. The kids looked on in fear and followed obediently. As the bonfire burnt out Rin kept a close eye on the ashes that were slowly being burnt down, Leon kept an eye on Rin. Her face was completely frozen as she watched on.
Soon the burning heap collapsed in on itself. The caretaker and children had long moved far away, mostly to alleviate any fears that the children would suffer from inhalation of noxious smoke. Leon had stayed by Rin's side and placed in his hand on her shoulder.
"So long as the children are safe than we can cut our losses" Leon said reassuringly. Rin however shook her head.
"Whoever did this wasn't after the orphanage, they were most likely coming after us" Rin replied. Leon had already guessed this but the feeling of Rin staring blankly at the charred remains of their hard efforts, let alone the ability to feed. It cut Leon in his heart and made him bleed at seeing the deadpan expression on Rin's usually lively face.
A small tug brought Rin out if her thoughts, a moment a flash of rage and disgust covered her face but she covered it up such that Leon almost believed he never saw it. Rin faced towards the small orphan that had tugged her, a face that was desperately holding back years. The crowd of children all had eyes on her as Rin felt the weight of their expectations on her.
"Big sis, what do we do now?" the small girl asked her eyes had hope glinting in its depths. Rin glanced at them all and sighed.
"Is there anything left we can recover?" Rin asked. She already knew the answer with the smoke billowing into the orphanage and burnt remains of the herb fields. The caretaker shook her head.
"All our animals and all the fields have been burnt. We kept the money we saved but that means very little when we have nowhere to stay" the caretaker said with a heavy tone.
"If that's the case, the children can come with us" Leon said, interjecting over Rin's hesitant reapins. Rin looked in appreciation, the children were close to her heart. The children only kept quiet for a moment before they all cheered. Some were hugging each other while the caretaker bowed her head.
Rin however wanted to hurry it up, she felt a tickle in her heart at how the kids were but night was going to fall soon. Rin and Leon set out on leading the kids to the cart and lifting them all on one by one. Thankfully there was enough to squeeze them all on and for the three adults. Trundling along the road the children chatted and giggled amongst themselves as if the previous events never happened.
"Where do we stay when we arrive?" The caretaker asked. Her face creased together in worry as it wasn't easy to house twenty to thirty children on short notice. Rin however was back to smiling again, her face full of confidence.
"Don't worry" Rin said placing her hand on the caretaker. "We have cottage free for use. It might not be roomy but I'm sure the children can stay there for a night or two until we organise something else" the relief for the caretaker was quite obvious as she breathed out deeply and slumped her shoulders. Rin however wasn't ready to let her relax.
"Caretaker, do you know who came after the orphanage?" Rin said, after the anger had evaporated all that was left was curiosity.
"It wasn't strangers but the Brothers of the church" the caretaker said, her tone was Glyn as her head was bent downwards shaking her head as she recounted the events before Rin and Leon had arrived. Both Leon and Rin were shocked. Surely who would be brazen enough with him the church to set fire to their own place. Leon's face darkened considerably at the mention of the church being involved. He had long noticed that the church was involved with the orphanage but since there were no issues he didn't pay it any mind. However it had hit Rin's bottom line which was completely unacceptable.
Rin nodded as she seemed deep in thought.
"For now we'll have to leave this alone. Quite a few people still owe me favours so you won't be put out for too long. For the church...we will cross that bridge when it is time" Rin said. There wasn't much the other two could discuss further and the rest of the trip was quiet among the adults.
Arriving at the lot, Rin directed the children with the caretaker to the second cottage to live in for the night whilst Leon prepped the water for bathing, intently fanning a large tub of water for the children to bathe in. Not being used to seeing this much luxury the kids were squealing in delight at the bathing. Dressed in clean clothes that Rin had been slowly gathering from all the visitors that had come by the children went to the cottage to sleep. The bee was only big enough for the three of them and despite the insistence of Rin and Leon the caretaker refused to sleep on the need and leave it for some of the girls. The other children slept on the floor with blankets and pillows. The night ended as the adults were all exhausted. Rin invited the caretaker to sleep with her while Leon made himself comfortable on one of the chairs as he wrapped himself up in a thick woolen blanket.
Rin had never had a close human friend with her, it was hard in the past to relate to nymph's and other creatures in the forest despite being family. However when the caretaker slept under the same sheets the women talked endlessly through the night as they got over their initial awkwardness. Soon the pair passed while Leon was listening to them. Chuckling to himself they all drifted off to sleep.