When a Five-year-old 'Works' to Earn a Living

After observing the foreigners' departure with a sigh, Elder Jaya rummaged through a basket at the innermost side of his haya. He finally touched a small palm-sized wooden box with intricate carvings. He moved the box, almost reverently, to the table just beside the closed window.

Elder Jaya took a deep breath as he nervously placed his left palm atop the small box.

It has been so long...

Since there was no notable emergency, he had never activated his Spiritual Root for a long time. The Acting Elders elected within the tribe must have the basic capability of activating their Spiritual Root either via the Reawakening Ceremony or through the Blood Piety Ceremony, albeit the lesser version, since no one in the tribe had enough talent, quoting their Tok Batin's hurtful spite. His activation came from the latter ceremony, earning him the position of the Third Acting Elder during Tok Batin Silihan's reign as they stood guard upon the Land when the Spiritual Healer was not around. 

To quote again, the capricious Tok Batin said he had to perform the laborious ceremony no matter what to make sure at least one person could activate the talisman to contact him incase of an emergency. 

Tough times led to tough decisions. 

In essence, he plainly labeled his tribesmen as talentless Lesser Healers, as no one was naturally born with Spiritual Root powerful enough to use the two ceremonies as supplementations rather than encourage the appearance of an inferior one. 

This was considered an emergency, right? Elder Jaya smiled wryly.

Elder Jaya closed his eyes and placed his right hand under his navel. He chanted something incomprehensible under his breath. After a few minutes, the box had a very faint glow upon it. One who didn't observe properly would've missed it altogether. 

A gentle click resounded.

Elder Jaya removed the top part of the box silently. Inside, a piece of polished black stone the size of a thumb lay before his eyes. It was densely covered with complicated engravings on every inch of its surface. 

Elder Jaya touched the surface of the tiny stone with his index finger. He whispered in Bateq, "Esteemed Tok Batin, the outsiders who wished to receive your treatment have arrived just now. I'm currently stalling them for two days. Please make it back by then." 

The engravings on the surface moved slowly to form a word. 

"Noted."

Elder Jaya heaved a relieved sigh. Thank goodness he made the right call and was not scolded.

...

"The Bateqs had it rough these days, I presumed." 

Young Master Alan permitted a short chuckle under his breath, feeling amused immensely with the Elder's proactive effort to inform them of their circumstances.

"True, it was just bad timing on our part. However, without the appearance of the Tok Batin, Mr. Arash might have met an untimely demise. It is fate."

The Young Master grimaced as he was reminded of his precious new subordinate's circumstances by his wizened butler.

Butler Miles added, "And now, without Mr. Arash in the picture, this meeting would not come to be, Young Master. That is the power of networking, although in the strangest of ways. It is fate, yet again."

Alan contemplated his butler's comment deeply. It was true that several events as of late had pointed him in the right direction towards recovery once he met with Arash as if the stars of fate suddenly aligned to favor him. His heart felt more at ease as if a heavy burden was lifted from it. Doing all he could to protect himself all the time exhausted even him thoroughly.

"Uncle! Uncle Alan! Is that you?!"

A young voice filled with energy shouted the Young Master's name with happiness, shocking his retinue. In between random bushes, a dirty little thing clad in a brown sarong tied up to its chest rushed out and jumped towards the Young Master. 

It was... A young girl, a toddler at best. 

She was carrying a wicker basket on her back, as it was filled to the brim with unknown vegetation, while positively hugging the Young Master's thigh.

"Surprise! Uncle, Uncle. Ai has been waiting for you for ages!" Her jovial grin was replaced with a pout filled with dissatisfaction. The aborigine girl was behaving way too familiar with their young master!

Young Master Alan took a few seconds to recover from his shock as his eyes showed signs of realization. 

Without rebuking the filthy toddler who acted all chummy with him, the young master squatted to her level and pinched her pouty cheek as he smiled helplessly.

"Sorry for being late. Where is your Papa, Aira?" 

