Living a normal life
The four teens finished their breakfast slowly as the guide watched them and asked a casual question from time to time. The 'interrogation' part was finished and the government guide resorted to the usual polite conversation with the students, about the school they went to and what their parents worked for a living. She avoided asking Adrien about any family stuff, but he answered all the same for himself and from time to time for Marinette. But he had to be quick because Ling was very eager to answer anything on behalf of anyone present.
And the young Chinese girl could not help herself but explain how Adrien was a famous model and worked for his father's company. She was rather excited about that. The guide eyed the boy a few times. Well he did look different than the other students, but she assigned that observation to the fact that he was, in fact, European. Then she noticed the whole speech Ling made was making the boy uncomfortable and she raised a hand to stop the girl for a moment in the middle of her speech and motioned for Adrien to say something.
"Um, I just wanted to go to a regular school and have a normal life. I was home schooled for most of my life." Adrien spoke quietly.
"You might want to cut down on that fan stuff." Marinette whispered to her cousin. "Please?"
Ling nodded and smiled. "I got a bit carried away, sorry?" She smiled sheepishly.
"It is okay." Adrien smiled back. "I just got used to be treated like a normal human being over here and your speech is a harsh reminder of what is waiting for me." The boy could not finish the sentence with the words 'at home' because he wandered where his home was, and if he had one.
"You are not excited about going home?" The guide asked casually. She knew most of the students enjoyed this little adventure and few of them ventured to return for a longer term stay and study the monks and their way of life because they were interested in anthropology or history, or they just intended to study some related subject at university.
Adrien waved his head after a short pause while his mind wandered back to the present time.
"This temple feels more at home than the way I lived in Paris." Adrien replied. "Everyone is so friendly, I can always talk to someone if I want. I can eat as much as I want." He pointed to the bowl he just emptied.
The guide furrowed her eyebrows.
"What? There is no food in Paris?" she asked incredulously.
"Oh there is, excellent food, her parents have the best bakery in Paris. She kept spoiling me by bringing me treats. But I was not really allowed to eat that because I am a model and was put on a diet ..." The boy was glad when he got interrupted in his explanation.
"Well that is going to change." Ling nudged him with her elbow and wiggled her eyebrows. Marinette blushed instantly. Of course her cousin expected Adrien was going to get food from her parents.
"Yes, I guess it is." Adrien smiled. He looked at Marinette fondly and winked. The girl blushed even more. She kept telling herself that they were all rushing to conclusions. The life at home looked so far and undefined at that moment.
"You will live a new life once you get back there." The guide winked at the boy. She had no clue what was going to happen with him. "I am sure someone like you will find your way in life."
Adrien nodded and smiled. It was a compliment and he took it well. Someone believed in him even after knowing him for this short time and even after they learned that his father was a villain. That lady had all the reasons to be angry with him, because he lied in his application and might have put her into trouble, but here she was, she reassured him and encouraged him to move on and look forward into the future.
"You should get ready, we are leaving tomorrow morning." The guide finished her breakfast, got up and left. That was her, back to business, she did not have the time to spare.
Marinette stared at Adrien in panic. And he did not look much better at that moment. They were leaving tomorrow? Already? They completely forgot about that little detail that they are, indeed, scheduled to return, with a booked flight and train and the school excursion was not supposed to last forever. What about the miracle box? What about her training for a guardian? Were they to just leave the box over here? Perhaps it belonged here, anyway? Adrien looked at her and understood the source of panic in her eyes.
What if she had to stay and train? What possible excuse was she to give to her parents for not coming back with the others? 'Sorry maman, I accidentally locked myself in the bathroom and forgot to take the bus?' She pondered. Nah, too lame, she used the bathroom excuse too many times already. 'They were having this very interesting event planned out and I wanted to stay and film it for Alya?' Nope, her parents would simply go nuts.
Adrien stared at Marinette. He was ready to stay in the temple if asked to. He wanted to stay. He did not want to go back to the world where he was a son of a famous fashion designer and a supervillain. He dreaded the conversations and the interviews. He expected whatever awaited him was a nightmare. It was so nice there, in the temple. But then he imagined how he would feel if everyone left, Marinette, her cousins and he was left with only the monks for company. He would have little company his own age again. Most of the kids in training are about to be taken to a normal school, he understood that much, the government insisted that much.
