How Many Times Do I Have To Say It! HE! I AM A "HE"!

Before Cari could fix that mistake, the Chief spoke aloud…

"LET US ALL HAVE A TOAST, TO CARI! FOR IF IT WASN'T FOR HER, OLIVIA WOULDN'T BE STANDING HERE TODAY!!!"

"HEAR-HEAR!"

Multiple clinks of jugs could be heard as the goblins cheered for Cari, drinking to 'her' name.

"Why do I get the forbidding feeling that this is going to be a continuous problem…"

As Cari thought over this serious dilemma, Olivia was now calming down the two over scaring them.

"Okay! Okay! I'm sorry for messing with you, I just had the chance, and I couldn't resist, I didn't think she would wake up when you two…touched…her."

Both she and two realized at that second what had transpired, and for some reason, the thought of touching a 'female' mushroom caused them to slightly blush.

"Cari, I am SO sorry! I didn't know at the time! Oh shoot, is that why you woke up!? Please forgive me!"

Not hearing Olivia's apology, Cari was too busy being pissed, if he was in a cartoon, he would have that angry symbol on his head, oh wait…

There actually was the shape of it, right there, on his head, he was so angry that it actually made an appearance in this nov-ahem! On his mushroom cap.

Olivia noticed his anger and grabbed the other two over, and they all, with force, bowed their heads down while saying in harmony, "We're Sorry!"

The others were laughing almost as hard as the Chief and Olivia were before at this, 3 young adults bowing to the tiny mushroom just couldn't get enough laughs.

The three even noticed the little lines that were Cari blushing now that they were so close, which further proved the reason why they needed to show they were really sorry, while Cari, too peeved to explain anything, just shifted to the side, not looking them in the eye, further cementing how angry 'she' was, not realizing or maybe just not caring anymore that he was further solidifying the wrong reason he was angry for.

•••

Throughout the night, everyone partied like it was their last, many danced, some talked the night away, and the kids of the bunch were playing to no end, while the majority was doing their thing, the trio that is Ag, Qier, and Olivia were trying to appease a certain mushroom.

"You should eat something... if you eat? Do you eat?"

Cari shook his head as she gestured to the countless foods on the table, luckily enough, not any involving mushrooms.

Ag and Qier knew they were missing out on the party, but they also knew that even if they weren't trying to get 'her' forgiveness, they couldn't party as hard as they could with their current injuries.

Cari already guessed this as he caught them sneaking glances at the partygoers, and then at the various injuries riddling their bodies.

Currently, they were asking yes and no questions, as it was implied before that he couldn't talk, so far, they mostly kept repeating how sorry they were, and that last question was actually the first honest question they asked, with the next one from Qier asking...

"How did you heal Olivia? I am curious to know how a little thing like you has the ability to do that..."

Cari decided that this was the perfect time to do what he had on mind.

"Restore..."

All three of them opened their eyes wide when a soft glow started to emit from Cari, a low hum thrumming from 'her', as orbs of life energy appeared around him, and they flowed to Ag & Qier, at first, they flinched back and froze from shock before calming down for a moment thanks to the effect of the light, long enough to realized what Cari was doing.

The dozens of green lights made their way to them, before settling at their injuries, making them disappear in a soft hue, with some of the energy flowing directly into them.

It was especially so for Qier, as the energy concentrated around his sprained leg, and once it was all said and done, all the life energy orbs was gone, along with their injuries.

A few nearby had noticed Cari's actions, reminiscing about when Cari first made 'her' appearance, and that shortly lived moment of comfort and warmth, they were both glad those two got to experience such a feeling, and a bit envious that they couldn't feel it again, pretty much the entire population of the small village was there when Cari healed Olivia, and unknown to him, the light he emitted somehow went pass the solid house and greeted those outside.

Once it was over, the two looked over themselves, and once they had confirmed they were all right, once they looked under their bandages as they took them off, they both gave a full bow and said...

"Thank you!"

"Does this mean you forgive u-"

~Hm!~ ~Hm!~

Not even allowing them to finish, Cari shook his head from side to side, making it clear they weren't off the hook.

They were both disappointed for a second before shrugging their shoulders and while running off, said, "See ya Olivia, you either join us now, or we'll leave you behind!"

She stuttered between rushing off with them and sticking still and she looked at Cari.

"Is it okay?"