He ruffled her puffed-up hair. Her fair skin was covered with all the mud and dirt until she just looked right at home with the other aborigine youngsters. Alan recognized the girl through her voice and her eyes only. Gone was her elegance from their previous encounter, but Alan still felt that the cheerful girl was charming in her own way. 

Aira puffed her cheeks with indignance, "Hah! Papa left us to play with Kak Kantan(1) and Pelanduk(2). He already forgot about us, humph! Ai loves Acik Melur more now! Just forget about him!"

Ahh, Arash's hard work to earn his 'The Best Papa in the World' title had just been undone so soon. It was totally his fault though.

Aira rummaged through her wicker basket to produce a light pink old-fashioned camera and grinned while signaling the young master to pose. Perhaps, due to how familiar the duo was from their previous interactions, Alan immediately struck a dashing pose from his squatting position.

"Like this?"

Arash swished his hair to the side and gave Aira a dashing smile.

"Marvelous, Uncle! You're a gem!"

"I am, right?"

They giggled together in their own little world while disregarding others around them. 

Butler Miles and the rest of the team members' lips twitched ever so slightly. They were so shocked that they stood rooted to the ground without making a sound. Young Master Alan had portrayed to others that he was a serious, hard worker who never wasted time or made jokes. This was their first time seeing the young master's different side when interacting with children. Surprisingly, he had a positive encouraging attitude towards children; a model parent in the making.

After the initial shock, Butler Miles' eyes misted slightly. He was truly moved! Arash's presence truly impacted the young master's life in all sorts of ways. 

"Is that a Polaroid? So retro!" Alan rubbed Aira's head as she fussed over the picture generated.

"Nah, polaroids are soooo outdated, Uncle. This one is an Instant hehe. Ai blackmailed Papa to get one." Aira giggled mischievously.

"Good one." He smiled gently.

"Look, look! How great does this turn out, Uncle?! Truly, you need to let Ai submit this to a competition!" Aira was so delighted with the picture. It was a standard picture; Asian-styled, from a lower angle where the subject of the picture became the focus. It was quite aesthetically good for a five-year-old. 

"Ai, you've promised not to submit my pictures publicly, right? Additionally, this is not your best. You can do better than this. The exposure is a little too much. Maybe we can adjust the angle a bit next time. Uncle will gift you some films next time for you to practice more."

An Instant produced a physical picture in a matter of minutes. Alan critically discussed the picture as if it was the picture of someone else.

"Really? Okay, okay! I'll practice more to make you shine better the next time, Uncle. Better angle, got it!" Determined fires were burning within the little girl's eyes. 

Somehow, the little girl's focus was skewed a little weirdly. Only Butler Miles noticed this and sighed exasperatedly in silence.

...

"Tokkk."

Aira called sweetly after she was introduced to Butler Miles by Alan. She had been very guarded with others except for the young master.

"Tokkkkkkk."

A younger voice called to Butler Miles. A toddler around the age of 2 was clinging to Aira's waist as she peeped with curious eyes. It was Aina, Aira's little sister. To Butler Miles' understanding, both girls were Arash's daughters, placed in the hands of the villagers while their Papa went away to accompany the Tok Batin.

The kids were adorable, albeit somewhat messy and dirty. They melted the butler's heart in the strangest of ways. Butler Miles couldn't help but see the kids kindly as if they were related. Was it possible that Mr. Arash's whole family had the same natural gift of letting people's guard down? 

"Good girls. Were you playing with the others just now?" It was a good exposure to let kids spend more time in nature. 

"No! We're working, Tok! Working! These are herbs to put when you get booboo(3) over your knee scrapes, these are the ones for bruises. You know, when you fall, but don't get a booboo, but the skin color changes. These are for toothache. You just need to chew this. It's like a mint candy!"

This... The group was astounded. The kids were not playing with leaves? Or pretend-cooking? 

"Ahh, gentlemen, there is a misunderstanding here." Elder Jaya appeared hurriedly out of nowhere and patted Aira's head as his lips twitched. 

...