After our encounter, Ayune would come by every morning to help us with chores. I mostly ignored her and went on my own, but she'd always come follow me. She even brought her wolf with her.
"I'm pretty surprised Ivan and Moku get along. 'Cos you know, dogs and cats usually fight," Adrien said to me.
"Is that so..." I said while washing the dishes.
Adrien kept eyeing me, "Bro, you need to loosen up! Why are you so... ugh? Like you're scared or something. Is it because of Ivan?"
I froze.
"No way," he gasped," You can fight off giant spiders, but you're scared of a puppy?"
"That PUPPY is GIGANTIC. You weren't there when it ran up to me... its eyes locked onto me like I was a chew toy...it almost ate me. I swear I almost died," I demonstrated a sponge gnawing on a baby spoon.
"Ppppwahahaha, Bro you're so funny!" Adrien was teary eyed, laughing his guts out.
He sighed a relief after his laughter left, " So you're scared of dogs. That's okay. You'll get used to Ivan, kinda like how you warmed up to Nada and Moku."
I finished the dishes and started to leave the kitchen.
"Heading to see Nada and her babies?" he asked.
I nodded.
"You don't have to visit her everyday, you know. No matter where we are, she's here watching all of us. Sometimes, the best we can do for those who left us, is to live on for the sake of living. That's what life is for. To live just to live even if we end up dying in the end, because that's what living is," he told me.
"Sometimes... living isn't enough.. I do this not for them, but for my sake. It's selfish, but... for me... it's not enough to just live. I need to do something for the lives lost, the lives that are broken, the lives wasted.. used... forgotten... Traces of their life, reminds me that, there's so much more we can do than just live," I said heading to the garden.
"Geez, bro, should I call you grandpa now? Aren't you like 13 or something? That was complex," he giggled.
The halls were quiet, but as soon as I walked into the green room, I noticed I wasn't the only one there.
Urgh... Why are they here right now?
Ayune was in the garden digging up vedgetables with Deeno and Avery picked berries with Cita.
It's fine, just ignore them and go.
I convinced myself to continue my visit and grabbed a watering can.
All I could hear were the laughters of Deeno and Ayune as they worked.
After I finished watering the flowers, I took the carts of vedgetables and fruits to the kitchen to be washed and stored away.
"Thanks!" Ayune yelled out to me as I disappeared into the dark hallways.
I spent the whole day sanitizing and putting up repellant stones throughout the church. I was setting the last stone into the wall
"Looks like I'm going to need to make more repellant stones than I expect-" I could hear a faint scrambling and thumping from the hallway into the room I was in. I felt a gust of wind aim a strong slam onto my shoulder. I steadied my breath and swung my right hand towards the neck until I recognized its face.
If I didn't have fast reflexes, I would have accidentally kill her.
"Whatcha doin?" she asked.
"What," I sighed," Do you have to come in without any warning?"
"Well, I did knock. You just didn't hear me," she said.
"If I didn't hear you, then all the more reason why you shoulda said something!" I yelled out.
"What're you talking about. I did. Just now," she said.
"Not like that! Like a normal person!" I said.
She frowned and said, "Mm...I didn't really want to bother you or break your concentration."
"Huh?! So you just come in here not saying anything?!" I grumbled annoyed.
"Hey.. I know you don't like me, but... Do you.. Do you really hate me?" she asked.
"What?" I asked iritatedly.
"Do you hate that I'm here? That I come here like everyday? I said I was sorry about Ivan... And Ivan is innocent! He's just a puppy.. I come everyday to help around as an apology, but it's also because it's really fun being around you all! I thought maybe you were just being a little salty since that day, but everyday you ignore me and-" tears started rolling down her cheeks," it just feels like you hate me being around you!"
In all my life, I had never seen a girl cry in front of me, except Mom. So when I saw her face, it shook me. I never had to comfort anyone other than Zeon. When Cita or Deeno cried, I'd sing them a song to sleep. It never failed me once. But when they were sad, I wasn't really sure what to do, so either Avery or Adrien would step up from there. "You need to learn more people skills," Adrien would say.
I was silent. I didn't know what to say to her or what words she wanted to hear.
"Why.. Why aren't you saying anything?!" she took a deep breath," Fine! If that's how it is!" Ayune stomped away.
"Ah, you leaving? It's a little late, would you like me to walk you home?" Adrien asked.
"No thanks," she said.
"See you next week!" Deeno waved his tiny hands.
"It's raining so take an umbrella with you," Avery handed her a red checkered umbrella with a blue bird keychain.
"Thanks. Bye everyone!" She didn't turn around or smile. She just left with her back facing me.
But after she left, Avery looked at me, disgusted," Did you say something to her? She was crying."
"Eh. Bro. Did you make her cry?" Adrien asked.
"You must have! You know what. I've been tired with your act! You've always been quiet and hardly ever talk! I didn't really mind it since there isn't much to talk about, but Ayune! All she wanted was for you to acknowledge she was here! She worked hard to gain your apology! For what? A dog? PUH-LEASE! If that's all it takes for you to be an antisocial jerk, then get out!"
I never heard Avery talk so much.
She was always quiet towards me and chattery with the others. "All she wanted was for you to talk to her! Is that so much to ask for?!"
"Woah, woah. Avery calm down," Adrien held her back.
"You know you've been ignoring her ALL. THE. TIME. What's up with that?! She's such a nice person!"
"AVERY!" Adrien yelled.
"Avery, I'll talk to him. For now, go cool down and take the kids to bed."
Avery bit her lip and took a last look at me," Stupid jerk!" she yelled.
Adrien sighed deeply.
"Bro, if you keep this up, you'll lose your chances with women when you're older."
