Chương 7: Bath

Devine had never heard those words escape from her brother's lips. It seemed almost impossible for it to ever occur.

"What?!, so it's bad now to show gratitude?" Trevor asked, stunned by the bewildered stare from his sister.

"Well, coming from you, those words sound odd" she replied with a chuckle.

"What do you mean, I always try to show my gratitude "

"Yeah you do, in other ways rather than through your mouth"

"Uh--" He was speechless and had nothing more to say.

The crispy and juicy taste from the fruit flushed their taste buds with an otherworldly warmth, although small, the fruit gave a false sense of fill as they finished it.

Devine of course, with her caring nature, did not forget to offer one to their ailing mother.

She also aided her in eating it as she could barely do so on her own, it was similar to watching a mother feed a baby. Although this time the baby appeared to be far more older than the mother.

"Well that was fast" Devine said, with a yawn. Apparently tired from all the days stress, after she was done helping out their mother.

"I believe it's time we went off to bed" Trevor added.

"Yeah"

Devine stood up first then looked towards Garmond's little figure, "Now, where are you going to sleep " She said, now recalling that they had one extra person under their roof.

"Me?!" Garmond asked, returning back to reality. He was so lost in his thoughts and had quickly forgotten that he had people with him.

Devine pondered for a while, they were apparently three rooms in the whole building, the first, served as both the parlor and dinning. Having a standard dinning, wasn't a luxury they could afford.

The other room off to the side served as the kitchen and the store room as well, where they kept all the food stuff that usually took months to buy.

They stopped buying flavors and seasoning, they didn't see the need to if there was no food to use it on. As time went on that got accustomed to eating without any form of flavor.

The other two rooms one belonged to their sick mother and the other was offered up to Devine as Trevor decided himself that he would be sleeping bin the parlor. With all this in mind, there was practically no other place she could place Garmond as the whole rooms were cramped up already.

There was barely any space with the three of them seated in the parlor.

"Okay, I think you'll be staying with me" Devine said, despite the fact that her room was small, it was still visible that Garmond happened to be relatively small as well, so he could fit in without any issues.

Trevor jolted slightly at his sisters words, sure Garmond was a little boy and looked innocent, but that still didn't hide the fact that he was male at the end of the day.

"You...you . can't sleep with him.. in your room? How could you even think of that..., I don't mind him staying with me instead, there's enough space for two here" He was trying to talk his sister out of her crazily insane idea, stuttering at the thought of possible events occurring.

If only he knew that Garmond wasn't the child he thought him to be then maybe things would've been a lot more different than it already was.

Garmond face squeezed as he tried to hold the laughter. His new looks were really deceiving. Being in the body of a 16 year old with the mind of a seasoned warrior and a married man.

Seeing the way her brother was acting made her steel her resolve all the more, she wasn't going to let him get away with his actions from earlier.

"Hmph, you don't get to decide that as well, I've said all I have to say, he'll be staying with me and that's the final decision " Devine said, standing up straight with her chest puffed out in confidence.

Trevor didn't know whether to laugh or cry, he could only give a wry smile at her statement. He never thought that a day would come when he'd fall under the mercy of his little sister.

He looked towards Garmond with a threatening glare and Garmond threw back an innocent smile.

'Since things are playing out in like this, I might as well join in the fun' he thought to himself, soon enjoying the comfort of this new vessel he possessed and the wonderful siblings nature had placed him with.

"That little brat tricked me, I shouldn't have taken that fruit off his hands " He cursed at himself, seething. He felt stupid for falling for what he thought to be a trick.

Devine led Garmond into her small little room, it was here that Garmond could really see how much Trevor loved his little sister.

Her room alone stood in perfect contrast to what he had seen on the outside, although small, it's beauty couldn't be denied.

The room was beautifully adorned and painted with a light pink color, the comfy bed lay in the center of the small room and the candle atop the stand smoldered brightly lightning up the room with a bright golden colour.

A white desk placed right next to the bed, and opposite the large bed was a large shelf, showing how much she herself loved books. Trevor of course played his own part by getting her just enough book than she could ever ask for.

Although looking at them most of them looked to be very old, yet still arranged neatly in row. The sides were folded slightly showing how many times she'd read through them.

Garmond looked at books then asked in calm voice, "Trevor got these for you right?"