It's not like he was the boss of her, and he needed a break from all of them begging him "sorry", so he nodded, with an encouraging-

~Hm!~

"Thank you!"

She smiled and waved to him as she ran off to meet with the others, saying, "Hey, wait for me!"

Cari was finally left alone, if he could sigh, he would.

'So many new experiences, I didn't even have time to think about all of them.'

Cari thought about everything that had happened since receiving that feeling and running towards this village, everything since coming to this village has been nothing short of something new, so he went over everything he felt ranging from the embarrassment he felt when those two showed up right in front of him, touching him, to that desperate craze he felt when he was running towards Olivia.

Remembering how the negative pressure and pain collapsed into his mind and flowed throughout his body, he shivered for a moment, before being glad it was over...although, it could happen again in the future.

'...I'll deal with it when that time comes.'

His thoughts kept him occupied for a while until the Chief made another declaration.

"Alright everyone, I think that is enough for tonight, I believe everyone should get some shut eye, today was eventful, so let's get some well-deserved rest."

A more low-key cheer was made as everyone started to pick up the aftermath of the mess, with the leader making his way to Cari.

"I believe you would like to stay with us for the night?"

Cari nodded.

"Wonderful! Well, I hope you'll make yourself at home."

He walked back to his side of the table to help with the clean-up, while Cari was left on the chair he was before watching over everyone, he would help if he could, but...

'I don't got any hands.'

But then, he had an idea to help everyone, but he didn't know if he could...

'Well, never know until you try.'

He let out his aura... and then tried to extend it.

Like a dog being let off its leash, the glow of green kept spreading, and surprisingly, it was able to cover the entire area with ease!

'Shesh! Just how far can it spread?'

He would test it out later.

Everyone was caught off guard by the pleasant warmth, and they looked at the source, Cari.

All of them gave him a gentle smile; the fire of the gigantic fire pot was put out before, and the cold was finally starting to creep in, the forest was relatively warm even at night until the very late hours, which was finally approaching, but the warmth with his aura allowed those to continue working without feeling an inch of coldness, and the comfort it granted really enhanced the sleep factor, so the moment they were done, they immediately made way to their respective homes.

At that point, Cari found Olivia, Ag, and Qier together, the boys yawning while the three made way to him.

"Come on, everyone is inside now, it's time to rest."

Cari wondered if he should keep up the aura, and decided to let up, while he could keep it up, he noticed how addictive the feeling could be, and he didn't want that.

He slowly recalled it, limiting it once more, and with that, he was about to hop down before the pillow he was on was lifted.

"I think you should stay on there, not everyone is constantly looking down, you know?"

He looked at Olivia, and thought about it, and he agreed, and with that, they walked, Cari carried on the pillow, to Olivia's house.

As they walked up the stairs, he realized something.

~Dhm?~

He motioned his head towards the boys, who were conversing to each other.

"Why are they coming with?", Olivia asked.

~Uph!~

"They don't really have any family, it's a long story, but the point is, my family decided to take care of them, they are like family... in a way."

Cari noticed a slight blush, and her eyes darting to Ag.

"Ohhohoh, I see what's going on here..."

They finally arrived on the porch, and once they entered inside, Cari could actually look around as before, thanks to tunnel visioning on healing Olivia, he never really paid attention to the house itself.

From the outside, six spheres of yellowish stone made up the rooms of the house on the wooden boards, which were supported by many wooden supports below, which were stabilized in the ground, with this room as the entrance being the living room, and the other 5 were partially integrated into the larger one in a semicircular fashion, unknown what each room has in store.

The room was currently low-lit with a small contraption hung at the top of the room, it looked like a crystal with a orange color, which was giving off a soft light.

The middle of the room had one large couch, and two smaller ones of them on the left and right of a table, the table itself looked fancy, and the entire ground was covered in a carpet, comfortable, there were small counters made into the walls, some of wood, some made of the very stone, independent ones made of wood near the door, and other things, like a raised bed in the between two of the doors, which was where Olivia was resting when she was injured.

'I wonder if the other houses were like this.'

The other houses were also made of this yellow stone, some were also leveled off the ground, usually the bigger houses, but most of them were made on the ground, they ranged from being made of two spheres to four, there was only one other that had five, and that was the one opposing this house, past the fire pot.

Currently, only the Chief was in the room, sitting on the main couch, waiting for them, once he noticed they have entered, he spoke.

