Along with Amasha, Madella discovered a tattered thin picture book under the towels. Its title was in Nijian, hence she couldn't read it (Eri and Levvel are the only continents that have a standardized language that everyone must learn – Rismian and Gollic), but she flipped through the pages, finding crude art of a half-monkey man's journey to becoming some sort of king.
It begins in a village where he is shown to be oppressed by the humans as a young boy. Despite this, he saves one of his bullies from a monster attack, but the people still harbor a deep hatred for him. Madella could tell from the pictures that some prophecy foretold something horrible was going to happen to the people. Whatever was doomed to occur, the monkey man journeyed to a mountain where he climbs and finds a Sun temple at the top. In the temple, he gains limitless power and emerges with red ribbons floating from light golden armor on him. A bright crown made of pure yellow magic adorned his head, and the next few pages detailed a great battle with some impossibly huge monster that had millions of eyes and millions of teeth. It ended with the monkey man standing victoriously in a gigantic crater atop a shredded pillar of stone.
"You cracked it yet?" Yilba asked, poking the dying flames in the fireplace with a stick.
"It seems to be about some half-monkey king. A Nijian fairy tale." Madella explained and tucked the book under her pillow, "I'll have it translated and read it to Amasha when he's a little older."
It wasn't long before the next orphan joined. About half a year later, Adimia arrived at the doorstep. Half of his head was hairless. He was starving and he was in desperate need of a shower. Madella shaved the rest of his head so it all grew back evenly, but he ended up becoming attached to his bald head and regularly shaved it.
At first, it was tough for Adimia to fit in. His family had been brutally devoured by the slug Vamali, Oava, and his brother had tricked him into continuing running, sacrificing himself to the demons. On top of that, he'd lost his magic, an incredibly rare occurrence where a demon attempts to devour someone but fails and ends up eating their magic only.
Despite his traumatic experience, Adimia tried to be extroverted, taking chances to talk to Teerom and Jurie, but they were far too apprehensive the first few days. It was only a week later, when he told everyone of his backstory, that they warmed up to him, feeling empathy for him. That summer, Yilba had to drop all her work and go South of Eri, to Ergalia where her husband had returned from his journeys as a sailor. But he was infected with the Emerald Plague as well as the Sea Curse. She would be back and work overtime to make up for her time abroad a few years later.
A few months passed and Bacha graced the orphanage with her presence. She had, in desperation, attempted to eat magic herbs in the mana forest which gave her a temporary boost in strength to be able to run all the way to the cottage, but they were poisonous once the strength effect wore off. Teerom carried her to the hospital where they were overcharged for her treatment.
Another couple of months after her, came Reben, nearly 5 years old, starving and wounded all over. He held a wrapped-up three-year-old baby in his arms. It was Rauba.
In the span of nearly two years, Madella's new family had formed: Teerom, Jurie, Adimia, Bacha, Reben, Rauba, and Amasha; she vowed to drown them with her love.
She watched them all eat together with a smile on her face.; the chaos caused by Adimia and Reben stealing each other's food, Teerom and Jurie trying to settle them down, Rauba silently but amusedly watching it all, and Amasha's booming laughter.
Soon, they all began growing up. Six years passed in a flash and in September Adimia was now 13. He spent most of his time playing with the other kids, having Jurie read him his favorite tales of great knights, and training his sword skills. Reben, 10 years old, followed in his footsteps, admiring his grand dreams and confidence that he'll achieve them.
Bacha, 10 too, developed her love for alchemy, constantly getting into trouble when she failed a mixture and either hurt herself or covered her clothes in black gooey soot. Rauba found her talent for Fire Magic early on, and began her self-taught journey, using her magic to light the fireplace and stove when Madella was cooking. Once, a cockroach had crawled onto her face during the night and she nearly burned the whole cottage down trying to kill it.
Amasha, now 5, played pranks on the other kids and climbed trees, the cottage, and the barn. There was practically nothing that he couldn't climb. Madella had translated the book she'd found with him and he soon became obsessed with the tale of the Monkey King, who liberated Nijia from evil.
Madella made sure to write letters to Cherie's husband daily, telling him how much Jurie had been growing and how happy she was. Whenever he could, he'd send letters back, telling her he was indescribably content to know that. Yilba had stopped writing back a couple of years ago and it worried Madella to the point it kept her up at night, but she retained hope that the kind old lady who had gone so far to help her would return one day.
After finishing her letter to her uncle-in-law, she noticed the start of rain and stepped outside to call the kids who were playing in the river early in the morning inside. Soon, the skies were pouring down on the cottage. Water trickled into the living room and everyone cozied around Rauba to remain warm.
Madella began preparing lunch and looked back at the huddle of kids behind her, sighing with a warm smile. Her family was complete, she thought.
The rain stopped and everyone waited patiently for their lunch around the dining table. Madella was cooking shrimp and steak dishes, the most expensive lunch she could afford to cook.
The sun was shining brightly outside. September had begun, and Madella thought it would be another regular winter with everyone, but her family wasn't complete yet.
A series of knocks marked the day that all of their lives would change forever. Madella asked the orphans to get it but they were all talking far too loud to hear her. She sighed and left the steak to sizzle as she went to get the door. She opened it and was blown away by what she saw. Pitch black hair, eyes redder than crimson, and paper-pale skin. It was him.
His stomach roared and he tried desperately to speak, only managing "H-Hungry" out before he collapsed into her arms.