Everyone sat upstairs, listening to Teerom reading the book he'd stolen from the library with Paley: A Hero, Aneros. It was a real copy of the biography of his life, though some parts were altered.
The book Teerom had given to Jurie long ago was mostly fiction. The writer, Leanna Shelles, had gathered different stories and reports to construct her perspective of Aneros' story.
Leanna wrote the book around one hundred years after Aneros died, so she had no idea that a biography already existed, written by his journey companion, Calina Puranima.
As Teerom read that to the others, Paley sat in the corner, reading a book of his own – he'd heard Aneros' story far too many times.
"And so he lay in my arms," Teerom and everyone were sobbing as Aneros' story came to its heartbreaking end, "taking his last breath. I felt it, so gentle upon my chin. As he passed. As his body vanished, he said with pride and joy: 'I'm grateful for this life! I've had one hell of an adventure!' I didn't recoil at his obnoxious laughter. Dare I say… I took comfort in it. And thus, a great man died that day. Aneros. My friend. A hero." Teerom closed the book dramatically as Jurie wiped the tears from his eyes.
"Wow…" Hig began, "He's a hero, alright. But there's no way he's as cool as my grandad."
"Libon Reish? No offense, buddy, but no one can measure up to Aneros." Teerom friendlily argued.
"He's a true hero indeed!" Libon cried on Elhom's shoulder, and Tugas cried on his shoulder.
"Paley, did you hear that? That's gonna be you, someday." Adimia teased.
"Oh, shut up." Paley tried to ignore him and continued reading.
"Hey! That's a bit mean, don't you think?" Madella told Adimia off.
"I didn't mean it that way, mom. I was talking about him being a hero."
"Oh, sorry."
"I wonder who'll be the Calina to his story," Reben said, making everyone put their fingers on their chins in thought as they stared at Dillie, Negie, and Bacha.
"Obviously it's me!" Bacha put her hand up fervently. Negie and Dillie covertly glanced at Paley; he was entranced in the story he read.
"It'll be me," They said at the same time.
The next day, Bacha woke up alone. She sat up, rubbed her eyes, stretched, and searched for everyone before quickly stretching again. Groggily, she slid off the bed that she was supposed to be sharing with Rauba.
It was completely silent – there were a few creaks of wood now and then. "Guys?" She called out as she made her way downstairs, where everyone had been hiding and waiting for her.
"Happy birthday!" They all cheered, surprising her. There was a big vanilla cake, her favorite flavor, on the table where they all stood.
"Guys…" Bacha teared up and ran over to them, jumping into them to hug them. "Thank you so much, everyone!" She didn't realize that they all dodged her violent hug apart from Paley.
"Don't thank us. Paley bought the cake." Ponna said as he struggled to restrain Diz, who was staring and salivating at the cake like a starved lion.
"Paley!" She opened her eyes, seeing him, and tightened her embrace.
"You're welcome," He petted her.
"It was ten gold coins," Jurie informed.
"Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you!" Bacha did not want to let go of him. Though, he didn't mind.
"Monster hunting's a rewarding business," Hig smiled.
"Agreed," Negie said.
"Leia, my younger brother is earning more than me," Teerom said under his breath, which Hig heard and slapped him on the shoulder.
"Why don't you blow out the candles, Bacha." Madella peeled her off Paley and motioned her to the cake. It was the 21st of May, and Bacha was turning eleven.
"Okay," Bacha took a deep breath, and with unnecessary effort, she blew the eleven green candles on the cake out as everyone sang for her. When the fires went out, the candles flattened themselves and connected to form the shape of a plant – a stem with two big leaves on it. "Wow!" She jumped and clapped with excitement along with everyone.
"Let's cut it up. I'm starving!" Adimia said.
"Having cake first thing in the morning? Isn't that bad?" Tugas asked as Nova helped Ponna restrain Diz.
"Eh, who cares." Elhom shrugged.
The cake was big enough for everyone to have a nice large slice. They all took a slice and sat down in groups. Hig sat with Teerom and Jurie; he became good friends with Teerom over the past week. They were both seventeen, though Hig was slightly older - he was turning eighteen in two months.
