Chapter 10 - A Night Under The Stars

"Alright, step one. Breathe in as much as your lungs can hold, and hold it all in there for as long as you can." Via said as she and Aaron stood across from each other just outside of their home.

Aaron followed her orders and began holding his breath.

"Before we start moving air, I need to make sure you know how to expel air essence from your body. It flows through your entire body but your chest is where it's most potent. Now, it usually takes a few weeks for someone to release essence for the first time. So don't get discouraged if it you don't get it immediately. No matter what I'll be here to guide you and turn you into a fine air essence user."

At this point Aaron was already struggling to hold his breath for any longer and everything Via said after that wasn't heard by him. He finally released the air he was holding in and amazingly a strong gust of wind came out which blew Via off balance.

"...Um."

"Was that suppose to happen?" Aaron asked stunned at what he just did.

"I guess... maybe it's because your body once belonged to somebody that already mastered air essence. When I read that you'd be able to do everything Venmi could, I didn't think it would be right away."

Somehow she looks depressed. Aaron thought.

"Well then, my body has all of these abilities apparently but I wish someone could teach me how to use them." Aaron said.

"I'm still going to teach you!" Via exclaimed.

"I would hope so. Venmi mastered air essence, but I still have no idea what I'm doing."

"Like I said, no matter what I'll guide you to become a fine air essence user. Just because your further along than I thought doesn't change my promise."

"Alright then let's move on." Aaron replied with a smile.

"Right!" Via said with a smile as well.

.....

"Alright Kaden, this is where I leave you." Elder Aira said as they approached Kaden's home. "Oh yeah, and don't tell Mai about our conversation earlier. She doesn't like to think that people are worrying about her."

"Thanks Grams. See you around then." Kaden said as he walked off.

Upon entering his treehouse home, Kaden sat next to the entrance and began thinking to himself while staring at his hands.

I still feel a little weak, but I don't feel like eating. I could rest after I eat that watermelon the lady next door gave to me as a welcome gift...

Kaden looked over to the watermelon which was sat on his bed and he closed his eyes. He focused on controlling his breathing to the point where he was taking long and steady breaths. He extended his left hand towards the melon, and while exhaling he released a small amount of air essence which rolled the melon against the wall.

...Someone worth chasing huh? Kaden thought looking back at hid hands. What's the point of chasing after something you'll never reach, especially when your efforts aren't getting recognized. Just a waste of time.

Kaden continued to fire off weak burst of wind until he finally fell asleep on the floor a few minutes after.

"..."

"Daddy can I eat now?" A child's voice asked.

"You eat when you get it right." A stern male voice replied.

"But I've been trying for hours now and I still don't get it."

"I don't care Kaden! Damn, you complain more than your old lady. Stop crying and get it right you pathetic piece of shit! Until you get it right, you won't eat!"

"..."

Knock! Knock! Knock!

The sound knocking on the hatch door entrance of his treehouse woke Kaden up from his slumber.

"Hmm?"

"Hello?" A girl's voice called out.

"What is it?" Kaden groaned as pushed himself up.

The knocking continued until he eventually answered the door. To his surprise he found Kuria on the outside.

"What're you doin' here kid?" Kaden said while rubbing his eyes.

"My uncle asked me to deliver this to you." She replied entering his home and closing the door.

She handed him a set of clothes that was tied together by a thin but strong piece of string.

"What's this?" Kaden asked.

"Uncle Tez said he made this for you."

The clothes were an almost exact copy of the outfit Kaden first came to Aestus in. The only difference was the colors of this new set was primarily light blue with light gray lining.

"I appreciate it but couldn't this wait 'til tomorrow?"

"He told me to deliver this to you tomorrow."

"Sooo, why are you here now?"

"I wanted to ask you something." She said as she began twiddling her fingers. "Could you accompany me to the surface?"

"Me? Why?"

"Well, I can't go by myself because the adults would scold me. I'm worried about Miss Mai, but they wouldn't take that as an excuse to go alone."

"So you want me to be your chaperone so you can tell them at least you went with an adult?"

"Mhm." She replied while nodding.

"I don't understand why you want me to come with you though?"

