Kapitel 6: Decision

"Uuhh..."

Bobo was confused with the turn of the conversation, feeling stupid to be on the spot as he didn't understand what the young man meant with what he said.

'What were they talking about? Who has a daughter? No, my daughter, what?' Might be what he was thinking but since he usually doesn't think, maybe not.

Upon noticing that Bobo didn't continue speaking, the old shaman turned to his grandson. He was feeling slightly mortified because of what his grandson said could imply so he scolded him before anybody else spoke, "What do you think you're saying? Is that how your parents raised you?"

The old shaman turned to Bobo next and didn't let his grandson reply, "Bobo, forgive my grandson. As I'm sure you know by now, your daughter was the one who met my grandson outside the village and told me of our visitors."

"Umm.. Elder, I didn't know that." That made both the old and young man confused.

Bobo scatched his head and explained further, "When I returned from the hunt, I heard the villagers talking about some visitors. When I asked them, they said you were also looking for me but I didn't hear anything yet about it so I just ran as fast as I could here."

That made the people present speechless.

After a few seconds, the old man got his bearings, "I see. As I said, my grandson visited me and he met your daughter when he was looking for the village. She left an impression of how powerful she could be on my grandson's mind and he was offering to take your daughter to the city since it has more opportunities to be an apprentice.

"Alon is only eighteen so he was not yet ready to take on an apprentice. But he can help her find a good teacher there. Even my own son. What do you think?"

Feeling that his explanation may still be too much, the old man added, "You can go back to your home first and talk to your family about the possible opportunities for Una in the city."

Finally understanding, Bobo sighed, "Yes, elder, I will leave now." And he exited the room.

The people left in the room still felt speechless with what transpired in the last few minutes.

___

Back at the chief's house, the chief entered in time for dinner. The table was set and Mahina, his wife, was about to look outside to check if her husband was already near their home.

"Welcome home, husband. You look conflicted. Is there a problem with the hunt? Una was waiting for you as she has a message from Shaman Matnaad." After talking non-stop without letting her husband speak in between, Mahina turned to see her daughter walking to them, "Oh, here's Una."

When she reached the two, Una started talking, "Father, there were visitors in the village and Shaman Matnaad wants you to join them in his house."

With the few minutes since he entered his house, Bobo wasn't able to say that he already came from the elder's house. He was now confused on how to explain everything and tell them of the elder's news.

Used to this, the mother and daughter waited for the man to gather his thoughts, "Uhh.. I already went to the elder's house since I heard about the visitors when we got back from the hunt."

The two listening were not surprised and continued listening, "So the elder has told me something about Una. Let's talk about it after dinner. I'm hungry."

With that end statement, Bobo felt relieved and proceeded to walk to the dining table. Also used to this, the mother and daughter followed.

After the family had their dinner, the three talking a while ago went to the couple's bedroom to continue their discussion. The other siblings should be readying to sleep at that time with the twins supervising. However, we're talking about the twins here, of course they want to hear what got the three eldest in the family to confine themselves in the other room.

The five huddled themselves outside the door, trying to hear anything from the other side. Ling, meanwhile, was ignored again. Poor child. Just because he didn't know what was happening didn't mean they should exclude him.

Feeling left out again, he sat up from his should be, sleeping position and decided it was only Una that was on his side. However, he knew that his parents were confining his sister so he felt that he should cry out to get back his sister's attention. Decided, he scrunched up his face and bawled for the injustice he was suffering.

The loud crying made all the family members surprised. The three inside the main bedroom were confused since all the other children should already be asleep.

Una, speculating what was happening now, excused herself from her parents and opened the door. She saw five children scrambling to return to their rightful places with Ling still crying.

When he saw his sister, Ling stopped but still hiccuped, his eyes expressing his complaints. Then, he raised his hands to be carried and Una gave in to the child's silent request, temporarily erasing from her mind the talk she had with her parents.

When the next day came, the family resumed their usual activities. The five younger sisters went to school earlier while Una stayed later to help her mother.

With only the mother and daughter left in the house, though, let's not forget about Ling, Mahina opened up the conversation last night.

"Una, about that offer from the shaman yesterday, maybe you don't want to accept it because you're concerned of us who you'll leave behind, especially me. But I want you to have the best life and you can still help the family even when you're far away. If the volcano showed signs of eruption, our family will have a place with you in the city."

She inhaled softly, as if saying a difficult decision, "I decided to talk to Old Lady Burha and accept her offer to use her power to stop me from getting pregnant again. That should help with my usual condition."

Mahina sighed in relief after speaking her case. She felt that this should help encourage her daughter to stop worrying about the family.

"Thanks, mother. I'll take that into consideration."

After a while, Una left with Ling to go to her class.

While walking, she kept thinking, 'Were they really thinking of me? Why haven't they even asked what I want?'

Ling felt his sister's troubles. He was, maybe, the only one who didn't want Una to leave.

"Na-na!" "Hey!"

The two voices was said at the same time, with the louder one cutting out the sound of the other which made the girl turn behind her.

The purple-clad youth from yesterday was waving his hand to her, smiling while looking at the window from the carriage. To show respect, Una stopped walking and waited for the man to get out of the vehicle and saunter to her position.

"Are you going to class? With the kid?" He gestured his hand to the frowning bundle, "Want me to stay with the child until after your class? I will also be in your age's class to observe."

Una looked at Ling. The boy seemed to be glaring at the young man. Even though Ling wants to stay with his sister, he understands that he could be a bother to her studies so he didn't cling to Una. Since the kid didn't look too averse to the suggestion, she passed Ling to Alon.

Learning from the previous experience, Alon accepted the kid from her but held him away from him, carrying the baby by his armpits. Una stared at him, shaking her head in understanding then left them to go to school.

The two stared at each other for a while until the older one spoke first, "Ok, let's talk man-to-man. I know you may think I'm stealing your sister but it's for her own good. Don't you want your sister to be stronger and then be able to be praised by many?"

Since Ling did want what was best for his sister, he compromised and stopped glaring at the other man. The man sighed in relief, held the baby properly and started to walk to the school.

When Una met with them again, she noticed the change in the two. Ling was tired at that time so when he leaned on his sister's shoulders, he eventually fell asleep.

Una can feel that the usual intense 'mist' surrounding the boy since yesterday was now gone. She stared at Alon, expressing on her face that she was surprised. The young man just smiled.

___

A few days after, the visitors were readying to depart. Una was also packing her things, with the chaos of her family members managing to help her.

When almost the whole village gathered outside the village to send them off, our boy became flustered while in his father's arms, wanting to change his mind and stop his sister from leaving.

Alon also noticed this and looked in the child's eyes, "Be a man."

Those near who heard him gaped, 'Seriously?'

Getting angry at this guy, Ling was about to cry when Una touched his forehead. Alon, thinking that the girl will change her mind, stepped near her and noticed that the 'mist' surrounding the boy receded until the baby closed his eyes and fell asleep.

The people from the city, especially Alon, were shocked with this display of power. Una turned her back from her family and faced Alon, "Let's go."

The entourage left, with our boy, Ling, still sleeping peacefully.