- # # # 1 # # # -

The night that Rocko developed his passion for stars was the first night he slept well in weeks. For the first time in his four-and-counting years of life, he found something he could take solace in.

There wasn’t a single night that passed since then in which he hadn’t gazed upon the stars before heading to sleep.

Fortunately, sometime during Rocko’s recovery weeks, someone else had been chosen to substitute for Ryuto whenever Ryuto couldn’t perform his duties. So, when Rocko finally recovered, he no longer had to worry about being nearly crushed by baskets of fish by Ramento for not taking oversized food to the Dining Hall, or any other excessive punishments for failing at unreasonably overwhelming tasks.

However, the responsibilities of his bloodline weren’t something so easily avoided, so just as there wasn’t a single night he didn’t stargaze, neither was there a single day since he recovered which hadn’t been spent training in some way. The only benefit the stars provided him was a mental and emotional escape from his struggles. Nothing more.

The training he underwent was mostly menial, given his age and size. It generally consisted of him watching Ryuto perform tasks as Chieftain, and being quizzed about what he saw or learned afterwards. He went through similar training with Ramento where food was concerned.

Included among the things he learned through his training was the anatomy of the village itself. In addition to the First ‘Administrative’ Level, the Second ‘Residential’ Level, and the Third ‘Plaza’ Level, there was a Fourth ‘Barrier’ Level, which comprised of a single massive platform filled with water. Essentially a large pool. Only, it wasn’t meant for swimming. It served to protect the villagers from accidentally falling to their deaths. Of course, it wasn’t foolproof. The water itself could cause injury if they landed the wrong way, and if someone fell from the village’s outer edges, the Barrier wouldn’t catch them.

It wasn’t as though his only training was informational in nature, however. The most physically taxing training he’d gone through under Ryuto’s supervision was a bit of parkour training, which was something all the village kids experienced together.

As the village had no playground for such activity, they had to do it in the barren upside-down forest above them, with heavy parental supervision. In order to mitigate the risk of kids falling to their deaths, smaller ‘pools’ similar to the ‘Barrier’ Level were assembled and hung from the trees prior to training, guaranteed to safely catch any falling children.

Despite how physically demanding it was, the times they'd train in parkour were the only times Rocko ever felt ‘normal.’ He enjoyed them the most. After all, everyone was too busy focusing on the same physical activity as one another to worry about each other. Everyone did the same thing. Everyone was treated the same. Nobody singled out anybody else. It was an environment where everyone was perfectly equal, and that was really the most he could ask for.

But where Rocko becoming the next Chieftain was concerned, the most taxing training was neither informational nor physical, but entirely social...

- # # # 2 # # # -

News that a hut had been completely overrun by vines from the inside-out quickly reached Ryuto. It was an anomalous, potentially catastrophic event, but Ramento saw it as the perfect opportunity for Ryuto to put his money where his mouth was. Ryuto considered it in poor taste given the circumstances, but maybe it would turn out alright. After all, if Rocko could provide some assistance to some villagers in their time of crisis, it should make Ryuto’s plan to get him acquainted with them that much easier to pull off, even if Ramento’s idea of executing it was in poor taste.

When Ryuto and Rocko arrived, many of the vines had already been cut down by the lady of the hut. Despite that, the vines noticeably continued to grow.

The vines were all green in color, and came in a variety of species: flat tape-like vines, thorny vines, thick rope-like vines, among others.

Ryuto and Rocko helped the lady clear the continuously-growing vines. To cut them down, everyone had their hands’ shells closed over and their shells’ quills extended, and used their quills to slice through.

After a few minutes of cutting through the ever-growing vines, they reached their source: a crying child, the same age as Rocko but a bit taller, with glowing lime-green eyes. She had light pink skin with hourglass-shaped vertical lime-green stripes on her front and deep pink skin with Y-shaped vertical lime-green stripes on her back. The back stripes continued up her head to the front of her face, and re-merged where her nostrils would be if their species had any, forming a large V-shape on her face.

