23 - Under The Swirling Clouds

"Yaanaa," I slowly spelled my name to my parents in front of me. My voice came out more insistent than usual.

"Heerfaa," my father here was as stubborn as I was. He expected that word to be repeated directly from my mouth.

"Yaana," I won't give up that easily to persuade him. My finger was pointing to my face when I said that, hoping him to get my name right.

"(Herfa, your name is Herufa). Velna, (Why is he so) bibaru?" he sighed before gazing at my mother with concern.

It had been three months since the event that happened in the children's place. I frequently asked my mother to bring me there if possible, to which she complied almost every time.

My growth was continuing to increase rapidly from that point and I was getting more educated about everything here. The children's place also introduced me to a new type of words and also their writings. As a result, My listening got a significant improvement but my speaking needed more time to adapt.

I also recently learned my parents' names by listening to their calls. My mother was called 'Velna' by him and my father was called 'Hardu' by her. Therefore I assumed those to be their names.

"(He doesn't want) disa kitu, Hardu. (Just say his preferred name and we are done here, easy)," my mother said. She looked more adamant than he was about my naming condition.

"(What kind of baby named himself? You work at a place of children, can you tell me) orak ira (any kid who gives the name for themself)," he chuckled with a taste of confusion in between. For whatever reason, he was rejecting to call me Yana, which I found to be quite disappointing.

"How many times we had this conversation already, if the child wanted that, then so be it," she replied leisurely while stirring the bowl that contained my breakfast.

"Yana, open your mouth, aaa," she extended the spoon to my mouth but not near enough in a comfortable range. I stood on my fours as a response and leaned on the wooden bars before she fed me.

"(See, it's easy right? I think) sikipuna (the name isn't bad at all)," she smiled slyly, tempting the man to drop his unnecessary cautiousness. Instead of following her sign, the man massaged his forehead with power.

"Just look at our son, he can already crawl in three months. Don't you think that's weird? And then the thing that he kept saying. Can you repeat it?" he turned and directed the last question to me.

Obeying his request, I spoke the request that I chanted these few days.

"Please...find...Aria," I uttered the sentence word per word. If I wanted to search for her, I might as well get the first guide from my own birth parents.

"There! There! Aria," my father frantically marked my speech. "I searched everywhere that I could for that person but they simply didn't exist, at least in this town. Who is this person he talked about?" he sounded like arguing to her.

That was actually an important piece of information for my goal. I didn't know he would go as far as asking the people here about her. Whether he believed in me or distrusted me was another question I should confirm later.

"Well, maybe they really weren't real at all. Why are you taking his words seriously? He is still an infant like you said before. Children say things we don't understand every time," she talked back by the time the food entered my mouth.

My throat choked on impulse when I realized she wasn't truly defending me.

"No,... *cough*...*cough*..., she is...real," I quickly objected to her statement despite my mouth wasn't ready for it. She was taken aback by a bit from my denial but then she immediately just shrugged it off.

My father saw my protest as proof for his lines, "see? Even he can understand your words well..,"

"Sstt," my father's sentence was cut midway by a simple shrill from her. She seemed to be fed up with his recent attitude.

"Now, Yana. Where is this...Aria now?" she shifted her attention back to me, her expression was squeezing me for an answer I didn't know.

"Out there," I simply told the knowledge I possessed.

"Where?" She asked again, her teasing smile somehow felt more intimidating than before.

"I don't...know," I let out the dissatisfying answer. After I spoke, her guise appeared victorious and she raised her shoulders for him.

"There, he doesn't know what he is talking about," she explained to her husband.

That was just unfair, wasn't it?

But I didn't particularly address my real intention due to my lacking speech ability, so maybe that was on me.

He looked like he wanted to speak again, however, she stole the chance to continue her speech.

"(You have to slow down, Har. You are having some weird concerns for the child and I can't understand why). Oki jada (He is just growing faster than everyone else. Isn't that good for us)?" she questioned him before standing on his side.

"I don't know, it's just a feeling that I have. Can't you tell he is...too different?" he had trouble finding words, and honestly so did I. One of my parents was suspicious of me while the other was taking my talks for granted.

"Well, maybe. But that isn't something bad for this family. You only need some time to get comfortable with him. Trust me, he really is a smart child," she tried to convince him and it had started to show a little result.

He was drowned in his thoughts and his foot was tapping the wooden floor lightly. The sigh he let out afterward was a sign of him giving up.

"If you say so, then," his voice had a weak presence in the room.

"(It's just hard for me to comprehend things in the house, I guess. You knew about the children more than me after all). Yabanka (I wish I can get as much time with them as you do)," he continued.

Hearing his thoughts, she reached for his vicinity and then hugged him from the side.

"Don't think too much. I'm sure they will understand somehow. I will make sure to remind them of your hard work," she replied, trying to soothe him with her embrace.

"Thank you, I hope you won't give up on us," his firm hold was surrounding her back at that point. They looked comfortable like that.

"Of course not," she answered again shortly.

Maybe they wouldn't notice it, but I acknowledged their efforts to raise me. I knew that both of them were working to keep this household steady without them telling me so. If I had finished my search for Aria, I would make sure to return their favors.

When they were having the time of their lives in each other's clutch, another member of the family entered through the sliding door.

