Chapter 9: Boring

The next day, the chief's family except for the chief went to the village school. The sisters can take care of themselves by now so they separated from the mother and brother. Skipping while following his mother, he still didn't want to be treated like a baby so he was not being carried, Ling was excited for this new adventure.

Since she had been a student here before, Mahina managed to find the room for the three-year-old boys and what will be Ling's class.

Most of the children around were still clinging to their parents or those who accompanied them here, distressed of the new environment. Meanwhile, Ling said goodbye to his mother and went inside the room to find his seat.

A few days before, Ling's sisters were telling him what to expect in school. They said they do a lot of things here and met a lot of people. He also saw his sisters playing with their classmates who became their friends, leaving Ling to play by himself. Now, he got to meet new playmates too.

He was brimming with excitement from these stories of his sisters. Still smiling, he found his seat in the middle row near the windows. A kid with tied, long hair was already sitting in the desk beside his so our boy smiled wider.

"Hi, brother! I'm Ling! I'll be your seatmate. What's your name?" Ling practiced this introduction in his mind to show a great first impression.

Hearing this introduction, the kid turned to face Ling and a fair, beautiful countenance illuminated by the light from the windows was displayed. Ling have never seen a face like this before but, aside from the emotionless hazel eyes, he can't think of anyone that can compare.

Suddenly, a frown marred that face but it didn't diminish it's beauty, "You don't have to talk to me just because we're seatmates."

Even his voice was beautiful, soft but not too feminine. However, Ling understood the meaning of that statement after the face turned to the window again. He was left without anything to say.

The other boys who already entered were also talking to each other, making the room noisy, until a scary looking, middle-aged man followed after them. Due to this, most kids quieted but Ling was still feeling stunned, standing beside his seat.

"Is there any problem with the seating arrangement, you, that boy still standing?"

Becoming aware of his now quiet surroundings, Ling turned to where the voice came from and saw a scary man staring at him. The man raised his eyebrow when Ling still didn't move, "Sit."

Jumping from that command, he sat beside the long-haired kid. Seeing his order being followed, the teacher pivoted and wrote on the board in front while he introduced himself, "I will he your teacher this year, Rogu, and we will start by discussing the basics of the 'mist'.

"All living things have an energy that they exude at given times. We call this the 'mist' which forms the 'haze' in the air or atmosphere that you may have heard or seen before.

"The 'mist' were said to be from the emotions we express, therefore, death or suffering usually gives out more mist in the atmosphere. The 'mist' can affect us, living beings, depending on what emotion the 'mist' came from. Like a death 'mist' can make a person suffer and a life 'mist' can make a.person energized. Once you grow up, we will also teach you how to shield yourself from these 'mists'.

"With the many years that living beings have lived in this world, the amount of 'haze' from both good and bad emotions were too much. The way people were fighting this is producing more life and becoming stronger to control the 'mist'.

"What you will learn once you reached four years of age is how to control the mist you exude as well as determine your affinity, whether you can control the mist externally or internally. When you turned 10, you can further practice these skills.

"Because most of the women were emotional beings, they were more affected by the 'haze' around us, thereby, making them unable to control or absorb too much of it. What they can do is utilize the 'mist' inside a living being. That was why, in our village, women were in charge of healing, farming and livestock.

"On the other hand, the men were in charge of hunting, which includes killing to control the excreted 'mist' by the dying animal. We were also responsible for protecting and shielding the village from the harmful 'haze'."

The lecture goes on and on with the children listening quietly, afraid to make any noise that could anger the scary man. One would expect that children as young as this will have short attention span but the school already managed to think of a teaching method to avoid this.

Having a 'scary' teacher can get the attention of the little ones and the strength of the male can control the wandering minds of them.

After the class, Ling was slumped on his desk, his seatmate and most of his classmates had already left and he was waiting for his sisters.

When the sisters saw him in the room, they laughed, making Ling angrier at them. He pouted then turned his head from them, not speaking, 'What was the fun in school?'

Still laughing, Dawa approached their brother with the other girls behind her, "Hey, you'll still find friends to play with once you got used to it and the exercises with the 'mist' were really more enjoyable."

Seeing that the boy was still averting his face, Talto continued, "You have to go out now and find friends faster or you'll be left behind. We have other school activities so we can't wait and be with you every time. And we still actually have to stay at school so you have to go home by yourself today."

With that another depressing statement, a screeching noise broke the silence in the room. Still feeling dejected, Ling didn't acknowledge his sisters again and stomped out of the room. The girls' laughter soon followed him once he was outside, causing him to slump again.