"Because, this is the first time she went to the surface since you've came here. She use to go every other day so when she stopped I knew it had something to do with you."

Kaden sighed and said. "She doesn't like when people worry about her, but I wonder if she's aware that she's making people worry."

"Aren't you worried about her too?"

Kaden didn't reply right away, instead he got up and went over to sit on his bed.

"To me she's amazing so I don't need to worry about her."

"But-"

"No buts kid..."

At this point Kaden noticed that Kuria was wearing a bag on her back, which she was subtly holding with her left hand.

"...We can come right back, if I could only give her some of this food that'll be fine." Kuria stated in a depressed tone looking at the floor.

"Food?"

"She left right after her training with you, so I'm sure she hasn't eaten anything."

"..."

"Kaden?"

"...Let's go."

"You'll come with me?!"

"Yeah, let's go see how she's doing." Kaden replied.

"Th-thank you."

"Why are you so timid now?"

"I... I don't want to be." Kuria answered very softly.

"What was that?"

"...Nothing."

She must really care about Mai for her to be acting like this. Kaden thought while looking at her.

"Let's go kid." Kaden said while patting her head.

The two of them left Kaden's treehouse and made their way over to the underground sea.

.....

"Is it really the right call for us to start camping now?" Ty asked. "Every minute we're resting our target is moving further away."

"That shouldn't be the case." Damien answered.

"Huh? Why wouldn't it be?"

"Let's assume it is this rumored 'Witch of the Redwoods'." Elder Faye stated. "A real witch would never stray far from it's domain."

"But what if it isn't the witch but rather just some random person." Ty asked.

"Ty-"

"I'll answer him." Faye said as she stopped Damien from talking. "The Lake of Lazarus hasn't been used in decades. The reason behind that is people are scared to use it. Not because of the consequences that would follow from Aestus Elders. Prople were more scared of the high probability that the lake wouldn't revive the person that they intended to bring back. Because of that, people from all over the land of water stayed away from the lake. So if this person decided to use it despite all of that..."

"It means their either young, not from the water continent or an actual witch." Elder Treya stated. "If their young they wouldn't go far since they probably aren't aware if the consequences. However if they're from a different continent then the situation becomes more complicated."

"In any case there's a sixty six percent chance that person is still here in the Redwoods, so before we leave we're going to check this place thoroughly."

"And if the person falls into the other thirty three percent?" Ty asked.

"Once they're on this continent they can't escape me." Faye answered.

After she said that she immediately turned her head towards Aestus with a suspicious look on her face.

"What is it sister?" Treya asked.

"Two more people just left Aestus." She replied.

"Who is it?"

"Kuria and Kaden."

"What are they doing leaving the village at a time like this?" Treya questioned.

"Maybe it has something to do with Mai leaving earlier." Sister Faye stated.

"Should we be allowing him to leave the village without a guard or Elder?" Treya asked.

"So I was right that you are becoming very protective of that boy. Even more so than Sister Aira.

"Given what's happening in Ignus right now, we have to be cautious of everything."

"...Your right." Faye stated. "Maybe we should be dealing with this as quickly as possible."

Damien and Ty peered over to each other as they both didn't understand what was being talked about.

"Let's not impose to much." Damien whispered to Ty. "Your inexperience is showing.

.....

"...ai... Mi... Mai."

Bop.

"Hmm?" Mai groaned while awaking from her sleep.

She had fallen asleep in the tree after resting there for a while. After looking around for a few seconds she was suddenly struck in the head by a seed. She looked below her and found Kuria and Kaden standing under the tree.

"Sorry 'bout that." Kaden exclaimed.

"What are you two doing out here?"

"Your delivery has arrived!" Kaden stated while gesturing to Kuria.

"Delivery?"

"Come down and find out!"

Mai swiftly made her way down the tree, while showing off her high flexibility and athleticism.

"All of that wasn't even necessary." Kaden said softly.

"What was that?" Mai asked.

Kaden gently tapped Kuria's shoulder with two of his fingers.

"Oh... Here you go Miss Mai." Kuria said presenting the bag to her. "I realized that you haven't eaten today, at least since Kumo and I joined you guys earlier. So I thought that I'd bring you something."

