I opened to see three heads peeking at me from the top of the crib. Let's just say, I woke up with a startle. It took some time for my eyes to adjust to the light. It was Jeremy, Diana, and Anna. They had huge smiles plastered onto their faces when I stared up at them. Anna reached over and picked me up. I knew she was being extra gentle because she looked really nervous when carrying me.
I looked over to see Arthur's bed empty. It was as messy as every morning. He never woke up earlier, so this was a first. Arthur must have been excited. We usually never get guests here and it was the first time a guest had slept over at our place. I wondered where they slept since there wasn't enough space to bring in five more people out of the blue. We all walked towards the living room to see mom sitting on a chair, talking with my dad. They were both smiling, so they were back to normal.
"Mama, hi." It felt nice talking. I thought it should be alright since I said 'mama' back in the woods.
Everyone stopped at what they were doing and stared at me. Was it that surprising that I talked? I heard a small squeal from mom and saw her coming to me, slowly. She was still hurting from the way she was walking, but it wasn't that bad. She was way better than before. She must have healed herself before. Mom gave me a weak smile as she got closer to me. I could see the pain through her smile. I don't know if she should be up at all. She needed more rest to heal up better.
She took me from Anna and gave me a tight squeeze. I could feel her struggling with pain as she kept on holding me.
"Alex called me mama back in the woods, too. You should have seen it." She gave me a kiss and smiled again.
"No fair. Say dada, Alex." Dad pouted and walked over to us. "Please. Dada. Da-da."
How many times was he going to say it? Wasn't that embarrassing for him, especially in front of everyone?
He started to put his bottom lip out and gave me the puppy eyes. I guess he really wants it.
"D-da. Dada. Dada!" I had to make sure I was struggling just a bit.
"Ha, that's my son, people!" He was definitely proud. I silently groaned in embarrassment.
"Hey, are we still going today?" It was from Aston. He looked towards dad for an answer, but dad looked towards mom. He must have wanted mom to have a say since she was the one who was hurt. She was healing herself with the hand that wasn't holding me.
"I'm fine. I just need to heal myself just about four more times and I should be fine." Mom, then, thought for a second. "What about all the stuff that was lost during yesterday night? There was a lot of food."
"Don't worry about food. We are loaded." The guy, the only one I didn't know the name yet, spoke up.
"Are you sure it can support us too?" Mom was always worried about all types of stuff like food, water, and all other necessities that are important. She was the type of person that was always prepared for things.
"Of course!"
"Ok, I'll go pack." Dad stopped mom from leaving. Dad must be worrying about mom's injuries.
"No, I'll do it." He didn't wait for mom's response and went off.
My mom turned back to us and just shrugged. "I'll go help him." She handed me to Diana and went off towards their bedroom.
Jeremy went towards Arthur and offered a hand. Arthur hesitated before giving his hand probably because he was shy. We all went outside.
"Ok gentlemen, ladies, and kids, we are going to have a fighting competition. Anyone could challenge anyone, except the baby and the boy." Aston took a breath but just as he was about to continue Arthur interrupted him.
"Hey, no fair, I have been learning how to fight with dad," Arthur shouted out. Arthur had been training since yesterday, so he must have wanted to show off what he learned in one day. Aston looked at the other and everyone gave him a nod.
I didn't really care. So I closed my eyes and leaned towards Diana. I started to train, but I didn't want to stand out so I made it look like I was sleeping.
"Okay, so Arthur is in. So who wants to go first?"
I was trying to concentrate, but it was kind of hard with all the talking.
"Me." It was from Arthur. "I want to go against you." I peeked to see who Arthur was pointing to, Aston. Aston bowed and welcomed him towards the ground they were planning to fight. Arthur ran and stopped when he reached the ground.
I opened my eyes. I couldn't concentrate that much because of the noises so might as well see the fight.
When the fight started, Arthur charged at Aston with both of his hands out in a pushing position. Aston just stood there, watching Arthur charge at him. Just as Arthur was about to push him, Aston dodged to the right by stepping. To my surprise, I don't know if it was Arthur's instincts, but just as Aston stepped away, his body turned and hit Aston. The push wasn't hard enough to make Aston fall but Arthur made contact. Everyone gasped when he did that. No one expected a total beginner to do that.
Aston rose his hand in defeat.
Arthur crossed his hand and made a proud smile.
We all started to clap for him.
"So what's with all this clapping?" It was my dad. He must have finished packing and came out because of all the noise.
"Arthur won against Aston."
"Really? Good job son." Dad went over and picked him up. Dad threw him into the air five times and put him down. From the way of Arthur's laughs, he really enjoyed it.
"Weren't you packing?"
"Val kicked me out saying I'm useless when I'm packing." Dad's head went down and sighed.
The competition went on till it was sunset. There were several interesting fights. I found out that Diana and Jeremy were mages. Jeremy was a fire mage, while Diana was a water mage. Galtero, Aston, and Anna were swordsmen. Galtero was a dagger master, Aston was good with a long sword, and Anna was good with a Katana.
"I'm done with packing and dinner."
"Coming!" Everyone was in sync when they shouted back.
We all went inside and ate. Everyone was chatty, especially mom. It was as if they knew each other for a long time. The women would always look at me and Arthur and talk about us.
"So Arthur, how much do you love Alexander?" That was my second time hearing my full first name. I look at Arthur to see what he would say.
"I love Alex this much." Arthur extends his hands as far as he can. Everyone looked in awe as Arthur stretched out his hands.
Once we ate, we all packed our bags and went out of the door. It took us a while. Mom had packed a bag for each of us so in total, we had four bags that we had to take to the carriage. Everyone helped out as much as they could. Mom and dad locked the house and walked towards the carriage. Once everyone got into the carriage, we all started to go toward our new home in Flores.