They all gave Bacha gifts. Teerom and Jurie bought her a green dress – her favorite color. Libon, Elhom, and Tugas just gave her money. The other apprentices and the magic club didn't have enough pocket money to buy her something, but the time they spent together was enough for Bacha.
Paley, Adimia, Reben, Rauba, and Amasha all worked together to make her an Alchemy set (flasks, tubes, sciency stuff), and Paley bought her a bunch of books about the practical side of Alchemy.
They kept the Alchemy set hidden under a cloth outside, and she was overjoyed when they revealed it to her. It was right next to where Teerom would keep his building equipment, hung against the back of the cottage.
"What do you say about building you a little Alchemy hut?" Teerom offered.
"That'd be great!" Bacha exclaimed, inspecting all her new equipment.
"Can I help?" Adimia asked, and Teerom agreed.
"Of course. And you, Paley?"
"Sure," Paley replied.
They all relaxed outside around the area before going back in for lunch. They had simple, sliced pork chops with vegetables.
"Where are you two moving?" Paley asked Nova and Ponna as they ate.
"Countryside." Ponna answered first, "We have family in this small town called Dessue. My dad's planning on finally taking over the family business."
"I'm gonna miss you, Ponna," Diz said, holding his hand.
"I'll miss you too," He smiled at her.
"What about you, Nova?" Paley continued.
"I… I'm moving out of the country." He said with a look of guilt on his face.
"You said you were moving to the countryside too," Liba said.
"I'm sorry- I-I lied." He was suddenly shaky, and Paley could tell something was wrong.
"What is it? What're you not telling us?" He asked bluntly.
"Nothing, of course." Nova gave a weak smile. "I'm just moving to Buottal."
Everyone was surprised by that. "Buottal?" Jurie questioned
"The place with all the Daemnegs?" Libon asked.
"What are Daemnegs?" Paley asked.
"The scum of the world." Elhom shuddered.
"The black people," Tugas answered properly.
"Black people?" Paley was stunned by their remarks, "You're saying they're all scum?" He remembered the slave traders that he paralyzed a while back; they also used that derogatory term.
"Yes, they are, Paley. I forgot you don't remember anything." Libon began.
"Why're they scum?" Paley showed very clearly that he was pissed off, slightly frightening Libon.
"There is a reason why there are no Daem- I mean, black people in Gouon- anywhere in Eri actually. Long ago, during Neizin Jihwa's time, a country full of the bastards turned innocent people into Dark Conjurers." Libon explained. The topic made Teerom notably uncomfortable.
"Language, Libon," Madella told him off.
"Sorry," Libon quickly apologized.
"So because of something they did ages ago, you think it's okay to degrade them?" Paley's argument made Madella smile to herself. She also didn't agree with the way black people were treated. Likewise, neither did the other orphans.
"It's because you're a noble. You would never understand." Negie mumbled with hostility.
"I'm sorry, but it's true," Elhom cut in, "The majority of Dark Conjurers that are caught and executed are Daemnegs-"
"Stop calling them that," Paley ordered, making Elhom retreat in his seat inferiorly.
"Why do you think it's mostly them? Because they're the only ones that are suspected and arrested." Dillie backed Negie.
"They make a good point, guys." Tugas said, "It's like… If you only looked for yellow flowers in a field of all kinds of flowers, you wouldn't see the other flowers."
They were all confused by his analogy.
"What I'm trying to say is that you only see what you want to see."
"Ohh, that makes much more sense." Adimia wagged his index understandingly.
"Anyways, what I was going to say earlier – Nova, Ponna, since you all know that I'm a Quimnia, I can fly everyone to visit you like once a month." Paley offered.
"That'd be great, man!" Ponna said.
"Paley… You shouldn't come anywhere near places like Buottal." Nova warned.
"Why?" Reben asked.
"There's a Demon Cult there- probably. You know, what that means, don't you?"
"They hate Quimnias, don't they?" Paley asked.
"They fear them," Hig added.
"If they find out you're a Quimnia, they'll kill you." Nova seemed desperate, but Paley wasn't budging.
"Are you my friend or not?" He asked.
"What?"
"Just answer the question."
