When Abeni arrived at his stone doorstep with the brightly lit day torches hitting her face, she suddenly felt scared. Agitated. What if the only person she had left didn’t care about her either?

But before Abeni could even reconsider her decision, the wooden door swung open with the boy in question answering her knock.

“Abeni! Mornin’!” He exclaimed in Derin, clearly surprised to see her so early.

“Martin!” She responded with relief, pulling him towards her and into a hug. Blushing and shaking around his flimsy, cold body. He’s always been a thin boy, but Abeni didn’t care about that. She just needed someone to be there for her. She was terrified to be alone and he was the only one that had ever made her tummy tingle.

But the pearl-skinned boy with light brown hair and dungarees shoved her so hard that she almost felt onto the floor. Her heart dropped as he watched Abeni with an unimpressed expression.

Not him too!

No…this was similar to how he normally acted. Even after she confessed and got rejected. She had to calm down...but she couldn’t.

“Martin…I…my pare—”

Martin’s annoyed groan interrupted her before Abeni could tell him, “Ugh...I’m sick. Don’t touch the future chief when he’s sick.”

“Oh, what happened?” She panicked a bit. Why was he sick? Can she do something to help? Abeni couldn’t lose him too. He was the only one she had left!

“No! Not me! I should’ve said it better. My sister is sick and it might be contage…contageo…”

“Contagious?” Abeni asked. This was serious then.

“Yeah, that!” Martin said, picking his nails as he shifted his weight to his other leg, looking uninterested, “I knew the word, alright?”

“Alright,” she nodded and he gave her a suspicious glare.

“I did! Anyway…yeah, she might die but luckily, she didn’t pass it to me, so I’m good. I can’t become the next village chief if I die over something as stupid as this.”

“Really?” Oh no! Not Mary. From what Abeni remembered, Mary, with similar pearl skin and light brown hair, had always been a nice enough girl. Not that she spoke to her much. Abeni couldn’t just sit by as this happened! “How can I help? Can I help?” She asked, peering down the hallway to see what seemed to be an empty front room-kitchen, just like in her hut.

Martin looked at Abeni as if she was acting strangely, but nodded nonetheless, “Seriously? What did I tell you about helping people at your own det...detrimo...detrimenti! You should stop that. You did the same thing in the food short time…thing.”

“How could you say that? This is your sister we’re talking about!” Abeni refused to watch by when she could help. Not after what happened with her parents. Not again. Never again.

“Well, if you can go to the…farmo…farmcansee? Yeah, that place!”

Abeni nodded, attentively listening and gripping her white purse, “Yeah, I’ll go to the pharmacy! What do you need?”

“I don’t know,” he turned to lean inside the similar stone hut, “Mum! What meds does Mary need?”

“Painkillers!” Came the response. Oh, their mother was there too? Abeni may not have to be as alone as she first thought. Surely, Martin’s mum would help her out if she helped her daughter, right? Not that that’s why she’s helping them though. It’s just another incentive.

Martin turned to look her way, “You heard her.”

Abeni headed off with those words. Momentarily forgetting what she initially went to his hut for in the hopes that she would find the medication quickly. The white-haired girl checked her white purse finding that she only had three zincs left. It might not be enough to buy some painkillers. So, she’d have to work on a budget.

Now that she thought about it, the village was like a circle. From the outside stone walls at least double her height it did seem that the buildings changed from stone on the outskirts where both she and Martin’s family lived, to mud where the marketplace was, to stone in the centre of the village.

Abeni didn’t want to waste time by going back to her hut on the other side of the village in search of any money her parents left behind when Martin’s sister could die any minute according to him! Though...maybe Abeni should go back to the marketplace merchants father inside the village instead? Yes, those merchants seemed to be more willing to bargain with her. At least more than the pharmacists would be since it was likely shops would have other costs to worry about.

This was to save a child’s life! Surely, they would be willing to lower whatever their price was…and surprisingly they were. Not because it was for a sick child, but because of what she said. All Abeni had to tell them was that she would be a loyal patron if they complied and the first vendor lowered the price from five zincs to two zincs leaving her with one zinc to spare.

