After losing her husband, Li Yun only has her children now. Telling her to part with them is very much like losing her family all over again, thus Willow only said that she'd do so when the girl is much older knowing that the mother still won't be pleased. However, Willow knew it was necessary while knowing that Li Yan still requires parental guidance during such tender years.
Willow sighed, "It's too early right now anyway. Perhaps after she reaches eighteen or seventeen. For now, I'll try to be around her as often as possibly safe. What's important is that she doesn't use her abilities again. Using her ability will give away her location and that goes for the rest of us too. What she can use is a little bit of magic..."
Li Yun looked at her in surprise. So, this was what she did back in Beijing. To Li Yun, it was a little unexpected that Willow had prepared so much when she and the kids arrived at the hotel.
Willow on the other hand knew what the woman was thinking. Instead, she sighed and went over to the other room leaving the woman to think things out on her own.
.....
When Willow entered the group's room, Rain was the first to call out after noticing her in confusion, "Willow! How come you never told anyone about the little girl being a demigod? It's understandable about us, but Belen as well?"
Belen shrugged, "It doesn't matter. But, she's too young to follow us."
"She won't." Willow responded, "She'll be staying with her distant relative."
"Her distant relative?" Mitra raised a brow.
Willow nodded as she sat in one of the stools in the room with a weary sigh, "That boy isn't her brother. He's her second cousin."
"What?!"
They looked to her in shock as she said this. However, Willow continued, "She's living with her distant relatives."
"But, I thought." Mitra was at a lose for words.
Willow shrugged as she continued, "The majority of her immediate family have been massacred by Serah and her siblings. Her father's uncle was the one who saved her before they could find her. She's been living with her father's distant relatives, since then."
And she'll be taught by her aunt This was something Willow kept to herself. After all, she bore no grudges towards a child that knew nothing of her or could bear grudges against Willow. So, what was the point of targeting her. Of course, her brother's cousin isn't a fool, so Willow will have to keep her distance still.
"At least, she didn't fall into their hands too." Hannah breathed a sigh of relief after hearing this.
Grin with the green hair now revealed and green eyes frowned, "But, the remainder of her family are gone and her distant relatives are human. With Serah after us-"
"She and her family will be staying around me." Willow responded, "I'll be caring for them in the mean time."
"You?!"
They stared at her in bewilderment as Belen simply raised a brow, "How does this benefit you?"
"Me?" Willow shrugged, "I'm only curious about the child. Also, if she had not talked about the souls here, I wouldn't have given much more thought about the matters between the gods. Consider it a favor in return."
"But, as payment for seeing souls?" Grin shuddered at the word but still looked on with a lost look on his face.
Noticing something off, Rain frowned, "If it was something this big and special to you, then why take care of her for now?"
"What do you mean? You don't know yet?" Willow raised a brow as she repeated the sentence her teacher had told her with her arms folded across her chest, "'Not all gods can see the dead, much less their demichildren. More over, this isn't her ability. It was her innate talent inherited from her mother. Also, how many in this world knows magic that doesn't have anything to do with their ability?"
"Hecate is the goddess of magic or witchcraft." Hannah nodded, "But is there that few? From the way you say it, it seems to be."
"I don't know." Willow shrugged, "But, I've been told that there aren't many known, much less the books to learn from. At the moment, I have access to some with me and, with her thirst for knowledge, can you make her stay with you forever?"
There were looks of confusion and disappointment when Willow mentioned this.
"Of course not." Belen responded for them unhesitantly, "Like I said, Li Yan is a child with an adventurous mind. She's already shown the greed to know more just as her mother does. It won't be long before she decides to satisfy her thrist for knowledge by leaving one day. You could say it's in her blood. But, there could be more people out there later on."
"Who's to say that they don't just want to take advantage of her?" Willow responded with a sighed in exasperation, "She's young and her guardian is still new to our side of this world. It's not hard for them to fall victim to a scam. I'll watch over them and teach her magic she can do at the moment."
"There's a lot of people like that?" Hannah looked to her in confusion.
Willow shrugged, "Since when was it said that people live through out their whole life without hardships and deceptions? We have good people and bad people. Then, we have those with different shades of gray. For the time being the three can live at my place for now."
"At your place?" Hannah raised a brow.
Willow yawned as her eyes grew heavy, "Yup. I can't just stay on the streets, right?"
Belen raised a brow as Willow continued, "Anyway, the place is small, but they can stay there."
She then fished something from her pocket and threw it at Rain, "There's some money for you. Check before you use it recklessly. I heard from Aki that those people at the bank he was at are a little weird..."
She smirked, "If you know what I mean..."