As soon as the child saw the lady of the hut, she stopped crying. The glow in her eyes also disappeared, returning to the usual gray sclera, dark pupils, and gradient iris with starry specks that all people had.

The instant her eyes returned to normal, the vines stopped growing. The parts that hadn’t been severed all turned brown and shriveled up, while those that had been severed remained as they were.

She wordlessly ran to the lady and climbed up on her back. Even though she was crying seconds earlier, she no longer showed any sign of emotion.

Actually, neither did the lady.

“This is incredibly early...” Ryuto said, entering thought.

Early? What? Was he implying this was an expected event? Rocko had never heard about vines growing in huts before, especially not as some kind of regular occurrence. What about this was early? Wasn’t it an impossibility?! It should have been unexpected, right? Even worse, it should have been terrifying, right?!

“W-wha...” Rocko tried to voice his thoughts, but fumbled. He didn’t know where to begin with his questions.

The lady turned to Rocko and Ryuto, and said in monotone, “Thank you. We’ll be okay.”

How could she be so emotionless in a time like this?! Her hut was nearly destroyed by vines that shouldn’t have existed!

Ryuto casually responded, “I’m glad to hear that, bu—”

“Can somebody please tell me what’s going on?!” Rocko interrupted. His father’s casual response drew the final straw, and he finally formulated a simple and obvious question that would hopefully draw out an answer to all his other questions.

“Alita got her specialty,” the lady said aloofly.

“...A ‘specialty?’” Rocko asked with his head tilted. The term sounded... familiar... but he couldn’t put his finger on why.

“Rocko...” Ryuto began, “you don’t know what a specialty is?”

“I... it sounds... I... I don’t know! I can’t remember, but I feel like I should?!” Rocko unintentionally yelled, unsure of himself.

“I-inside voice, Rocko,” calmly urged Ryuto.

“S-sorry...”

Ryuto sighed. “So you don’t remember those, either, then?”

Rocko’s eyes widened in alarm. “What do you mean ‘either?’”

Ryuto gave Rocko a rough-yet-loving headpat, and said, “Just thinking aloud. Don’t mind me,” in a calm voice. For some reason, he hid his face from Rocko when he did so.

“Th-that doesn’t answer my—”

“A specialty, Rocko,” Ryuto began, leaning down to show his face plainly, with closed eyes and a smile that was almost too big to be real, “is exactly what it sounds like. A special ability, unique to the person who has it.”

Rocko’s curiosity was piqued to the point he forgot his previous concerns. “Do I have a specialty?!” he asked with glimmering eyes.

Ryuto chuckled warmly, and shook his head as he said, “Not yet, Rocko.” He stood up, opening his eyes and releasing his hand from Rocko’s head. “You will one day, but you don’t have one right now.”

“H-how do I get one?! What kinds of specialties are there?! What’s your specialty?! What’s her specialty?! Are these vines that girl’s specialty?!”

To that last question, the lady and vine girl both glared at Rocko, as if he touched upon some kind of taboo.

“‘That girl?’” Ryuto questioned. “Rocko, first thing’s first, you need to acquaint yourself with them.”

“What does that have to do with specialties?”

“It doesn’t. It’s necessary for your future as Chieftain.”

“Oh... right.” Rocko’s enthusiasm died in an instant.

Ryuto turned to face the others, and said, “I’m sorry about that. I understand this may be in poor taste considering the circumstances, but I think this is a good opportunity to get Rocko acquainted with you, as villagers he’ll one day lead. So, if you don’t mind, I’d like for us to stay a little longer for the sake of his future as Chieftain.”

The lady nodded understandingly. After a couple moments, she finally said, “Okay.”

The vine girl she carried also nodded.

If you do well with this, Ryuto began, I’ll reward you by answering your questions about specialties.

Rocko’s head lifted with bright eyes and an innocent smile.

“I assume there’s no need for us to introduce ourselves, is there?” Ryuto asked them.

