Pollen

"Explain!"

"Well, you saw them, right? I call them the Avatars. I do not give them names or distinguish them in any way. Since I could remember, they always did everything in their power to protect me, even against my own family. They even took me away from them, saying I was safer with them. They gave me everything and I mean absolutely everything."

"There is a saying where I come from, "been born with a silver spoon in their mouth". It means something like I had everything given to me without doing anything to have those things. Like I had everything for free. For me, it was something like I was raised not with a silver or a gold spoon, but rather a diamond spoon. I had fucking everything; the whole world was mine!" he wasn't even exaggerating.

"And if I allowed the Avatars to do as they liked, they'd probably do the same and give me the world. But what uses is a world thing when you are incapable of using it. Or what use is it to me who wants nothing to do with it? And what use is protection when it would only hinder my growth?

"Tell me, was it useful to the last one?" Liam had turned in a certain direction with that last statement, staring at an Avatar who was listening and memorizing what the new World Reader had said. This one was stationed near him.

The Avatars didn't want to repeat their mistakes and didn't coddle the one blessed with the world. They thought to just keep watch over him and assist him when he wouldn't notice, but so far, he had noticed but one thing. Their presence. They suspected he had some idea that they were close, but didn't think that he could sense them.

As of this moment, the Avatar station to watch him knew that was not true. The boy, who had just arrived only a few weeks ago, could sense their presence. The Avatar didn't know how that was possible. Their previous child didn't have that ability.

Just in case, he decided to test the child. He moved from one place to the next within moments and watched the boy's reactions. The boy's eyes jumped to his location the moment he appeared there. He gave up the chaise and made note of this.

The Avatar made its presence known, just to ask that question and answer a question of his if the boy asked it.

The eye in the water shuddered. Ripples ran across the river water. It then blinked, just to confirm what it was seeing. That, that thing had blinked into existence. Biff could feel ancient energy from that thing and an understanding of a kind come from it. A certain element, no, the energy of something that was abundantly available on land. Pollen.

Pollen.

The Avatar answered Liam.

"No, that is why we are just watching."

Liam looked at the Avatar but didn't betray any emotion. That particular Avatar looked a lot like a childhood friend of his. It had also been an Avatar. This one hadn't been like the others, it had always wanted to play games. At some point, Liam had discovered that the games they played had been very useful to him and his growth.

The Avatar observed that the boy was having some difficulties.

"Cough," Liam cleared his throat, trying to swallow the emotions growing inside him. "Did you ... Did you play with the last one?"

"She didn't like it much but yes, yes I did."

"You're not so different then, I liked to play with Pollen a lot."

"You ... you liked playing with me?"

"She thought me many things when we played. I later understood that the dances she made me do with her were Martial Arts. The hide-and-seek we played was to enhance my senses as my eyes or ears tended to be covered. The dances I learned as we played made me look like an elegant man later on at those official gatherings. The breathing exercises she made me do were for gathering energy. I learned without learning and it was fun."

"I regretted it a lot, when I had to ban all of them, and I couldn't make an exception for her. She was very mad at me when I refused to play with her, and I never saw her again after that. I miss Pollen a lot." Liam looked at the Pollen in front of him. He had walked closer to him and chuckled then. "She punished me a lot after that, by sending me pollen that was covered in slight doses of different toxins or poisons. My mother was going nuts at the time, I was always sick, and no one could find a cause for it. But my body took it all in and started to build up resistance to all those poisons. Then the toxins changed, sometimes it was a larger quantity, other times it was man-made. But now, I have good resistance to all poisons. Her last gift to me." Liam's eyes reflected all the memories, tears dropped but there was a gentle smile on his lips.

"You might be the only one, who I will allow being by my side without any complaints. If you want that, that is?" Liam looked at the Avatar who he called Pollen. Tears stained his cheeks and the Avatar felt grateful, that he had decided to come out this time.

"You did not ask the question you were supposed to ask. If I answer this one, I cannot answer the question you were supposed to ask," the Avatar's voice is as gentle as the pollen itself. That was why it could play with a child.

"Hmph, are you saying you won't play games with me?"

A sudden glint of mischief manifested in Pollen's eyes, and he answered the challenge the new World Reader had thrown out.

"I will stay, and we shall play," a wide smile appeared on its face, and then it got knocked off as Liam grabbed him and held him tight for a moment.

"Thank you," Liam mumbled to it and let go of the Avatar who look a lot like a human at that moment. Shocked out of its senses.

There was a wide grin on Liam's face, "My Pollen had the same face when I hugged her. It was so cute."

The Avatar comes out of the shock after those words. "Don't call me cute! I'll stay close by, but do not count on me too much!" He disappeared after that.

"I won't," Liam said even though the Avatar didn't look to be present, he was. Just that the other creatures in the field didn't feel it.

He turned around to look at the creatures, only to see Haru shivering against Nio who had retreated quite the distance into the river and Biff wasn't even visible.