"What..?"
On being informed that her hair had turned white Valecta failed to believe it. How was it possible that her hair had changed it's colour overnight or was it that the tale of the spirit of the sacred hills that came true? Was it it's magic?.Valecta brushed it off as something that the child seemed to have been pranking her for.
She sighed, "This is not a good time to play false truths with me alright?". She spoke up as her head pain had just started to subside.
"B-but Val!!", the child persisted.
"Bring me a bowl of water, a big bowl will do",Valecta asked Brit to bring the water pot to her and Brit obeyed her command with no hesitation. At a nearby distance was a pond, after walking for about 5 minutes Brit reached the pond. He grabbed a half broken coconut shell and dipped it into the water for it to collect in it.
"Thanks". Valecta thanked him as she accepted the coconut bowl that was being offered by him in her hands. When she looked at her reflection. She could clearly see that what the child had said was no false statement.
Valecta gasped, confused, shocked and a sickening feeling still running through her body. "What is this?!", Valecta cried out. "see? I told you so." - Brit had just added more wood to the fire. "What did you do Brit?!", there was no one else present there except Brit and the only culprit had to be the orphaned child. "Me??!", Brit his voice in defense. "Well, who else?!", agitated Valecta raised her voice just to adjust to his tone. "But I didn't do anything..", the fragile, soft hearted child spoke up in a wavering voice ,his voice toning down as tears collected in his eyes..
When Valecta noticed the child tearing up, she realised that she had frightened the kid. She looked at him surprised by how soft hearted the kid was and sighed, a smile tugging at her lip as she tried to resist laughing at the child in front of her "PFFT-". She placed her hand on her mouth covering it up in an attempt to hush her laugh. Brit turned his head towards her in a quick movement, glaring at her. The glare emerging from his innocent eyes felt no more than a kitten's scratch. Valecta cleared her throat "Ahem!!.....S-sorry". Brit pouted turning his head away from Valecta with his hands folded across his chest.
"So...who could it have been? hm? what do you think kid?", Valecta tried to break the silence thatw as held up by Brit. "....Perhaps you have powers....", He said ,still pouting and avoiding eye contact."Powers you say?...hmmm but i don't have any?". "Maybe you just don't know about it", His argument was reasonable but wasn't enough to convince Valecta that she was powerful.
It was morning, bright and sunny. The woods were clear of the fog that had rested in the forest last night. "Do you think we're good to go now kid? To that..old man's home?", Valecta asked trying to make the kid speak. Brit nodded, still holding up his attitude. Zezu was still asleep. It was weird that the pup was still asleep, usually he was the one to wake up the earliest and sitting on Valecta's chest in the morning had almost become his daily routine. "What happened to him?", Valecta asked Brit as she nodded her head towards the pup laying on the floor. "I think he has come up with a fever, he had difficulty opening his eyes..do you think it's because he used his power to protect us yesterday?", Brit's voice laced with concern. "Most likely", Valecta's eyebrows furrowed with concern."What do we do now???", Brit asked Valecta expecting a solution from the only adult. "I'm no expert..but perhaps the man you told me about would be able to help?..". Brit's expression changed from one of a desperation to one of a determination.
"I think i can lead the path to his house"
"I'll be right behind you with Zezu"
And they headed towards the mysterious man's house.