Secret

After a week, there was no new incident in the village of the Mal'it Clan even, surprisingly, for Ling. However, his parents and sisters were increasingly worried about him.

The formerly adventurous boy became so obidient that it was far from normal. He did not try to keep the siblings from going to school early in the morning by making it difficult to wake him up or throwing tantrums because he did not get to fight for the largest meat during breakfast or making his mother ran around the house to catch him for his bath.

He goes to school actively now, sometimes encouraging his sisters to move faster and goes home on time without joining any after school activity with his friends. During dinner, he would not finish his food, saying he was full and he'll just eat it when he got hungry. They might have been more worried if the left over food was not gone the next morning.

The worst thing was that he sleeps early after dinner, saying he was already tired. Without even doing his usual activities for the day!

What could have happened to Ling in his last incident? Could his head have been hit too much this time that his personality changed?

The family once talked about it when the boy already went to bed. The usually quiet Atap informed her parents to break the bewildered silence, "Umm... Mother, Father, Ling once asked me about the barrier around the village. I told him it was a protection for the village which was an illusion to the forest beasts that makes them avoid the area and that it was also harmful to some of the larger ones."

"Do you think he was afraid of the animals in the forest?" The other sisters speculated.

If that was the case, then it will be difficult for him to hunt for the village even when he grew up.

"What could he have encountered to feel like that? He wasn't injured in any way when he came back. Bobo, were you so stupid that you made him see something so scary?!"

"N-no, darling, of course not." Bobo kept shaking his head to deny this accusation.

"But he said there wasn't any beasts he encountered when he was alone aside from those bears. He even said he wasn't afraid when he woke up since the others were already sleeping. And a mother bear never hurt any children either." Mahina continued her tirade, asking for explanations from her husband.

As he can't think of what to answer his wife, Bobo just shook his head again.

"And Shaman Matnaad is away to talk to the next village regarding this month's trade so Ling doesn't even train outside now. But he was still training alone while waiting for dinner.

"My poor, baby." The wife lamented while still glaring at the man.

What they didn't know was that, that night and the past few nights, Ling sneaked out once the whole family was asleep. With the left over food from his dinner, he went to the forest to meet his friend now still living in the nearby cave. So that the village guards wouldn't see him, he used his 'mist' as an illusion to turn himself invisible until he got out of sight of the border.

There was once a time when he got hungry while running so he kept munching the food he brought until it was almost gone when he met Maga. It was a good thing his mother decided to serve him more food so he had enough now for the both of them.

But it was not like Maga only eats at night. There were still some small animals he could catch inside and outside the cave.

When he safely got out of the village, Ling breathed out a sigh of relief and immediately ran faster. He was worried that Maga might be really hungry by now. However, he skidded to a stop when he caught a glimpse of a spot in the forest illuminated by a sliver of moonlight peeking from the leaves.

The small figure was like a statue, standing still with its face turned up to the light. The silhouette was mesmerizing with the life 'mist' from the surrounding trees sparkling around it. Ling took a step to have a closer view but not wanting to disturb the image. However, his footsteps crunched some fallen leaves.

The figure turned its face because of the sound. When the face was revealed by the position, Ling realized it was Rin. Smiling wider, he approached the figure, "Rin, what are you doing here? I thought you were a ghost! Come with me. I'll show you a secret."

After his monologue, he grabbed to hold hands with the other child and ran as fast as before. Despite his surprise, Rin was able to catch up with Ling, used to this abrupt move by the other.

Once the cave was in view, Ling slowed down and whispered to Rin, "I'm going to introduce you to someone but don't tell anybody, ok?"

Without waiting for an answer, Ling pulled Rin to the cave opening and called out.