章 34: Returned
"L-Li-Liiiiing!"
The sobbing of the man startled the passersby at the dock on Dag'at Port. They saw a big man looking pitiful with a sunken face and unkempt hair, kneeling on the ground while hugging a small boy.
"I-I thought I wouldn't see you ever again! The elders won't let me survey all the boats but I walked around the whole town to look for you! I'm glad you're here now."
"Mmm-mm."
"Are you sure you're okay? You didn't get scared? Nobody hurt you?"
"Mmm-mm."
At the side of this scene, Shaman Matnaad was thanking Mayari and Tala for caring for and returning their clan's child safely.
"We're also sorry for the inconvinience. I'm glad it was you kind people who found our Ling."
Tala was looking at the father and son reunion with a wistful smile on her face so it was Mayari who replied to the old man. "No need to be so grateful, elder. Ling had been a good boy so it wasn't a problem. I even hoped we could spend more time with him."
Shaman Matnaad only smiled after. They had already extended their usual trading time to look for Ling. The old man was also worried about the news from the village.
Since they were ready to depart, the Mal'it Clan said their goodbyes to the two from the Sikat Troupe. Ling was still waving at them from the ship deck until the boat was only a dot from the dock.
"I'll miss him."
Mayari looked at the woman beside him. He only interacted with the boy for a short time but he understood the sentiment. "Me too. Come on. We have to go back to our family too."
"But I still don't understand why you have to tell them that we saw Ling was lost so we took him in. I don't know why he boarded our boat when it doesn't look the same as theirs so maybe they have an explanation."
Mayari laughed, "That was Ling's fault. You said he 'sensed' that the boat was familiar so he boarded it. That was because he was exposed unshielded to your 'mist' during the performance. After that, he was maybe tired so he trusted his senses while wandering at the dock.
"But we don't have to worry about this now since the kid was maintaining his shield throughout our travel back, so I didn't say anything about it. I think he was undecided about something but was now determined." Mayari finished explaining while looking forward with a smile on his face.
___
Fortunately, no other incidents happened to our main character on their return. All the trading group members of the Mal'it Clan arrived at their village after almost three months of travel and trade.
As expected, Bobo got an earful from his wife, Mahina while his son got care and praises for being brave in the face of his father's incompetencies. This statement came from Mahina.
Through all these occurrences during the day, Ling was able to act like nothing was on his mind. However, when night came, he returned back to his usual nightly activities of getting food from their storage, shrouding himself with his 'mist' and running out of the village to go to the cave where his friends were waiting.
"Maga! Rin! I'm back!" Ling shouted as he entered the cave. The cave was far from the village so he was not afraid to shout. Since he did not sense any bigger creatures' presence near the entrance, he could only call out to them.
As usual, the cave entrance was dark but Ling brought out a flint to produce a fire then hastily surrounded the spark with his 'mist' so that it will light up. When he looked around the lit up space, he noticed that his friends were not inside.
However, he suddenly heard a series of footsteps getting louder and louder coming from a dark pathway. He remembered that it was where he exited with Maga when they met at the place with the lava falls.
Ling was smiling as he saw a silhouette from the pathway. But his smile turned into shock when the realized he was staring at a creature nearly his size. 'Wasn't my friend smaller than me before? Around the height of my waist? Who is this creature?'
Unfortunately, before he could voice out these questions, the creature jumped to pounce on him. Ling cushioned his fall by focusing his 'mist' to his back before he fell to the ground with the heavy weight on top of him.
"Maga?!" Due to their current position, Ling noticed that the tongue licking his face was attached to the head of his dragon friend.
"Wait! Get off me! You've gotten really really heavy." But the dragon still continued his show of affection.
A laughter came from somewhere near the back of Maga so Ling tried to turn his face to look behind the now big dragon. He was shocked further when he saw Rin laughing hysterically. The child was sitting on the ground with one hand holding his stomach and the other brushing away the tears in the corner of his eyes. "You're laughing? At me?"
The unsure statement didn't stop Rin's laughter but he tried to speak between snorts. "I'm sorry. *pfft* You just look like you've taken a dip at the river but.. *snort* with your head first."
"Maga! I said, Maga, stop that right now." Ling tried to sound stern but the laughter near him was contagious.
When the three of them settled down, Rin explained what happened to Maga. The dragon grew bigger everytime he took a dip in the lava below. They were not able to measure the rate of his growth but it seemed like it was slowing down a little.
This made Ling curious so, since the night was still early, they decided to go down the cave. As they were walking, Ling also told his adventures outside the village. The construction of the boats from the carriages. The big fishes in the river. The homeless in Tub'ig village. The illusions the theater group could do in their performance.
However, it was only when he saw Maga swim in the lava pool did Ling opened up about the stories of dragons he had heard. Ling recounted everything in that cave while his two friends were listening intently.
"Is that why the sporadic activity of the volcano was getting more frequent? We even experienced some earthquakes these past few weeks."
The news from Rin further strengthened Ling's resolve. Consequently, the volcano's activity was also the reason why Shaman Matnaad insisted on the trading group to return to the village immediately after they found Ling.
"I have decided."
As if to support his claim, small rocks fell down from the cave ceiling and a rumbling sound was heard from the entrance they came from.
クリエイターの想い 
AzureOrchid92
AzureOrchid92 Posted on 2018-09-11, 10:30 GMT +8
Thanks for reading! I would appreciate any feedback!
☆*:. o(≧▽≦)o .:*☆
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