Chapter 6 Bonding

Judging by the position of the sun, it was nearing dinnertime when Liam and Emerald finally walked out of the clinic and Liam's mind was already on finding him and Emerald something to eat. Looking around the busy marketplace of Solis, he thought to himself, ' A place like this has to have some place to sleep. I don't have any money, but that doesn't mean there isn't a way to earn some.'

Emerald wasn't able to wait any longer for him to think and interrupted his thought process. "What are you doing just standing there?", as she asked this Liam broke out of his thoughts. "I'm thinking of how I'll secure us a place to sleep tonight. We don't have any money, so we'll need to find ways around that problem. The easiest solution is just to make some money", at his reply her face turned downcast.

"We can't, I tried before and they all refused to hire a kid. It'll be even worse for you, not only are you a kid but you're also a faunus", as she said this Liam's face morphed into a frown.

'What am I going to do, I hadn't even thought about the fact that I'm now a kid. There's also the fact that people dislike my ears, but I can hide that if I find something suitable, like a hat. That still leaves the problem of me being a kid though', after contemplating for a bit he steeled himself for what he was about to do.

Going behind one of the buildings he started to climb using any footholds he could find, with Emerald following closely behind him. From on top of the roof he got a good view of all of the stalls and shops surrounding the market place. Setting his spear down to the side of him, he calmly observed the activity going on below him, including their habits and mannerisms.

Emerald was confused at the way he acted and started to lose patience. "Why are we just standing here doing nothing," she said with the irritation being very obvious in her voice and the way her eye twitched.

'Well at least she starting to be less shy around me, I can't ask for much more than that,' Liam thought as he answered the impatient girl, "You need to have patience, Emerald. When I was out in the woods, patience was key to almost every problem I had. You need a plan before doing anything, if not something can and will go wrong. Right now we are observing how the people act in their day to day life. We need to know the right time to strike and we can get that information by observing them."

She grumbled at the answer, not completely understanding but not complaining about it either. 'Maybe the only reason she is staying is simply because she doesn't want to be alone anymore. I can't blame her for her impatience, she is still a kid after all,' Liam continued his observations as he thought this. He could go two or three days without food, but Emerald was different.

She was a child and needed to eat, though she could hold out for at least today with the fish he gave her. Granted he was a kid as well, but he used to be seventeen. After a few hours of observation he decided he would reward her for her patience by teaching her something.

'If she is going to be traveling with me in the future, then Emerald needs to know how to defend herself. I don't know very much myself, but I'm sure I could beat her in a fight. Because I need to continue observing there isn't much I can teach her right now, but there is something I have been curious about since seeing other people,' with this thought he turned her way.

"Come here for a bit Emerald, there is something I want to try out," Liam called out to her. She was a bit suspicious at this but her curiosity won out, "Did you finally make a plan? I've been waiting for hours, do you know how boring it is doing nothing but sit for that long?!"

"No I have not thought of a plan yet, but there is something I want to try to do. If I am correct about this you will be quite a bit stronger than you are currently. I'm going to need you to sit down in front of me for this work," as he said this Emerald became suspicious.

'What could possibly make me stronger in such a short amount of time. He's probably lying, but what if he isn't. He's been nice to me so far so maybe I should trust him this time, he hasn't given me a reason not to yet anyways,' as she thought this Emerald's curiosity won out and she moved over to sit in front of him, albeit with a bit of nervousness at not knowing what he was going to do.

When she sat down, Liam set his arms on her shoulders. Because he had practice with his aura, he knew roughly what he was looking for. Closing his eyes he let his aura flow gently into Emerald, following the same pathways it did when it was in his body. After concentrating for a while, he found what he was looking for.

'This feeling of warmth and radiance must be Emerald's aura. The problem is how to get it out,' after thinking for a bit, Liam decided to try pushing it out with his own aura. Gently pushing at the aura he felt he tried to push it out. After a while he stopped at Emerald's grunts of pain.

'Whatever aura is, it definitely doesn't like being forced out. I don't want to hurt her, so I won't be trying that again. I need some more knowledge on aura in order to make any further attempt,' as he thought this he subconsciously started to rub her back, trying to ease the pain he caused her.

"I'm sorry about that Emerald, I didn't know it would cause you so much pain. I was trying to see if I could locate your aura , that stuff the doctor talked about earlier and bring it out for you. If I could manage that I know you would be stronger. I don't want to hurt you anymore so I will refrain until I gain more knowledge on the subject," Liam said this in a genuine voice.

Emerald was initially upset and thought that he was going to hurt her but immediately felt bad about thinking that when she saw his face. He looked like a kicked puppy. 'He seems like he genuinely wanted to help me. I am still a bit upset though, he should have informed me if he was going to try something like this on me. Then again I didn't bother asking what he was going to do either so it's not entirely his fault either,' as she thought this she subconsciously gained a small smile on her face when she remembered the look of concern he gained when he realized he had hurt her.

Emerald hadn't had someone who genuinely cared about her since her mother died and she became an orphan, so she had to admit that it was a nice feeling. "I forgive you, just make sure to tell me next time your going to do something your not sure about. Especially when its something concerning me. Now I hear you wanted to know about aura?," as she asked this question, Liam's face slowly grew more relaxed.

He was relieved she wasn't angry at him, she made nice company and he didn't want to go another month with no one to talk to. "Thank you Emerald, I will make sure to inform you when I am going to do something like this in the future. Now you said something about aura, I suppose you know about it?," he noticed a confident smirk adorn her face as he asked this question.

"You mean you don't know anything about it? Everyone in remnant knows about aura, although their knowledge varies based on occupation," she was glad to find something she knew more about than Liam and took this moment to rub it in his face which was irritating to Liam but she didn't care. He was irritating her with his seemingly infinite knowledge this whole time, so what if she got one over on him?

"I don't know much, just the basics. Everyone has aura, it's the energy our soul gives off. Not everyone has it unlocked though, it's mostly huntsman and huntresses who wield the power of aura. I don't know much more than that though, I'm sorry I couldn't be much help," Emerald's look of confidence morphed into a sad frown making Liam feel bad. She changed faces so fast, it was adorable but also telling of how desperate she was to please someone who had helped her.

"Hey it's ok Em, you provided more than enough information. We're friends now so that means we need to look out for each other. I want to find a way to unlock your aura, but I guess that'll have to wait. In the meantime let's continue observing," as Liam said this, Emeralds face morphed into a smile again as she nodded her head. Though it soon turned into one of surprise as a thought crossed her mind. 'Wait, did he just call me Em?,' she shook these thoughts from her mind, a small blush visible on her face as she tried to observe the market along with Liam. They kept observing well into the night.