"Mark! Who is that?" The young girl questioned, noticing the extra person next to him.
" I'm sure you've already introduced him, Katherine, but I'm tired now. I'll explain later." Mark replied with shortness of breath.
It was only then she noticed the tired expression that adorned his face and rushed over to help fearing the worst case possible. Katherine got a better look at the boy as a small yet subtle blush crept onto her face gazing at the boy's immature yet immaculate features.
Katherine wasn't used to being near another boy her age. As it was only she and Mark that lived together for as long as she can remember.
This didn't go unnoticed by Mark as he loudly cleared his throat bringing Katherine back from her daze, turning her head away while blushing deeply.
Noticing the mockery on her brother's face, she was able to clear up her thoughts and started to reprimand him:
"What happened and why did you leave once again without telling me?"
Mark looked at York and then smiled and spoke: "Nothing happened, I just went to get some food and found him."
Katherine wanted to smack the smirk off Mark's face seeing that he always left without telling her, but held back as her face lit up when she noticed the dried corn seeds and some loaves of bread. These seeds were her favorite due to them being what her brother's fed her when she collapsed from starvation.
York looked at the situation unfolding in front of him and decided not to intervene, and he had a certain idea of what was happening.
There is no doubt that the boy named Mark hid the order of borrow money from his sister.
Otherwise, how can two children from poor neighborhoods apply for the awakening ceremony?
York entered the house with the two brothers without saying a word.
What welcomed his view was a worn-out wooden roof with little cracks where one could peek at the sky.
Looking around he noticed there was a small place where wooden utensils were kept, including a couple of dirty plates in what could be a kitchen. On the other side, two makeshift beds laying on were planted on the ground. In the middle of this tiny hut was a small area for firewood to keep the cold out providing warmth to the residents.
It was a simple place that rarely got any visitors.
.....
....
"..... And that's what happened." Finally, Mark explained what happened to his sister.
From the time he borrows money from the group of hunters to the time York saves him.
Katherine heard her brother's story and was distraught. Then he turned to York: " So, we owe you money now."
York smiled when he replied, "No, it can be considered a fee for allowing me to live here until the Academy kicks off."
" I don't have a home anymore because my brother Ares got it as part of my parent's inheritance, and... I'm broke now." Of course, the last part of what he said was a lie. He already had a few thousand magical stones enough to live luxuriously for a few years, but he would rather stay here for a reason: to get closer to the mysterious brothers.
Once again, Katherine fell into a daze but this time seeing his smile. With the previous incident pushed to the back of her head, she started to ask more questions becoming increasingly more active although there were still some traces of fear in her voice whenever she talked to him. York just sighed at this as there was nothing that he could do and just needed to try to cope with the situation.
When Mark saw how excited his sister was to talk to someone else her age he decided to leave to get some firewood, it was cold after all so they needed something to get some warmth.
This was interrupted by the sound of a growl coming from the boy's stomach as a faint shade of red appeared on his face.
Katherine noticing his embarrassment, reduced more of her fear as this further indicated that he was just another person just like her. taking out some leftover stale bread she handed it to him. As York ate the stale bread, she started to explain to him about poor neighborhoods. Although York knew the general situation of poor neighborhoods, he didn't know everything, Slowly listening to Katherine's explanation he got better.
As he listened to her explanation, footsteps could be heard walking towards the hut.
Mark was returning from collecting some firewood and more dried corn seeds.
As soon as Mark entered, Katherine sprung up and rushed to Mark for the corn seeds she craved for. Just as she was about to dig in, she looked up as if remembering an important matter that she had forgotten.
"Ah, I never introduced myself. My name is Katherine Warren, and this here is my brother Mark."
"Pleased to meet you, Mark, Katherine. I'm York McLean."