"Thanks for that Cari, it really set everyone to sleep."

~Hmu~

"This is the living room, the three rooms behind me are the bedrooms, all the way to the right is the kitchen, the one on the left is the bathroom.

Now, I need to ask a few questions, if you don't mind?"

~Hm~

"I'll take that as a yes."

Cari nodded, and with that, he was set on the table by Olivia as she sat with her father while the two boys each sat on one of the mini couches.

"Okay, first question, what are you? I know you are a mushroom, but they aren't really... alive, so I would like to know what race you are, we are goblins, which you might've guessed?

Cari shook his head, goblins were one of the races he didn't get any memories about, in fact, he knew of no races besides the so called 'humans', the only fact that En ever gave him about the races was... that there were many races, not what those races exactly are, only hinting to the human race, he truly only existed in nature for the vast majority of existence, which was both incredibly lucky in the sense of chance, and unlucky for Cari.

"Really? Wait.... okay, here's a broad question, how old are you, make 1 'Peep' for young, 2 for Middle-aged, or 3 for old?"

~Peep~

There was silence, waiting for another one, but that one never came, despite Olivia's wish for another as it sounded adorable.

"Hmm, okay, 1 pep for not recently born and 2 peps for recently."

~Peep~ ~Peep~

"Was it this month?"

Olivia and the others were caught off guard by that question, that was jumping the gun a little, someone born in a month and already able to communicate and think... for almost all... no, it was true that for all the races, none were born with an adult mind, ready for the world, only some were born with the ability to faster adapt, Qier thought he already knew the answer, yet, before he could state this fact...

Cari nodded.

They were shell-shocked, but the Chief kept a level-head, and continued.

"Was it around a month ago, or much closer to today? In that order."

~Peep~ ~Peep~

"How close? More than a week or less."

~Peep~ ~Peep~

There was some sweat on his brow.

"Okay, make a pep for each day you've been up and about."

~Peep~ ~Peep~

"..."

They remained in silence, and Cari was confused as to why they were so quiet.

"Is it true that you have been only alive for about two days?"

~Hmp...?~

It sounded like a yes, but Cari turned his head to the side in confusion because of their reaction.

"I guess... you're wondering why were acting like this?"

He nodded.

"Cari... the normal amount of time a... 'newborn' takes to be ready to talk and have a mind ready to learn is around 3 to 4 years for most of the races... just for the most basic of basics, while it takes a lot more to become fully grown."

'Okay, so?'

He dipped his head to one side again to indicate he was questioning it.

"I guess... it isn't that important, but it's still a new discovery, do you have any parents?"

He shook his head.

"...there's way too much unable to be pinned down, and it's already getting late, so I think that ends my questions, for tonight at least, I'll continue in the morning, I'll move on from this subject, we don't need to know your entire history, mysterious as it may be, it seems you yourself don't even know your race, so I guess you're a new race, not unordinary for one to appear from different species crossing into each other, but to occur naturally... okay, time to sleep before my mind gets too woken up from this.

You... wait, do you need sleep?"

Cari shook his head.

"But you slept before, must've been exhaustion from healing, welp, I guess you got to keep yourself occupied, for now, you'll stay in here, as you are too dirty to sleep anywhere else, we'll get you washed in the morning."

Cari looked at himself, and found dirt all over, well, mostly around his stump, the pillow already had dirt on it too.

The Cheif looked at the others.

"Time for you guys to go to sleep, your mom might just kill me with keeping you all up so late, so sweet dreams, and good night Cari, see you in the morning."

He lowered the light in the room with a little knob off to the side of the wall until it met the table, the low tone of orange filtering through the holes on top of the container made the surroundings dark, but still able to be seen, and walked over to the door in the middle, and once inside, he closed the door.

The three looked at each other, then at Cari, and all of them wished him good night, the two boys walked into the room to the right of the parents quietly, not to wake up the three girls that were already asleep, and before Olivia completely walked in, she turned to Cari, and smiled to the new green lamp in the room, and said...

"Tomorrow, I'll help you get washed, and we can have some girl time, one girl to another."

Before Cari could squeal in rage, she walked into the room and closed it.

Perfectly still in indignation, he yelled in his mind...

'I-AM-A 'HE', NOT A 'SHE', GET-THAT-STRAIGHT.'