“That is so crazy!” Chloe was shaking her head as we did our weeding with our gang.

“Right, maybe Count Jade tells him lies? He might not have known he had the slave job as well. Not everyone can remember that far back.” I shrug as we continue, the triplets cursing about the job in the background.

“I could see that. Poor guy must think his daddy is a perfect man!” Mateo most likely.

“He must.” I say thinking about if I should pity him or not. I don’t think I can.

“Auna, we have a problem.” Jensen said coming up to us holding a childs’ hand.

“Who is this?” I ask looking at the child. The boy had white hair and eyes. His skin was tan, with weird markings all over him.

“Found him in the clearing. He hasn’t said a word. I was thinking maybe my dad could keep him?” Jensen ruffled the boys’ hair.

“Hmm, I took care of Ciela though. I would rather take care of all the children left here.” I feel responsible, like this is my forest. My responsibility for the children seems right.

“You still could check up on him, and my dad would let you make decisions for him. When you have your own home, you can move him in with us.” I don’t like the assumption that Jensen and I will live together in the future. However, everyone nodding seems to cement the idea as truth.

“We should ask your dad.” I say bending down to the boy. He looks thin, too thin. My appraisal skill activates. He is a half fairy.

“Are fairy folk not considered people?” I ask surprised.

“They are?” Jensen looks at me, then the boy. “My appraisal isn’t working on him.”

“Mine worked?” I say opening my status screen, making it visible to everyone.

There on my screen my appraisal skill had moved. It was under noble, as high-common. Now it was under Moon slave, low-common. However, the name changed as well. Now the skill is called Moons’ Appraisal. The description was mostly errors, the only part visible was ‘can appraise your children’. Quickly I looked around, trying to appraise things. I let out a sigh of relief as the skill is still working well.

“Does it work as normal still?” Jensen nudged me a bit.

“Yes, it said the boy is three years old. A Fairy mixed with elf. His job is moon slave as well. He also has the runaway child. Maybe your dads’ home would be a good place for him.” I look into his white eyes, they are dull. Like he has nothing to live for, even though his curse should have them shining with curiosity.

“We can go to the crater first, give him a bath?” Jensen held his hand tighter.

“Sure thing, his status has no name for him. Was there anything that would tell us where he came from?” I ask.

“Not really, we checked last night and there was no one. It’s only noon, how did someone come and go so fast?” Jensen looked puzzled as we left the dungeon farm. Everyone else followed us as well. Ciela going to grab some of her old clothes for him.

“Hmm, we should come up with a name for you. Your soul name is little moon. We could call you that?” I ask as I scrub his hair that comes to his shoulders already with soap. He immediately tenses up at the name tears spilling from his eyes. The markings that were dull black begin to glow white. I can feel the wind pick up, and the temperature drop.

“How about you pick a new name for him? Like you did with Ciela?” Jensen suggested.

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“But I won’t be fully caring for him, will it work?”

“Your skill said you can appraise your children; wouldn’t that mean you thought of him as yours right away?” Jensen smiled uncharacteristically soft.

“Will you be okay with me naming you?” I ask the small boy, who still had tears running down his cheeks. His eyes lit up a moment, nodding he looked away again.

“Hmm, Aku. That will be your name now. How do you like it Aku?” I leaned down close to the boy, he calmed down. There was a small nod, nothing else to even acknowledged I was there.

We quickly washed, dried, and clothed the boy. The others had finished the chores as we did this. The boy was covered in small scars, and bruises which made the bathing go slower. Auna did not want to accidently hurt him. It also looked as if his hair had never been brushed. Both Jensen and Auna spent a considerable amount of time untangling it. The boy was very still the whole time. Auna began to suspect he had been abused each time he did what his curse wanted him to. The poor boy was supposed to be full of curiously bouncing off the walls. Instead, the boy was a shell of a person. At only three years old he seemed broken beyond repair.

“Are we ready? We do have to go to the school for dinner.” I say as we all pile Infront of the moon door. A few quick yeses and they were off.

“Dadddddddddd!!!!!” Jensen and the triplets all screamed very loudly as soon as everyone was in the hall of the Pearl home.

“What is going on!” Duke Pearl and the boys’ mother was coming right behind him. They both were comically under dressed. Especially since it was 2 in the afternoon.

“A new child was dropped off. He is a moon slave, with the runaway curse! Meet Aku!” Jensen then picked the small boy up raising him up over his head in outstretched arms. It vaguely reminded Auna of a movie from her past world.

“Oh?” Nick looked a bit stunned as he tried to tidy his clothes. Seni was also fixing her clothes and hair. They led the children to a sitting room.

“So, Aku?” Nick asked once they all sat down.

“Yes. Jensen and I thought we could leave him to your care? I know Seni has her hands full with a two-year-old already. If it is too much issue, I could raise him in the crater.”

Auna was backing down as Seni had a hard look on her face. Jensen had a few older siblings, then him and triplets. Now Seni had a two-year-old, adding a three-year-old might be too much of an ask. She squirmed a bit, Aku was seated in her lap. Ciela was beside her. They were all on the floor, Auna never really got used to sitting on plush furniture.

“I will have none of that. The boy will stay here. It is safe, whoever threw him away won’t find him. You make sure to visit often, as I will merely be a grandparent to him.” Seni smiled poking Akus’ cheek.

“Grandparent? Because of Jensen, right?” I ask a bit nervous for the answer.

“Well, yes. Also, we all know you two will most likely wed one day.” Seni had the same wry smile as her son. This was not news to Auna though she had already seen it before, it caused her groan and everyone else to laugh.

“Aku, you will stay with grandmother Seni and grandfather Nick. Be sure to call them that so no one has too many questions, okay?” I pat the small boys head as he nods. He still is way to quiet. I notice Seni has a hard look again.

“Why are you looking at him like that?” I can’t help myself I have to know.

“He has the runaway child curse, right?” Seni responded

“Yes.” I say not getting why that was important right now.

“Jensen was uncontrollable at that age. So many things caught his attention he would be dashing from place to place. This boy is much to quiet, and still.” Senis’ hard look was actually a look of sadness and pity. The hardness in the look was directed to whoever did this to the boy. That put Auna at ease.

“Will he be, okay?” I worry about him, looking so broken.

“He will be, eventually.” Seni assured me with a pat on my back.

“We should be going. Aku try to enjoy your life here, okay? You don’t have to behave too much; my parents are used to troublemakers. I think they secretly enjoy it!” Jensen gave the small boy a kiss on his cheek. Auna laughed and gave him a kiss as well.

“Don’t fill the boys head with your wickedness Jensen.” Seni pulled his ear hard dragging him to the moon door. Aku followed with a soft smile on his eyes.

“Goodbye!” Everyone said as they left. Aku waved to everyone as they left. His eyes already seemed a little less dull.

“He is going to be okay.” Jensen said pulling me from my thoughts, he was setting my tray of food down in front of me. I heard a few kids at the next table question why he does that, some other kids explained I did not like crowds. So, Jensen would pick up my tray for me. It wasn’t a completely wrong assumption, mostly he did it because he wanted to. A few times I tried to, he pushed me back to the table. Ciela, Chloe, and Meredith were also shooed away from the dinner line. The triplets would always bring their food trays to them.

“Thank you. Tomorrow we are going on an official dungeon crawl, right?”

“Yep! The king had to let us due to the obvious kill order on your head. My moon you are popular!” His wry smile made me feel better about leaving Aku.