Chapter 13: Chapter 13

He waited until the end to tell me about my mother on purpose. Did his words have a hidden meaning, or am I overthinking it?

I thought about returning but changed my mind when I saw the memories. My idea was to say goodbye, but he has too many issues I don't want to mess with. The problem is I could get more flashbacks, which could change my mind again.

And now I'll be a big brother; not sure how I feel about that. But, at the same time, I took his body, so do I have a responsibility toward his family? I have to decide sooner or later. Definitely later.

In the meantime, "Look who's finally awake." I smile at the little guy. It's already afternoon, so I was a little worried.

"Gud Mowning." He yawns at me and rubs his eyes.

"Ah, you can talk?!" I exclaimed, and the second he realized what he had done, quickly hides under the blanket.

"No!" I heard him mumble.

"Come on, don't be like that. I'm not going to bite." I said in a gentle voice.

"No, you will hurt me," I hear him sob. "Like the man with no hair."

"I-No, never. Why do you think I would harm you?"

"Your arms look like his head."

"What?" I asked, confused. "Ooh. Do you want to know a secret?"

That picks up his interest, and he carefully peeks out of the blanket. "The man you're talking about, was he small and green?" I get a nod in confirmation and continue. "He hurt me, too, but you don't need to worry. He won't find us."

He's still skeptical but gathers his courage and sits on the edge of the bed. "Really?"

"I promise. What's your name?"

"I'm-hmm," He rubs one hand with the other. "Arbin."

"What a cool name," I smile at him. "Are you hungry?"

"Yes!"

We leave the house, walking along the other cabins until we're back at the larger house. Arbin tries to hide behind me from anybody glancing in his direction. I hope he can put that part of his life behind.

We spot Tom inside arguing with an Elf. I let them finish, then walk over, "Everything okay?"

He turns to me, "No, not really. We have too many people coming, and the chance one of them is a spy is way too high, but the biggest problem is too many people."

I pretend to think, then say, "I can help after we eat." I give Arbin a thumbs up, and he grins back.

I don't see a difference to Humans, except his ears are slightly oversized, but that's it. I still didn't see a grown Dwarf, but they'll probably look different.

"Jerry, bring us something over. I didn't have a chance to eat myself."

"Sure, boss." He leaves the room. "When did I become a house boy?" I hear him mutter before he disappears.

"I see you got friendly with the little guy." Tom waves to Arbin, but he quickly hides behind my leg.

"His name is Arbin," I introduced him. "Tell me about your situation."

"It's not so bad. We have enough food for now, and the next delivery from the Partnership of Peace should be here soon, but if more people are on the way, it'll get difficult. We had a steady incline of newcomers, but in the last month, almost two thousand arrived."

I stare at him before saying the words he probably doesn't want to hear, "that's bad, seriously! You need to figure something out. Where will the people sleep-wash-shit? If you don't act fast, people can get ill, and food will get short. Also, you can't rely on somebody to bring you the necessary things to survive."

"... You're right," His head hangs low. Did I say too much at once? "You know, I was what people called a bandit only ten months ago." he resumes. "I stole from the greedy rich and gave it to the poor who struggle to feed their family. I never intended to be responsible for thousands of people. I don't know how to do it."

"Let us talk about it after we eat; I may have a few ideas to help you." Then, on cue, Jerry and three others return, carrying tablets with food. They put everything on the table, and we sit down to eat. Arbin insists on sitting on my lap; how can kids be so trusting.

The dinner consists of blue eggs laid by Sema-chicken in the Dwarven mountains, and with them comes bread and green juice from the Jade tree, a specialty of Jade. It tastes heavenly.

"By the way, did anybody see Mia today?" I asked.

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"Yes, she was earlier here," Jerry responded. "After asking about you, she left again, saying she'll be back in the evening." I nod at him with my mouth full of bread.

"More, more, gimme more," Arbins smack his hand repeatedly on the table until he gets more bread with eggs. "Thank you." He said, spitting a bit out in the process.

Arbin goes for a nap when we finish our meal, and we begin discussing the future of the settlement.