"How'd you know that?" She questioned back, shocked that he knew of such.

"Well, it's clear from the way both you act that you really love each other, despite how many times you quarell "

"Yeah, we do a lot, it's what happens when you have no else" She replied sadness and sorrow clearly visible in her pale blue eyes.

"Oh I see " Garmond replied in understanding, he knew pushing further might actually make her remember things she didn't want to, so he decided it was best not to.

"My mom fell sick right after the new Emperor took seat, ever since that day our life took a drastic turn for the worse" She continued without Garmond asking, as though she just wanted to tell of all her pains.

Garmond didn't see the need to stop her, he clearly understood the feeling of needing someone to talk to, someone it just felt right to tell everything to.

'I once had someone like that' he thought remembering Theresa's clear smile, buh the memory was quickly flushed away by another which pained him greatly.

"This new Emperor do you know anything, about him, his name anything at all" Garmond said, urgency and eagerness tinged in his voice.

Devine glanced at him for a second before she continued, "I don't know much about him, all I know is that, he appeared right after the death of the sword sovereign, Lord Garmond."

Hearing his own name really hit hard, probably all these bad things wouldn't have happened if he were there.

An uncontrollable wave of emotions surged within him as he clenched his fist tightly. He knew that there was nothing he could do, at least for the time being.

"How many years back was that?" He asked again, he wanted to make sure to use the opportunity to get as much information as he could from the young girl.

"It should've been about 50 years back"

"50 years?!" Now that was shocking even to him.

He had been gone for fifty years! That clearly explained why things were a lot more different than he could remember.

"Mom always talked about lord Garmond so much, how good and kind he was, how he always wanted to fight for the peace of his people" She paused her voice taking a drastic change from it's soothing sounds to a sound shrouded in darkness and mystery.

"Until the day he fell in battle, his corpse disappeared never to be found again, till this day. Only rumors were heard, that the Supreme Emperor, as we call him, was with it, in fear that he would one day return"

It sounded more like a fairy tale than anything, even for Garmond who was listening keenly and even witnessed it himself.

'Talk about a bed time story' he thought to himself, finding solace within himself.

"This your mother, does she by chance know lord Garmond in person?" Garmond asked as he had somewhat piqued interest in the said person.

"I don't know, she never told us " Devine said shrugging her shoulders, "besides why are you so suddenly interested in all of this?" Devine asked staring at him with a questioning gaze.

"Am I ?" Garmond feigned with a wry smile, "You brought it up and I became curious" He replied.

'Psychology is a really helpful course' he sighed with relief. He had nearly spilled the bean.

"Sorry about that, I guess I drew you into my boring historical talk, that's what happens when you read too much historical books and folklores" She shrugged off the eerie feeling in the air as she stood up from the bed.

'That explains the voice from earlier' Garmond thought to himself.

"Oh, and what about those guys from earlier, what did you call them again..., um the Maltians"

"You mean the Malian's?" She chuckled at his futile attempt to pronounce the name given to the empire men.

Garmond was simply using the childlike abilities in his arsenal to draw out all the information he needed.

'pretense is the best way in a situation like this' he smiled evily within himself. He definitely remembered the name. But of course why spell it out?

"If you think those guys are scary wait till you see the other ones, they're way more scarier " Devine said with a loud laughter, talking to Garmond was really a nice way to get her mind off a lot of things .

"It's going down the long list, from the Supreme Emperor to the royal brigade. Then down to the Lord's of each kingdom, then the Hounts that's what we commoners call the puppets of the empire."

"Puppets of the empire?"

"Yeah, they're just ruthless Killing machines that work strictly for the Emperor, right after them are the Karta's that's just a fancy word for the military"

Devine said, each rank she called made an expression appear on her face, whether one of fear, disdain or anger.

Her face alone clearly read out her emotions. Garmond could tell from that, which of the group he would have to avoid, at his current level.

'That's a really long list to climb' Garmond thought to himself, he knew he couldn't just jump off to the main boss so suddenly.

"....the Malian's follow right after that" Devine finally finished, taking a deep breath to clear her mind. Then she looked over to Garmond's small figure, which stared back blankly at her.

"well, I believe it's time you had your bath" she stared deep at him, with a scrutinizing gaze.