"I'm sorry, Marie. But I can't tutor them anymore!"
"Please, Miss. You're the only teacher in this village. You know just as well as I, the value of literacy in this world. Can you please do it for me, your oldest student?" Marie Reva responded while enlarging her eyes to appear pitiful.
The aged woman before her sighed and responded, "Look. It's not that I don't want to teach those twins. It's just that... How can I put this lightly... maybe the path of literacy isn't in their fates?"
Marie lowered her gaze dejectedly and turned towards the subjects of the discussion. Hiding behind her, were two fraternal twins, both of them at 6-years of age. Due to their young ages, they appeared as split images of each other; both had piercing blue eyes and curly brown hair. Yet, their distinctive characters separated them.
The boy guiltily slithered behind his bolder sister and shrunk his body. The girl puffed her chest and put on a brave and adamant front. She would appear cute, if not for the many bruises and scrapes along her arm and legs, as well as her dirtied clothes.
"Kano tries. He really does. I've seen him read the practice texts again and again, yet he faces difficulty each and every time. He ended up memorising the whole text in the end, but he still couldn't read it. Writing was even worse! Look at this page," the woman retrieved a scrap paper and displayed it in front of Marie.
"Here, look at this! He wrote the same letter in three different ways within the same sentence. I made him write it ten times as practice, and he corrected it. But when he had to write another word with those letters, it's the same story all over again!"
"And he barely talks! How can he get rid of his stutter if he doesn't talk out loud? He murmurs all the time, and his sister has to broadcast it for him."
With an exasperated grunt, the woman continued, "Don't get me started with Dora! That girl can't focus, at all! Look at her!"
The woman pointed at the culprit, who was crouching down and playing with a few ants crawling in front of her. The girl jolted her head in attention and retorted, "It's not my fault!" She exclaimed without thought.
"See? She doesn't even know what we were talking about. What's worse is that she doesn't think twice before going up in arms. Sometimes I can't tell if she's a boy or a girl!"
"I didn't do it for no reason!" The little girl explained. "They were making fun of Kano. I couldn't just do nothing!"
"Girl! It's his fight, he must handle it. If you're always the one to bail him out, how can he grow?" The woman retaliated.
"But..." yet before Dora could respond, Marie grasped her by her shoulders and gently applied pressure. Dora took the hint and kept mum.
"Is there really no other way?" Marie pleaded once again.
"No. There are so many other kids in this village depending on me to teach them. I can't afford to give them special attention. Besides, I'm doubtful whether it will even work," The woman resolutely denied Marie. "I think they might find more success in pursuing different avenues. Now please leave! Gramie said that there's a powerful travelling soothsayer set-up near the village centre!"
Marie sighed and left. She grasped the hands of both the kids and left the woman's house, which also worked as a makeshift school in Twilight Village.
As the trio walked back to the orphanage, Dora spoke up in a quiet voice, "Sis, I'm sorry."
Marie patted the girls head and consoled her with a firm tone, "Don't apologise! You did the right thing. No one messes with our family! I would've given those brats a few hits myself if you hadn't."
The little girl chuckled in response, but this only sent the boy into a deeper spiral, "It's all m-m-my fault."
Before Marie could say anything, the boy rubbed his teary eyes and rushed up the stairs leading to the orphanage.
"Sigh. This kid... I should let the matron know..." Marie muttered to herself.
"Sis, when do you think big bro Markus will come back? I really miss him," Dora asked.
"He just left a few months ago, right? We have to be patient, Dora. He's trying to follow his dream, and we should support him. If I'm being honest, I'm actually a little jealous of that brat. I wish I could become a mage," Marie replied.
"Why don't you?"
"Are you kidding? I'm so old!"
The Dora counted something out in her little fingers and spoke up, "But you're only... two years older than him."
Marie responded with a factual and sorrowful tone, "They say that the older you are when you start learning magic, the harder it becomes to advance. Markus was at the right age, I missed my chance. It would have been a waste of money if I-"
"Are you leaving us again?" Dora interrupted Marie with another question.