They both shook their heads. They were more than familiar with the Chieftain and his heir, as expected.

Ryuto turned his attention to Rocko.

“Rocko,” Ryuto began aloud, “do you know who they are?”

“Huh?” Rocko asked confusedly. He had zoned out, despite knowing he’d be rewarded if he did well. It was harder than it seemed for him to stay on track.

What was he thinking about that managed to distract him immediately after Ryuto’s promise to reward him? Specialties, of course. It was a new and exciting concept to him. He couldn’t help but get lost in thought about all the possibilities behind it, though he had little information to go off of, so it was mostly just his imagination getting ahead of itself.

“Do you know who they are?” Ryuto asked, successfully breaking Rocko out of his thoughts.

“Oh, umm...” Rocko studied them, unable to recall ever seeing them in his life prior to that day. Giving up, he finally said, “I have no idea who they are.”

Ryuto gestured back to the subjects of their conversation, signaling them to introduce themselves.

“My—“

“My name is Alita,” the vine girl said calmly, unintentionally interrupting the lady. “Oh. I’m sorry, mom.”

“It’s okay, Alita.” The lady returned her attention to Rocko, “My name is Anta. I’m Alita’s mother.”

Anta had the same vertical striped patterns on both front and back that Alita did, except hers were black instead of lime-green. Her skin was also overall much pinker than Alita’s, having deep pink skin on her back and light pink skin on her front.

Rocko found it curious that they were colored so differently despite being mother and daughter. He himself had nearly identical colors to his father, Ryuto. His skin was the same red as Ryuto’s skin. His spots were the same red as Ryuto’s spots. The only difference was the lower vertical stripe between their eyes and ears, which was green on Rocko but purple on Ryuto. Meanwhile, on Anta and Alita, the only visual similarity was the shape and resulting patterns of the vertical stripes on their bodies, as well as the four circular spots inside the V-shape on their foreheads. However, the forehead spots were deep yellow on Anta and magenta on Alita.

Well, he was supposed to ‘acquaint himself’ with them in the first place, wasn’t he? In that case, if he was curious about them, he might as well ask them directly, right?

“If you’re mother and daughter,” he began, “why are your colors so different?”

“What do you mean?” Alita asked.

“Like, your stripes. Hers are black, but yours are—”

“—black,” Alita said deadpan.

“No, your stripes are green, now,” Anta said, also deadpan.

“What? Why?” almost no emotion could be found in Alita’s voice.

“You got your specialty,” spoken truly without emotion.

Their behavior was strange, wasn’t it? Alita just got her specialty, and that specialty almost destroyed their hut with vines. Wasn’t this a big event? Where was the excitement? Where was the fear? There was at least a tiny inflection of emotion in Alita’s voice, but one really had to listen to pick it up. Anta, on the other hand, spoke as if ‘emotion’ didn’t even exist in her vocabulary. Alita got her specialty, almost destroyed her hut, and her colors even changed, yet they didn’t...

Wait... Alita’s stripes were black? Like, just the day before? They were? But they turned green because of her specialty? What? Why?! How did that work? What determined what colors would change? Were his going to change when he got his specialty, too? No! Why?! Please don’t! He cherished his colors! They were his father’s colors! He’d rather never get a specialty than see them change!

When he thought of it like that, he wondered how good specialties had to be that people could just accept such a dramatic change in their appearances like it was nothing. In the first place, did he even know of any specialties other than those vines?

Oh. He did.

“I got it!” Rocko abruptly yelled with a smile. “Your specialty is that thought thingy you do, and Ramento’s specialty is that really painful thing he does! Is that right?! Those are specialties, yeah?!”

Everyone looked at him in shock. He was lost in thought for a good few minutes, but nobody noticed until that point. Whatever was happening must not have been that important, then, right?

So why were they glaring at him so harshly?

“Should I... repeat all that?” Anta asked in what might have been her first sign of emotion since Rocko met her. What was it? Frustration? Sadness? It sure didn’t seem positive.