The first council meeting of the unnamed village consists of Tom, Jerry, me, and Oliver, who joined us now. "What are you guys doing? Why the long faces?" Oliver asked.

We ignore him, and I start, "Tom, why do you want this settlement?"
I'm genuinely curious.

"Like I said before, it's not something I planned. It just happened," He explains. "The Sehvler is a small group of the Partnership of Peace, but only twenty people are with me. The big guys don't want any connection between us and keep everything at a minimum. So ten months ago, when we were robbing the caravans of the rich, we encountered refugees for the first time. They were fleeing to the Dwarves, but they never took refugees. The Dwarves are always neutral.

He pauses to take a sip from his glass, "We took them in, and weeks later, there were already over a hundred people to feed. Then, a month later, over two hundred and so on. Finally, we decided to leave Esaville and the Evergreen woods and went to the Forest of Three, building the small village you saw.

He looks up from the table to see that everyone is still listening and continues, "The people want a quiet life. The parents don't want to see their children leave for a meaningless war, and the same goes for the children. I want to give people a choice, to decide for themself, but I have no idea how to give it to them. My group tends to do things with violence, it's our purpose, and now I have to do things by talking."

"I see. I owe you for freeing Mia and me, and I want to see what this place looks like when it's done." I smile at him. "I'll try to help for a month, then I have to leave."

"How?" Jerry asked.

"People have to start helping out, and later you'll have to do official jobs and pay everybody. You'll figure it out later. For the time being, it will be an exchange; you give them food and shelter, and they'll work for you. You should focus on three things. At first, you need a stable income of food. Don't rely on the supplies of the Partnership. Who knows if they'll make it next time and if it'll be enough for everybody. When people don't have anything to eat, they'll boycott.

"The second," I look at Tom to see him listen intently. "is health. That includes dry shelters, preferably warm if the winter arrives. Doctors to prevent deadly injuries and latrines to keep everything clean and suppress diseases.

"Last but not least, you need to give them security. As I understand, you're all outlaws." I get a nod in return. "That means, sooner or later, the King will send someone, or already did. So you have to defend against invaders."

"And the monsters," Oliver adds, picking his nose.

"Monsters? What monsters?" I grimace.

"You know, like Thunder-Bunnies, Emerald-Pumas, Terra-Bears, or Cloud-Eagle. If you encounter any of them, run."

"Oh, I'll keep it in mind. But, until tomorrow, everyone thinks of what or how we'll do this and who can help."

Arbin wakes up from his nap on the way back, and we walk through the forest. The village is close to the Sudan river, so we detour there. He plays on the sandy shoreline for a bit before we return.

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I was about to cultivate my core when I heard a knock on the door. "Yes, come in."

The door opens, and Mia enters the room. I hoped to do this later, but it looks like she got impatient; I can't blame her. I wave for her to sit beside me on the bed, then wait for her to ask questions.

I didn't notice until now, but she's pretty good-looking. Just like Askei, she has a purple iris and long black hair almost to the waist. She looks not a day older than twenty, but we know that doesn't mean anything.

She glances at Arbin, who found a stick and uses it to fight against a strong invisible warrior. Then, after a minute, she found the right words, "Who-who are you?"

Uh, a tough one. My question is, how honest should I be to her. I will not tell her I hijacked this body, but the rest should be fine.

So I told her how I got saved by her father, who trained me. How he can't leave the island, and I owed him my life. That I came here to get her out and take her to a safe spot until Askei returns.

I observed how her emotion changed from interest to confusion, shock, and, finally, disbelief. I can't blame her. I wouldn't believe a story like this, either.

I give her time to process everything, then say, "I know it's hard to believe; trust me. But I can prove to you that I know your father."

"How?" She said doubtfully.

"Your father foresaw this, so he told me something only your parents, and you know. You have a scar up the inside of your thigh from when you fell down a tree trying to catch bugs with your father."

"How-where... Is he really alive?" She asked with tears in her eyes.

"I swear."

She cried for hours, mumbling every now and then something, but I couldn't understand. I put a blanket over her and laid Arbin when they fell asleep. I meditated for a few hours, then laid down on the floor and fell asleep too.

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