"Huh? Yes. I'm planning to take another trip. The Maynard's Merchant Caravan offered me a finance manager's position for their upcoming lap. This one is much longer than the last job - a year."
"You're going to be gone for so long?" Dora exclaimed with a pout.
"Now, now! We barely managed to cover Markus' admission. What about the upcoming fees? I have to do this," Marie instructed right as they arrived at the orphanage. She then squatted in front of Dora and continued, "I need you to be more vigilant! It will just be you, your brother and the matron. Don't trouble her too much, OK?"
Dora nodded obediently. Marie smiled and added, "Now, let me go find you brother..." while walking away.
Dora waited until Marie was out of her line of sight and then swivelled her head in place cautiously. Once she made sure that no one was around, she tip-toed towards the woods behind the orphanage while carefully holding her bag.
She travelled deeper until she arrived at a clearing. Like a bountiful oasis in the middle of a desert, the clearing stood out like a sore thumb amidst the dark and towering forestry. There was a single tree in the middle of a pleasant and bright-green coat of grass dotted with a plethora of colourful flowers and herbs.
Unlike the other trees in the forest, this one was special. For those with trypophobia, the sight of its trunk, which was decorated with irregularly sized holes, would induce severe aversion and disgust. In fact, the trunk itself was hollow.
Dora skipped up to the tree and called out, "Fancy!"
Through one of the holes on the tree, an elegant insect, with a thorax the size of an adult palm, gracefully fluttered out. The insect, Fancy, looked much like the swallowtail butterflies from Earth, except the pattern on its wings were more colourful, intricate and fluid.
Fancy skipped through the air, like a leaf in the wind, and landed in front of Dora.
"Look what I brought!" Dora started and carefully reached into her back. She retrieved a large box from with and placed that on the ground. She reached in and pulled out a flower with large orange petals, with its roots intact.
"I found this today near the village, and it reminded me of you," She used her hands to dig into the soil and proceeded to plant the flower.
"You wouldn't believe what happened today. Durkas called Kano an idiot in front of everyone, just because he couldn't read a paragraph out loud. I was so angry that I nearly picked up my bag and threw it at him. But then I remembered that I had the flower inside. So, I took Kano's bag and threw it at him. But who knew that Kano had a bottle of ink inside it? The bottle blew up when the bag hit Durkas and he was completely covered in black!" Dora chortled out loud as she carefully tapped the dirt around the flower's stem.
"There, done!" She then inched back and looked at Fancy expectantly. "Do you like it?"
Fancy fluttered her wings as if expressing an affirmation and fluttered over the flower. As she moved, a fine powder sprinkled from her wings around the flower. As the powder settled, the flower started to bloom brighter as if it was injected with a direct dose of vitality.
Dora clapped her hands and then lay down in front of the flower on her stomach. She supported her head on her hands while taking a deep breath.
"Haaa. Marie is leaving in a few days. Soon it's just gonna be me and Kano, all alone. Just like before..."
Fancy landed on another flower next to Dora. Surprisingly, the flower didn't bend under her weight.
"I miss Markus. You know big bro Markus, right? He went to Radiant City to become a mage. Do you know any mages?" Dora gazed at Fancy, expecting an answer.
"That so? Why do they attack you on sight?"
"I guess... Then do you know any strong beasts in the forest? Markus said that he wants to become a mage to protect us. Here's what I'm thinking. What if we become friends with some strong beasts in the forest? They could protect everyone at the orphanage, and the Markus wouldn't need to leave?"
"What do you mean they're dangerous?"
Dora scrunched her face in disgust, "Ewwww! That's disgusting! Wait a minute, why haven't I seen any monsters around here?"
"What's mana scarcity?"
"But I remember you saying that there was an overabundance of mana in this clearing. Shouldn't this attract more monsters?"
"Woah! You're that strong?"
Dora giggled and continued talking to Fancy.
As the sun started to set, Dora bid Fancy farewell and skipped out of the clearing. Once she exited the boundary, the area began to flicker as a fog of power rose up from the soil. As the fog thickened, the scenery changed to match the rest of the forest. It was almost as if the peaceful and tranquil clearing never existed.