Why did everyone get so upset whenever Rocko was involved?

Ryuto sighed. “Okay... why don’t we try it that way, then?” he said mostly to himself.

“Hmm?” Rocko tilted his head.

“Rocko, about what you asked...” Ryuto began, “...yes, those are specialties.”

“Ooooh!” Rocko clapped excitedly. He turned his attention to Anta, “What’s your specialty, then?”

“Scope,” she said.

“‘Scope?’” Rocko repeated.

“Scope,” she repeated.

If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

“What does that mean?”

“Scope.”

“Uh...”

“Her specialty is pretty interesting,” Ryuto interjected, “it lets her see far away things close up. We usually have her scout the forest before we go out for the Morning Harvest, plus she’s great with a bow.”

“I wish I could do that...” Rocko looked at the floor in melancholy.

Imagine what stargazing would be like if he had a specialty like that. What could he have witnessed if he could see the stars as if he were right next to them?

“And I don’t fully understand it myself,” Ryuto continued, “but she once told me she can see invisible things if she uses it on anything near her.”

“What?! That’s so cool!” Rocko turned to Anta, “What do you see on me?!”

Anta turned her nose up.

“It’s not like she’s always using her specialty, Rocko,” Ryuto said.

Rocko brushed aside the issue of being ignored, and said, “But she named it ‘Scope?’ That’s cool! Dad, what do you call yours?”

“Naming specialties isn’t exactly a standard, Rocko.”

“Then, does yours have a name?”

“...yes.”

“What is it?!”

“...‘Telepathy.’”

“Telepathy!” Rocko shouted with sudden enthusiasm, completely failing to notice the awkward air of the room.

After a couple moments, Rocko sank into thought.

After a few more, Rocko finally asked, “Does Ramento’s specialty have a name?”

Ryuto hesitated, anxiously sinking into thought. Eventually, he answered, “None that I’m aware of.”

- # # # 3 # # # -

As one might expect, the rest of the meeting didn’t go so smoothly. Given Rocko’s fixation on specialties combined with his desire to play with other kids, he tried to interrogate Alita on her own specialty, which she had only just gotten that day. No matter how many times Anta tried to stop him from annoying Alita, he’d persist. Given that he was ignoring his original purpose in being there as well as ignoring the wishes of the residents of the hut, Anta understandably requested Ryuto to escort him out, drawing the meeting to an unpleasant close.

That was merely the first of many chance and arranged meetings that Rocko would be brought to, and far from the last to end in disaster.

At every opportunity they could find, Ryuto would arrange to have Rocko acquaint himself with other villagers. For the most part, it was a gradual process, as Ryuto believed that information was best retained when repeated over time, especially when it related to other people.

While Rocko would learn plenty about the villagers during those many meetings, such as their names, interests, relations, and specialties, it was never enough to get him on better terms with them, nor was it enough for them to become more accepting of him as the future Chieftain.

Whenever there were no other children present, Rocko was completely uninterested. Whenever another child was present — typically the offspring of the villagers he was actually supposed to learn about — Rocko would try to reach out and play with them, and completely ignore the adults. If the kids themselves didn’t avoid him, their parents would reject him in their place. Even Ryuto didn’t speak up in defense of Rocko, because the meetings were ultimately for Rocko to get acquainted with the adult villagers — whose opinions of him mattered most, not their children — who would take after their parents’ examples.

Being unable to interact with any kids, especially the ones who actually wanted to play, only served to kill Rocko’s mood. With each meeting, he became increasingly despondent, and ultimately detached himself from the meetings entirely.

And so, one bad meeting after another, he continuously damaged the villagers’ image of him, and he got sick of meeting people only to face their silent judgment.

He got sick of people wanting something out of him.

He got sick of being treated as anything more than the child he was.

He was sick of it.

But even after three years of it... it wouldn’t end.

- # # # 4 # # # -

Yet another meeting, with another two adults, who had expectations for Rocko that they certainly didn’t have for the very child who preferred to hide behind them than talk to him.

