“Alright Koi, are you ready to go home now?”

I nod. “Ya, I want to give Mama her cookie!”

“We will eat our cookies tomorrow for your birthday, so let’s go home.”

We got to the edge of the market stalls we came in through. He sets me down and squats down with his hands behind his back again. 

“Ready for another horsey ride?”

“Ya” I say laughing as I jump onto his back. 

I guess I really became a kid, I’m not even embarrassed about my actions anymore, Kain makes me feel comfortable with whatever I do since I am young.

I used to have to watch my every action carefully.

We start walking back home, and about five minutes in, he puts his hood down and I rest my head on his soft hair.

“Rose..” I mumble

He laughs. “It’s because Koi makes me happy.”

“Bubba..?”

“Hmm? What’s wrong Koi?”

“Who is Papa?’

He stops. He probably wasn’t expecting me to ask this question so soon, but I know he knows who my Father is. What will his answer be?

He starts walking again.

“Your Papa is a good person.” He said

“Does Bubba know who Papa is?” I don’t want to force him, but I need to know, so I can change our fate.

“Yes… Bubba knows who he is, but Koi can't see him.” 

“Hmm? …Why not?”

“You just can’t Koi!” He says sternly.

He stops. “I’m sorry I yelled Koi…” he looked back at me.

I smile. “It’s okay Bubba, I only need Mama and Bubba, I was just curious.” I hug him and he smiles and keeps walking.

“I’ll tell you when you are older Koi, when you can better understand the adult world, because it is very complicated.”

“Bubba is so cool. Hehe.” 

He blushes and smiles. “Koi is very cute.” 

Just like that the situation is resolved, you can't really get too mad at questions from an innocent toddler, or at least you can't stay mad. 

Is the reason he got so upset because we fled to the opposing country, to one where they would enslave children for war? 

Hmmm… I still don't have any more answers than I did this morning. Too bad, but I still have a couple of years to ask, I hope we can make it longer. I don’t want to lose them again…

We make it back to the shack where we live. I didn’t notice earlier, but it is completely worn down, holes everywhere.

It’s slowly being taken over by the forest.

“We are home Koi. Are you sleepy?” 

“Mhm..” I mumbled while rubbing my eye.

Home, that’s right, no matter how run down it looks, it is still the only home I’ve ever had. So I am grateful.

“We are Home Aunt!” He brings me inside.

Sitting on the bed is a woman that doesn’t look much older than seventeen. She is so young… and thin… and she looks kind of unwell..

“Mama!”

“Oh my baby.” She gets up and comes towards us.

She grabs me off of Kain’s back.

“Oh? What is this?” She grabs the bear I’ve been holding.

“Bear!” I point at it.

“We had a little trouble at the Toy Store, but the baker was kind enough to give this to Koi for his birthday, so we bought some sweets instead and he even gave us a discount. Also Koi has a playdate in a few days with his daughter.”

I look back at her.

“Mhm! He was nice!” I say while I rub one of my eyes and yawn.

“He really took a liking to Koi, Aunt.”

“Of course, my little rosebud is so cute, but I think today’s adventure is over. It’s time for a nap.” She walks over to the bed and sets me down gently, “We will eat the sweets tomorrow.” She hands me my bear and covers me in a blanket.

It’s not the comfiest bed in the world. but I go to sleep pretty quickly with my Brother and Mother there next to me patting my back.

Slowly I drift off to sleep after having a busy day.

I slowly open my eyes and look around. Mom and Kain are on the floor asleep and it is dark, and it is so cold. 

My eyes focus a bit and notice that Kain and Mom are sharing a blanket. While I am on the bed and have a blanket to myself.

I guess I am given special treatment since I am still a baby. 

I don’t like it though, because they are suffering while I am on the bed, which isn’t very comfortable but still better than the floor.

I sit up and rub my eyes. 

I roll across the bed and drop down to the floor, bringing the blanket and bear with me. 

With them both in my hands, I stand and look at them both. 

They are sleeping even though it is such a hard and cold floor. 

What made them come all the way here. Instead of staying with the Commander or Abel? I wonder what happened. 

Or maybe I am wrong and the potion turned out red.

It is frustrating not knowing a definitive answer.

There is no way around them so I crawl over Kain trying to not wake him up in the process. I'm pretty light so it shouldn't wake him. I hope…

I climb in between them and underneath the blanket and put the other blanket on top of me. Much better, even though the floor is hard and cold, it is comfortable to be surrounded by Mom and Kain.

“Mmm… Warm.” I mumble 

I hear Kain giggle beside me and I look over at him and he turns to look at me.

“The floor is hard Koi, are you sure you don’t want to sleep on the bed?” He whispers

I smile and nod.

I accidentally woke him up, whoops…

“I wanna sleep with Bubba and Mama.” I whisper.

He smiles and looks at me like he is looking at an innocent kitten that doesn’t know anything about the world around it.

It is better if I pretend that I don’t remember my past. If I told them what happened to me at that time, they would be sad, and I don’t want them to be sad. Ever.

They are far too precious to me.

“Alright, come closer to Bubba so it is warm.” He holds his arms out a bit for a hug.

“Oki.” I snuggle up to him. 

He smells so nice and warm. He is putting his arm under my head so I can use it as a pillow.

He wraps his arms around me comfortably and pulls the blanket I brought over me. Then scoots closer to mama.

“Is that better Koi?” He says quietly

“Mm.” I nod. 

He smells so nice, like that rose smell I noticed earlier.

I drift back to sleep with a lot of questions on my mind.

I haven’t had a dream in a very long time. I started taking this herb that kept me from dreaming because I had so many nightmares from the things that happened at the orphanage.

I forgot that it wouldn’t be in effect in this body because I am not used to being back here yet.

Although I have had constant nightmares since then, I, for the first time in a long time, had a nice dream.

It was of Abel not finding me on the battlefield, but instead in the cottage while playing with Kain, mama, and Sally. He even brought the Commander with him and we all ate lots of cookies.

It was definitely a dream meant for a child, but I enjoyed it nonetheless.

I slowly woke up hearing Kain and Mama talking about something, but I didn’t open my eyes and pretended to be asleep.

“He needs to take a bath today, can you take him to the stream?” Mama says.

“Sure, I’ll do everything I can to help, but…”

“But what?”

It was quiet for a moment.

“Well… you still haven’t told me everything… Why did she threaten you? Did she know you were pregnant?”

The silence returned and my ears were buzzing with anticipation of what she would say.