Chapter 7.

After the incident, Mirta was constantly under the watch of hawk-like vision of her Mother. Whenever Amelia would go out, she would check if the doors were locked, windows shut, even though Mirta was certain that she wouldn't be able to climb the just yet, and her baby girl was sleeping for sure.

Seeing this, Mirta decided to give up at hiding her crawling and walking abilities to give her parents a peace of mind. It appears that they had already partially guessed it but weren't sure and that was giving them anxiety.

It definitely wasn't because Mirta just wanted to walk!

Her parents accepted her achievements with happy cheers and smiles, without even a trace of surprise. Mirta felt a bit disappointed at the lack of reaction; however, when Afald practically fell on his butt from shock, she became content and happy.

Afald would often come over to play with her. The girl sometimes wondered if he had no other friends to play with since he was here so frequently, but couldn't ask. Speaking was still really tough.

Nevertheless, she was always expectant of his next visit! He would constantly bring something new to play with or come up with new games for her. When he brings his wooden blocks, they would build a fortress and play with her plushies. If he brought wooden swords that his father, Uncle Vun made, they would mimic a duel. Well, Mirta would often fall down just from the weight of it, but she was working on it and wasn't planning on giving up anytime soon! Sometimes, he would bring edible presents from Aunt Elia. So far, a berry pie was the best!

They would also play catch-catch where Afald would win all the time and Mirta would end up losing and sulking over and over; however, if they were playing hide-and-seek, Mirta was a champion! No matter how much she hated being small, it also came down with its own perks and she could hide practically anywhere!

Just like she was doing it now. The nine-months-old toddler was hiding in the thick bushes and quietly giggling to herself as she watched Afald's perplexed face.

'Ha! If you thought that I had already used up all of the hiding spots, you were wrong!' - she thought to herself smugly and bathed in the waters of pride. - 'I spent a lot of time coming up with my locations!' - the Mana-core responded to her jubilation with a warm wave of energy, causing the girl to grin even wider.

The space under the house, which was built a little above the ground, different thick bushes, numerous buckets, which Mother used for laundry and cleaning, and was keeping them outside to dry even running around the house and hiding behind its corners! She has many places in mind! Besides, since Afald is only five, it's very easy to fool him. All that Mirta had to do is make some noise in one area and quickly and quietly move to another!

She would occasionally poke her head out and see that the boy was still engaged in fruitless searches, giggle and instantly hide again.

Yet, it soon became boring. Her friend was still looking somewhere else, but she began to run out of patience.

'Keep calm... I can't lose! I'm the champion!!' - she endured and resisted the urge to get out. Her Mana felt her mood-swing and attempted to improve it with the ticklish sensation of its flow.

Mirta smiled and suddenly, she came up with a brilliant idea.

Couldn't she try and direct her Mana outside like Father does when he lits up the stow, or like Mother when she summons water?!

She asked her power for cooperation and unexpectedly, it refused. She could feel its opposition to the notion and felt deeply confused.

Why?!

Dander - that was the message she felt from her Core.

No! Mother and Father do that and everything's fine!

...

The Mana continued to resist Mirta's plea; however, gradually, it succumbed to the desire of its host.

The usually warm flow suddenly changed and became cool and light and soon exited her palms as a small vortex of wind.

Fascinated, the toddler stared at her little hands with a little magic in them and forgot how to breathe. She instantly clasped her plans shut as if she was keeping a small butterfly there and felt the ticklish movements of the wind.

She giggled and laughed joyfully and gave out her location to the exasperated boy. As soon as he managed to pinpoint her, he marched there with an annoyed look in his jade orbs.

"I found you!" - He exclaimed with triumph in his voice. Mirta turned to face him with shocked and unpleased expression, finally realising that she lost due to her good mood.

The curious boy noticed that she was hiding something in her hands and came closer. - "What's that?" - He tilted his head innocently.

"Magig!" - She happily blurted out and showed him her personal miracle. The wind instantly began to flap their hair covering the eyes.

Afald gaped at the obedient nature in his friend's hold and could help but poke his finger in it. As soon as he touched it, it dissipated and put out the display.

"No..." - Mirta pouted and glared at the indigo-haired individual before her. Being gawked at by the small baby, Afald felt guilt swelling up so he hastily apologised but it didn't have any effect so he changed the subject.

"Do Uncle and Aunt know?"

