Reyland smiled and got up. He motioned for Hyreona to follow him. Seeing that he told her to come, she walked along a little behind him.
A couple minutes later, they reached the orphanage where Ballard and the head of the orphanage waited.
Coming up to those two who were waiting at the entrance, Reyland got their attention and introduced Hyreona.
"This little girl here is named Hyreona. She can't speak our language and I can't recognize it either. She's the girl Ballard told you about." Reyland patted her shoulder.
Hearing her name being called, Hyreona looked up with confusion.
The orphanage lady crouched down to Hyreona's height and pointed at herself. "Edith."
Hyreona gave a small smile and did the same.
"Oh my! She sure has an unique accent." Looking up and down at Hyreona, Edith exclaimed, "What a very pretty little thing! I'm sure that she will cause a commotion with the town boys."
Ballard agreed with Edith. "She is very beautiful indeed. I just hope that no one tries to take advantage of her..." Ballard's statement caused all three of them to nod heavily.
The town was generally a safe place filled with good people, but anywhere that people lived, there would always be at least one person with bad intentions.
"Ah, come in! Come in! Let's see if we could ask her some simple questions about herself using pictures." Edith hurried them in.
The orphanage was a decently big building that lied close to the center of the town. Inside, there was a spacious room where about 20 children were playing in.
In the back of the room, there were doors probably leading to their bedrooms, bathrooms, and/or kitchen.
The walls were painted in bright colors and the windows were lined with see-through curtains. It gave off a warm and comfortable feel.
When Hyreona was brought in, all the children became hushed and stared at her, stopping whatever they were doing.
Some of the children started whispering to one another.
To the other kids, her appearance seemed enchanting yet strange at the same time. Her hair was unusual but she was the most beautiful person they had ever laid eyes on.
"Woah... who is that girl?" A girl with freckles said. "Her hair is white..."
"Is she going to live with us?" asked a boy with strawberry blonde hair.
"I call talking to her first after the headmaster is done!" Another boy said. "No I will do that!" A different boy retorted.
This erupted into an argument among the little boys.
While that was going on, a small girl who was 9 years old silently glared at Hyreona.
She had long, wavy, chestnut brown hair, pale skin, pink lips, and a small face. If one saw her, they'd say that she was a pretty little lass.
But her looks compared to Hyreona's was like comparing an ant with a mountain in terms of size.
Before Hyreona came, she had been the one the boys argued over (some).
Even her crush, Damien, a 10 year old boy with dirty blonde hair and a handsome face, looked towards Hyreona with glittering eyes.
He was actually the Baron's son whose family ruled over the territory they lived in. Damien comes to visit the orphanage to play with the other kids there every couple of days.
He had never shown interest in any girl including her until today.
The girl bit her lip in anger.
'Why must that white-haired dog come to our orphanage?!'
Hyreona, looked over to where the other kids were. She saw them start to argue with one another and spotted a girl who was glaring at her.
Lightly shrugging her shoulders, she turned her head back to the front and just kept following along the headmaster and middle-aged men.
She couldn't care less about what the other kids were saying as she can't understand them anyway.
She subtly smiled and thought, 'What strange people they are. I wonder if everyone is like this?'
The headmaster lead them to the office in the corner of the room.
The walls were engraved with soundproofing runes so that the people outside could not eavesdrop.
Once the headmaster closed her office door, the orphan kids burst into discussion.
"Did you see her? She's so pretty!"
"I wonder what her voice sounds like."
"Her hair is so weird! It looks just like the snow!"
"I think her hair is really nice though."
"Me too!" "Me three!"
"Damien what do you think?" All the kids looked towards him.
Damien, who suddenly became the center of attention, scratched the back of his head, slightly embarrassed.
With his neck and ears turning red, he awkwardly said, "I-I think she's really beautiful... ahaha..."
The kids witnessing Damien showing the same reaction as the other boys, were surprised.
The Damien, the baron's son who wasn't interested in any of the girls before, is now becoming red and complimenting one.