In three years, he had been introduced to and had repeated meetings with around forty different villagers — nearly all of the adults in the village. Each time, he’d go through the same process of ‘getting to know’ them. It got so repetitive that he was able to follow along with it while daydreaming. Even whenever he’d put more effort in, things ended poorly, if not worse, so why bother with anything more than the minimum? It wasn’t perfect, but it worked well enough.

Smile. Nod along. Pay enough attention to use the right names and deliver believable responses. That way, nobody would cause a fuss, and it would end before he realized it... though maybe it would end because they realized he was just going through the motions instead of actually engaging with them. Regardless, that’s what he’d been doing for the better part of three years, and he hadn’t been told to stop, so it was probably okay. Even if he didn’t remember everything, he at least remembered people’s specialties and occasionally even their names, so at least he’d learn something, right?

This time went a bit differently...

“Rocko,” Ryuto began, “this lady is Ranoiko. She’s a crafter.”

“Ra-no-ee-ko?” Rocko said to himself, trying to memorize the name by breaking it down. This was a normal part of his ‘go through the motions’ routine.

“That’s me!” said Ranoiko. She was the same height as Ryuto, if not barely shorter. Her skin was a consistent hot pink in color, with no difference between her back color and her front color, and she had two bright yellow horizontal stripes circling around her torso. Each of her eyes also had two bright yellow rings in the gradient of her iris. “I don’t really make anything important, though.”

“Well, that’s certainly not true!” Ryuto said. “Your specialty has given the village some very useful items. It’s probably one of the best.”

That piqued Rocko’s interest... just a bit.

“He’s right, Rano,” said the dude sitting next to her. “Why don’tcha just accept that it isn’t as useless as ya think?”

How was it ‘one of the best’ specialties?

“Stop it, Roi! You’re gonna make me lose my composure in front of the Chieftain!” Ranoiko playfully said, pretending to be upset.

Rocko had seen a lot of impressive specialties over the years, and Ryuto rarely ever made a comment like that.

“Nah,” the dude said, “he doesn’t care.”

In fact, Rocko wasn’t sure that Ryuto ever made a comment like that before.

Ryuto shrugged in response to their banter.

“Wha-Why? What’s her specialty?” Rocko asked, earnestly engaging in conversation.

Ryuto happily answered, “She can take different materials and turn them into any object she wants, just by looking at them.”

“I call it ‘envision,’” Ranoiko added, with a hand wave for effect.

“‘Envision?’” Rocko perplexedly repeated. He was once told that naming specialties wasn’t a standard, but of all the villagers he’d met up to that point, the only specialty that lacked a name was Ramento’s.

Ranoiko continued, “But you make it sound too simple, Ryut— er, uh, Chieftain! I don’t make big things, and it takes a lot of focus, you know?”

“Of course, but now he’s only going to have more que—”

“Why can’t you make anything big?” Rocko enthusiastically began, “Why does it take focus? How does it work? What materials do you use? What have you made? What can you make?”

Ranoiko replied, “On the topic of ‘can:’ I can make anything small that I can think of! If it fits in your hands, I can make it! Of course, I can technically make bigger things, too, but it’s a lot harder to do tha—”

“Can you help me?!” Rocko abruptly asked with a big smile.

Ranoiko and Ryuto both looked at Rocko in surprise.

“‘Help?’” Ryuto questioned. “Is something wrong, Rocko?”

“Nothing’s wrong! Maybe everything’s great! This could be exactly what I need, Dad!”

“Exactly what you n... Oh! That’s what you mean.”

“What?” Ranoiko asked. “What does he mean?”

“Well, you see, he has this sort of fascination with stars.”

“Stars?” Ranoiko lifted a brow.

“Uh, yeah. Well, I probably don’t need to go into further detail. Why don’t you indulge him, a bit?”

“What do you mean?”

“What do you think?”