Mirta shook her head. - "Uo are fust!" - Her eyes lit up.

"Let's go and show them!" - he rubbed her hand and they ran in the direction of the house. Today, both of the parents were home so children we're eager to show off to them.

However, before they reached the entrance, the adrenaline slowly died down and Mirta's brain began to work, analysing the situation.

She hastily halted her steps which made the by before her confused. - "What's wrong? Let's go!"

"No!" - she resisted and pulled out her hand - "I'm scawy. Mom, Dad won't like it..." - the girl felt a small stub of pain coming from her chest and she started to cry. - "No tell! Mirta's normal!"

They couldn't tell them! What if she would be seen as a monster because of her flitting impulse?! What if they will get hurt and become ill from shock? She didn't have even a bit of knowledge about this place, but she felt that it would definitely not be a normal thing for a toddler to execute.

"It's fine!" - After a short pause, the hot measured her with serious eyes. - "Mirta isn't scary! You are pretty and cool!"

"Relvy? hic..." - She looked at him with her red eyes that got swollen from tears.

"Yes! You are cool! You always win in hide-and-seek! Also, I will be there with you! I'm super strong, right? You believe me, correct?"

The girl cheered up, smiled and nodded with the resolution, but her legs gave up and she blacked out.

***

"Aunt, Uncle!" - The distressed voice their guest made the two adults jolt and rush out quickly only to find that Afald was crying, while their pale daughter was laying on the ground with fever.

"What happened?!" - Kelm instantly picked up his girl and Amelia asked the pitiful boy about the situation.

"We were playing and.. and.. hic - and s-she made wind appear from her hands! We ran hime, but she g-got scared that you will hate her and stopped... And then she fell do...down!" - He told the story through sobs and tears.

The parents paled and instantly began to act.

"Kelm! Bring me a bucket and a cloth! No, bring two of them! Quickly!" - Amelia snatched away Mirta from her husband's arms and rushed inside the house.

"Afald, go home! Don't tell anyone about what you saw!" - Kelm ran to fulfil the directions and sent the boy away. He will only bring more chaos into the situation otherwise.

"Ok..." - even though the boy was bewildered by such a hurry, he obeyed and left, storing to keep this a secret.

Amelia strode into the bedroom, placed her baby on the bed and unclothed her. then, she picked up some herbs that she grabbed in the kitchen and began to squeeze the juice out of them into Mirta's half-opened mouth. Kelm flew in with two buckets and Amelia quickly filled them with water.

"Hit up the water in the smaller one!"

"Yes!"

While he was doing that, the mother turned the water very cold with her secondary element - Wedyu(wind) and placed her child there. The fever instantly began to drop a little, but the danger wasn't nullified yet.

"Are you done?" - She asked her beloved a bit more calmly as the mortal danger have had already passed by.

"Here." - Kelm gave a small bucket to his wife. He had already added necessary herbs and now they were giving off a fragrant aroma. Amelia poured the hot water into the jacket with Mirta and saw that slowly, her girl's facial colour was returning to normal and she stopped trembling.

"His did she even do that...?" - the man sat down heavily on the bed and let out a sigh that contained all of his relief.

"She... she is a bright girl." - Anelia squeezed out some words, choking on tears of joy. They saved their sun. - "She probably saw as doing that and repeated..."

Kelm shook his head, hugged his woman and patted her back.

"Is that even possible to mimic?" - he asked with doubt. - "We both know how hard it is to learn Mana-manipulation. Even feeling it was difficult!"

"As you can see, it was possible for her." - Amelia leaned on his chest and sighed - "We should have a talk with her sooner than we expected. If this continues, she will be taken away by them."

"Yeah"

They noticed that their extraordinary girl fell asleep, wiped her dry, clothed warmly and put her in the cuddle.

"We will talk when she wakes up."

Little did they know that just before their girl fell asleep, she overheard their conversation and began to wonder - who were the mysterious 'They' and what happened to her?

When she got some rest, she appeared in her Mind-space and observed her Mana-core. It dimmed a lot and the silverish colour from the inside was almost gone.

"So the silver colour has something to do with the wind... Does that mean that red is fire?" - She approached the sphere of Mana and was gently pushed back by it. - "I'm sorry, I didn't listen... I won't do that again!" - She spent some time pacifying the Core and only when it felt more or less fine, did she wake up.