I sit under the heavy clouds with an even heavier heart. My mind is a turmoil of thoughts. Ever since my encounter with the girl, I have been trapped in a labyrinth within my head. Of all the WHYs, I can not decipher even a single one of them. We have come so far away from co-operation that even a thing as good as a Jun fighting a Megasaur is leading me to think of the possibility of this being a trap. When did we become so petty? Busy fighting inside my head, I didn't notice the little Hua walk beside me.
"If you don't want that, i can still eat another bapple," says the boy beside me.
I didn't even notice that i have had an apple in my hand for so long.
"Bapple" I laugh, handing the apple over to him.
I think babies are such a blessing. No matter what hardships, they always make you smile. I pat his head as he nibbles into the juicy fruit.
"Issweet" he gleams.
"It is?"
"Mhm."
I look at him as if he's my younger self. My hands reach out to his head again. Sharing the same name does a little something to you i guess. With my hand over his unkempt hair, i wish; i wish he never has to see war when he grows up. I will he lives to be a powerful Jun who serves the peace of the land. I wish he finds all that I had to struggle to look for.
I want to ask him about his family, his parents, but i'm scared. I'm scared of the answers I might get. I'm scared of seeing him cry again. Getting up to wash up, I push the questions aside and tell him that he too, should wash up after he eats.
I wash up and head to my room. I laugh at the unusual sight of walking in to a girl in my bed. My back hurts as I laugh. Its all the more sore from sleeping on the floor now that the girl's here. I walk to the corner to look for a shirt. While i rummage through the pile, i hear something, something that makes me turn. To my surprise, the girl is sitting up. Her cheeks immediately flush which is when I realize i'm shirtless.
"I-" I roughly put on the shirt closest to me.
"I'm sorry for that. How are you feeling now?" I ask her, concerned.
"Where's Hua?" she counter-questions.
"I'm right here", I tell her with all the foolishness one could ever bear to. I immediately regret saying that when I realize who she meant to ask about.
With a creased forehead, she looks at me as if i'm crazy.
"Ah young Hua, he's washing up" I face-palm myself in my head.
"Did you kill the beast?"
"We did." I tell her, reassuring.
She smiles for the first time. Technically, i would not be able to kill that thing alone, had she not been there.
"How are you feeling now?" I ask her for the second time.
"Alive" she says.
I snort, embarrassing myself the third time in the past three minutes.
She tries to get up but falls back.
"Don't force yourself. I'll send mama to attend to you" I say as I leave.
I walk to the kitchen, finding her right there.
"She's up" I say.
Mama turns to face me, her eyebrows raised.
"The girl, she's up. You should go check on her."
"Why, yes! I shall. And you shall stir this pot for me until i'm back then." She pats my shoulder.
"Think well about your sermon while at that. I smell war", she says while leaving.
I try to make out what she meant by that. I fail miserably. What does she mean war? I wonder. The smell from the pot makes my stomach rumble as i stir. If there's anything i look forward to, its food and definitely not war. Now for the sermon, i think to myself, can i possibly use the example of the Jun girl to show the people that peace is still an option?
The incident from yesterday flashes in front of me as I think of the girl. She was brave, braver than any Jun i ever had the chance of laying eyes on. She could definitely help the peace, if she chooses to.
I decide I need to talk to her myself.