- Sam -

"I wonder why the Seniors told us to take a day off from cultivating?" asked Sam.

"My dad always said it was good to take a day off from work every now and then," Emily replied, "he said 'the body and mind need a day to recover,' so maybe it's like that."

"Yeah, but what are we supposed to do?" Kyle asked.

"I know a place with good sweet meats," Ava told them, "Koa likes it."

"Let's do that!" Sam said.

So the children followed Ava and Koa through the streets, down side alleys, and passed various storefronts until they reached the middle aged street vendor. He seemed to be one of the mortals who had grown up inside the sect.

"Well hello, Koa and Ava, I see you brought friends today!" the man greeted them, then reached down to pat Koa, who was wagging his tail enthusiastically. The dog was growing quickly and already reached the man's waist.

"Yes," Ava said, "I brought.. 'friends,' to purchase sweet meat sticks, sir. One for each of us, please."

"Okay, coming right up," the man said, and the children took turns touching their identification token rings to a jade tablet on the stall's counter. He handed a stick of meat to each of them, including Koa, who got one with the stick removed.

The children gave a chorus of "thank you" before leaving. "Wow, it's so good!" Sam said, as they started to wander the streets again. "Like that, do ya?" said an old voice.

They turned to where it was coming from, and saw an old man stumble out of an alley. He reeked of berry wine, and his tattered robes needed a wash. "I've got," *burp*, "a probab-a proposition for ya," he told them, as he swayed in place.

Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.

"No, thank you, sir. My parents told me not to talk to strange uncles," Sam said. The other children all nodded in agreement. They bowed politely, and began to leave.

"Wait!" called the man.

"No, sir," Ava said sternly, "please go home to your children, and tell them to look after you properly."

"Wha'd you shay ta me, gurly?" the man looked taken aback.

Emily sighed, "Let's just hear him out. What do you want, sir?"

"Awfully ruuude little tykes, ain't ya?" They stood in silence for a few moments, while he swayed in place some more. Sam started to wonder if the man remembered they were there.

"Greetingsh shildren, I haf a proposhishion fur ya," he said.

Sam took a few more bites from his sweet meat, while he wondered if the strange uncle was going to let them leave.

"If'n you'll buy me... three," he held up four fingers, "of them meat sticks, I'll teach ya sumfin."

"Fine," Emily said, "but after that, we're leaving."

As they walked away, Ava whispered, "why did you agree? He's obviously just trying to get you to spend your contribution points on him."

"He said he would teach us something. It's not like the meat is that expensive, anyway," Emily replied.

Sam continued to munch on his meat stick. He thought he might buy another one for himself, since they were going back anyway. It was quite good. He wondered how many of these Koa could eat. He was getting bigger so quickly.

It wasn't long before they arrived at the stall. The vendor was surprised to see them again, but was happy to sell more meat. Sam and Koa both got another stick for themselves, and Emily bought the sticks for the old man.

They walked back to where they'd left the man, and found him passed out on the ground, with his head against a wall, and a puddle of questionable liquid pooling around him. "Should we wake him up?" Kyle asked.

Before anyone could answer, the man opened his eyes. "Sho you brought them. Hand 'em over!" He said, as he stumbled up off the ground. Emily passed him the meat sticks, and waited expectantly, while he polished them off. It didn't take long. He ate nearly as fast as Koa.

"What? Why're ya shtandin there?" He asked the children. "You said you'd teach us something if we brought you that meat." Emily told him.

"Oh?" He said, with a grin fiding its way onto his wrinkled and oily face. "Here's a leshun fur ya, then."

Suddenly, the man was gone. And they heard a cackling bark, that almost sounded like a dog laughing.

"You jerk!" Emily shouted, but it didn't matter. The old man had tricked her.

"I tried to tell you," Ava said.