"Yeah, of course, but I-"
"Then it's settled." Paley interrupted him before he could make an excuse, "I don't know why you're going to such a place, and if you don't want to tell us that's fine. But, we'll be visiting you once a month, maybe more."
"Yay!" Diz and the Magic Club celebrated, "You better take me to a good restaurant in Dessue, okay?" She held Ponna's arm.
"I'll take you to the best restaurant. My house. Mom's cooking is the best."
"Come on now, that's a bit of a stretch." Teerom joked, "Haven't you been tasting my mom's cooking?"
"Yeah, I have. And no offense, Miss Madella," Ponna quickly apologized.
"It's alright." Madella laughed.
"Speaking of which, Hig, why don't you come over from time to time?" Teerom invited.
"I'd love to, but-"
"Bro, you don't even do anything, just come over. It'll be fun. Plus, you won't have to keep eating takeaways."
"Okay, fine." Hig sighed.
Everyone spent the rest of Friday talking and playing around. On Saturday morning, with Teerom and Adimia's help, the guests started packing up to go home.
Paley waited outside with the rest of the orphans and seven Earth Golems by his side. Negie and Homar were the first to come down; they greeted Madella and the orphans, and Negie quickly took the seat beside him.
"What do you say about coming over sometime in the holidays?" Paley invited.
"I'd love to," She answered.
"Sorry for the wait!" Hig came down with all the others.
"Hop on," Paley said and activated the Golems as everyone climbed on.
"Hey!" Dillie shouted at Negie – she was the last out – and climbed onto the other seat beside Paley.
"Ready?" He asked.
"Ready!" They replied enthusiastically, and Paley made the Golems walk forward.
"Bye!" "See you!" They all waved at the orphans.
"Bye, bye!" Bacha yelled.
Paley dropped them all off individually – apart from Libon, Elhom, and Tugas, who lived outside of the city and said they could walk there by themselves.
Negie's house was farthest from the South Gate, so he dropped her off last.
"Okay," She hopped off the Golem, which Paley disintegrated since he was going to fly back home. They both paused, Negie trying to say something and Paley waiting for her to say it.
"I had a lot of fun," She finally said, slightly shakily.
"Me too. See you." He prepared his flight spell.
"See you," She replied, hesitating to let him go, "…Wait, Paley!" She managed to stop him before he flew off.
"What?" He asked, slightly worried about the fact that she was turning extremely red and her heartbeat was quickening.
She gradually approached him, looking anywhere but his eyes. Her heartbeat thumped quicker and louder as she got closer.
"What, Negie?" He asked again, but instead of answering, she came closer and closer, now glancing at his lips. Paley was confused; his first thought was that she was trying to kiss him – on the lips - but he pushed it aside.
"I don't know how to say it, Paley… So, I'm just gonna show you," She leaned in. Paley stayed perfectly still, almost frozen in place. He had no idea what to do.
However, at the last moment, she turned his head and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek, running into her house in embarrassment and shame afterward.
Paley sighed in relief. Jurie had read to him her favorite romance books, and he concluded from them that when a girl likes you, she will kiss you on the lips.
"I almost thought she loved me," He mumbled to himself and prepared to take off, but Negie popped her head out of her door.
"See you, Paley." She quickly said and closed the door before he could say anything. She would spend the rest of the day in bed, frustratedly burying her face in her pillow.
"See you…" Paley waved at the closed door before taking off.
Later that day, Paley went to Neidu's shop to learn piano from him. Then, in the evening, he resumed his usual training schedule.
In the mornings, he'd exercise with Teerom, who'd have his pop songs blasting out of a music box (a wooden cuboid with a Sound Magic rune inside. The sound comes through a hole filled with mesh).
Between lunch and dinner, he went to the Mana Zone with Rauba, Bacha, and Adimia to practice his magic. Rauba could now cast about 16 Firebolts before running out of mana; 4 more than before.
Bacha was exploring the Mana Zone. Paley gave her three Firebolt Runestones, each with twelve charges, and an Illusion Magic runestone. It was a work in progress, but it could at least turn the user partially invisible for a short amount of time.
