[A boy with long dark brown hair, a girl with long black hair, and the sleeping boy from earlier with short black hair] - quote from another chapter
Kiara sat down with a huff kicking up a layer of dust from below into the air.
koff* koff*
"Where did all this dust come from?" she patted her pants pushing the dust away with her hands away while the dust simply twisted in the air straight onto her face, she looked annoyed but held it in.
She looked towards the two fallen boys once more, one on his back the other on his stomach neither seemed to be awake.
'Are they dead or something? That one is always sleeping, the other is just creepy and looked dead even before this. I can just barely speak the language of this place, I wonder how long it will take until I'm able to interact with others without making a fool of myself' she wanted to interact with others but after many failed attempts at clearly expressing her self to the adults she decided she needed to learn the language first before interactions between her 'colleagues' but not everyone learns at the same pace and not everyone has the confidence to just interact without worry.
One can be brave enough to venture out into the unknown but this doesn't mean they are very social, seeking something new and getting there does not mean that the person themselves has changed.
In the case of kiara, she wasn't anti social she simply held too much pride. 'That skeleton looking one tried to say something, to bad I couldn't quite understand him'.
While Abbas had given each child the gift of wisdom, the wisdom they gain is still entirely reliant on each persons ability to learn, grasp what may be simple concepts to others, their beliefs and the willingness to accept new environments and people.
The caretakers had the ability to speak into the children's minds without need for them to learn any common language to communicate but this ability could not be learned in a few years.
Kiara had the willingness to learn, had no disdain for others at her age, and was a proactive learner she simply wasn't a text based learner nor had the ability to learn at the same pace as others, She wasn't stupid, nor slow just an overachiever that often fell into overthinking.
The gift of wisdom was truly a marvelous thing, what should have taken the children months to simply learn the basics off took only a night.
Outside the room the last of Bran Ai's roommates was carrying a small wooden box, an aroma that could lift one's feet of the ground escaped it's confinement.
Wearing his old clothes still he choose to wait until he could clean himself up first before switching out, he wouldn't throw out his old clothes either of course.
'I got so lucky today! A free meal in the morning, a free meal on the way to the west gate and now a free meal from a kind old lady, everything is looking up!'
He entered the room without ceremony, the light piercing sharpy into Kiara's eyes taking her by surprise.
As she rolled her head to avoid the light the boy walked in ignoring her struggle.
He noticed the light was dim yet ignored it taking a quick glance around, two boys sleeping on their mats... mostly, and a girl covered in dust with crazy hair playing with a paper crane in her hands a booklet to the side of her forgotten.
'...if I share my food with them I would be eating less, but at the same time I could make them owe me which may lead to more food in the future... I don't know these guys but... Hah~ I'm really too kind'
He sat down in his spot slowly not allowing for the dust to rise enough to cover him while slowly opening the top of the paper box, the smell that had been mostly hidden away exploded inside the small room.
'Should I really share this?' his mouth started to water questioning his choice.
Kiara had already noticed the scent looking towards the origin, her face revealed surprise and desire before quickly looking away.
Bran Ai's body was turning cold, stiffening, nearing the verge of death, his mind had lost itself in the darkness unable to tell up from down.
His heart slowed to a crawl unwilling to keep going, beating off rhythm.
Revolving in the darkness unable to find the way out, he wanted to wake, he wanted to find the light but he wasn't strong enough, fear started to grip his mind.
Darkness enveloped the visage of his body, the light that appeared in his final moment felt empty, blinding his thoughts as he felt the end come.
'I just wanted a chance...'
'Just once more, one more chance... please'
At this moment a strange sensation reached his nose, causing his body to involuntary twitch.
Bran Ai tried to look back away from the darkness but saw nothing while his mind spun.
'No... Not yet. I'm not done yet, just a little more, I want to live life just a while longer!' He struggled to right himself in the dark.
On the other side the boy that used Bran Ai to support the formation slowly woke up, his body felt absolutely wrecked.
'Tch, this was truly a risky venture, if the formation was even a little bit stronger I'd definitely have died, luckily it all worked out'
He got up into a sitting position feeling the pain across his body flare up all at once, forcing him to clench his teeth.
'Fuck, this body is so weak'
He barely managed to sit up and look around him, his nose getting hit with a strong smell forcing his face to rise into the air.
'Huh what's this smell?'
He looked toward the source of the smell.
'Huh?'
"Can I really have some!? Thank you! I will pay you back somehow I promise!" Bran Ai rejoiced, food!
"Hehe no problem no problem it's just a small thing"
"Ah big brother thanks for the meal! I won't forget this kindness!" Kiara buttered the foods provider up.
"Ah no worries, no worries, eat up little sister. Ah! Little brother your finally up, hurry come and join us it won't last forever"
The boy having just sat up, looked at the scenes in shock.
'What, how is he already up? The amount of earth energy that would have entered his body should have been enough to send someone to the other side and at best he would need several years to recover, yet here he is so full of energy' the boy looked at Bran Ai in disbelief, at their age and with their current status as initiate cultivators it was basically impossible to be relatively uninjured let alone as seemingly unscathed as Bran Ai seemed.
'Truly, some just get lucky' he thought this bitterly, lamenting Bran Ai's survival.
"Ah~ by the way my name is Man-Shik, your names?" The boy who brought the food kindly introduced himself, he had already doctored his image as a good guy now he needed to set it in stone.
Kiara took a moment to think and comprehend his words deciding that no problems should arrise from telling him such a simple thing "My name is Kiara! I- I'm five years old, this is my pet bird- paper bird" kiara controlled the paper bird to fly, going up to the ceiling while flapping it's wings ferociously.
Man-Shik and Bran Ai were both awestruck, while she struggled to speak and they struggled to understand they had more or less understood.
'What how did she get that!? I want one too'
'Huh, can she use magic already?'
The only one not impressed was the last boy, this was simply the most basic paper puppet to him.
'Well I shouldn't be surprised, this place is filled with spiritual energy and it makes it impossible for even the most untalented of people to fail' the boy who's name is unrevealed thought.
"My name is Bran Ai! And I... I don't have anything cool to show... or food to give sorry".
"Its fine brother, no worries at all" Man-Shik did not expect anything from him either way, just from his looks alone anyone can tell he didn't have much.
"Yeah! we just got here, I- I just got lucky and someone gifted me this paper bird" kiara told her story in a very simplified way.
Bran Ai bowed apologetically, he felt that he should have toured the town now rather then to go into the forest once more but thinking again about his own state he quickly put this thought down.
'Ah Bran Ai, why must you overthink so much'
The last boy made his way over sitting at the side of Bran Ai and Man-Shik.
"I am Kao, I also have nothing to offer, but if brother Man-shik accepts me I will return the favor one day" a very formal introduction by any standards especially for a child.
Man-Shik and kiara looked at him oddly, he talked weird by their standards.
"Don't worry much, it's just a free meal" Man-Shik felt a little shame but not enough, this went better then expected, one person had promised to pay him back sometime in the future.
They all sat down to eat in a semi circle.
The meal provided was individually wrapped inside the container, each filled with a type of masa made of grounded corn inside of which each was also full of various herbs to provide the final taste, they didn't know what the food was made from but it did smell heavenly to their mostly starved selves.
Everyone unwrapped their share biting into it.
A brief and awkward silence took over as they ate.
"So what are your spiritual root elements? Mine are metal, water, wind, and earth" Man-Shik broke the silence first.
He already gave the meal away, he wanted to make sure they wouldn't just run out on him now.