Chapter 62: New Family

"[how can anyone] be silly enough to think himself better than other people, because his clothes are made of finer woolen thread than theirs. After all, those fine clothes were once worn by a sheep, and they never turned it into anything better than a sheep." —Thomas More, Utopia

"Why do we think love is a magician? Because the whole power of magic consists in love. The work of magic is the attraction of one thing by another because of a certain affinity of nature." —Marsilio Ficino

"Man is mortal. This is his fate. Man pretends not to be mortal. That is his sin. Man is a creature of time and place, whose perspectives and insights are invariably conditioned by his immediate circumstances." —Sylvan Barnet

***

Freedom sets us unbound by chains. Can we call a bird that is supposed to freely fly in the sky a bird when it's caged? We did not call them a bird just because of their ability to fly.

Sea waves splash on the uncountable white sand of the north. Once the water that reached the bay went back to the sea, the white sand would be swept along, thus revealing tiny sea bugs that can be used as bait for fishing.

A bunch of kids, who were carrying a metal pail half-full of the same sea bugs they could see on the bay, carefully picked up the abundant pieces of baits.

Everybody was joyful, leisurely gathering their baits for later as the sun was beginning to reach its peak. The highest and hottest time of the day.

Trees surrounded their pathway from the village whilst logs and other trash got washed ashore.

As the kids were enjoying themselves picking up their baits for fishing, they stumbled upon a person who was unconscious.

They hysterically scream out of nowhere. At first, only one of them did but since they were kids, gullible, and easily influenced, almost all of them began to scream for the adults to hear them.

So as to quickly tend to the kids' commotion, nearby adults rushed to the seashore and found that a kid had been washed ashore. He was unconscious and does not seem to be breathing, but they still tried reviving him.

"Good heavens! Get out of the way, kids!"

One man rushed to the unconscious kid's aid and began trying to revive the kid, pouring his knowledge into action. He began by pumping through the kid's chest, then pinching his nose as the adult blew air into his mouth. The same process was repeated for two straight minutes and the kid miraculously coughed.

He started coughing the seawater he had drunk when he drowned and got washed away.

"There, there... Take it easy."

Once the kid had spat the water, he went back to lying flatly on the ground with his arms spread on the white sand. His eyes were not looking at the adult in front of him but over the head of the person in front of him.

"Birds... Black and hovering in the air. Are they Bandit and Mischief?"

A flock of birds passed by the pair of ravens hovering in the air whilst seemed to be trying to tell something. But since Xenia could not understand anything and was too tired to think about it, he went back to sleep. And the others thought he died.

***

Two days later...

Xenia finally woke up. And the first thing he looked for upon getting up from where he was sleeping, in a pile of straws and hays, was food. He was so hungry that his stomach kept growling at him, telling him to come get something to eat.

"I feel itchy all over my body!"

He still has the energy to complain, despite having no food for two days straight. He was sleeping through hunger, which he often does back when he was still Desmond.

Sniff, sniff, sniff, something aromatically scrumptious went under his nose. It had such a distinct smell, which made him immediately stand up from the ground. He was inside a shed and had been sharing a shelter with another person.

Because he was hungry and hadn't eaten for two days, Xenia followed the delicious smell and brought him to this small house. Through the window, he peeked inside the house.

There, he found a family of four sharing their hot soup under the windy and cloudy weather. It indeed was cold, for Xenia had been feeling cool ever since he woke up.

"What are they having?"

Peering and covering his eyes with his hands, Xenia eagerly wished to know what the family was having. And as he was looking across the window, the male child saw him and was startled. He almost spilled his food upon getting scared by Xenia.

"D-Dad! Isn't that..."

His father looked in the direction he was pointing while his mother was reprimanding him for almost spilling his food.

"Oh, that's the kid you kids found in the bay, right? I see... Come invite him inside, so he could eat."

His sister went to the door and opened it.

"Hey, Dad said you could eat with us. Come inside."

The girl popped up on the side, still holding onto the doorknob. She was not that older than Xenia.

"Ah, really?"

"Yes, come hurry up! The fish soup will not be good if consumed cold."

After being invited inside, Xenia abode and carefully excuse himself for the intrusion. He sat down on a vacant chair placed around the wooden table and was given a plate and a small bowl.

His bowl and plate were empty and it was just placed there by the girl. She went back to eating once done with her job and didn't even give food to Xenia.

"Oh, kid. In this household, we serve ourselves our food. Now, don't be shy and take how much you want. Eat your fill to the brim. You've been asleep for two whole days. You need energy."

Hesitantly, Xenia gently stood from his seat and reached for the unleavened bread. He drizzled some olive oil with it and scooped a bowlful of that fish soup. Two whole pieces of bread were all he took and put on his plate. When he picked it up to bite on it, crumbs were left on the white plate.

He bit into the unleavened bread. It was soft and the olive oil added flavor to it, though not that much.

As someone who likes to experiment with his food, creating absurd combinations with two different meals, Xenia first had a taste of that fish soup.

It was sour and he hasn't had that dish before, which made him express the sour look on his face. They all laughed at him after doing so.

"HAHAHA! Is it tasty?" Asked the pillar of the household. "It may be sour but it's filled with nourishing flavors from different vegetables we grow ourselves on!"

"Indeed it was sour but I can say that it's good! Wait, lemme just..."

Xenia pulled and cut a small part of the soft unleavened bread. The four individuals who were eating watched him dip the piece of bread in his sour fish soup and eat it.

They weren't weirded out or anything by it. In fact, they were waiting for his reaction and when Xenia did so, they were glad that he liked the food.

"So good!"

"Of course, it will be good! After all, Mom cooked it! Everything she cooks is topnotch!"

"My, my, I'm flattered."

In just a short amount of time, Xenia already had fit in the household. They accepted him and he looked up to them.

"Anyway, tell us your name, boy."

He had food in his mouth, so Xenia first swallowed before speaking.

"Ah! I'm Xenia! Currently 10 years old. My family is dead and I don't have anywhere to go."

Xenia said it so casually as he enjoyed his food that it kinda threw the two adults off.

"I-Is that so? Basically, you're an orphan now."

"You can live with us!" Proposed the boy the same age as Xenia. He happily said so as he raised his spoon in the air, which his mother admonished him for. "Our house may be small but someone like you who has nowhere to go is welcome to be a part of our family!"

Slowly, Xenia looked at the kid's father, then at his mother, and last was at his sister. They all had the same look on their faces.

"It's up to you whether you're gonna join our family or not, Xenia."

I have nowhere else to go. My family is dead and just like what Mr. Lagman said, I'm basically an orphan who has nowhere to go. It's only natural to accept their offer. He has nothing to lose and will also gain a new family at that. What is there to be hesitant about?

Therefore, Xenia gladly accepted their proposal of being a part of their family.

"Sure! It'll become one of your family members!"

"Alright! From now on, we are friends, Xenia! By the way, my name is Crowley!"

"And I'm Lui. Nice to meet you, Xenia, and welcome to our family!"

It was warm and genuine. Xenia could not wish for anything anymore. Just being a part of their family fulfills the void inside his heart.

But then again...

"You're happy?! Why?! Why do you have the leisure to be happy when we are suffering down here?!"

Thaniel, his family, Arlan, Pack, and almost everyone that he lost along the way with distorted faces was trying to crawl out from the pits of hell. Their voices were raspy and insignificantly calling for his name.

"I forgot... I don't have the right to be happy. I lost it when I took everyone's freedom."

~