What Kindness Looks Like

Inside of the house, both husband and wife stared at the door unsure of what to do. Their farm was rather secluded and bandits or robbers would leave them alone as they didn't have much money to give them, even if they were threatened.

They waited for a few minutes to see if the knocking would stop or if whoever it was would just break the door down and forcibly enter their home, but nothing happened aside from continuous knocking.

During this time the husband had grabbed an axe he kept inside just in case, not that he was great at using it to fight. As they continued to stand there with the husband holding an axe and the wife a child, the woman finally spoke up, "Honey, maybe it's someone in trouble? Just ask them what they want through the door."

The man glanced over at his wife before sighing and approaching the door and speaking loud enough that whoever was on the other side could hear him.

"Who is it? What do you want?"

"Please help! Please, my baby sister needs help! I'll give you whatever you want, just help my sister! Please!" A desperate voice responded to him from the other side of the door.

The man couldn't make out any deception from the answer he received, but he wasn't well versed in liars or anything of the sort, so it was hard to tell whether he could trust whoever it was.

The man stuck a wedge underneath the edge of the door before opening it just a crack to see outside. At the same time, the woman holding an infant peeked over his shoulder to see outside as well.

When their eyes saw the person knocking on their door late into the night, the woman couldn't help but let out a startled gasp.

On their porch was a young man with white hair that was covered in dirt and blood. He didn't have a shirt on, his pants were in tatters, there was dried blood all over his body, and a desperate look in his eyes. But most of all they noticed the bundle of cloth he was holding close to his chest that had a tiny head with white hair poking out.

Outside, Kayn looked at the staring couple before speaking out again. "Please, I heard crying inside. My sister needs food, please at least let her have one meal, I'll give you all the money I have!" Kayn threw a small pouch at bottom of the crack in the door. It made an audible clinking sound as it settled in the doorway.

The woman saw this scene and only pondered for half of a second before handing off her child to her husband and opening the door fully. As she opened the door, Kayn's eyes glittered with the smallest amount of hope. He had been walking for over half a day and knew his sister was running out of time.

The woman reached out her arms to Kayn, "Hand her over, I'll take care of her." Her smile was gentle and she gave off the same motherly charm as his own once had. Kayn was hesitant at first, but her aura seemed to bring him some comfort. Being as desperate as he was, he handed Lara to her as carefully as he could.

Only then did Kayn glance up and notice that the woman had a pair of long pointed ears with softly flowing blonde hair while the man seemed a normal human in every way. He couldn't help but think that it was a pair of elf and human.

Without even moving into another room for privacy, the elf woman opened part of her night robe and brought Lara up to one of her breasts. Even though Lara hadn't shown any movement the entire time Kayn was carrying her, once the nipple touched her lips, she began to suckle.

Feeling his main worry wash away and upon seeing his sister feeding, his body lost all of the strength it had left. He collapsed face first into the wood of the porch, completely unconscious.

Sighing, the man began to walk forward to carry Kayn inside of the house. On the way he reached down and picked up the coin bag that was tossed. Taking a glance inside, he almost dropped it back down to the ground. There were gold coins in there! Gold!

The man looked up at his wife with sparkling eyes before noticing the cold frown she had on her face. It was an indication that if he took even a single coin from that bag, he would be staying in the horse stable in the future.

She glanced down at the child that was firmly attached to her bosom and sighed, "How long has it been for this child to be so malnourished? Hurry and help out the other child Dear, what are doing just standing there?"

With that, she grabbed her child as well from her husband and returned inside of the house towards a chair where she could get comfortable while feeding the unknown child.

The man watched his wife carrying both infants inside, then glanced down at the youth laying face first in the dirt and wood. He too sighed before walking out slightly and taking the bag off of Kayn's back and setting it inside of the house. He then returned and picked Kayn up, well he tried to.

"What the heck? Why does this kid weigh so much?" He mumbled to himself as he gave up trying to lift Kayn and instead started dragging him inside with his arms wrapped underneath Kayn's armpits for support.

…

Kayn opened his eyes to an unfamiliar ceiling. He had a piercing headache that the light inside of the room only made worse. He tried to move, but pain radiated from his entire body, especially his back which he was lying on.

Taking a deep breath, he lifted his head slightly and saw an elf woman sitting in a rocking chair in the room while holding a sleeping child. Only then did Kayn remember what had happened.

However, Kayn couldn't find his sister with the woman or in the room. He opened his lips to speak, but his throat felt extremely dry and all that ended up coming out was a hoarse whisper.

"Horace! He's awake! Bring water, quick!" The woman shouted as she was startled when she noticed the youth staring at her after she heard a dry scratching sound come from the bed.

The man Kayn had seen previously soon entered into the room carrying a large pitcher and a glass. Pouring water into the glass, he tipped it to Kayn's lips, which Kayn gulped down without a second thought.

Once he finished the water in the glass, he tried speaking again. "My sister, is she okay? Where is she?" Kayn sounded desperate again as both the man and woman could see him trying to search for her with his eyes.

"What a caring brother you are." The soft voice of the woman echoed inside of the room. "Your sister is just fine, she's sleeping in the crib currently. You have no idea how worried we were about you. It has been so long since you fell asleep out, yet you wouldn't wake up."

Kayn was startled by this a bit, but overall he was relieved as he heard that Lara was okay. "How long have I been asleep?"

"It's been 17 days kid. We tried giving you water during that time too, but unlike your sister who fed immediately, you would just cough everything back up." The man was the one who answered. His voice was gruff, but it's just how he had always been.

"17 days? No way." Kayn spoke, but at the same time his headache vanished like it was a lie in the first place. He felt a clarity sweep through his mind that overwhelmed his thoughts, causing him to just lay back down and stare at the ceiling again.

"So, what happened to you kid? Where are your parents, why are you so beat up, and what's with you two being so malnourished when you arrived here?" Horace asked as he just couldn't understand how these two were in such a bad state but somehow still alive. Not to mention, where were the kids' parents? He doubted the mother of a kid who had so much money would just abandon her infant.

A dark gloom settled over Kayn's eyes as the questions that were asked quickly brought him out of his reverie.

"Horace!" The woman who was now standing by the bedside reproached her husband. "Clearly, he went through something traumatic! You saw the injuries when we were bandaging them, be more considerate!"

"But Est, we need to know if there is danger near our farm!" Horace replied while sounding like he was falsely accused.

"There's no threat near here." Kayn answered the question that they were concerned with, but the tears in his eyes were still starting to flow down his cheeks. "My family was attacked a long way away from here, but I escaped with my sister as per my mother's wishes. We are the only two who survived."

Kayn sat up and brought his hands to his eyes to cover them, trying to shove the tears back in. He found it odd how he was so dehydrated, yet still managed to leak so many tears. Kayn looked down at his body now that the blanket had fallen off of him.

His entire torso and most of his arms were covered in bandages. The front of his body was mostly clean and white, but as he moved his sight toward his backside, the bandages gradually started becoming more yellow and red.

Est looked at Kayn with sadness and pity in her eyes, "We did what we could about your injuries with bandages and salves, but you'll probably need a healer if you want to recover in any sort of a timely manner."

Kayn nodded his head, but wasn't really paying attention. Instead, he was trying to see if he could circulate and his use mana again. Much to his relief, his core responded to his call this time.

A relieved sigh broke through Kayn's lips as he closed his eyes and clenched his fists. "Thank you so much. I will do everything in my power to repay this debt." Kayn's resolute voice flowed out as he glanced between the pair of husband and wife who had displayed, to he and his sister, the very definition of kindness and generosity.