Here is The Place...

Struggling to catch a breath, Jean looked startled for a bit.

'I don't know why I am this paranoid to get to this place. Is it because it sounds mysterious or is it because of its incentive ability to source a soothing breeze like this?'

Jean was uncertain whether it was right for him to head over to the place that was sourcing the breeze or just avoid it at all cost.

There could have been high chances that he could have avoided heading to the place, but one thing that gave him a reassurance, was the demeanor that Natalie was exhibiting. She was strangely calm and composed. Not showing any sign of panic or fright.

Although, all these could be judged from the outward body expressions, Jean still held onto the feeling of incredulity if Natalie was truly calm as her body suggested. He was quite aware that his mom was proficient when it came to suppressing emotions. This was the main reason he still had some doubts in what they were doing.

Following from behind, Jean focused his attention in the direction they were heading to, while occasionally scanning their surroundings. He wanted to be able to spot any form of danger that they were likely to encounter before he could get any closer.

No one could blame him for this, as it was his first time that he was about to see something that he thought was out of the ordinary. Adding to that, he was just an innocent, ten-year-old village kid.

A couple minutes later, the duo came to a halt almost simultaneously. At this point, Jean didn't need a hint from anyone to notice that they had arrived.

The breeze around the area they were standing felt stronger than before, and it was easy for someone to discern that it was travelling in all directions.

This placed looked strange and it was somehow different than the surrounding areas especially in terms of its vegetation.

As opposed to most of the surrounding areas, this place had numerous undergrowth. That was not that surprised Jean, the most surprising thing about the area, it was that in an area of radius about five meters right from the area, there was not a single tree, talk less of even a hint of it.

Puzzled by what his sight had caught, Jean unconsciously placed his hand under his chin.

'How comes this place doesn't have even a single tree, and the undergrowth is too numerous in such a small area surrounded by gigantic trees.'

"Here is the place"

Natalie's voice echoed, bringing Jean out of his reverie in an instance.

"Yeah...I see it"

Jean responded with a starter as he quickly straightened himself.

A minute passed by without anyone uttering a word.

A minute later, Jean looked at Natalie and heaved a sigh.

"If you can make me understand. Did grandpa create this place, too?"

When Natalie heard this question from Jean, she almost tripped. And in the next moment, a complicated look appeared on her face. This turn of events made Jean to doubt his decision of asking the question in the first place.

After a few moments of silence, Natalie calmed down and curved her lips upwards, revealing a smirk.

"You see why I usually limit your inquisitive sessions…"

She then paused for a moment…

Jean rubbed his eyes out of confusion, not certain with what Natalie was to utter next.

"The reason to why I always limit your inquisitive sessions, is because most of your questions are too weird and at times, they are unending"

Natalie said with a serious face.

Almost instantly, Jean frowned.

At first Jean had a feeling that the reason to why Natalie was limiting his inquisitive session with her was because, he felt that there was something that she was hiding from him. This was an easy conclusion to Jean because, he had noticed this kind of behaviour since the moment they started their house tour. It was not a common thing for her to do.

Who knows, if he was right or wrong?

So, when he heard Natalie telling him the reason to why she always cut him short in these inquisitive sessions, he was stunned. This wasn't what he would have expected. But still the answer he was given made a lot of sense. It was difficult for him to defend himself.

'The question indeed sounds weird to some extent.'

Jean thought after revisiting his previous question.

A few seconds later, Natalie continued,

"So as long as I am willing to provide you with the answers to your awkward questions, try being sensitive with what you ask."

Pausing for a moment, Natalie moved closer to Jean and forced out a smile. This bothered Jean to some extent. From the way she was talking, Jean could easily deduce that she was upset to some point. So, her exhibiting emotions that contradicted her current state, made Jean to doubt her intentions when she moved closer.

During this time, his mind was a maze as he tried figuring out what to tell her, so as to forget about the whole situation at hand.

While still in his reverie, Natalie's voice echoed once again,

"What exactly gave you the guts to think that your grandpa could have created this place? …Oh! I see… the lamp in the ancient room…"

Jean was taken aback by the mention of the lamp in the ancient room. He remembered some of the questions that he was yet to ask about the lamp, before Natalie cut him short by promising to tell him more about this at the end of their tour.

Now that the lamp has been mentioned once again, he felt the urge of inquiring the question that was still in his mind about the lamp.

'What fuelled the lamp?'

But he felt that this will irk Natalie even more, because she had already promised to explain it later to him. So, the perfect moment to ask about this was at the end of the tour.

After a few moments, Jean opened his mouth to say something, but at the same time, Natalie continued,

"How can the ability to create a lamp, give you the confidence to even believe that your grandpa could have had the ability to create such a place? Is he some sort of god or what? Don't be silly."

Natalie said with a contorted face. A hint of anger clear in her voice.

These words from Natalie pounded on Jean's eardrum like a mallet, to the extent that he felt a slight headache. It was clear, he was not enjoying what he was hearing.

Since the beginning of the tour, Natalie was enraged on several occasions, but none of the previous occasions was any closer to this.

The reason behind her furious reaction to Jean's question could have been because of how inappropriate it sounded. But what could be expected from a ten-year-old kid if not some sort of silly questions on various occasions. He was still learning, but his mom was not ready for such, she wanted her child to reason maturely even though he was still young.

To other people's point of view, most of Jean's questions could have looked better than some of the mature people. Even Natalie herself was a witness to this. This was when she was surprised on several occasions when Jean asked some wit questions.

Natalie found most of Jean's question being on point, that's why she never denied him the chance to ask her some questions during the tour even after he angered her at some point. What Natalie was wary about, was the few weird questions that Jean had to insert between some of his sensible questions, and how endless they were. This was what made Natalie angry and it seems Jean was able to figure out.

Another reason to why Natalie aimed at obtaining sensible questions from Jean, was for the sake of making the tour as brief as possible. Talking about briefness, the duo had been moving around the forest for over two hours and it was clear that each part was tired to some extent. Who knows maybe furious reaction from Natalie was fuelled by her tiredness to some extent?

Since Jean had deduced what really made Natalie react furiously to some of his question, he wanted to intervene and apologise. But at that moment, Natalie grinned reassuringly and patted him on the shoulder.

"Don't be afraid to ask, only try to be brief."

Natalie said with a chuckle, hinting Jean that she had regained her calm state.

At this point, Jean was careful with choosing what to ask her. He exchanged glances with her for some moments and smiled lightly before facing at the area in front of them.

"I am sorry for the stupid question I asked initially, mom."

"Who said it was stupid? The question was okay, only that it came out at the wrong time. Remember we wanted the tour to be as short as possible. If you keep asking too many questions, that will prolong our tour and as a result, the whole thing would be taxing. We might even lack the energy to do a few house chores before we retire to bed. Also don't forget in two days' time, I would be reporting to work and you know what that means. You too, would be reporting to school soon, once I find an appropriate one for you. So, we won't have much time to move around as we are doing."

Natalie said in a friendly tone. And in response, Jean nodded silently in agreement.

"I know you would like to know how this place is able to source a breeze."

Natalie said in a low tone as she fixed her gaze on the ground of the area that sourced the breeze.

In the next moment, she was moving forward and finally stepped on the undergrowth that surfaced the area. She then turned around and gestured at Jean who was a couple meters away from where she was standing to step forward.

(^///^)