IX — Kat

They had arrived back in town as Ellen thanked the carriage driver as he set off into the mist. It was about midday, and the town had just finished repairing what needed to be repaired from the wolf attack. Roger had been playing a bunch of card games with some boys to keep him functioning without having to fight or lift anything, and Kat was infusing mana onto some more lanterns.

Sam and Ellen had arrived on the time they intended to come back, but their faces were still flushing. No one knew what had happened between them. Sam, in particular, only ever told one of the Lantern Children about Diana. On the other hand, Ellen was too flustered to even think about anything; she had just told a perfect stranger turned friend about her story, that she never told anyone except Kat.

And with a stroke of either dumb luck or coincidence that struck fear in Sam and Ellen, Kat was the first to greet them.

“Welcome back Big Bro, Big Sis!”

They didn’t say a word.

Kat tilted her head, her pigtails swinging to one side slightly, hands clasped behind her. She was confused, as one would be, especially since both Sam and Ellen refused to open up what had happened down at the harbor.

“Is something wrong…?”

“Hi, Kat!” Ellen’s voice perked up, a bit higher than usual. It was like she was doing a crappy attempt at imitating a songbird. “Fi- fine weather w-we are having today, eh? Ahaha ahahahaha…” she trailed off in her fake laughter that anyone with a working brain would realize she had been faking.

Kat turned to Sam. “Big Bro, did you do something to Big Sis Ellen?”

Sam flinched. He normally wouldn’t flinch. He was an archer who had trained to breathe steadily and focus. But for some reason when it came towards Ellen, nowadays especially, he suddenly didn’t know how to speak words. He tried opening his mouth, but all the things in his mind were rattled. He couldn’t say anything.

They both scurried away, and the rest of the kids looked confused as they all speculated what had happened.

Kat, however, knew what was going on.

She had to talk to Big Bro Sam.

That night, Sam couldn’t sleep. His mind, that was normally rattled with regrets of non-atonement and chances he should have taken, instead became rattled with the near-kiss that he gave Ellen. He nearly locked lips with this green-haired young woman who was blossoming into adulthood. Her essence muddied his thoughts with her radiance and he sat on his bed in his tent, still flushed from the encounter. He couldn’t think about anything else other than that, and it frustrated him.

He also was too distracted with it, he didn’t notice Kat was just standing by the tent window.

“Um,” Kat started. “Big Bro Sam…?”

Sam flinched. He normally wouldn’t flinch, especially with a girl with a high mana affinity like Kat. He couldn’t sense mana, but he could sense the bending of senses to someone with a high affinity for mana. Just like the time where he had held Kat’s hand as she tried to sleep before the ambush of the wolves and Byleck, and the other time where he first met Kat and she told him he was carrying something, Sam had known she was not a normal human. She had a gift, yet some treated it like a curse.

Out of the blue, Kat revealed something Sam thought he had hidden only in his thoughts.

“I… I saw something. In your mana. When- when you held my hand to stop my nightmares. W-When I had tried to heal you with Big Sis Ellen… I saw something—” she gasped, trying to reach for more air.

Sam held her hand. “Hold on, slow down.”

Kat took a deep breath, so deep that Sam had felt the breeze from outside directed towards Kat.

“I saw you standing guard…” she continued, still trailing off because of shyness. “I- I saw you— I saw you… not doing anything. I- I- I…” she took another deep breath as she clenched her fist and placed it on her chest.

“W- When I saw you not doing anything, I thought…” she trailed off yet again, her body trembling in what appeared to be fear. The memory told her to fear Sam, and Sam became aware of it. He gently let go of her hand and stared down on the floor, hands clasped like he was praying to some entity that wasn’t the Great Mother. Kat had seen right through him, even though he tried desperately to bury it. But from the moment he had met Kat, and unbeknownst to him, the moment Kat had seen him under the debris of a village that was no more, he couldn’t hide it any longer towards Kat.

“You thought I was evil?” Sam asked the question, wanting to confirm. He had been ready to accept if she said yes. He had been ready to leave town if she felt uncomfortable in his presence. He had been ready to atone for it, even doing something he didn’t imagine he’d do.

But what Kat said completely changed his perspective.

“But- but you helped me, Big Bro…” she said. “You saved me when I said I was scared. You- you saved Big Bro Roger. You even saved the town and Big Sis Ellen…”

Kat took his hand and clasped it between hers, going into a position like she was praying. Through her help, perhaps Sam could even send his wishes towards the Great Mother.

“I think…” Kat began again. “I think, you right now, th- the one who had saved me, big Bro Roger and Big Sis Ellen…” she took a deep breath. “I- I believe you are not the one in those memories…!”

She looked at him. Eyes full of hope and determination. She believed it all. There was no malice within her, not just because she was a child, but also she carried a piece of the light bestowed to the Lantern Children and blessed by the Great Mother. She had seen through all of him, and it overwhelmed her.

“I… I used to be ignored by kids… they- they called me weird…” she started again.

Sam didn’t stop or make her go post haste. And with Sam listening to every word, she revealed everything. How she was born in a brothel and then kicked out when she was eight years old, how she was so shy in trying to tell other slum kids about the Great Mother, how she was called a weirdo or a loser because of her affinity with the Great Mother’s mana.

Despite that, she kept praying to the Great Mother, until Ellen found her sobbing in the capital streets. Ellen had given her a newfound purpose, and that is what Sam had heard back at the harbor. Sam listened to Kat, as much as she had listened to Ellen, all the while letting her hold his hands: his rough and calloused hands, the same ones that held Ellen, and the same ones that Kat had clung onto like a lifeline.

“And that’s why I- I believe in second chances…! That’s why Big Bro Sam…”

She clasped his hand tighter.

“You have to,” Kat continued. “Protect our light. Please, Big Bro Sam… we couldn’t b-bring the light without you…”

Sam nodded while closing his eyes. He had heard more than enough. Now, he had more reason to believe in himself, that he could protect the Lantern Children, that he could protect others, and he found something that Kat had given to him.

Hope in the darkness.

“I will. I promise.”

At the outskirts of the clearing, a woman stood wearing a dress that spelled seductiveness in two different ways: a lust that would attract anyone, not just men, and desire that could turn aggressive: it could kill. She had heard about Byleck’s untimely demise from across the grapevine, and she was looking for the man who was responsible.

“There you are, my little cherry pie.”

She licked her lips as a negative aura surrounded her, wilting some grass around her and turning some rabbits that had come close into mindless killers.

She finished licking her lips and made her way towards the refugee town.

The town had been peaceful.

And someone will wreck havoc onto it.