Friday, 25th March 1453
I was the only one that was left behind after the conspirators had left the grounds nearly a week ago and all around me was a mix of boys and girls that were aged between 4 to 8 years old. This group of boys and girls were here in the Orphanage between 2-4 years of their lives after they were being sent here by their nosy neighbours, or were picked up from the streets. Some of them were even kidnapped and they do recall a thing or two especially during meal times when they were eating with forks and spoons…!!! Right now, no one was here to make claims of the children and the only one left right now was me, being the eldest and shouldering the responsibility of taking care of the children with the coins that I had salvaged about a week ago,
*KNOCK*
*KNOCK KNOCK*
"Big Sister, someone is knocking on the main door… I am too short to peep from the keyhole and I think there are about 3 of them outside, one is wearing black coloured clothe and two others are a boy and a girl. Maybe they are coming here asking for some money or food. They looked like they come from the neighbouring churches…!" one of the boys went to answer the door but was told to peep through first to see who was coming. I was just cautious if the late Matron does have regular visitors coming for unsuspecting visits et cetera.
"It's all right, you all go on ahead to the kitchen and prepare the rest of the breakfast. Let me handle this." I replied as I wiped my hands on the apron and walked over to the main door and slid the peephole sideways and saw that 3 people are waiting outside the door. From the looks of it, the one wearing the hooded robe had the face hidden but from the contours of the body, it looked like a woman. The other two was a boy and a girl and they looked like siblings to me. They both had long, nice silvery ash grey hair. The girl had two braided pleats while the boy had a short ponytail. Both were wearing a clean pair of clothes, with matching two tones of green.
��Who is it and do you need anything?" I asked since I knew that the late Matron does not have this kind of visitors before that looked like they come from some noble families. "Uh, hello there. My name is Mystic Windtalker, and this two are JR and Amy. We are here to give a visit to someone named Kristobel. May I know if you are Kristobel?" The lady shifted her hood a little and I could see that she was about 30'ish and had beautiful eyes and a clean complexion. She looked like an angel and I could not help but to remove the horizontal beam across the main door and place it aside as I slowly pulled the main door inwards. "You must be Kristobel…your friends came to me and told me about you and your plight and we are here to render our assistance to the best of our capabilities." The hooded lady that called herself as Mystic Windtalker introduced herself once she had entered through the door. She then outstretched her hands and tenderly touch mine and I had never been touched by another woman like this before and I quickly pulled my hand away. "I am sorry…" that's all I could mutter right now.
"Hello there, Kristobel… My name is JR and this is my twin sister, Amy. You can call us JR and Amy for now, no other honorifics like Sir or Ma'am et cetera. We are just common folks like you too, you know."
"By the way, how many children are you managing right now?"
"Is there a place where we can have a private chat?"
"What are the children doing now?"
"Are you in the middle of something important right now?"
"What's that smell coming from the kitchen, are you cooking?"
"Eh…Where are the children? Are they out in the streets collecting alms or selling flowers like before?"
"Could we go to the kitchen and see what you are cooking?"
"We can also help you in the kitchen, can we?"
Both JR and Amy was bombarding me with questions one after another and before I could answer any of the questions, both the boy and girl scrambled forwards and ran through me and were looking for the orphans inside the Orphanage. With their heads held high, they seemed to sniff the air and the boy pointed towards the kitchen and said, "Over there…! Amy…! The kitchen…! I am sure the children are cooking up a storm in there. Hahaha…Just like old times, eh?" The girl then laughed and held her two braided pleats to the side and ran together with the boy towards the kitchen.
"Kristobel…Let's talk here since there are no other people around that would interrupt us in any way at all. You know what I mean when I said 'your friends' were the ones who relate to me everything that they knew about you to me? As you can see, I too have a way to communicate with animals, just like you too. I am a Priestess and others possess other innate skills that are waiting to be awakened or had already awakened since."
Just then a family of grey mice scampered across the floor and came to rest at Mystic Windtalker's feet, and were squeaking at her and then scampered off to where they had come from.
I laughed when I heard what the family of grey mice were squeaking about as I too could understand them even if they do not communicate with me directly. "So, as you can see, Kristobel, we both have the same abilities and I have a solution to your predicament. As you see, they had told me about the conspirators and about what they had done about 5 nights ago."
I was shocked…! I was wild-eyed and my mouth suddenly went dry as I knew that those rats may have ratted on me…! I wanted to run away as far as possible but the towering bulk of Mystic Windtalker was somewhat blocking the path that I wanted to flee at this moment…!!!
"Relax…I know that you do not have a hand on these murders and I am sure the Rat Clan have already taken care of the bodies in the adjacent dining room. Have you taken a look yet to see how the progress?" Mystic Windtalker highlighted to me since she might have known that the rats all had taken care of the carcasses and had left only the white bones in the dining room where the Matron and her goons were bludgeoned to death 5 nights go.
"Err… No, I do not dare to go into the other room. I do not know how to clear the place too. I wish I could lock the private dining room forever. Fortunately, the smell was there for like only one day and one night and then the stench disappeared altogether without a trace." I explained as I remembered placing a bunch of garlic on a hemp string over at the door to ward off evil, I suppose.
"Kristobel, we are here because we have something in mind. But if we invite you over to our academy, the children would not have anyone to take care, am I right? Haish… Then let me explain to you slowly. As you can see, our academy is called Okinwarry, Academy of Wizardry. It is a school that was set up by our founder, Audemars Macleod and his wife, Heather Macleod, that specialises for people like us; people with innate abilities that needed to be protected from the 'unawakened' ones. You know what I mean?"
Mystic Windtalker explained to me slowly as I listened and tried to make sense of all this. Furthermore, I had not met with anyone else that have these so-called innate or special abilities and I am sure that I am not the only one who people thought is crazy and would stoop down to talk to cats and dogs, as well as occasional birds, raccoons, squirrels, rats and mice. I thought that it was NORMAL AFTER ALL…!!!
"So, as you can see, our academy functions both as a school, a boarding house and also a training ground. As you can see, it is a place well suited for people like us, don't you think so? Besides, I am sure that our founder, Audemars Macleod would be able to think of something to convert this Orphanage to be a better one rather than letting it rot. There would be more orphans in the future and this place would be needed to house them. Would you like to come and visit us at the Academy so that you can see for yourselves there?"
What Mystic Windtalker was saying at that time was true since the Orphanage needs to be administered by someone who would be able to run things in a more proficient way than letting a teenager with no experience running it.
The idea of going to a place where there's a proper place to study and learn new things, make new friends and also a place to stay was also enticing for me since I longed for a proper place to develop myself. I had learned the skills of thievery and I would be able to ply the trade once in a while. Furthermore, it doesn't hurt for someone to lose a coin pouch and a few coins, am I right?
"There is something that I need to discuss with you regards to the children and this Orphanage…" I raised my head as I looked at Mystic Windtalker in the eye as I counter proposed.