Throughout the next week, Paley spent most of his evenings training rigorously. He trained his body on Mondays, Thursdays, and Fridays, training his magic every other day.
At school, the nobles continued to push him around in the corridors. There was one instance on Thursday when he went to the toilet during lunchtime, and they locked him in, thinking that it would make him miss the last lesson of the day. He burned the makeshift wood lock they put on the stall and made his way to class, where he saw them, furious that he was there.
It was irritating, but there was nothing he could do about it. Adimia told Madella about this, but she advised Paley to stay away from the nobles. Inside, he wished that she permitted him to beat them up, but he knew that touching a noble would brand him as a criminal as it already has.
Though, there was one thing that he could do. Magic duels are a way to settle certain matters. They mostly happen to win money or to settle personal matters. But it was a fleeting thought because there have been a lot of instances of nobles using underhanded tricks to win, and Paley doubted that the nobles at school were any better than those before them.
It was Friday now, and he put those thoughts aside, meeting with Dillie after school and taking her to the Illitoran restaurant everyone wanted to go to that weekend.
The restaurant was named Chibodi and sat at the end of a big, mostly empty street. It had two floors and large windows looking into the fancy interior. They walked in, taking in the calm and cozy atmosphere as well as the rich fragrance of Illitoran cuisine. Chandeliers and floating flames lit the restaurant with warm orange light.
The floor was made of a reflective dark wood and the walls, though mostly windows, were made of clean grey stone. There was a cylindrical aquarium in the middle, hosting a variety of fish inside. There were white square tables with soft chairs tucked under them. A few people were dining in the restaurant, but it was mostly empty. Most people preferred going to Chibodi at night.
"Welcome to Chibodi. How can I help you, sir and ma'am?" A waiter behind a big counter called them to the right of the entrance, clicking his pen. He wore a fancy suit but with no tie.
"Can we make a reservation for tomorrow?" Paley asked.
"Of course. A reservation for two?" He glanced from Paley to Dillie and back to Paley.
"No, uh... 13?" Paley turned to Dillie.
"12. Babies don't count, right?" She asked the waiter shyly.
"No," He shook his head.
"Okay then, reservation for 12, please," Paley said and took out a bag of coins.
"12 people? Are you celebrating something?"
"No, not really. We just want to eat some good food. We heard this place is excellent." Paley tried to butter the waiter up and succeeded.
"Well, you heard right." The waiter smiled, "You know what. I have a discount that I can give you. Would you like it?" He took out a small strip of paper.
"Yeah, that'd be great."
"What's your name?"
"Paley,"
"Full name?"
"I don't have a full name. I'm an orphan."
"Okay... That's difficult, but I doubt that there are any other Paleys in Gouon." He finished writing and turned to a blank page in his reservation register, "What time would you like the reservation for?"
"9:00 p.m."
"Perfect. All done! That'll be five silver coins for the reservation."
Paley seemed annoyed that it wasn't in gold coins. He sighed and put the bag of coins away before taking out five silver coins from his pocket. He gave the waiter the money and left with Dillie after thanking him.
"Did you compliment the restaurant to get the discount?" Dillie asked as they flew to her house.
"Yeah. He seemed enthusiastic about his job, so..." He replied. They both watched the city below with its ant-like people. Compared to the world, Gouon was minuscule. But it was their home, though Paley's home was a dozen minutes south of Gouon.
"I'm glad I met you, you know?" Dillie said, resting her chin on his shoulder.
"I'm glad I met you too. Where's this coming from?"
"I don't know. It's just that ever since you came into my life, I've been happy all the time."
"Okay, you're stretching it a bit."
"I'm being serious." She embraced him from behind warmly as they flew, "I really am glad I met you."
Paley fell silent. It felt strange to him; to be important to someone. Before he knew it, he became an integral part of the orphanage. Their days were no longer complete without Paley, and he wasn't whole without them. He found a family. And Dillie became a part of his life too.
"You know that day that you were off school because of some family business?" He said.
"Yeah?"
"I missed you. A lot more than I'd like to admit." He looked back at her. She pulled away slightly, blushing intensely.
"You did?" She asked.