“B-but... I can’t...” Ranoiko shifted around anxiously... until she set eyes on the dude, “Oh! Roi! You still haven’t introduced yourself!”

“Ahhh, that’s true,” the dude said nonchalantly, “but it’s fiiine.”

“No, Roi, they’re here to get our future Chieftain acquainted with us, so I can’t be the only one doing the talking here, you know?”

“Alright, alright. If it makes ya happy, Rano, then sure. I’ll do some talking, too.” The dude was the same height as Ryuto, but had a deeper red skin color. His front and back were, like Ranoiko, the same color, with no lighter or darker color distinction. He had large black circular spots on his arms, legs, and back. The most distinctive thing about him, however, were the two small holes in his face, just above his mouth. He also had two diagonal lighter red stripes stretch between his eyes and the small holes on his face, as well as two more traveling down each cheek from the corner of each eye, stopping midway.

The dude cleared his throat before speaking, “Heya, little dude! My name’s Ryuroito!”

“‘R’yu-row-ee-to,’” Rocko repeated as per ‘the motions.’ Though Rocko was taking things seriously this time, old habits die hard.

“Yup!” Ryuroito continued, “Normally, I help your dad with stuff in the village, like as a substitute or something, but—”

“What?!” Rocko exclaimed. “Then why are you here right now? My dad’s not able to do anything, so shouldn’t you be out there? Actually, where were you when I needed you to save me from Ramento?! Were you lazing around then, too?!”

Ryuroito laughed. “Ahh, I don’t get why everyone’s so worried,” he said with a genuine tone. “I think he’ll make a fine Chieftain.”

“...huh?” Rocko was caught off guard by Ryuroito’s surprise attack. His expression lightened up, though only a little, and his muscles got a bit less tense.

“Nah, but, I get ya got all that energy in ya, and your questions are good ones for sure, but ya should be more wary of how ya speak to others. Interrupting people isn’t a good look, y’know?” Ryuroito spoke playfully.

“Oh...?”

Rocko was extremely confused. Setting the mixed signals aside, in all Rocko’s meetings, this was the first time someone treated him like an actual kid. It was patronizing, sure, but it was refreshing. For the first time, he felt comfortable around a villager who wasn’t his own father. Of course, it was somewhat ruined by the fact that the villager was lecturing him on his manners with reference to a future he didn’t want, but he was being treated like a kid nonetheless, and in a surprisingly friendly way to boot. He more than welcomed that.

His satisfaction with this interaction didn’t go unnoticed by the others. Rocko’s posture relaxed, a warm smile emerged on his face, and an even warmer smile appeared on Ryuroito’s in response.

“There ya go. Much better. Dude, ya were way too tense for a kid. It wasn’t right. Good thing I fixed that for ya!”

Ryuto seemed very pleased with the interaction as well. The size of Ryuto’s own smile made it obvious he was sharing in Rocko’s joy.

There was finally someone who saw Rocko as a kid.

However, it seemed to be a moment only the three of them savored in. Ranoiko looked almost appalled at what she was witnessing, and the child that hid behind her seemed equally uncomfortable.

Noticing Ranoiko’s expression, Ryuroito said, “Oh, lighten up, Rano. He’s just a kid. I think ya should indulge him in that star thingy, too.”

Ranoiko gave Ryuto an accusatory look, but almost immediately turned away when she remembered who he was.

“Hey, I saw that,” Ryuto said. “I didn’t tell him to do this, just so you know.”

“O-oh! Right!” Ranoiko jumpily said. “We still have to introduce Ay—” Ranoiko frantically turned to find the child hiding behind her, but her target evaded her sight, running from Ranoiko’s right to her left, “—o?”

“Other side, Rano,” said Ryuroito.

Ranoiko turned around where the child had hid, but the child ran back to the right side, staying out of Ranoiko’s sight, and ran to Ryuroito.

“Where is she?!” Ranoiko yelled. She almost started crying when she turned to Ryuroito, saying, “Roiiii! I lost Ayo!”