It was the girl. I was confident she had the name 'Syra'. She was covered by a towel and she seemed to be fresh out of the bath.

"Syra, what are you doing here? Put on some clothes first," my mother said.

"My hair, I need to dry it," she simply spoke while her hand grabbed the wet strands of the brown hair she possessed.

After shooting her power string right onto my chest, she approached my cradle and asked me to do something for her.

"Yana, the usual," she said airily before sitting down with her back facing me.

I knew what she meant and nodded afterward, it was an errand from her that I gladly took. This was a chance for me to train my ability even though in a mundane way.

Extending my hand toward her, I focused on the sensation of wind on my fingers. As soon as my palm collected a stream of air by twirling my wrist, I shot out the gust but in a much slower, steady way.

The wind came out strong because of her boost yet my hand still had to control the flow. If my hand moved in a wrong way, the ongoing stream of wind would abruptly stop.

This set of simple training was done every day at the almost exact same time. After she noticed my ability to manipulate the wind, both of us wondered if that could be put to any use, and thus this activity was born. It honestly helped me to master this power faster.

My eyes peeked for the reaction from my parents since this was the first time they spectated our habit. As expected, they showed a quite separate expression, again.

"You told him to dry your hair? You know you can always ask me for it, right?" my mother seemed to be interested in her choice.

"Your blow was too strong, Yana does better," said Syra innocently, unaware of the slight damage she had done to the mother's pride.

"I will make sure about it next time," she replied gently, trying to maintain the smile that she had on her face.

Next to her, however, my father was becoming more startled than ever.

"Wait, he can do that? Did the children's place already teach him this?" his solemn look was shattered, replaced by the look of disbelief he used earlier.

"He learned by himself there mostly. He could catch up to the older kids without much help," my mother explained for a bit before approaching the girl.

"Why am I the only one shocked here? This was actually something entirely else!" he yelled with a combination of bliss and doubt in his voice. He looked like the only person that was left out from this information, which he actually was.

"I told you, you are missing a lot about him. I see him every day in the studying place, his improvement is something natural for me to see. You will understand if you are able to witness him," she explained while she checked upon the girl's hair. By then, she had a jolt as if an idea suddenly entered her mind.

"I know!" she stated with a voice that surprised my father. "Why don't you take him to the children's place this time? You can spend some time with him that way, even though it's short," she uttered her idea to him gleefully.

Although it sounded like a good idea, he showed a troubled expression.

"That's great. I can get to work right after bringing him, but what will you do for now then?" he asked sincerely.

She looked at him before lifting Syra's hair behind her. "Looks like she needed someone to cut these strands, don't you think?" she shifted the last question to the girl instead.

Syra nodded at her as an answer, her hair swayed up and down following the motion. At that time, my hand already stopped waving waves of air at her. Despite being boosted by her power, my personal time of endurance was increasing. Being able to do more than one shot per day felt so relieving.

"Tell them I will be late," she said as she brought the girl downstairs for a promised hair trim.

They left both of us men in the room, gazing at each other.

"Alright, let's go then," he picked me up awkwardly from the cradle and proceeded to take me outside after preparing his things.

It wasn't a particularly bright day and chilling winds struck our bodies. The clouds were starting to gather above us, forming a thick layer of white puffs.

"Yana, yana, yana," my father was silently repeating my name over and over, adjusting his mouth to utter my supposed name. Was the name bad in his ear? Listening to him repeating my name in that way just made me wanted to hear his opinion.

"Father," my call brought him out of the daze.

"Is..my name..bad?" my question induced a strong reaction from him.

"No, no. It's just...different from what I wanted," he truthfully said. There was an odd silence between us afterward.

"Herufa, I came up with that name. You disliked it, huh?" he uttered again, despondent about my naming state.

I shook my head, but on the inside, I would still prefer to be called Yana.

"I understand, I'll call you Yana from now on," he smiled lightly when he said that.

"I'm sorry I wasn't often here to see you more. I even failed to get your name right," he continued talking, somehow sounding guilty for the thing he didn't do.

It was the same case that he said previously, what kind of babies named themselves? Of course he didn't expect me to come up with a name by myself.

"It's...fine," I spoke up. He didn't need to deal with himself like that.

He gazed at me pleasantly after I finished my short phrase.

"Yana," he called me again, his face was gradually turning more serious. "Your mother might not believe your words, but maybe I do," he explained carefully. I started to focus more on his speech.

"Is this person Aria...real?" he asked.

"Yes," I quickly answered.

"Who is she then to you?" he launched another question.

"My...friend," I said.

"What...no, why do you want to find her?"

"Because...she...is my friend...and she is...lost," I explained as hard as I could.

He inhaled deeply when he heard my statement.

"Who are you..,"

*BOOM*

Before he could finish his question, a thunder rumbled above us.

We were startled by it and I looked above as a result.

At that time, I spotted an irregular cloud formation. The formation I saw when we first fell into this world.

The swirling cloud.

It was identical to the one in my memory although not perfectly; the upcoming storm, the circle-like shape, and the dark skies.

I couldn't be wrong about it. They were almost the same occurrences.

Instinctively, my finger pointed there, up to the cloud. My father noticed it and followed the direction.

"There...I come...from there."