I detach from the crowd and approach my newly received house. When I enter, I see Kassa lying down on the bed, curled up.

I approach the bed, sit down on it and start stroking her head. She got a bit of a shock as I did so, but soon seems to appreciate it. She turns around, revealing red eyes that betray she has cried, and stares at me.

“What happened?” I ask.

“Don’t wanna talk about it…” Is the reply I receive. Her voice is waivering, as though she is ready to cry at any moment. I feel a sense of being uncomfortable. I don’t know what to do here, so I just end up sitting there and petting her head.

She slowly inches closer, till she nestles her head in my lap.

“Just remember, you will always have the strongest guy in the world on your side.” I tell her. She looks up and smiles a little. I don’t know if that statement is exactly true, but I did win in the circle, making me a top contender, and I have only grown stronger since then.

An hour or so passes with me stroking her. She seems to have fallen asleep. Now, let us fix this. As I was about to leave to talk to Patir, the man that brought me his daughter’s soup stands right outside the door, carrying a large pot.

“Ah, was just about to share this here for lunch! Can’t have our new-fangled savior going hungry after all!” He says. He turns his head and urges a small figure behind him forward. “And I brought the cook! Say hi, Yasia”.

The little girl has freckles and long, light purple hair tied behind her back. The sort of glaring thing I would find odd long ago, but I have already found myself completely comfortable with.

I could eat, but I don’t want to wake Kassa. “Kassa is sleeping, so maybe we should go to your house?” I suggest, and he seems a little uncomfortable, but agrees nonetheless and we start walking back.

“Let me carry that for you” I say, reaching out for the pot, but he replies.

“Nono, let me carry it, you have already done plenty for us today! Just enjoy yourself!” I inwardly shrug. It’s not like carrying that constitutes “doing anything” in my mind.

As we reach his house, who I presume to be his wife is giving him a somewhat weird look, which he tries to stealthily reply to, but doesn’t pan out. We all sit down around the table, and the father arranges for his little girl to sit next to me.

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If it was one of those nice ladies from the water bars, I might have been smitten, but I can’t help but feel awkward that such a young girl is being pushed on to me. I frankly don’t know how to respond.

The girl, her father and I start eating. The wife has sat down by the table too, but isn’t partaking.

“Something the matter?” I ask her. She simply shakes her head. “The boys and I have already eaten.” She says while sending a weird look to her husband. Is she mad that they didn’t eat together?

“Anyway, isn’t my daughter a great cook? Any sort of stew or soup, and you will see she is quite excellent!”

I notice the girl in question flinch and move her face away from the table, while her mother comes up with a weird smile. Don’t really know what to make of their expressions.

“It is quite good. The best I can remember having in recent memory.” I say.

“Right! She may be young, but she can also clean, prepare skins and isn’t she just a beauty?”

“Ri-right.”

The bizarre form for torture continues for an hour or so, before I finally get to excuse myself. All the while through I was made to agree with the compliments the father had for his daughter, while the daughter herself in question seemed exceedingly embarrassed. I don’t know what to make of this kind of attention.

I proceed to Patir’s house, tracing the path from the night before. When I find it, Patir is lying down outside on a patch of grass, chewing on a large piece of roasted meat, he holds in one hand. Seems he just doesn’t have a wife.

He quickly spots me and claps the ground beside me. I lay down too.

“So, what brings you here?” He asks.

“Well, when I entered my home today, I found Kassa lying down in the bed, obvious that she had cried. She has only played with the kids today.” I am not looking at him, but my read-sight catches his smile fading away.

“Y’know kids.” He starts. “They can be little tyrants. I am sure you saw someone get excluded and teased when you were small too. And if you paid attention, you would find that it was often the ones who were a bit… Different.” He says. “Heck, I myself was in that spot as a kid. But as I grew up I understood that they were just being kids and didn’t mean anything by it.”

“Right, I understand that” I say. He looks a little relieved. “I just wanted to make sure people knew that if Kassa can’t have a good life here, I am moving on looking for a place where she can.” His drop in expression is almost comical. Is he letting his guard down since we aren’t face to face.

“I am going to take a walk” I say. “Just know that if I come home again to find Kassa crying on the bed… I might just move on from here.” I walk away. I feel a little like a gangster extorting him. It makes me feel a little bad, but his reactions tell me he will run around to fix it for me and that feels good.

I stop by my home to pick of Dixy. I am going to spent the next few hours with her, then check up on Kassa. As I walk out of the village, I catch sight of Patir moving from one house, that is not his, to another. He is already working on it. I could get used to this.