Thalia hugged little Aeron to sleep. It was as if she had a little bundle of innocence and warmth, as if her own child. She couldn't have one, but now… doesn't it mean…
She almost turned giddy.
It wasn't the time to be happy. It was the time for mourning. How could she feel happiness at the expense of the child's mother? That was truly evil. She berated herself.
But she couldn't control the butterflies in her stomach. She didn't know when she fell asleep.
Something woke her up in the middle of the night. In her sleepiness, she couldn't figure it out. Something felt missing. She was alone and it was cold, like always. But didn't something bad and good happen yesterday? She snapped her eyes open. Aeron wasn't beside her.
Anxious, she searched her house, then the surroundings, but he was nowhere to be found. Restless, she was about to wake up the villagers, but something popped into her mind.
She made her way towards the cemetery. The darkness of the night made it hard to find whom she was looking for, but she knew where to find him. A few meters ahead, at the end of the cemetery, the child stood like a statue in front of his mother's grave.
"Aeron?" She said, as she approached him. "It's not safe to wander at midnight, child." She knelt before him. "You couldn't sleep?"
Aeron nodded.
"You should have told me. We could have spent the night here," she said with a gentle smile. She then sat there with Aeron in her lap till morning.
'Aeron missed his mother and came to accompany her' was what she concluded. But she didn't know what Aeron did before that, when she and the whole village was deep asleep.
The next day, Thalia didn't go for gathering just so she could accompany Aeron and help him get through his mourning phase.
For all the tribes living there, they had to farm vegetables in their backyard for their daily food requirement. While, they went for gathering for Aether-rich resources periodically. Those resources boosted their magical prowess and helped them forge stronger bodies.
Before Aeron and Thalia had their breakfast, a stampede of hooves greeted their door. Four women barged through without knocking.
Yesterday, it was out of consideration that they did not interact with the boy. But now, they were all there to support him.
They surrounded Aeron. His big, innocent eyes stared back at them. Their race's eyes ranged from dark brown to yellow. Never had they seen a Vintaur boy with golden eyes.
His delicate, chubby cheeks invited them to take a pinch. His small frame tingled their motherly instincts. His vigilant state made them want to hug him tight.
"We have quite the cutie here, don't we?" A tall girl in her early twenties said, pinching Aeron's cheek. Her smile was wide and refreshing. "Hello, little one. I'm Eudora."
Aeron curiously looked at the beautiful lady before him. She was the tallest of the bunch with black hair tied in a ponytail. Two cream colored horns jutted out of her forehead, curving backwards.
"Indeed. What a pure child." A busty woman with tanned skin commented with a warm smile. Everything about her oozed generosity, whether it be her curves or her demeanor. She was Xanthe.
"Ah, I can see it in his eyes, the great destiny he is bestowed with." Kassandra, another woman with ample curves said, rubbing her sleepy eyes. Staying awake seemed to be a hassle for her.
"Well, scratch that. Look how scrawny he is. He needs all the milk in the village." The fourth woman came forth, jiggling her massive jugs. "Come, I will give you the milk you have never tasted before." The milk lady, Eirenia, said, already pulling the boy by his hand.
"Wait! He is yet to have breakfast." Thalia interjected and pulled the boy closer to her.
Aeron's stomach conveniently rumbled at that moment. Everyone looked at the boy.
"I'm hungry." He said in an endearing voice.
"Did he just talk?" Eudora giggled.
"See, I told you. He needs good feeding." Eirenia said.
After their relentless assault on the boy, they had breakfast. Aeron gobbled up whatever he was offered and then some more. But he wasn't sated. He looked up at the ladies. "Is there no more?" On the verge of crying, he seemed.
"No, no, of course we have more!" Eudora couldn't bear to see the look on his face. "I have fruits at home." She dashed out of the house.
"I told you, he was famished. I will bring all the milk from my home." Eirenia was also quick to act.
"I will cook new dishes right away." Thalia felt uneasy. She didn't want the ladies to get all the attention from the boy.
Eirenia lived in the neighborhood, so she was the first to bring a pot full of milk.
Aeron looked at the pot. His mouth watered seeing the milk.
The earthen pot was big. Someone went to fetch a glass. But before they brought it, Aeron picked up the pot, which was half his size, and directly drank from it.
Everyone's jaws dropped. How could he lift such a heavy pot? And was he trying to drink it all?
It didn't take long for Aeron to gulp it all down. He put down the pot and looked at everyone's frozen faces. "Is there more," he asked. Eirenia slowly shook her head.
Eudora arrived with four fruits in a bag. A fruity smell permeated in the air. Aeron's stomach rumbled again. He ran towards her. His pata-pata steps melted Eudora's heart.
His little hands snatched the bag from her and he looked inside. There were two bright golden-yellow mangoes and two round and beautiful, translucent-pink fruits.
