Chapter sixteen: Age Doesn’t Matter

I turn to see Zaru sitting on a chair as the sunlight begins to illuminate him slowly. "Good morning."

For some reason, I hesitate before answering him, "Good morning."

A small, but warming grin is forced onto his face. "Sorry for intruding, I had a hunch about something and couldn't help but check up on you."

His sincerity and concern causes me to smile back. "Thanks, but I'm fine."

"Would you like some breakfast?"

"Oh-sure, that sounds nice." I need to stop saying things awkwardly.

He stands up before saying some more, "I'll be a minute."

As soon as he leaves I suddenly remember my journal and look at the lamp desk next to me. It's still there, just as I left it.

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We managed to pack our things and headed out around nine in the morning or so. Ruus obviously stayed, but he offered Mueimma to us for the trip. He debated against Zaru that she would be good for carrying stuff, including me, but Zaru wouldn't accept it and wanted her to stay for his own care. In the end, we took her with us as a lackey. Ousada are also intimidating creatures, so she helps by scaring off potential thieves as well. I'm pretty sure that she misses Ruus already as we head south towards Gesh village in the Konash state, but I also think she understands the situation, otherwise, she would still be by his side.

The afternoon rolls in with fupum's favorite star straight up in the sky and we decide to stop by a little Soenara* for lunch. Mueimma keeps skootching up close to me for a piece of my sandwich and I keep pulling away from her. "C'mon girl, you know better," I say with a giggle in my voice while pushing her massive noggin away. It's certainly bigger than my head.

Her semi-short tail wags as she lies on her belly with her flat and humungous tongue flapping out.

I give up and toss her a big crumb. I chuckle at her satisfaction as she gobbles it down. In the corner of my eye, I spot a silhouette of a person hiding in the woods. She hides behind a tree with her hand clutching to it and half of her head sticking out. The girl is a bit far off in the distance, but I know that she has short blue hair and magenta eyes. Her skin tone looks dark too. I wonder if that makes her a Kirian. What's she doing out there in the woods anyway? I place my meal down on the clean side of the wrapping and start my way towards her. A tug of my thick braided hair in the back of my head impedes me from moving forward.

"Where do you think you're going? We're about to head off again." Zaru keeps a hold of my braid and gently tugs on it.

"Stop that, it hurts!" I whine as I try to pry my hair out of his grasp. "There's a girl over there!" I point in the direction where I last saw her.

Stolen novel; please report.

Zaru stops his pulling to look. "What girl?"

I gaze back to see her gone and then turn around to face him. "You scared her off, jerk."

He advances to stare at me and tugs on my hair some more.

"I'm gonna rip that bushy ponytail of yours off if you don't stop," I snap at him.

"I have sisters. You think I would care?" He replies blankly and then finally lets go. "Now let's start heading the correct way; shall we?" His back with broad shoulders now faces me and he starts moving.

I look back one more time hoping to see that little girl again before I follow behind Zaru.

We make several more yards down the road and I decide to kill the quiet air of nature with some conversation. "So, I have a question."

"Yes, Vila?" Haru steers in close to me as we walk.

"How long have you guys been a part of Duahe?"

"Well," Zaru begins his answer, "Technically, people don't officially join until the age of eight, but Haru was two and Caru was four when they took us in, so about twelve years now."

"Wow, I can't believe you still remember that," Caru says while hiking beside him.

That makes me stop in my tracks as I contemplate over this. I just realized that I don't know their ages. I mean, I know that Haru is obviously younger than me, Caru is closer to my age, and Zaru is definitely older; but I don't have the details. "Wait, so how old are you guys anyway?"

All three of them stop to turn back to me and Caru looks to the ground with an index finger to her chin. "Oh yeah, I guess we forgot about that part in the introductions." Her eyes come back to meet my gaze and answers, "I'm sixteen by the way."

"Fourteen!" Haru jumps with her reply as the two sisters go back to their trekking.

Zaru and I have a stare contest as I wait for him to answer. "Eighteen." He says it so calmly like it's nothing.

"You're eighteen!? That's impossible! You can't be that young!" I burst out and disturb some creatures in the forest. There's no way he's a profound doctor at that age! That kind of field of knowledge takes years to master!

"Yep, that's why he's the best!" Haru exclaims with a skip in her step.

I follow behind them with my head to the ground in disbelief. I thought he would be in his late twenties or something! His body is well-built with muscles and manliness already!

"So what about you?" Zaru inquires without moving from his spot.

My head jolts back up to look at the three. "Oh, I'm-Sixteen."

"Nice!" Caru becomes excited and wraps an arm around my neck like a hug. "When's your birthday?"

"Um, the fourth of Furreku."

Her smile widens. "Mine's the fourth of Manishito*, so that means I'm actually older than you."

"Shoot," I say in the spur of the moment.

Haru comes over to join the hugging as the two sisters giggle with me.

I don't think I've ever had any close friends like this before, except for Sommi. I would occasionally talk to the other kids from school, but since I wasn't from the village, they sort of just ostracized me, the two of us were outsiders. At least the leading family of the village, the Vielms, gave us that little hut for free. Reina would bring us some left-overs so we would have something to eat and the family would come to visit occasionally. That's how Melek and I became sort of close. It feels nice to have friends.

"Let's keep moving rollie-pollies," Zaru calls out as he walks further away from us.

Caru and Haru keep their arms around me as they continue forward.

"Wait, what are you doing?" I say almost frantically.

"C'mon Vila, you heard Zaru. Let's get to Gesh before sundown!" Haru says as the two walk in unison.

I guess they want me to be a part of this synced walking. I follow along and make sure my steps match theirs as Mueimma marches behind us.

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Manishito- The month of August.

Soenara- A shopping area or a place for travelers to rest between cities and villages.