"So. Would you like to talk to me about it? Maybe somewhere a little more private? And with snacks?" Adrien asked, pointing to the door to the garden.
"So, what happened?" he asked.
"I just said she should tell me if she was in the room. She startled me while I was putting up the repellant stones. You know how dangerous it is to wander the house and about my magic thing? It's not just used for healing. I can hurt someone too. At that time, I thought she might've been a spider or one of the beasts that Varen warned us about. What if I had accidentally hurt her?" I said angrily.
"Did you tell her that?" he asked.
"No." I said annoyed.
"Good. The people here don't believe in magic. They've never seen magic. And if they have, they'd ridicule you, accuse you of witchcraft, or worse, turn you in to the witch hunters. But you should tell her though, about how she could have gotten hurt by the spiders and how you almost attacked her. Let her know about your concerns. And also. Why have you been ignoring her?" he asked.
"I'm not ignoring her. I just have nothing to say." I said.
"Really? Well, you should at least say a little something even if it's a 'Okay' or a little hello here and there. Something like that would probably be enough to let her know you heard her," he said.
"I'll.. think about it," I sighed," Can we change the topic now?"
"Sure. What do you want to talk about?" he asked.
"Were you apart of some sort of witchhunt or something? You seem to know a lot," I said.
"Yeah. Me and Avery were. We went to the same school. Remember I told you about us being able to use some magic? Well.. We didn't really know we had magic. It just happened all of a sudden. We were riding on a bus for our field trip when a glowing light lit up the bus on fire. We didn't know what happened.
Soon after, a bull beast hit the bus and it exploded. Luckily, officials were nearby and escorted us to the fieldtrip. We were going to be skiing, but then the same light glowed up. Seconds later, an avalanche had hit the town nearby. It was empty since there was an early evacuation warning.
The classmates in Avery's group had claimed they saw Avery glow with the same light. It was only a rumor, but then most of the school started to bully her. No one was even hurt. But then one day, I saw her getting bullied by upperclassmen. They each had a weapon and threatened her to apologize.
Apparently one of the students that went to the nearby town that got avalanched on, was the upper classmate's girlfriend. She wasn't hurt obviously since the teachers caught her on the road. But the upperclassmen weren't going to let that down. Just because of a rumor, they decided she was worthy of pain. And when one of them was about to land her a blow to the head, the light glowed.
No one was hurt, but the students were shocked and engrossed with the thought of her suffering. So they started to kick her. I was shocked, but I jumped in to stop them. Unexpectedly, light came off of my body, too. 'Ah, so you're one of them, too huh' one of them said. And they kept kicking us until Father Varen came and stopped them.
Our parents had died in the recent war, and our relatives didn't want anything that had to do with us, so Father Varen took us in. When everything seemed fine, on our last day of school, everything was ablaze.
Many students died in the fire. Only a few students survived. Me and Avery included. With harsh accusations, they followed us everywhere, until Father Varen was appointed to this church."
"I see..." I said.
"Is that all you're going to say?" he laughed.
"What else is there to say?" I asked.
"Normally people would ask if we're okay or something."
"But you are okay now. Both of you are. That's why you can smile and laugh so much like this."
"Heh, you got a point there. Well, even if you understand a situation, you should still build up your people skills. Think more about what to say and how to say it. Gain more interest in the other person and just be you. It probably sounds like a lot to do, but trust me, it'll soon become the most natural thing you do," Adrien said," Now, let's head to bed. Don't forget what I said and talk to her okay?"
" 'Kay."
It was still raining since yesterday. It was getting really late and I had forgotten to get the mail.
I heard a familiar whimpering.
Hm? That umbrella with the blue bird. The figure was heading towards me at the gate. Ugh. That hairy beast. Why is Ayune out here so late? She's wearing a backpack. Is she going somewhere? I thought she said she was coming back next week.
"It had to be you.." she mumbled. Her eyes were puffy and red. She was trembling.
"Hey.. I know you dont like me and Ivan, but.. please. Will you let us stay over for a while?" she asked, sniffling," Please?"
"Come, you're welcome always, remember?" Varen said," Geez, Zeth, you're no good with women are you."
I gulped down a shame I never knew. Why do I feel so guilty even though I didn't do anything?
Right. It's because I didn't DO anything, or even said anything either.
She had put her backpack in Avery's room. It was the first time she was staying overnight.
"Here." She gave me a fluffball.
"You're a jerk, but I'm not so petty I wouldn't share food with you. Unlike you, I talk to people and care about them," she puffed up," Here, have some more."
Maybe.. she isn't so bad.
"I'm sorry about yesterday. We have spiders in the church, and I thought you were a spider, so I was worried I might've hurt you if I didn't stop myself."
"Ew... You kill spiders with your bare hands? And you thought I was a spider? There is no spider in the world that is as big as a human," she said.
"Well, there ARE such things as giant spiders. We saw them the other day and he killed 'em all." Adrien said.
"Eh. You? The one who's scared of puppies, kills giant spiders?" she asked, squinting.
"That's what I said," Adrien laughed.
"Sorry to interrupt, but Ayune, I'd like you to help me contact your parents so I can let them know you're here," Varen said.
"Okayyyy!" she said.
An hour later, a melodic chime rang and a women with straight brown hair appeared at the door
"Ayune! How come you never told me sooner!" the tall slim woman said.
Ayune just stood there, looking at the floor.
"Let's talk about this tomorrow. For now let's sleep," the lady rolled a suitcase into the living room.
"Yune Mommy sweep here too?" Deeno asked.
"Mhm, that's right," the lady patted his head.
"So, which brother is Zeth?" she asked.
Deeno pointed at me.
"Hm.." She walked across the hall to me.
"Mom!" Ayune called out.
"You! We need to talk," the lady said to me.