Who Are You Talking To?

Upon entering the room, what greeted the party was a semicircular room. The wall that's facing the outside is designed in an outwards curve. Then, there's the table built in a semicircular fashion following the wall. Behind the table sat 7 people. Their age range from middle aged to the elderly. None can be said to be below 45 years old at least. However, there seems to be empty seats still. Assuming that these 7 people are Council of 7, the empty seats are then presumably for use in other occasions.

Facing this arrangement, one would feel like a supplicant pleading his/her case before the council. However, this doesn't apply to Zuman. After all, back then, when presenting his experiment failure reports towards the GHC (Government High Command) bureaucracy he had to face similar situations. After repeatedly doing the same thing, one would tend to develop a certain amount of immunity towards the feelings one is supposed to feel in such situations. Or to put it bluntly, he just developed a thicker skin over time.

-

Back to the present.

-

The elders silently watch as the party of Zuman, Garim and Adika enters. Adika silently withdraws beside the door and stands there at attention.

Zuman and Garim walks to the front and stands at the center of the room, facing the elders, Garim visibly nervous, whereas Zuman radiates calmness and confidence.

The man sitting in the center stands up and begins greeting them.

"We bid you welcome stranger. I am the Village Chief, Malim. These are my fellow elders in the Council of 7. Forgive us the formality, as we're usually a lot more casual in welcoming strangers, but this bringing back the boy beside you is an incident that requires a lot more care and attention."

"Thank you for the welcome, Chief Malim. I am Zuman. As for the formality, please be at ease, for I pay it no mind. I have conversed with the boy Garim the past few days and I do understand you and your village's concern regarding his return. However, I dare brought him here for the simple reason that he is cured of what you call the 'Harms'. To be more specific, I have cured him of it."

This last statement couldn't have hit the council and Adika harder than if a lightning bolt were to strike right outside the window right now.

The Council, visibly agitated, started arguing with each other.

"Impossible! Such a thing has never happened!"

"But the boy looks healthy?"

"True. And it has been more than 15 sunshines now. It is impossible to survive more than 8 sunshine once you're infected with the 'Harms'!"

"I say this is a trick!"

"But for what purpose?"

The elders argues among each other, so agitated they are that they forgot the existence of Zuman and Garim.

"Silence my friends!"

Chief Malim asked of the elders.

"Mr. Zuman. If you'll forgive our suspicions, we will need to call our Medicine Elders and have them verify this. We hope you are able to wait a moment. Adika, please arrange this."

"As you order Chief."

Adika acknowledged before slipping out.

"Well then, while we wait for the Medicine Elders, we will assume you are speaking the truth until proven otherwise since there is nothing to benefit you from doing this."

"Oh but there is. I cured the boy because I thought it was an excellent opportunity to rejoin the world. To tell the truth, I have been a hermit for more than 20 seasons now."

"IMPOSSIBLE! You are too young to be a hermit for so long!"

One of the elder at the side, a bald elder with narrow eyes and a scar on his cheek thundered in disbelief.

"Forgive me for correcting you, Elder, but I am a lot older than how I look. I can only attribute my young look to my luck of being well preserved."

"Be that as it may, it is...….. Oh, welcome Elder Ramiz! To what do we owe you the honor?"

While the elder was talking, he realized that another man has opened the door before entering the room. This man seems to be a kindly looking elder with white hair. He was followed by a young woman who seems to be on the cusp of adulthood.

-

"Who is this Elder, Garim?"

Zuman whispered to Garim beside him, however, the boy was staring at Elder Ramiz with wide eyes and open mouth.

"Forgive me Lord for the inattention, but this is Elder Ramiz. He is our current Spirit Elder!"

Garim whispered back excitedly. He continued explaining.

"As I heard brother Adika told you before, Elder Ramiz keeps himself aloof from normal day to day occurrences, and this is no exaggeration. The fact that he is here now signifies some degree of importance to your visit."