"WHAA! DAMIEN LIKES THE WHITE HAIRED GIRL!" everyone cheered. Some of the kids even began to tease him about her.
But there was one girl who was fuming in anger. 'How dare she! How dare she steal him!'
Another girl noticed her clenching her fists. "Hey Clarissa, are you jealous that she's prettier?" the girl jeered at her.
Snapping out of her thoughts, Clarissa returned back to her usual smile. "N-No I'm not... I think that she will be a very nice person!" Clarissa said through her clenched teeth.
While all of this was going on, the people in the headmaster's office sat down with Hyreona in the middle.
The headmaster brought out a large standing orb and placed it on her desk. She motioned for Hyreona to place her hand on it.
When she did, the orb glowed a white light before disappearing a few seconds later.
The headmaster began to write things down on a piece of paper. "I see. So she is currently 8 years old and specializes in water, wind, and ice magic. Three elements?! What a peculiar combination too... It's just as if she's like one of those creatures in the forest."
The orb was made to identify people. The magic inside the orb would quickly flow through the contacted body to determine the age, race, and magic specialization.
It was one of the most crucial tools when running an orphanage.
"Does that mean she's actually a frost beast?" Ballard asked, a little tense. She did just suddenly pop out of the forest.
The headmaster immediately shook her head. "No, no. She's definitely a human, but it's just that her specialization would match those of the beasts."
Hearing that, both men gave a sigh of relief. It would typically be ridiculous to think that a person could actually be a beast, but it was just that her magic combination was highly unusual.
The headmaster then put the orb away, she took out a map and a picture of a house.
Pointing at the house, the headmaster said slowly, "H-o-m-e?" Then the circles the nap with her finger. "Wh-ere?"
Hyreona slowly repeated those words several times and looked at the nodding headmaster. 'Ah, she's probably asking me where I live.'
Hyreona nodded her head when the headmaster repeated the word home.
When the headmaster asked where again, Hyreona pointed to the middle of what looked to be the snowy forest. Seeing Hyreona point to the forest, Edith became confused.
She repeated herself again and Hyreona pointed to the same place. Hyreona then loudly exclaimed with a big smile, "Heau-ome!"
Edith looked at the two men. "It seems that she came from the forest. And that's where she lives."
Both Reyland and Ballard widened their eyes.
"Isn't that forest covered in snow all year round? Isn't the forest also really cold?" Edith nodded.
"Isn't it also swarming with magical beasts?!?" She nodded again.
"I don't know how she survived while in that forest for this long, but she definitely is not normal like the rest of us." Edith added and the men sighed.
"Hyreona looks like she's fine living in that forest. I don't think we should have her stay here since this is not where she's comfortable." Edith said.
Reyland butted in. "But if she were to stay here, she would learn our language much faster. Plus, she could get to know the other children."
Edith shook her head another time today. "Reyland, does she look like she has no place to go? We can't just make her stay here if she already has a home to go back to."
She brushed back her gray hair on her forehead. "I believe that it's best if she just comes and visits when she wants to. Something tells me that she's going to come often."
"Alright Edith. If you think so then it must be accurate." Reyland resigned.
With a smile Edith said, "Well it's settled then. How about we introduce her to the kids and teach her our language? We can teach her slowly and let her play with them whenever she does come."
The three of them all looked at each other and nodded in agreement.
Hyreona was looking at them with a confused expression the entire time.
Getting up from their seats, the headmaster ushered them out of her office while lightly holding Hyreona's hand.
She gathered the kids and had them all sit down before placing Hyreona in front of her.
Clearing her throat the headmaster said in a semi-loud voice, "This is Hyreona. She is 8 years old. She came from nearby and still currently lives there so she will not be living with us."
The expressions of the kids became dejected.
"But, I bet she will be visiting frequently. She also does not know how to speak our language, so I hope that you guys can help her with it. I hope you all can get along well with her!"
Finishing her announcement, Edith lightly patted Hyreona's back and beckoned the other kids to come up and introduce themselves to her before walking back into the office to monitor them.