It was simple really. She’s never really bought anything alone or needed to bargain before, but in a space with a lot of competition to the point that they shouted on the street over one another, customer relations and loyalty must be their utmost priority. That’s why she mentioned it and, luckily, it worked!

Of course, Abeni could’ve solved it with her ability, saying something like ‘give me some painkillers for free’ but then it would be obvious to those struggling, tight-fisted merchants that she did something. And she wasn’t sure how they’d act if they knew that. No, this was better. Abeni couldn’t help but smile at the outcome on her way back to Martin’s house around forty or so minutes later. Especially because of the meaning behind this purchase.

The girl she would be able to save without putting either of them in danger.

This too would become one of Abeni’s future regrets.

When she got back to Martin’s stone hut, his mother snatched the painkillers out of her hand with a quick thanks saying that it was for the flu when the white-haired girl asked and slammed the door in her face…But instead of annoying her, Abeni couldn’t help but release a sigh of relief. Since it only ended up being the flu, she should be fine, right? Hopefully, Mary, Martin and their mum would be fine.

At the very least, hopefully Abeni stopped their family from breaking apart like hers had.

After everything had quietened down and she and Martin sat in front of his stone hut that same afternoon, Abeni spluttered, “My parents died because of me.” 

“Oh? That’s why you’re like this…” he commented, voice sounding just as flippant as before. Like what? She wondered. “Well, that can’t be helped.”

Abeni turned to him, “What?”

“Abeni, they were going to die. You do know that, right? You might be a bit slow, but you know they were hunters? Everyone with power has to become a hunter for the village. You should know that.”

“I wasn’t really aware…” The truth was, she never knew. Until her birthday, she just knew her parents could fight to some degree. So, why did it seem that everyone else did? Because they were ‘junior manipulators’?

“You should’ve known. Abeni. I never mentioned it because it never came up. Your parents were clearly hiding it from you,” he put a hand on her shoulder, looking at her as if she was a toddler when, in actuality, they were the same age, “I will always be here because I don’t plan on dying any time soon. But hunters like our parents will all die at some point, alright?” Our parents? “I told you this part, didn’t I? You should just forget them when they die and stop burdening others with your emotions. I don’t know how I will, but when I become chief somehow, I can’t have you clinging onto me all the time. Seriously, that’d be annoying.”

She hated that.

Forget, forget, forget! Her parents were right. These villagers…Why was everyone telling her to forget her loved ones just because they were deceased? How could she forget those who raised her? Who cared for her? The villagers were the ones she should forget! Was it really that hard to say ‘I’m sorry for your loss’? To console someone who so desperately wanted to be consoled?

Are they even eniyans! Her veins started to pulse all of a sudden, her mind started to be consumed by words the curse was feeding her but no.

No…she had to calm down.

Maybe...she should listen to him. She wasn’t alone. He had not plans to leave her. Even after she confessed and harboured these feelings she knew he wouldn’t reciprocate, he wouldn’t abandon her. He practically just said he wouldn’t. It was only natural that things seemed to be so different after all that had happened to her in the past forty-eight hours…she just needed to adapt to life here and be more mature, that’s all. Be strong like she had been on the way here. Be brave enough to gain her bearings and learn how to live in this village.

After all, where else could she go?

Who else could she turn to if not him?

“You’re right...”

“Of course, I am.”

With that, Abeni said goodbye and headed home. She ate dinner, played numerous games of Oware by herself in their only bedroom and curled up on her and her parents’ bed. Promising that she’d resume funeral preparations tomorrow. There was no time to mope around. Martin was right. Abeni could figure it all out herself without burdening anyone else and run a funeral that would make everyone speechless.

She could and she would.

Then, as if hearing her thoughts, her third morning home arrived with the sight of a grey and coral ball-shaped being on her stone doorstep with a lot to say.

[Current Total Beings In ‘Abeni’s Army’ – 1]