-

"Elder Ramiz, please, take a chair and make yourself comfortable."

Chief Malim invited the elder and gestured towards a free chair. Elder Ramiz only nodded before sitting down.

"I am here to witness these proceedings."

This was all he mentioned before keeping quiet again.

While the council was puzzled over this, the young woman that entered with him looked at Zuman for a long time before smirking. Then the young woman walked towards Zuman before saying this.

"You. You've lived for quite a long time haven't you? I reckon definitely more than 100 seasons."

Zuman could only look at the girl (compared to how old he is, that is how he view this woman).

"You are correct, but how do you know this?"

Unbeknownst to him, Elder Ramiz has been looking at him with interest from the moment the young lady started walking towards him. And the moment Zuman answered her, the discussions among the other elders stopped as they gaped at him.

"I just know. You don't need to know how, just suffice to say that I know."

The girl answered with a sly smile.

"Intriguing. Elder Ramiz. May I inquire who this young lady is? She is quite perceptive for her age."

Zuman turned towards Elder Ramiz before asking him. However he only smiled mysteriously.

"Ummm. Mr. Zuman. If you don't mind us asking this, to which young lady you are referring to?"

Chief Malim asked him.

"Eh? The young lady standing right here? Who else do you think I'm referring to?"

At this moment, Zuman realized that behind him, Adika has returned along with 2 men and 3 women. All of them seem to be at least above 30 years of age, and they were all staring at him in shock.

At this moment, another of the Elder reacted.

"Could it be? Elder Ramiz, is he talking with your Spirit Guide?"

"What? What are you talking about, Elder Derim?"

"I think it's better for Elder Ramiz himself to explain this."

All eyes turned towards Elder Ramiz.

Holding his mirth and glee in, Elder Ramiz addressed the crowd.

"Elder Derim is correct. Just now, this stranger, Mr. Zuman, was talking with my Spirit Guide. And they were talking about his age. It seems that Mr. Zuman here is actually quite older than all of us here."

"What? How could that be? He looks barely older than my daughter?"

One of the elders remarked.

"Older than all of us here? How is that possible? And just how much older is he?"

Another elder remarked.

"Ahahaha. Let's just keep my exact age a secret for now. But suffice to say that I am definitely more than 100 seasons old."

Zuman just chuckled while lobbing this bombshell towards the dumbstruck crowd.

"By the way, I assume the people here are the Medicine Elders?"

"Yes. We are."

The elders unconsciously answered in a respectful tone.

"Can I trouble you to verify this boy's condition?"

Zuman gently nudged Garim's shoulder.

"!!!!"

"Isn't this the child that was exiled quite some time ago?"

"Yes! How is he still alive and well?"

"Wait, wasn't he exiled for…. Being bitten by that man who was afflicted by the 'Harms'?"

"You're right! How is he not afflicted?"

The Medicine Elders argued among each other.

"That's because I cured him."

"Yes Elders, this is what Mr. Zuman told us. Your presence is required here because we need you to verify this claim."

The Medicine Elders could only stare at Zuman in awe.

"Alright then. The boy seems sane and in control of his awareness."

One of the Medicine Elders remarked.

"True. Then let's proceed. Boy, come here."

One of the female Medicine Elder gestured for Garim to go towards them.

-

While they were checking Garim, the young lady in question earlier spoke to Zuman again.

"It is quite fascinating to talk with another person aside from that boy Ramiz."

"So. Who are you exactly? A spirit? It's just that you are actually the first spirit I've met in all my long life."

"I am actually the 10th Spirit Elder for this village."

"You look so young though?"

"This is just how I look like in my younger days. When I passed away, I was an old crone right enough. Tee hee."

She said to him while sticking her tongue out towards him.

Zuman just looked at her, speechless at her attempt to act cute.

(You're an old lady and you're trying to act cute after death. The hell is this. Your old life was restricted that much?)