Paley felt light rain wet his hair as he followed Dillie and her mother into their house. During school, he considered making an anti-rain runestone, but he didn't because making runestones was draining and the weather was beginning to show signs of clearing anyway. He thought of the other orphans, hoping they arrived home safely as he entered the house.
The house had a lot of natural light thanks to its big windows and bright walls. He entered directly into the living room. There was a door on the right leading to the kitchen and a staircase on the other end of the room. Dillie's house was simplistic. Apart from the paintings of different landscapes, it was lacking in decoration, yet it had a cosy, welcoming atmosphere. He took off his shoes and found that the smooth wood floor was ever so slightly springy.
"You two go on ahead. We'll call you down in a bit," Dillie's father said to Paley as her mother whispered something in Dillie's ear that made her frustrated and blush intensely. Dillie scurried to Paley, still blushing, and grabbed him by the hand, taking him upstairs.
The second floor had three rooms: Dillie's bedroom, her parent's bedroom, and a bathroom.
"I need to pee. Wait for me out here." She said authoritatively and disappeared into the bathroom. Paley stood around for a moment before casually exploring the upstairs. He made his way into her parents' bedroom.
The curtains of the room were closed so he couldn't see much, but there was a large double bed with a small crib beside it in the centre of the room. He approached the crib and saw a tiny little baby sleeping under a thin, fuzzy blanket. It breathed so quietly and with such fragility that he couldn't help but wonder how it survived. He was also incredibly overpowered by its cuteness.
"Looks like you met Shenn." Dillie came into the room, drying off her hands.
"Nice name," Paley commented.
"My parents named him after my grandpa, so... Anyways, come on. I want to show you my room," She said and hurried to her room. Paley followed her into another simplistic room. There was a desk on which lay a bunch of crumpled papers, with more wasting away in the bin underneath, five small pencils, two halves of an eraser, and a full pen.
"What's all this?" He picked up one of the papers and uncrumpled it. To his surprise, there was an extremely detailed portrait of a vase with a small flower sprouting out of it, "You an artist?" He asked.
"I wanna be one," She replied, then lay down on her bed, belly down.
"You already are. This is so good." He complimented and began uncrumpling another one. This time it was a self-portrait of herself, though she looked much more mature and sexy.
"You think so?" She asked, turning onto her side, watching Paley unfold paper after paper.
"Yes. Well, to me, at least. The only thing I've ever drawn is an armless, goofy astronaut guy. And that was in school, so, you know." He turned to her, "Why did you scrunch them up?"
"Uh, I didn't think they were good enough." She sat up and fidgeted with her fingers. Paley sighed and showed her the vase drawing. "You really think this isn't good?" He asked, confused. Dillie shook her head.
"I mean, if *you* say it's good, then I guess I can think that, right?"
"Oh, I see. You've got a classic case of being too hard on yourself." Paley joked, "You have real talent. It doesn't hurt to sit back and appreciate it now and then. I've lost count of how many times I've patted myself on the back. " Whenever Paley finished training his magic, he would always create a hand with Earth magic and high-five it.
He looked around her desk and found a pile of blank sheets of paper.
"How about this?" He took one of the pieces of paper, a book, and her stationery, then sat down in front of her on the bed. "I want to be the first drawing that you don't crumple up, okay?" He handed her the stuff.
"O-Okay," She blushed awkwardly and prepared to draw him. When she was ready and looked up, she found him looking directly into her eyes, making her panic slightly. "I-If you look at me like that, I won't be able to concentrate."
"Really? Okay, how about this?" He shifted his gaze up.
"Actually, I think I prefer it when you look at me." She returned and began sketching. As she drew, the rain outside intensified, and it began to pour. The orphans should've been home long ago, so Paley didn't worry at all.
As Dillie began shading in Paley's portrait, her mother burst into the room expectantly.
"What're you two doing?" She asked with slight disappointment.
"I'm drawing him," Dillie answered and tried to hide the portrait.
"Let me see," Her mother walked over to get a look, but Dillie defensively held it close to her chest.
"It's not finished yet..." She was embarrassed.
"Come on, show me!" Her mother insisted and took it by force. She saw Paley's black hair and bright eyes (it was in pencil so she left them mostly white), but the guy on the drawing looked like some dreamy prince charming, smouldering intensely.
"Can I see?" Paley asked.
"N-No!" She took the portrait back from her mother, who now looked at her with a smug smile, "I said it's not finished yet..."