She entered a large rocky clearing. There was no grass, just moss overgrown on the rock. In contrast to the shade in the forest, the summer sun above was shining brightly on these rocks. She searched around for a while and found what she was looking for, a clump of sickly red stones.
"Found you," She muttered and took her map out, unfolding it on the ground, and labeled the location of the rocks. Then, she quickly sketched trees and other landmarks to help guide her to stones in the future. "I'll be taking one of you," As she reached for one of the rocks, something in her pocket vibrated.
Quickly, she took out a fob watch that Paley had set a timer on. "Aw, already?" She stopped the timer by clicking a button on the top and started making her way back, following her map. It took her about thirty minutes, but she eventually made it to the Fulguron's nest.
She heard everyone laughing in the distance and traced it to the lake, but as she climbed the sides of the nest to get to the lake, she saw something that she recognized. At the top of a tree, there was a strange, calming white glow.
"Hey!" She called out, but Rauba was the one who answered her. "Hey, what took you so long?" She asked, "Paley was worried about you." She walked ahead, thinking that Bacha was following her.
"There's something up there," Bacha said, looking back up at the tree. Whatever was up there, it was gone now.
"What?" Rauba tried to locate the place Bacha was staring so intently at.
"I could've sworn I saw someone up there."
"There's no one up there. Maybe you accidentally inhaled one of your weird powders?" Rauba suggested.
"What, my hallushogenics?" She mispronounced.
"Yeah,"
"Come on, I'm not stupid." Bacha laughed and followed Rauba to the lake, "Wait, maybe I did have some." She put her finger on her chin in thought.
They walked over to Paley, Madella, Jurie, and Teerom, who sat under a tree and watched the other boys jump off a diving board that Paley made.
"Did you find anything new?" Jurie asked Bacha.
"I found some Feleemm Stones, but I forgot to take them," Bacha said and joined them.
They relaxed under the tree for a while together, watching Adimia, Reben, and Amasha shout and guffaw as they dove into the water and swam around.
"You guys don't have to keep me company," Madella said to them.
"Wherever Paley goes, I go," Bacha said boldly.
"What do you say, Paley? You wanna join them?" Teerom asked.
"I don't know," Paley replied distantly.
"Come on, let's go. I need a diving partner." Teerom grabbed his hand and took him toward the diving platform.
"I'm coming too!" Bacha followed them, taking off her clothes.
Jurie turned to Madella. "Would you mind if I-"
"Not at all," Madella replied, and Jurie walked after them, refusing to take off her dress. Rauba sat there next to Madella with a look of hesitation on her face.
"Go on. Don't be shy, have some fun, will you?" Madella nudged her.
"O-Okay," Rauba too joined them. Madella watched with a fulfilled, warm smile on her face as they walked together.
"You guys finally joining us?" Adimia yelled from far in the lake, drenched.
"That's right!" Teerom grinned and climbed the pillar of earth first. Once he reached the diving platform at the top, he undressed and turned around to face Paley. "This is how it's done. Watch and-" He suddenly stopped in shock when he saw Jurie, who'd decided to take her dress off to not get it wet. Then, he passed out and fell backward into the water twenty meters below.
The lake was fairly shallow, being about thirty meters deep right in the middle. Teerom would've probably broken his neck if it wasn't for Paley slowing him down with Air Magic.
"Thanks for saving me," he quickly said.
Bacha jumped next, screaming laughter as she fell. Jurie was quiet, shutting her eyes and curling up into a cannonball.
"Y-You go first," Rauba said to Paley, shaking.
"Nah, you go first," Paley offered teasingly.
"I can't," She backed away to climb back down.
"Of course you can." Paley grabbed her by the hand and threw her off the platform. He ran up and jumped after her as she screamed.
She trapped a deep breath as she pierced the water, plummeting about five meters down. Paley came in afterward a few paces in front of her. They glanced at each other before Rauba desperately swam up to catch her breath.
Paley stayed down, slowly sinking as he watched Rauba break through and take a deep breath. It was so peaceful down there. The sunlight formed mesmerizing patterns on the surface, lake floor, algae, and other sea plants of myriad colors. A hearty smile appeared on his face, which, unfortunately, the others missed, before he started to swim up.