Kuria had saved half of her own dinner and packaged it to give to Mai. Of course Mai didn't know this but she figured something like that would be the case, considering Kuria can't cook.

"I appreciate you coming all this way to give me this, but you don't need to worry about me like this." Mai said with a smile.

"If you don't want people to worry about you, then don't give them reasons to." Kaden stated with his arms crossed, looking up to the moon. "Since we did came all this, the least you can do is accept the food."

Mai paused and looked up to Kaden before accepting the food from Kuria.

"Thanks Ria." She said with a smile.

Kuria smiled as the three of them went silent and struggled to continue the conversation. Kuria slowly walked away from the other two and began to stare up at the night sky. The sky was densely populated by stars, planets and other celestial bodies that appeared only as balls of light to their eyes. The area around the lake was illuminated by various bio-luminescent creatures and the reflection of the moonlight from the lake itself.

"I can see why you like coming up here Miss Mai." Kuria said as she stood infatuated by the beauty of the night sky. "I can't remember the last time I came to the surface, and it feels like the first time I've ever seen a night sky like this."

"...Then how about you spend the night with me up here?" Mai suggested.

"Can I?!"

"I'll apologize to Tez in the morning for this. I can also see Kumo getting very jealous, but what do you say?"

"Th-thank you." She softly replied.

"What about you stranger?"

"I couldn't get back into the village by myself if I wanted to." Kaden replied.

"But do you want to?"

"...Where are we gonna sleep?"

Both Mai and Kuria smiled as Kaden joined them for a night under the stars. The three of them rested against the tree that Mai was originally sleeping in, and spent the next hour gazing at beautiful night sky. Kuria feel asleep soon after that and Mai gently laid Kuria's head into her lap.

"Are sights like this common where you're from?" Mai asked.

"The opposite actually." Kaden responded. "There's so much light pollution where I'm from that you can hardly see stars in the night sky. You'd have to be pretty far from civilization to see something like this."

"That's a shame. This sight is part of the reason I come out here. You can't see this down in Aestus."

"Now that I think about it, the day I came here you were already up on that mountain."

"I usually climb that mountain and sleep on its peek, but today I didn't really have the motivation to do that."

"...What's your goals Mai?"

"Huh?"

"What are you working towards? People don't work hard for the sake of working hard, they do it to achieve something. What are you trying to achieve?"

"...I want to explore." She replied. "Elder Aira gave me permission to come out here whenever I want as long as I don't leave the surrounding mountain range. I'm not strong enough to survive on my own out there. But I want to explore the world. I want to travel all over this continent and the others as well. Meet all kind of people and see different creatures and structures. So I have to get stronger so I can defend myself. At least, that's part of the reason."

"What's the other reasons?"

"There's only one other reason. Don't tell anyone what I'm about to tell you."

"Alright."

"...I don't like being in the village. Everyone has high expectations of me because of my family. Expectations I can't reach. The people in the village either look at me in disappointment or pity, and I hate both of those gazes. They all smile and give me warm greetings but that's only because of my family name. I know about everything they say about me after I pass. "Is she really their child? The disgrace of the Aira family. She'll never be her parents..." I want to escape this place."

"...I could relate to how your feeling." Kaden said after a short pause.

"How could you?" Mai replied with a shaky voice as if she was about to cry. "In the short time you've been here, you've already shown more potential than me. In no time you'll be stronger than I am."

"But who went through all the trouble to teach me about essence, and the four great lands, and everything about this world. If I had never met you Mai, then I would've never even gotten off of that mountain. You don't get strong alone, there are people in Aestus who genuinely want to see you grow stronger simply because they care for you. Granny Aira, the twins, and myself. That's more people than I ever had back on my world... I'm not some motivational speaker or anything but you should at least try relying on these people more."

"...Yeah, okay."

"I'm going to sleep."

"Alright, Kaden... thanks."

Kaden couldn't see but Mai was smiling because he had said that he cares about her.

I guess she is a bit like me. Kaden thought. I took every chance I got to leave home when I was younger because I hated being in that place. I loved going camping in school. That was the only other time I ever saw a sky like this. That was also how I met my only real friend... If I had never met Aaron things would be very different right now. I wonder if I'm becoming that same kind of person for Mai...