Rain's eyes widen in bewilderment, "That many? But, how is this possible?"
Willow shrugged as she leaned back against the bleach wall, "Gods have been around for hundreds or thousands of years, even if some are against the idea of having children outside of their personal relation with their celestial partner, doesn't mean there's none here. So, why should this be surprising? What you should be worried about is any of those pursuers from America coming after you."
"Pursuers?" Rain frowned.
Seeing his reaction, Willow furrowed her brow, "You can't mean that you didn't think of it? Not all demigods were manipulated by Elijah. Not all of them have to be under him either. If I were you, I'd keep a low profile. You're wanted after all. They'd do anything to get you guys."
"Then, what about my mother?!" Hannah gasped in shock.
Willow raised a brow, "Do they know of your relation with her?"
"Elijah did." Rain responded with a frown, "He used a disease on her when he intruded their place."
"Where is she now and did something like this happened before?"
"After she left the hospital, she said that she was going to travel for a bit before we left." Hannah responded, "To my knowledge, that was the first time that happened."
Willow yawned again wearily, "She's smart. No worries. She knew what was going on and left before anyone can come after her. Knowing that you were on your way too, she probably didn't feel that worried about you. If not, she'd still haven taken you else where to hide."
"Then, she'll be fine? You're sure?" Hannah looked to her in confusion.
Willow shrugged, "I've never met her personally, but the fact that she survived raising you by herself already tells something of her capabilities. If you really want to live with her, then you might have to have someone strong with you. You're ability is a passive one against an opponent by the looks of it. So, you'll have to wreck your brain more than your muscle to protect the people around you with your ability."
After much thought, Willow continued, "So, what are you going to do now?"
Rain thought for a bit before replying, "I wonder if there are more demigods in the government."
Willow sighed, "Why do you think Serah and her siblings got away with murder on the Li family?"
Mitra nodded, "If they can do this, they it goes without saying that either they have more people there or they can hardly do anything before they're that strong."
"That's already pretty bad." Grin said nervously as he looked up to them from the children playing on the bed.
It was easy to see who had more brain than brawn in the group as Willow watched them with an amused smirk. It was her first time being around another demigod, but more so around those that see themselves as something similar to heroes.
"Since this is demigods in office," Willow yawned, "I bet not all of them are as motivated about this affairs of the humans trouble. I you think about it, it'd only be strange now that the human population has suffered so much damage, but they still didn't do anything."
"What do you mean?" Hannah looked to her in confusion.
Willow shrugged, "Don't put much thought into everything spread around. Rather be careful of what rumors you hear. Even if not all of them are true, they have a source."
They continued to look to her in confusion to which Willow yawned again and sat up with a stretch, "Ok. I'm getting tired now. Anyway, be careful because there's two other demigods in this city."
She turned to the little girl and called out to her, "Li Yan, it's time to go to sleep!"
The little girl who had been playing with droopy eyes looked up with a tired nod, "Uh."
Willow turned to the boy, "What about you, Yang Wei?"
"I want to be with Big Brother Belen." He responded selfishly.
Hearing his name, the guy nodded with a sigh, "I guess he won't leave me alone again?"
"That's right." Willow responded, "I'm taking Li Yan to the girl's room. Make sure you watch over him then, Big Brother Belen."
As Willow picked up the sleepy girl and walked out of the room, Belen raised a brow and turned to the bird pecking away at the rather soft peach to which Harper responded with a tilted head, "It's a casual way of referring to someone older than them and are fond of. You didn't know? The children has been calling you that the whole time since I was with you guys."
Surprised, Belen raised a brow and looked to the boy. Hannah smiled seeing such a cute scene. Sadly, the boy was busy playing the drawing game with Grin on a notebook. For some reason the boy insisted to want to use English to answer them according to Harper.
Seeing her walk away, Mitra spoke up, "She looks awfully tired..."
Hannah nodded quietly in concern, "Do you think she was reading the entire time? Just what was she reading, though?"
Rain raised a brow and turned to Belen who shook his head in response. Harper was the one to answer for them, "When I found my lady, she was learning from a descendant of a demigod."
"A descendant of a demigod?" Lia raised a brow in confusion.
Harper chirped, "Not all celestials are all right with having children outside of their own marriage. But, that doesn't mean that there are no demigods of the Chinese culture. The majority of them are descendants of demigods from long ago. Her teacher was no different."
"Who is this teacher?" Rain questioned with a raised brow.
"Who knows." Harper ruffled his feathers, "He's rather knowledgeable though, but who knows when he'll kick the bucket like his predecessors."
"There's such a thing?" Mitra said curiously whilst shaking off the rude words of the pigeon, "How long has she been learning from him?"