Ryuroito laughed. “She’s right here, Rano.”

Ranoiko’s face lit up when she saw the child hiding by Ryuroito’s legs. “Oh! Thank Ruter!”

“Seems she doesn’t want to introduce herself today,” Ryuto said.

Just another child who wouldn’t play with Rocko. Even when he could get along with an adult, there were still no children who would play with him. It was even more disheartening than usual given that it was the first time both parents actually wanted to get the child involved in the meeting, instead of deliberately keeping them out of it. This child was fully and willfully avoiding any and all interaction with Rocko.

“Yup! But ya know...” Ryuroito began, “I never finished my intro, did I?” He turned to Rocko, “My bad, little dude. Ah, I guess it wasn’t my bad, actually? Ah well! My bad, anyway! So, uh, yeah! Like I said, my name is Ryuroito, and I help your father with stuff. The reason I’m not substituting him today is because I had to finally meet ya! Formally, that is.”

“Yeah, um...” Rocko began, “if you’ve been helping him out, why haven’t I ever seen you before?”

“Let me ask ya a question! Have ya seen anyone before ya met them in meetings like this?”

“...no.”

“Exactly! Sorry, little dude, but you’re just bad at remembering people. We’ve actually met several times before, just no formal introductions or anything. It honestly kinda hurts to be forgotten so easily, but I kinda expected this, so it’s okay! Once again, so sorry!”

“What?! Will I forget you again?!”

Ryuroito laughed. “Maybe! But I’d like to think I made a good impression on ya today! So I hope not. I’d actually be really hurt if ya forgot again, actually! So don’t do it!”

“You said ‘actually’ twice... by the way, what are those holes on your face?”

“Hmm?” Ryuroito questioned with a dumb smile. “Oh! That’s my specialty!”

“...huh? Your specialty is holes on your face?”

“No, no, no. Well... actually, yeah! Part of it, anyway! A lotta people have specialties that they just kinda... do the thing, y’know? But me? I gotta breathe through these holes to use it! I call it ‘scent.’”

“What does breathing through the holes do?”

“I can taste the air!”

“What?”

“I can taste the air!”

“I heard you the first time... um... I guess it was dumb to ask ‘what,’ huh?”

“Maybe, little dude.”

“On that note,” Ryuto interjected, turning to Ranoiko, “why not indulge Rocko with your specialty?”

Ranoiko sighed. “Because it would be wrong, Ryut— er, Chieftain. That ‘kid’ isn’t just a kid, he’s the next Chieftain. I’m really uncomfortable with contributing to potentially messing up our village’s future by indulging in some childish hobby.”

“Nah, Rano,” said Ryuroito, “he is just a kid. Do ya think our Ayo is mature enough to handle all that pressure at her age?”

“No, but Ayo is just a kid.”

The child hiding behind Ryuroito’s legs scowled.

“So is that little dude, isn’t he?”

“You say that a lot, but I just don’t get it. If he’s just a kid, then why is he being trusted to become the next Chieftain? Isn’t that too irresponsible?”

“If he’s not a kid, then what is he?”

“The next Chieftain. What else?”

“Um...”

Neither of them seemed able to comprehend the other’s perspective. Really, one would think it should have been an easy concept to grasp, but until that point, no other villager had understood it. For whatever reason, most of the villagers seemed to view Chieftains almost like an entirely different species, and treated them accordingly. Ryuroito himself probably only comprehended the idea of Rocko being a normal child because of how he’d been working with Ryuto the prior couple years. Ryuto most likely vented his frustrations about the villagers’ treatment of Rocko to Ryuroito a number of occasions, and Ryuroito eventually took his words to heart.

“Well...” Ryuto began, “it took a long time for you to come to terms with it, too. Didn’t it, Ryuroito?”

“Ah, yeah, but... yeah...”

“It is what it is. I really appreciate your help, though.”

“‘Course, Chief.”

“Chief?!” Ranoiko shouted. “That— that’s—!”

