Mal'it Clan

It was more than a year since the birth of the village chief's son. The villagers were still doing their usual routine and responsibilities. The sunrise was showing that the village was bustling with activity despite the hot weather.

These people were the Mal'it Clan and they have been living in this small part of the island for hundreds of years. The village did not have a name and was only known by the other villages as the Mal'it Clan's village. It was in one of the remote islands too far from the central islands, near the only volcano which was surrounded by a dense forest.

The volcano was an active one, making most of the elders nervous, but it hasn't erupted since the last few hundred years. Consequently, the volcano was not named either.

Its last eruption was the leading reason why some of the clan members departed and looked for other lands to live on. Nowadays, it only gave out smoke and small lava flows that doesn't reach the village.

There was also a river flowing from the forest which is the primary source of water for the people in the island. The water streamed down from the highest mountain range and runs through most of the encompassing villages until it reaches the ocean.

As was usual, at dawn in the village, most of the men were preparing their tools for their next hunt while some were already heading to the forest. They hunt protect the village from wild beasts as well as maintain the 'mist' balance in the forest. It was also their primary source of food.

Meanwhile, the women were taking care of their livestock while some were in the fields, farming. Women have more affinity to the 'touch' which made them the best in handling the growing of the village plants and animals, as well as taking care of the children who were always getting scratches from their playing.

Ling, the chief's son who unfortunately ate poop when he was born, was already a year old. He was often taken care of by his eldest sister, Una, since their mother was still recuperating from the child birth the previous year.

This outcome was actually considered satisfactory by most of the villagers since Mahina's still weak body was keeping the village chief from producing another offspring, or else, they will get another sleepless night this year.

Today, however, Ling was in the hands of his twin sisters, while Una was accompanying his other three sisters, Atap, Alim and Mina to go to school. Mina will be starting school this year since she was already three years old while the other two will be entering the next grade.

The school system in the village starts when a child was three to teach him/her the history and activities of the village, as well as the needed reading, writing and counting skills, followed by the basics on how to control the 'mist'. To be taught by the child's parents was not the usual practice since they also have to do their work daily.

At age four or five, they will be entered in a class for harnessing their powers. When they reached 10-years of age, their parents will take them to their work, either the forest or the fields, to use their learned skills in real life responsibilities.

Going back to Ling, he was feeling stuffy today since he was wearing old clothes of his sisters. Most of the girls' type of clothes have frills and laces so you can imagine how Ling will be feeling if he knew he was actually wearing a dress.

The villagers did not have the materials and skills to make these kinds of clothes so they often trade for these items from other villages at least once a year. When they do trades, it takes a week of travel for a caravan just to go to the nearest village. Some of the villages with more goods were farther away, making the trading take months to finish.

But that does not mean the family cannot get a boy's clothes from other neighboring families. Ling's sisters just liked to play around and he was their newest play thing. Poor kid.

However, this was still better than staying with their mother who can't take care of him because she also has to take care of herself.

Definitely not their father who has to work and when he was in charge of looking after the kid, often tosses Ling like a ball, thinking that the kid loves it. The times Ling were about to fall on the ground and hit his head were too much to count.

So that day, the twins brought Ling to their class. It was still early so the students were talking and playing with each other outside their classrooms.

"Hey, what's that?" one of the boys from the neighboring class asked.

The twins rolled their eyes, "Isn't it obvious? It's our baby brother. Nobody has to look after him so we brought him to class."

Their tone made the boy mad so he snatched the bundled baby from the twin holding him.

You can say that Ling got the best personality he can get from his parents. Calm and strong like his father and smart like his mother. When he was snatched by the boy, he didn't cry but the boy felt a wet and sticky feeling in his arms.

The twins laughed at this, "Oh, we forgot to tell you. Ling didn't wear his diapers since he was feeling stuffy this morning."

The boy immediately passed Ling back to the twins. When he looked around, the other students were also staring at him while some were smirking. This made him mad so he turned to the baby again, acting like he will hit him. That was when Ling started to cry. His cry was so loud that the teacher finally noticed them.

When he saw the commotion, he sighed, "You two, clean up your brother first before entering the room."

The twins smirked and took care of the crying baby, knowing they got off safely from this predicament.

Still not quite sure what happened with the kids, the teacher explained the baby's situation to the other children before letting all of them enter their respective classrooms.

"The chief has asked for permission to have his son join his sisters in their class today. He was usually a quiet kid so he will not disturb the lecture." While the students finally entered the rooms, a still standing boy was left behind. The teacher frowned and walked to him to remind him that class will be starting but then a nasty smell coming from the boy reached him first. That made him stop a few inches away from the boy and he sighed, "Kul'it, go wash up too."