"Yeah. I walked home with my family. All I could think about was how used I got to drop you off at your house. You're a great person to talk to, Dillie." As he finished that sentence, Dillie began to burn up from all the compliments.
She wanted to say something but ended up just hugging him tightly. They spent the rest of their flight in silence until they landed at her house.
"Alright then, I'll see you tomorrow night." He waved and walked off.
"Paley," She mumbled under her breath as he neared the end of the street, "I love you." She wished she could've said those words out loud to him, but her heart was going crazy just from thinking about it.
"I heard that!" Her mother suddenly exclaimed from behind her, running into the house, "Honey! Dillie's in love!" She called for her husband.
"Mooom!" Dillie ran after her.
"What did you say!?" Her father tumbled down the stairs.
The next day, right after training in the evening, Paley flew to Dillie's house while Madella and the orphans walked to the restaurant. He wore a plain turquoise shirt with lightweight beige pants. Dillie wore similar clothing; a long-sleeve yellow shirt with white pants.
Her parents went all out. Her father wore a tuxedo, and her mother wore a white blouse with a black skirt.
"Are you okay?" He asked, noticing that Dillie was slightly uncomfortable. Though, he failed to notice that her parents were grinning from ear to ear and bobbing up and down in excitement.
"Let's just go," She said, hoping to the Moon that her parents don't say anything about her confession the day before.
"Alright. Are you going to be able to carry Shenn?" Paley asked, pointing to Dillie's baby brother in her mother's arms.
"Of course!" Her mother replied.
"If you say so." Paley walked closer to them and swished his fingers upwards, making them all suddenly take to the air. Dillie's parents screamed, and her mother dropped Shenn as she flailed in the air. Luckily, Paley swooped down and caught him, taking him back to his mother.
"I did ask you, Mrs. Li. " He said and flew them all towards the restaurant.
"I didn't think you were going to do that!" She shouted, "Also, you can call me Shun!"
"And call me Hiruyo!" Her father added.
"Okay." Paley looked back at Dillie, who laughed at her parents' antics. They arrived at the restaurant where the orphans had gathered. Madella came and greeted Dillie's parents.
"Hello! I'm Paley's mother." She said with pride.
"Nice to meet you! Madella, right?" Shun and Madella shook hands after she gave Shenn to Hiruyo.
"Yes, and you?"
"Shun Li."
"Hiruyo Li," Dillie's father introduced himself, putting on a tone of formal masculinity.
"And this is?" Madella pointed to the peaceful baby in Hiruyo's arms. Despite being dropped out of the air and flying at relatively fast speeds, he was quieter than a rock.
"This is Shenn," Shun said, caressing his little head.
"Awww, he's so cute!" Madella felt like squeezing his tiny cheeks, "Let me introduce you to my children," She walked over to the orphans, "This is Teerom, Jurie, Adimia," She grabbed his shaved head; he liked it when she did that, "Reben, Bacha, Rauba, and this little troublemaker is Amasha."
"That's a lot of names to remember." Hiruyo strained himself to memorize all the orphans' names.
"Shall we go in?" Paley asked.
"Of course," Shun and Madella answered. As they walked in, Jurie noticed Dillie holding onto Paley's arm.
"Look at those two lovebirds," She whispered into his ear.
"Who?" Teerom looked around agitatedly.
"Right there, idiot." She slapped the back of his head and pointed to Paley and Dillie.
"Ohh, look at the way she's holding his arm," He put his fist up to his mouth.
"I know right!" They jumped in excitement as Paley talked to the registration waiter.
"Paley, right?" He asked, already registering his reservation.
"That's right,"
"Go on inside. Jeila will show you to your table." He motioned them to a short waitress, who bowed and began walking toward twelve tables put together for all 12 of them, right next to the aquarium. The restaurant was more packed now, there were about fifteen people scattered around, but it was still nice and quiet.
"Those are the menus." Jeila pointed to the menus with black covers on the tables, "Look through and tell me what you'd like to order," She pulled out a small notepad to put their order down.
