Omen: 5, 17

“No!” Katool pointed up at Adam, glaring up at him with a pout.

Adam glanced to the side, letting out a soft sigh. “Katool, how can you do this to me?”

“No,” Katool warned, still pointing at Adam with her finger accusatory. “My kaka.”

Adam looked down at Jitool, who was sitting on his lap, eating a small bun. “Impossible.”

Katool puffed out her cheeks before she marched to her mother, and pointed towards Adam once more. “No.”

“Adam, you should not bully Katool like this,” Citool said, brushing her daughter’s hair.

“I’m not bullying Katool,” Adam replied, before bringing another piece of bread to the girl’s lips. Jitool looked up towards him, slowly chewing her bread. “She’s bullying me. How can she steal Jitool from me?”

“Jitool is hers to steal.”

“My kaka,” Katool confirmed. “Jitool, come!” She held out her arms, and Jitool squirmed out of Adam’s grasp to hug her elder sister.

“I’m only forgiving you this once because you’re both so cute,” Adam stated. “Next time, if you steal my Jitool, I will call you a smelly girl.”

“I smell very nice,” Katool retorted, hugging her sister as she rubbed the back of the girl’s head. She planted a kiss on her sister’s forehead.

“What happened to the cool Katool that used to cry when I… didn’t bully her,” Adam said, recalling the fact that he didn’t actually ever bully Katool but she still cried.

“She is older now,” Jurot stated, as though it explained everything. It did, of course, but Adam refused to acknowledge it.

Once the gifts were given, with Adam also passing Jitool a promise for a magical item, only with Katool and Kitool’s support, they returned back to eating peacefully.

“Are you going to make them into monsters?” Lucy asked, chewing on a piece of bread Lanarot had given to her.

“Monsters? Of course not! I’ll make sure they’re raised well! My cute little Cousins will be raised well in the Iyr, and I’ll make sure to spoil them rotten!” Adam stated, firmly, in front of all the parents who had remained. “I earned that right.” Adam threw a look to Mirot and Kaygak, the pair gently rubbing their newborn children’s backs to make sure they had drank well.

“They’re really going to get magical weapons?” Lucy asked.

“Magical items, but yes,” Adam confirmed.

Lucy sighed, looking to Mara. The pair had already begun training within the Iyr, slowly gaining more strength. They thought about what to do with the Iyr, which had treated them so well.

“Hey, Lucy, why don’t you help them out when they’re young?” Adam whispered. “They’ll be sure to help you out once they… once you’re in trouble.” Adam refused to admit they would grow up.

“How can I do that when you’re always stealing them?”

“I’m not stealing them!” Adam huffed out defensively. “There are plenty of children now, you know? They’re all so cute that I can’t help but steal them.”

“You said you weren’t stealing them?”

“I’m not stealing them, but I can’t help but to steal them. Look! They are so cute and chubby! Look at my Chonky boy! Look at little Jitool, whose got the same bob cut her sister usually has! Aren’t you so adorable?” Adam lifted her up once more and made all manner of noises, rubbing his cheek against her tummy, causing her to squeal.

Katool placed a hand on Adam’s shoulder. “I will play with her.”

“Katool, just because you’re her sister, it doesn’t mean you can steal her away from me.”

“Yes, I can.”

Adam stared up at the girl, seeing her smug expression. Adam relented, handing the little girl over to her older sister, the young Katool leading her away to play. “Lanababy, where are you, my Lanababy?”

“Here,” Lanarot shouted from nearby, raising her hand.

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“Come to papa,” Adam said, holding out his hands. She ran over to her brother and he lifted her up. “Lanababy, oof! Why are you so big now?”

“Stwong,” Lanarot confirmed, flexing her arms.

“That’s right. So big and strong.” Adam brushed her hair gently. “So big and strong.”

“You speak well,” Jurot praised, nodding his head.

Lanarot smiled shyly, hugging her Half Elf brother and cuddling up to him.

“Adam,” Jurot said, blinking. “How can she speak so well?” Jurot thought back to not long ago. “She did not know how to walk, but she now knows how to speak well and walk well?”

“She’s…” Adam sighed. “Lanababy, how can you do this to us? You’re meant to stay small and cute forever. You’re not allowed to get any better.”

“No! I big and stwong.”

“Do see you that Jurot? Just like Katool, she’s fighting with me. How mean!” Adam showered his younger sister with kisses, hugging her a little tighter, before giving her up to Jurot.

Jurot held her close, hugging her the way he did, causing her to melt against him. He remembered when she was a baby. So small. So feeble. Now she could walk right beside him, and talk to him about random nonsense. She could talk so much better than when they originally left in the beginning of the year too. ‘Were we gone for too long?’