"Well, the snacks are ready, so we'll be waiting for you downstairs, alright?" Her mother pranced away in a hurry, and they could hear her, though muffled, telling her husband excitedly.
"We should go," Dillie took him downstairs, where they joined her parents at a short-legged table in the living room. There were four cups of steaming, pastel orange tea with a leaf resting on top. Apart from the cups and a large teapot, there were plates of snacks, such as rice balls with soft squid fillings and homecooked biscuits which were not to be dunked in the tea.
"Let us dig in," Dillie's father said and picked up one of the rice balls. Everyone else followed, Paley picking last out of politeness. The rice balls were delicious; the rice broke apart in his mouth, letting the squid out to melt onto his tongue.
"This is really good, Mrs Li," He said taking another one.
"Thank you, I'm glad you like it." Dillie's mother grinned, proud.
"Dillie, I wanted to talk to you about the ring." Her father's expression turned to one of guilt, "I... don't have enough money to enter the auction. It's fifty silver for just entry, and I'd already spent our money on today's groceries. Sorry." He bowed his head.
"It's fine. I'll just get it when I'm older." Dillie brushed it off, though she had a clear saddened look on her face.
"What ring?" Paley asked.
"An Awakening Ring. Have you ever heard of it?"
"Nope,"
"It's a ring that, when worn, opens the wearer's mana. Dillie's mana is in a locked state, so we've been thinking of getting one of the rings for her."
"A locked state?"
"Yes,"
"Dad, he lost his memory last year, so he doesn't know what that means," Dillie said.
"Is that so? A Locked state is a common condition among children. It means that your mana can't be bought out to do spells and stuff. But most of the time your mana opens by the age of 6. If it persists for longer than 10 years old, then you need to take action to manually open the child's mana. That's why we want the ring for Dillie. So that it can open her mana." Her father explained.
Paley was now confused. If most people could use magic, whether they had been in a locked state or not, why did he rarely see magic being used?
"When I'm walking around town, or even when I'm at home, I don't see people use magic." He asked.
"That's because most of us can barely use magic. We have so little mana that the most we can do is easy chores. If we had access to the resources that the nobility have, then maybe we could do more."
"Is that why nobles are stronger in magic?"
"Partly. Noble families come from strong mages, meaning that the Magic power travels down the family. That's why a lot of them marry into other noble families, and if a noble were to marry a commoner, it'd be the same as high treason." Her father laughed.
"Can you use magic?"
"Yes, I'm a Wind magic type." He pointed his finger and generated a small breeze with it. That's about all he could do, given that his Hijian clan, the Li-Ly Clan, was one of the servant clans since long ago.
"I see. So is that why a Quimnia is so rare?" Paley tried to ask subtly.
"Of course. Only about one in ten people get to be a Local Mage." (A Local Mage is a mage who uses their magic to run simple businesses with their magic e.g. a blacksmith) "An even rarer number, out of the nobles, get to be anything close to a King mage. And there are only a few Emperor Mages in the entire world. So a Quimnia... Their rarity is in the millenia. Heck, Manoha Buul lived like two thousand hundred years ago."
Dillie's father's words made Paley feel incredibly special and good about himself. After all, he was the fifth Quimnia in all of history. "This ring," He asked, "Is it being sold in this city?"
"Yes. An auction is going to start tonight, and we were planning on going to it. It's near the Lord's manor so it's a bit far. But, hey, anything for our sweet Dillie." Dillie's father smiled.
"So, Paley, what do you think about Dillie?" Dillie's mother asked, suddenly changing the topic, but the question didn't faze Paley.
"Hm?" He looked at her, and then Dillie, "I didn't like her at first, but she's nice." He shrugged casually. Dillie's parents exchanged a scheming look and leaned forward towards him.
"What do you think about marryi-" Her mother began, but Dillie shut her mouth with her hands. "Mom!" She yelled in a panic.
"Okay, okay." Her mother backed off, "I'll ask you some other time." She quickly added.
"No! You won't," Dillie shouted, frustrated.
"What do you want to ask me?" Paley asked.
"Nothing! Don't worry about it," Dillie changed the topic, "So, uh... Can I finish drawing you?"
"How about tomorrow? I should get going now." Paley stood up and bowed, "Thank you for having me, Mr and Mrs Li." His bowing made them shiver with glee.
"Would you like a raincoat?" Dillie's father asked as they followed him to the door.
"I'll be fine, thank you." He put on his shoes and went out into the rain, not putting up a barrier of Protection magic.
"Goodbye, Paley! Come over again some time." Dillie's parents waved as he disappeared behind a turn.