They ended up ordering a bunch of meaty foods such as meatballs, steak, and a mouthwatering pork stew named Rustida. They ordered ice creams, milkshakes, and fruit for dessert. Jeila rushed to the kitchen with their massive order to get it all cooked as fast as possible.
Madella and the orphans got to know Dillie's family as they waited for the food to come. After about 25 minutes of waiting, the meatballs and pork stews came. They were steaming with rich aromas, making everyone salivate in anticipation.
"This looks so good!" Shun had her tongue out like a puppy.
"Let's dig in!" Hiruyo picked up a fork and began eating the pork stew. The others joined him, finding the mixture of pork and tomatoes absolutely delicious.
"If this is what Illitoran food is like, I might just move there," Madella said, savoring every bite.
"Agreed," Hiruyo replied. Shun was the first to finish her bowl of Rustida and noticed Paley picking at his food.
"Are you okay?" She asked.
"Yeah, I'm just trying to see what ingredients are in this." He said.
She raised an eyebrow, "Why?" She asked.
"Paley cooks with me at home," Madella explained.
"His food's very good. You need to try it," Dillie added.
"You should definitely all come over sometime." Teerom struggled to cut his steak.
"We definitely will," Shun replied.
"So, how did you all meet?" Hiruyo asked.
"Ah, it's a long story," Madella said but he insisted. "Come on, I wanna know." He said.
She sighed and glanced at the orphans, "Teerom was the first one I met. I had just run away from my family at the time and met him in Rukae." She began.
"Rukae!? You mean the rogue town?" Shun was surprised. Teerom didn't look like the average hardened criminal you'd find in Rukae.
"Yep, that Rukae. It was attacked by demons you see." She didn't mention that Teerom was the one who summoned them, "I found him wandering the streets there and took him in. After him, came Jurie, technically my niece, but I prefer to call her my daughter. Then Adimia came along from Sudea."
"Sudea!?" Hiruyo nearly spat his water out, "That's where the..." He didn't want to finish his sentence; in case it bought back bad memories for Adimia.
"Yep, that Sudea." Madella gave Adimia a sorry look, but he shook his head in understanding, "Anyways, next was Bacha. From Dijin."
"Dijin!? That's right next to our home country." Shun said.
"I could tell you were Hijian, but I didn't expect you to come from Dijin. I mean, didn't the sun's church-"
"Yep, they did." Bacha cut Hiruyo off.
"After Bacha are Reben, Rauba, and Amasha. I found them all at my doorstep."
"Wow..." Dillie and her parents were stunned.
"What about Paley?" Dillie asked.
"He knocked on our door, saying he was hungry. You should've seen him. He was so much paler than he is now; he was nearly completely white! The poor boy must've been starving for a long time. He was so skinny."
"That's incredible. It's like you were all fated to be together." Hiruyo commented. It was a compliment, but Paley had begun to conceive a dislike for the concept of fate.
They spent the rest of their time in the restaurant chatting about embarrassing stories of the children. Madella told them of the times when Teerom walked in on Jurie bathing and when Rauba and Reben accidentally kissed. It wasn't a proper kiss but more of a peck that they spent about thirty minutes trying to wash off.
They were playing a game where you put the ends of a noodle in your mouth and suck as hard as you can to be the one who eats it. Rauba ended up trying to cheat by trying to bite the whole thing out of Reben's mouth, accidentally making lip to lip contact in the process. Madella and Adimia laughed at them the entire time they tried to wash their mouths.
They all finished eating and went home. Paley offered to take Dillie's family home by air, but they politely and anxiously refused. They spent around thirteen gold coins at the restaurant. Teerom insisted he wanted to use his money, so Paley only paid two of his gold coins.
He suddenly remembered what he wanted to save up money for in the first place. A grand piano.
"Hey, you guys go home. I want to stop by at the piano guy's place for a bit."
"Don't be late," Madella replied, and they continued walking.
"Wait, Paley?" Rauba approached him.
"Hm?" Paley had begun to take flight, but he stopped the spell before it launched him into the air.
"C-Can I talk to you when you come back?" She fidgeted with her fingers awkwardly.
"Sure, why?"
"I can't say..."
"Okay, I'll talk to you later, then. See you," He took flight toward the WindMaker's shop.