“It’s fine, Ranoiko,” Ryuto said.

“B-but...” Ranoiko put her palms on her head. “That’s wrong, too...” she mumbled.

“Hey, Rano,” Ryuroito began, “I’ve been hanging with him for a few years, now. We’re good like that, y’know?”

“No. It’s so backwards.”

“I say it’s fine,” Ryuto said. “He can call me what he wants.”

Ranoiko sighed. “If you say so... Chieftain.”

“And you know what else I say?” Ryuto cheekily asked.

Ranoiko sighed in resignation. “I understand,” she said dispiritedly. “If that’s really what you wish.”

“Thank you, Ranoiko.”

- # # # 5 # # # -

The visit continued for a while. In the end, the meeting with Ranoiko and Ryuroito lasted at least three times longer than any meeting before. Additionally, compared to most past meetings, the outcome was significantly more positive. Rocko even paid attention the entire time, and it was unlikely he’d forget anything he learned during it.

However, Rocko never got to talk to, learn about, or even get a good look at the shy child, who remained behind with Ryuroito as Ranoiko, Rocko, and Ryuto headed down to the Plaza.

Once Ryuto was out of sight, Ranoiko stretched her arms out to the sky and groaned. “Finally!” she exclaimed.

“W-what? ‘Finally’ what?” Rocko asked in confusion.

“It’s too tense to be around someone like Ryuto,” she explained.

“Why?”

“I don’t know. I just don’t handle it well. I feel like any second I could lose my head!” she said, finishing with a hearty laugh.

“Whoa! That’s not something to laugh about! And my dad would never do that!”

“He is Ramento’s child.”

“Huh?”

“Oh, never mind any of that. Let’s uh... let’s talk about what you want... I guess.”

“Right, right!” Rocko said, regaining his cheerfulness. “So, um, I’ve been thinking a lot about fish lately... and birds also!”

“...fish and birds?” Ranoiko puzzledly tilted her head.

“Do you know what they have in common?”

Ranoiko shook her head.

“They both fly!”

“Fish swim, don’t they?”

“What’s the difference between fish swimming and birds flying, though? They’re both basically floating in the air!”

“Er... well, I’m pretty sure the fish use, like... those rainbowy currents or something? I don’t really get it, but I don’t think it’s the same as birds.”

“Then do you know how birds fly?!” Rocko cheerfully asked.

“Y-yeah. More or less. It’s their wings, right?”

“Yeah! I think so, too! So, can you make me wings?!”

“...”

“Can you?!”

“...I... can try.”

Rocko loudly croaked and happily jumped in the air. As he returned to the ground, he noticed someone familiar hiding behind a corner of the Dining Hall, peering in his direction.

“She was in your hut, too,” Rocko said as he pointed in the direction of the child, who — realizing she’d been seen — immediately hid from sight.

Ranoiko looked in the direction Rocko pointed, but couldn’t discern who or what he was pointing at. “Who? Where?” she asked.

“Hiding behind that wall. Is she your daughter?”

“Oh! You probably mean Anuto!” Ranoiko laughed lightheartedly. “No, no. Anuto’s not my daughter.”

“Wasn’t she in your hut earlier?”

“No, that was my daughter, Ayo.”

“Huh...?”

Rocko was confused. He wanted answers, but couldn’t think of the right questions to ask. Perhaps there was a misunderstanding, but how could he bring that up in a way Ranoiko would understand? He didn’t even know what the exact misunderstanding was, so how could he address it?

“Anyway,” Ranoiko began, breaking him from his thoughts, “do you have any specifications for your... uh... wings?”

“‘Specifications?’”

Ranoiko nodded.

“I don’t think so. I don’t know. What do you mean?”

“Oh boy. Uh... okay. Never mind. I’ll see what I can do for you.”

“Thanks a ton!”

Starting and continuing from then, through trial and error, Rocko and Ranoiko collaborated on a project that would hopefully allow Rocko to fly.

- # # # CHAPTER END # # # -