Mama carried Jasper around the house. They meticulously toured each room. They went through the kitchen, and Jasper was fascinated by the arrangement. A hearth dug into the floor. A pot of some sort suspended midair, attached to a strange hook dangling from the ceiling, close and just above the hearth of burnt ashes and withered cinders. The kitchen wasn't very big like the other rooms. He would point out the strange utensils he'd see on the shelves. She would tell him the names. He hardly remembered the names but tuned into the unique sounds produced by her tongue when she said them. Nonetheless, he nodded mindlessly.

These were chopsticks and...

They didn't use forks, spoons and knives to eat. They ate in small wooden bowls instead of plates. Mama grabbed a pair of chopsticks off a shelf and twiddled with it.

"See?"

She deftly snipped away at the air with the chopsticks. Everything was flummoxing to Jasper. He watched her fingers work the chopsticks with ease.

"We eat our food served in our bowls with this. Here, you try."

She handed the pair of chopsticks to Jasper. He slowly reached out to it with a hand and carefully wrapped his fingers around the chopsticks. He tried to copy and recall the positioning of Mama's thumb, pointer, index finger...

The chopsticks fell to the floor, rattling as it rolled away. Mama heartily laughed as she squatted to pick up the chopsticks to return them to their place. Jasper's cheek burned red. Mama cuddled him and said she would teach him how to use them during dinner. She carried him out of the kitchen and paced around the hallway. They'd explored every room except one. Jasper figured it was Yumi's room judging from a stifled achoo muffling behind the shoji. Mama started talking about the history of their family and her husband. That he had a Papa working away in the fields right now and would return by nightfall for dinner. How they were poor, but not the poorest and not hungry. That they were happy living together with him and Yumi.

Jasper wondered if his Papa was a slave.

Mama's voice sounded forlorn as she trailed off.

Jasper never learnt about his past Papa. He didn't know if he was ever there in his life. His head hurt when he tried to remember him, but it was all the same with his past Mama.

So he stopped thinking about them. He had his present Papa and Mama now to think of and fill in the blanks.

Except he had one burning question.

"Mama, where am I?"

Mama froze as she stopped walking around. Jasper's head cocked to the side. Her body trembled, and her arms squeezed around his back. Warm... Jasper's eyes misted. His chin slumped, and his vision gradually slipped into turmoiling darkness. The void welcomed his presence. Cold and quiet. A small, growing, opaque golden bud appeared in the centre, rapidly uncurling and brandishing its bright petals and ripe stamen to him.

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So pretty.

He wanted to reach out to its heavenly radiance.

"..."

The black, censored face of an inconceivable being. Inconceivable voices.

"-.. --- / -. --- - / -... . / .- ..-. .-. .- .. -.. .-.-.-"

Jasper widened his eyes. The flower and void together had abruptly disappeared as his senses and vision jumped to their edges. His hair had stood to its end. His vision was heightened before he felt his frenzily pumping heart slow down a beat. He gleaned around his restored surroundings before hearing a sniffle, his spine shivering against his trembling Mama. He looked up to her tears welled eyes.

"Oh, Jasper..." she said. "How could you forget?"

A tear fell from her eyes and splattered on the bridge of Jasper's nose. He cringed. She brought a finger to his nose and gently smudged the tear dry.

"Your biological mommy and daddy were born in the neighbouring country to us, the Eagle Federation." She narrowed her eyes and meekly smiled. "We Berons and demi-humans were born in the outskirts of the Kingdom of Leonis Regia. We and your parents knew each other very..."

Huh?

Her voice trailed away as she put Jasper's feet back on the floor. Jasper gasped as he stepped back and confusingly stared at his Mama. What she said didn't click a single cog in his head. He placed a hand on his forehead and lowered his eyes. He tried to think about his homeland, the Eagle Federation, but nothing came out. He found it strange that his Mama said his name when he ran to hug her despite him not having told her at all as if she had known him from the start. Then what about when she called him a human child when she first saw him and picked him up near the woods? Did she pretend not to know him at all? No, no, no... why was he there in the first place?

He clutched his forehead and frowned. His head hurt.

Was this just another dream or a nightmare?

Mama faintly shook her head from side to side, wiping her eyes with the ball of her hand. Said, "Please forget what I said. It's best if you don't know... yet."

She kneeled and gently guided his hand away from his forehead to his side. She placed her hands on his shoulders and softly squeezed. Jasper stared at her weary, yellow eyes with rapt focus. Staring into the depths of her eyes, searching for answers, which said nothing. Her canine ears had drooped.

"Go play with Yumi in the house." Mama's hand slipped away from his shoulders, and she stood up. She folded her hands at her midsection and sighed. "I will allow it just this once. But please... don't make a mess."

She loosely directed her eyes to the closed shoji to her right. Jasper's gaze followed along, and he held it there. Achoo. Mama spun around and began backtracking her steps. She stopped midway to glance over her shoulder at him.

"When I need help making dinner, I will call you, and you will come to the kitchen, OK? Mama sweetly smiled as she tilted her head. "My strawberry mochi?"

Jasper nodded. Mama closed her eyes and turned the corner around, and she left. He pursed his lips. Mrs Flower's dark words rang in his mind.

"Only a path of suffering awaits for you now."

He clenched his fists and shook his head. Mrs Flower wasn't real. Everything was just a nightmare. And now he was much more alive than before. An energetic smile crossed his face.

Time to spend his youth.

"Yumi?" he said.

He looked and walked over to the now open shoji. His smile and limbs stiffened.

When did it...?

Someone crept up behind him. They slid their palms across his back, from tickling it to squeezing his biceps. The nerves in Jasper's shoulder shrieked as a pair of teeth feebly clamped into them.

"Nom."

Jasper yelped as he explosively lurched forward and spun around. He faced Yumi in shock, who expressionlessly stood there and slightly opened her mouth to reveal her vampire teeth. She closed her mouth as he patted off the saliva left on his shoulder.

"Play," she said. "Hide... And. Seek."

Her tail wagged at an abnormal rate.

Jasper wryly smiled. He didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

"OK... Play."