After Xavier's run in with Kai and Nya at the blacksmith shop, the days felt as if they were moving much more quickly. As soon as Xavier came home that night, Falia ended up questioning him as soon as he mentioned the order, inferring he'd been to the blacksmith shop and asking him about how his day had gone. Xavier recounted to her (in the way that would be most believable for a child of course) that he'd met the blacksmith's son and daughter, and become friends with them. When he mentioned that Kai had come at him with a sword after mistaking him for a burglar, Falia keeled over in laughter.
"Oh man, he really thought you were a burglar and tried to murder you for looking at a window? I bet he couldn't even pull that sword above his head. That's great."
Falia wiped a tear from her eye, and Xavier made a mental note to behave around his mom if that was her idea of humor. She seemed to pick up on his unease, and patted his shoulder.
"Oh, don't be so worried. Kai is always getting in over his head, but he's a good kid at heart, I don't think he has it in him to actually hurt you. I'll have a talk with Ray later about it, but I'm glad to see you didn't take it to heart. Honestly though….."
Falia seemed to crack a slight smile, as if remembering something else amusing that Kai had done, but Xavier decided not to press her as she returned to cooking. The rest of the day proceeded relatively normally, and Xavier went straight to bed as soon as he finished dinner and slept deeply.
From then on, Xavier and the two siblings got along pretty well, with the three becoming fast friends from that day forward. Nya, who was at first pretty skeptical of Xav, was glad to have someone who didn't treat her like a "girly girl" as she put it, and Kai was just happy to have anyone to hang out with who put up with his impulsive energy. For his part, Xavier did actually enjoy getting the opportunity to be a kid again: even without much in the way of games or books to pass the time, it was nice to be so carefree and find joy in the small things, and Kai and Nya were fairly good company, to the point where he almost forgot why he had originally joined up with them. Falia however, wasn't so easily swayed, and she still made Xavier practice with the bow every day. He wasn't bad at it or anything, but he had hoped to have a bit more choice in what weapon he specialized in when he reincarnated, but Falia only said she'd teach him other weapons when he was older, and with no magic reincarnation boon in sight and no sign of the orb, he could only accept this outcome for now.
Things continued on in that manner for a while, and Xavier lost track of the time that passed without anything eventful occurring. However, though he didn't know it at first, that changed one day when Xavier went out to meet up with Kai and Nya out in the field. The two were mostly fumbling around the shop and playing in the grass outside, so he decided to pay them a visit, and waved the two over.
"Hey, want to go play samurai! We can play fight with sticks"
"That sounds great!"
Kai and Nya both found this idea fun, and Xavier decided appealing to Kai's love of samurai would be best for now. Out of the corner of his eye however, Xavier saw Kai and Anya's parents, Ray and Maya, walking out of the shop and following a older looking fellow. He didn't think much of it at the time, and the three simply continued on with their game. Eventually, the sun began to set, and Xavier waved goodbye and headed home. Xavier made his way to a seat to rest, but he had barely had a few minutes to make himself feel comfortable before he suddenly heard a knock on the door. Falia, hearing the commotion outside, went to open the door, and saw Kai and Nya standing outside. Falia's brow furrowed in concern.
"Hey kids, what are you doing here?"
Kai and Nya seemed to be in a very nervous mood, and Kai waited a moment before speaking, being uncharacteristically worried.
"Uhm…. I'm sorry to bother you miss, but we can't find our parents. They're not in the shop or anywhere else we can think of, and I didn't know where else to go….:
Xavier, who had up until now been waiting behind Falia to see what was going on, recalled what he had seen earlier.
"I saw them leaving earlier with a strange man, but I thought that he was a friend of theirs. Maybe he did something to them…"
Falia pursed her lips, clearly worried by this new information. Looking at the worried faces of Kai and Nya, she ushered the two in, and had them sit by Xavier in the living room.
"I'm going to go talk to the villagers and see if we can pull together a search party. Stay here with Xavier, and I promise I'll be back soon."
Falia closed the door, and Kai and Nya stayed very silent as they waited for her to come back with any sign of their parents' whereabouts. Xavier didn't know what to say, and he could only stay quiet as well while the two became more and more anxious. The vigil lasted into the night, and all 3 did their best to stay awake, but eventually, fear and worry gave way to exhaustion, and one by one, the three children fell asleep.
The next thing Xavier remembered was being woken up by Falia, who also quickly got the young Kai and Nya to awaken from their nap as well. Her face as filled with concern. Xavier couldn't remember the last time she was so serious, and he felt a sense of unease creeping in as she sat down and sighed.
"I don't know how to tell you kids this so… I'll be up front. We couldn't find any sign of your parents. I'm sorry we couldn't do more, but we already have someone phoning the city to send a report in to the police, so they can do a much wider search. Now all we can do is wait."
Nya was the first one to break the silence that followed, as the young girl overcame her anxiety, pushing aside her worry to try and find some semblance of the order in the situation. Xavier could tell she wanted to burst into tears, but he refrained from interrupting and let her say her piece.
"Where are me and Kai going to stay? We can't live alone, and we don't have any relatives who can take us in. Without mom and dad…."
Nya trailed off, being too overwhelmed by the situation to say anything more. Kai seemed to be at a loss for words as well, and Xavier felt a pang of worry for his two friends. An idea forming in his head, Xavier took his turn to speak.
"We can take care of them until their parents come home, right?"
Falia seemed to consider this for a moment, before nodding slowly.
"I don't see any other option here I guess. It'll be a bit rough and I'll need to lend you some sleeping bags for you to stay in Xavier's room but… it's doable. I know they'll come back, those two are tough…. Just stay hopeful you two."
The two children nodded, still anxious, but a bit less so now that Falia had helped assuage their fears a tad. After a moment, the two nodded, not having any better ideas. Falia gave a small smile at this reaction.
"Well, I'll set things up for you, don't you two worry. I'm sure everything will be alright."
Xavier was glad to see that the two were at least going to be safe for now. However, he also couldn't help but feel guilty that he hadn't said anything when he'd first seen it. Though he couldn't have known about it, he still felt he should have at least realized something was off… in a sense, this was his fault, and that thought continued to gnaw at him into the night.