He didn't go for the beautiful ones. He sensed rich energy from the other two.
Aeron pulled a golden-yellow mango out of the bag and took a bite with such a speed that the ladies did not get time to react.
"Wait! Do not eat it!" Xanthe exclaimed. But, as if Aeron heard nothing of it, he took an unnaturally big bite and gulped it down. He didn't even feel the need to chew it or peel its cover off.
Another three bites in, and Xanthe snatched the fruit from him. Lees than half of it remained.
"Eudora! Are you out of your mind? You brought Xanthyros for a child?" Xanthe yelled and also snatched the bag from Aeron.
"Ah! What do we do? I only brought them just in case." Eudora restlessly paced back and forth.
Hearing the commotion, Thalia ran out of her kitchen. "Aeron, are you alright? How are you feeling?" She hurriedly asked.
"I'm alright." Aeron looked at her quizzically. He was wondering what was so special about the fruit.
Kassandra, the sleepy lady, finally showed she was present. She came forward and checked Aeron's pulse. Her eyes widened. "It's happening!"
"Quick, let's go to the witch!" Thalia screamed and lifted Aeron in her arms, ready to dash towards the witch's house.
Aeron couldn't understand why they were all so worked up. He got his answer right then. His body warmed up. His heart thumped loudly. Blood galloped through his veins. His whole body began to burn.
He frowned. "Wait!" he said, then wriggled down from Thalia's arms.
"What are you doing? We quickly need to get you treated or it will burn you from the inside," Thalia said.
Aeron stood still, closing his eyes. He put his hands together and his fingers intertwined in a unique sign. His breathing turned deep and his internal activities calmed down.
Was he trying to pray? The ladies looked at each other. This hand sign wasn't one of prayer. What was he trying to do? Usually, kids his age would fall asleep for hours to digest the potent energy of a tier 1 fruit. But what he ate was a tier 3 one.
Thalia became restless as each second passed. "Aeron? What are you doing? We need to go to the witch…"
But Kassandra stopped her. She checked his pulse again without disturbing his hand sign. She looked at her friends, bewildered. "It… it is calming down…"
…
Later that evening, Thalia and Eudora went to their village chief to ask for daily allowances for the child.
"I can allow you no more than a single tier 1 fruit a day for the boy, given his age. It's not clear how long he will stay in the village. If we find his family, we will have to return him to them."
Thalia's bovine ears drooped hearing the chief's last words. "Wait, I asked him about that last night. He doesn't have anyone to return to."
"That cannot be. He barely seems five…" The village chief fell into deep contemplation for a while. He then opened his mouth, "Well then, he will be a temporary member of our tribe. Thalia, I will entrust the boy's responsibility to you."
"Temporary?" Thalia asked.
"The boy will be returned if any relative or people from his tribe come to retrieve him. You will have to let go of him in that case," the chief said.
Thalia fell silent. Aeron was her hope. How could she be able to let him go? Besides,
"His mother entrusted him to me. I am the only one who can take care of him." She said with unwavering conviction.
The chief stared at her for a moment.
She continued, "Besides, if his mother had someone to return to, she wouldn't be in such a sorry state. She asked me to protect her child, not return him to someone or somewhere."
"Protect?" The chief's ears perked up. That word held several connotations. Was there an external threat tailing the boy? It needed a proper investigation.
"Fine. You can keep the boy as long as he wants to stay. However, if I find anything shady in his background, we will deal with him accordingly," the chief said.
Thalia was stumped for a moment. "Shady background? As if! In what way does he look shady to you? He is just an innocent child who was traumatized by his mother's death."
"I'm just pointing out the possibility," said the chief.
Thalia didn't like it. She understood Aeron was special in many ways and what the chief was saying might hold some truth. But she wasn't going to tell him.
"Come on, old man, you can increase his allowances now that he is a member of our tribe, temporary or not." Eudora said to lighten up the mood.
"There's no way it works like that."
"It might not in normal circumstances," said Eudora.
"What do you mean?" the village chief asked.
"Well, his appetite is huge, to say the least. It's even greater than all of us combined. First he ate 5 people's worth of food alone, then drank a large pot full of milk, and digested 2 Aetheoras in the span of 2 hours." She twisted the truth.
Just two Tier 1 fruits were far from equal to a tier 3 fruit. The band of 5 ladies came to know that Aeron was special. They needed to keep it a secret.
The village chief stared at her. Then he sighed and shook his head. "Tell me something I can digest."
"What? You don't believe it?" Eudora said, aggrieved. Then an idea popped into her head. "How about we have a bet? Bring however much food you can and Aeron will show how he eats it all."
"Nice try. But it won't work on me."
Eudora clicked her tongue.
Both the ladies fought hard for Aeron, having witnessed his hunger first hand. But the village chief didn't budge. He had to feed the whole tribe and the resources were limited.