Lee was looking at his little friend in awe. The way she was talking and behaving reminded him of his dead grandmother. Her voice was calm and comforting, exactly like his grandma, although her voice was raspy. He stopped listening to what she was saying when she began using difficult words. But when a man named Jin asked a question, he was slowly brought back to reality because he cut off her beautiful voice.
"Do you know faeries that live in the territory of Minazuki? Specifically, where the current head lives?"
"Are you talking about the Himawari No Kaze?" Pari asked. She knew a person who knew about the faes that lived in the area of a head where it's the safest place to live.
"Is that the name?" Jin asked back. Himawari no kaze meant sunflower's wind in Japanese. The name sounded perfect for the one that lives in the sunflower field!
"If we are talking about the same faes, then it is." Pari answered.
"Okay. Can you give us information on them? We think they hold some answers to our questions." Rin asked.
"Of course but, I'm afraid I do not know about them well. I heard that they are the last of air fairies and they like being hidden. The head of them only shows up at the annual meeting of fairies once a decade. Apart from that, I do not have much information that I can give you."
"Wait, they are air fairies? I thought they were earth fairies." Rin spoke and almost jumped up but, he stopped and mumbled to himself.
"It's their way of protecting themselves." Pari told them. A century ago, when she attended the meeting with her head, she met the head of Himawari No Kaze at the meeting and, that was when she discovered they were air fairies. Since they lived on land and were very secure, many things about them were just rumours and not true. "Air fairies are told be the weakest of our four kinds but, still, they are valuable. That's why they have been hunted and hidden from losing more." She had a sad face when she said that.
Pari's tribe was also targeted for the hunt and, many were caught but, since the heads of Natsuki and Fumizuki, put them under their direct protection, it has stopped. And that was the reason why she and her people would be a shield for them in return. That included Minazuki and Mutsuki since they were with Nagatsuki and Fumizuki.
"Pari, how old are you?" Lee had come up close to his fairy friend and asked her. He didn't know that his friend was actually two hundred and fifty years old. He had been listening to the talk around him ever since Castor spoke and, he picked up things he didn't understand. Wasn't his friend a little older by him by her appearance?
"I am older than your grandma, Lee." Pari answered. She felt guilty keeping it from her young friend.
"What?! You are older than grandma?! Grandma is one hundred and fifty years old, Pari! How are you older than her?!" Lee was shocked. His grandmother looked like she was in her fifties, yet the fairy in front of him looked like a ten-year-old. He didn't know anyone older than his grandmother existed. Then he remembered how Pari has been more like a mother than a friend to him.
"I was born way before her." Pari told him with a chuckle. His expression was cute and, he looked like an angry jellyfish. His face and ears were slightly red.
"No way!!" Lee gaped.
"Yes way." She told him. While everyone was paying attention to the two, they weren't focused on one particular girl in the area. Alek. She was also surprised by the confession. If Lee's grandmother was a hundred and fifty years old, how old was the fairy in front of them?
"Umm, excuse me, can we carry on with the conversation?" Rin asked. He needed to know more about them.
"Sorry." Pari apologised. "Lee, I will talk with you later."
"Okay." The boy pouted his lips and kept quiet.
"Sorry, Lee." Rin apologised to the boy too. The boy just nodded his head and sat on the leaf while crossing his arms over his chest. They knew he was not in a good mood.
"Yeah, anyway, I can bring you to the person who knows more the tribe than me but, I first need to inform my people about your visiting." Pari told them.
"How long will it take?" Jin asked.
"Maybe you will be able to meet him tomorrow morning." She replied to him.
"Tomorrow morning?! We would be leaving!" Alek exclaimed from behind them as she stood up. Her mother had told them they would be leaving tomorrow and, it would most likely be in the morning.
"Can it be faster?" Jin asked. They would miss the chance to meet that person.
"I don't know but I will try." Pari told them. "If I come up with any update, I will inform you."
"How?" Alek asked. Jin asked. They didn't have mind-link and, he was sure she couldn't just show up anywhere she wanted.
"Water. I will rain this place for a few seconds and, that is my signal. As soon as you see that, I want you to return to this place, and I will take you." Pari spoke after thinking for a while. With her powers, she could rain the place for a few seconds.
"Would the rain be unusual?" Rin asked. "We are literally under a river that is flowing above us."
"We cause rain every two weeks to keep this place moisturised. That's why trees and buses could grow here. The rain is caused by us, fae for return for protection. Also, my people would know who is raining and why so it would be fine." Pari told them.
"Okay." Rin spoke.
Pari nodded. "Meanwhile, you can enjoy this place. I need to inform them right away." With that said, she returned everyone to the place in the forest before they went into the water.
"Woah..." Alek lost a grip and fell forward to one of her cousins, who luckily caught her. "Thanks, Jin."
"No problem." Jin replied and helped her stand on her own.
"I will be taking my leave. Excuse me." Linett-Parisa bowed before she disappeared into the thin air.
"Woah... Where did she go?" Rin asked. He saw her flying and, in the next second, she was gone. Nobody answered his question because all of them knew where she went.
"So. Lee, we came actually looking for you." Alek got closer to the boy and adjusted herself so that she and he were on the same eye level.
"Why?" Lee asked. He was still a bot mad to Pari.
"Because I wanted to see you again." Alek answered honestly.
"Really?" Lee beamed his puppy eyes at Alek. He was happy that a person came looking for him. His family, apart from his grandmother, didn't really care if he went alone into the woods or he got hurt. He was basically left alone. The house was, most of the time, empty and plus, his grandmother lived on the edge of the territory and not the underground where most lived.
"Really." She replied to him with a smile.
"I'm so happy!" Lee jumped up and down and, it made the three people smile.
"So Lee, I wanted to ask if you know good places to visit in this place." Alek was still squatting in the same position.
"I do!" He stopped and answered her. He forgot about his anger towards Pari.
"Could you take us there?" She asked softly.
"Of course." Lee immediately took Alek's hand. She stood up and, he began walking once she was up. "What is this?" He asked when he felt the girl's hand not human. It was as if he was holding a mummy's hand.
"These are called bandages. It is helping me to heal of injuries I got." Alek answered. She didn't realise some parts of her palm had bandages from the wrist.
"What happened?" Lee asked. The boy was concerned.
"I'm... clumsy." Alek didn't want to get into how she received them so, she told him what she was. Clumsy.
"I'm sorry." Lee spoke.
"Thank you, Lee." Alek told him and, they looked at each other. Alek squeezed his hand a little and, Lee did the same while he smiled.
"Come!" Lee suddenly pulled Alek and started running through trees. Jin and Rin were not prepared but, they followed them nonetheless. "Here is my secret spot!"
The boy halted when they were met by the big cave in front of them.
'Ow.' Alek felt a twig of pain in her right foot but she kept it at bay. The pain wasn't that bad. It was bearable.
"Come in." Lee let go of Alek's hand and walked into the cave. The three of them followed him slowly and, as they got closer, they saw drawings on the walls. They were drawn with white chalk and, it was childish. These included dinosaurs and flying cars. It was obvious that it was Lee who drew it.
"Follow, follow, follow me!" Lee waved his hands and skipped into the deeper parts of the cave.
They followed and walked to where Lee was taking them until Lee told them it's here. There was a space in the cave, unlike any other place. It had several candles and, Lee was lighting them up skillfully. He looked like he was used to it. Once it was lit up, they could see the space more clearly. There were more drawings on the walls. It had several big stones in the middle that looked like seats and a table.
"Welcome to my secret living room."