A World With/Out Home

Chapter 5: A Garden with Something Else. (Part 4)

By the time breakfast ended Kyle was already tired. The children living in the Garden had eaten a lot more than he thought they would. In the end he barely had enough to feed them all. Now however it was quiet. A few of the children had helped him clean up while the rest ran off to play. Then not long after Lillia took them to the classroom to take their morning lessons leaving him and Maila in the dining room. He sat opposite the older female and sipped at his tea relaxed.

"You did a good job," she took her own cup and raised it to him. "I've never seen the children warm up to someone so quickly. It even took Valandus a few days when he first came."

"Hmm speaking of which he still hasn't come by with my things," he looked outside to the path leading to the Cathedral. There was no way he could go alone, he'd get lost in a heartbeat and there was the fact he wasn't allowed to.

"He'll get around to it," Maila set down her cup. "Thank you for cheering them up."

"Ah yeah.... To be honest that was half the reason I did it. Though...," his eyes rested to the direction the children were, "I can't believe they're all Hero candidates. They're so normal."

"Well I did push for them to be raised as normal as possible," Maila smiled. "There are some people who think we should take a sterner approach."

"It's nicer this way," Kyle returned the smile but as his thoughts began to wander it faded. "Actually there's something that's been bothering me. The children... none of them cried when you told them Jana wasn't coming back. Is that okay?"

Maila picked her cup back up focusing on the warm tea inside, "The younger ones don't fully understand as for the others... you could say they're used to it."

"Used to it?" the way she said it caused his heart to lurch.

"You'll see in the afternoon. We'll say goodbye to Jana properly then," her eyes glossed over before staring back into his, "just when you do... don't treat them differently please."

"I... I won't."

*

Kyle looked at the schedule Maila had given him. It was the day to day lives of the children. Breakfast then classes, after which was lunch and a break period before they did their combat training. The evening was mostly empty aside from when they had extra lessons or when they planned some kind of event. He didn't know what their combat training exactly entailed but it still didn't sit well inside him that children as young as six were doing it. As the Hero's candidates however as much as their bodies were special, they still needed to back it up with practised skills. After breakfast he had taken a peek inside the classroom. There were a few people he hadn't met before teaching them and the children had been divided by age, some doing basic education while the older ones were even practising magic with Lillia. Although it hurt his pride a little, the older children were probably smarter than him with what they were learning. After all Tomph was just a small village.

When lunch came around Maila helped him prepare an assortment of sandwiches with the bread he had baked. She was quite vocal of what the children liked and had a good grasp of how much to make as well. While Kyle did want to ask her how long she had been looking after them, he had the strange feeling he shouldn't ask. Though Maila looked young he felt she was older than she was letting on.

"Umm Maila," Kyle began a little awkwardly as he tried to avoid the pair of eyes aiming his way. "Why does he keep staring at me?" Most the children were still in class but a few had been let out early and since then one of them had been lingering close by. With blue hair and probably the next oldest after Lillia he was already as tall as Kyle and with a well-built body. If it weren't for his youthful face the boy would be mistaken for an adult easily.