Adam looked out to the children, even glancing at his own. “Soon, Jurot, they’ll be walking and talking like Lanababy. They’ll be going off to learn their skills, and one day, they’ll slay their first boar. Their first manticore. Their first Dragon.” Adam kept the frown from appearing on his face. “No. Why? They need to stay small forever! I won’t let them get any bigger, Jurot.”

Jurot was slowly beginning to understand what Adam meant. One day they would grow big and strong, like him. They would go out to fight, win their own tournaments, and they would potentially…

Jurot furrowed his brows.

He looked to Adam’s children, and then to Adam.

‘Die?’

His eyes scanned across the children once more. From Gurot who was snoozing lightly beside his mother, to Jitool who was playing with the ribbon she had received from Katool, and even Katool, who was sitting right beside her sister, brushing her hair.

They could die?

No.

That was impossible.

How could they go and die? These little boys and girls who still hide within their mother’s bosom when he would greet them. These little boys and girls who still suck their thumbs and still drink their mother’s milk?

Jurot remained frozen in thought. He tried to push it away, but the images continued to flash in front of him.

‘They cannot die. I will not allow it. I will…’

What?

Could he deny them their rights to a good death?

Shikan almost spoke up, but he noticed the look in Adam’s eyes. Somehow, the pair were thinking the same think, with Adam gently rubbing Konarot’s head to try and calm himself from the thoughts of watching these children pass away before dying himself.

‘I guess I’ll have to remain a little chaotic, so I never have to see that kind of thing…’

Adam rolled the ball over to Gurot, the boy giggling lightly as they played together. Gurot picked up the ball and tossed it over to Adam, who kept rolling the ball back to him. Jurot sat behind Gurot, rubbing his head gently. Gurot looked up at him before squealing and crawling away.

Adam lifted the boy up, groaning as he did. “What are you doing, running away from your cousin like this? You can’t bully him like this.”

Gurot sucked on his hand shyly, before hiding his head into Adam’s chest.

“He already likes you so much,” Jurot said.

“Of course he likes me, I play with him everyday,” Adam replied, brushing the boy’s hair back. “Isn’t that right Gurot? I’m your favourite Cousin, and not because I’m so handsome.”

“I am handsome too,” Jurot stated.

“When you’re right, you’re right, Jurot,” Adam replied, nodding his head. “Not as handsome as our Gurot, of course. Look at him. So stout. He’s going to swing the biggest axe around. Isn’t that right, Gurot?”

“Choo,” Gurot confirmed.

An Iyrman approached the estate, coming to give orders for the teen and young adult for work.

“Jurot will be unable to work today,” Sonarot said.

“Okay,” the Iyrman replied, marking Jurot as unable to work that day, before he waited for Sonarot’s reason.

“He must remain with the children,” she said.

“…” The Iyrman wrote the reason, but with a punctuation that marked he was unsure, but he stepped out.

It was evening when Jurot finally approached his mother. “Mother.”

“Yes?” Sonarot asked, finishing with cutting Karot’s nails, before letting him go to his siblings, Konarot hugging the boy before sitting with him.

“The children…” Jurot began, awkwardly. He wasn’t sure what to say to his mother. “They will grow up, and they will die?”

“They are young and small now, but they will be older, and they will gain the rights afforded to them, like you. They will grow big and strong, and they will have the right to leave the Iyr. To fight, and to die.”

“I do not wish for them to die,” Jurot said, frowning.

“Is it our choice to make?”

Jurot’s frown deepened. That’s not what he wanted to hear. She should have said something like he should do what he feels is right. That he should protect them well when he’s stronger. However, there were no words of comfort from his mother, who would always comfort him well.

Sonarot reached up to brush his hair, smiling sadly. As much as she wanted to comfort him, there were rules the Iyr followed, and there was a reason why the Iyr, outnumbered hundreds to one by its enemies, was still able to exert so much influence.

Jurot held Lanarot against his chest that night, allowing her to sleep atop him. The girl cuddled with her brother excitedly, though quickly succumbed to his hug, falling fast asleep.

Konarot cuddled up with her father, while her siblings were cuddled up with their grandmother. Jirot and Jarot both stayed with their other nana, their grandaunt, who had allowed them to grab her hands to sleep together.

Jurot’s eyes remained glued to the ceiling. His heart had been gripped by the darkness once more, and though his body had grown cold, the blanket kept his sister warm.

Originally, he had thought that Adam refusing to become an Iyrman was foolish, but he realised something he hadn’t thought of previously. Adam was chained by the Iyr because he chose to be, but he was no Iyrman. The rules of the Iyrmen did not apply to him, and therefore…

Therefore, Adam could refuse the Iyrman way to live.