"Right, we wanted to visit that village, you two want to join?" Ye said casually and broke the train of thought in both kids.
"Um we … " Adrien trailed off, but a bite he got into his chest executed by his ever hungry kwami told him he had no choice.
"Yes of course. We'd love to go." Adrien winked as he rubbed the place where he got bitten.
Marinette first looked at the boy with an expression 'have you lost your mind' in her eyes, but then she noticed he rubbed his chest and she simply knew why they had to go. Then she felt Tikki patted her belly from her front pocket.
"Yes, I guess we should." Marinette finally agreed to the plan how to spend their morning. They left the monks and a small number of students in the breakfast room and went to get their shoes and jackets. The mornings were cold.
They went down the irregular steps that formed the stairs towards the temple together with a large group of more than twenty students, the government guide and several monks, including both Pema and Dorje.
Once outside, Adrien noticed the remains of the bruise on Marinette's face. He took her hand as they wee going down the steps, he wanted to help and steady her as well as he needed someone to hold onto himself.
"Does it hurt?" He whispered ad he raised his other hand but did not touch her face.
"Hurt? What?" She asked surprised by the question.
"Your bruises." Adrien motioned towards her face.
"You have a few bruises yourself. I thought the Ladybug cure took care of that." Marinette whispered.
"Well, your bruise is only visible outside in the daylight and it is from the fall from the night before, remember?" The boy could not hide the guilty feeling from his voice. "When I fell on you?"
"Um yes? It feels like it was at least last week." Marinette sighed.
"I feel like I was awake for a week before we slept last night." the boy added.
"With all the time travelling, we were probably not far from that." Marinette shrugged. She knew from the fight against Chat Blanc that she did not feel the time that passed.
Adrien remembered his time as Aspik. He did not have a clue how much awake time that had accumulated for him, but he did not feel like he was awake for a month, the magic did its job.
They finally reached the bottom of the steps.
"I am going to coordinate my findings with their commissar." The government official said shortly before she disappeared in the direction of the army camp and the students continued walking towards the campsite of the nomads.
Ling and Ye chuckled at her statement.
"I wish I could see the faces of the persons who would be reading those reports." Ling winked towards the two young teens.
"Um, I do not know how it works in Paris." Adrien shrugged.
"Don't worry. Administration always works in mysterious ways." Ye chuckled and then started to exchange stories with Ling about different experiences they had while handling paperwork.
That gave the two kids a brief chance to talk about the problems they still had to resolve and the deadline of going home was approaching.
"We need to get the Book of Lore from Gabriel and Nathalie." Marinette whispered to Adrien and Pema when they were slightly behind the others. Pema nodded. Adrien sighed.
"That is going to be difficult. We can't just break and enter into a container in a government camp." Adrien sighed.
"Besides, those government officials have seized everything they found there already." Pema whispered back. "It is going to be transported back with the two of them and examined by the government inquiry."
"I was going to say that Adrien and Marinette can't break into the camp, but perhaps Ladybug and Chat Noir could?" Marinette winked.
Adrien smiled his signature Chat Noir smile. He liked when his lady was slightly naughty.
"And perhaps we might use some help from a certain horse?" she whispered as she waved her head towards Dorje.
"Hm." Pema hummed as the other students were approaching closer and they could not continue their conversation as before.
"Are you sure that Ladybug and Chat Noir were to wander around that campsite freely and take whatever they wanted? I mean, after everything that happened?" the monk asked casually.
The two teens became far more serious as the implication of her words hit them.
"We are not in Paris and even there we did not always get a full support and understanding from the authorities, especially if one of us looked as if he had stolen something." Marinette whispered to Adrien.
"That was not me and you know it." Adrien feigned being insulted and then smirked at her. "I guess you are right. We will have to be careful." After that, Pema walked away from the two kids and exchanged a few words with Dorje and it looked as if the man agreed to the plan. Well, they still had to persuade the guardian.
They enjoyed the visit to the village. They were offered local food in a form that might be described as a doughnut. Marinette wandered if her father would know how to make one just after tasting it. Adrien, on the other hand, was more interested in cheese, well he himself enjoyed the pastry, but he had this itching feeling on the surface of his chest, imposed by a certain tiny black cat, that he just had to search for the cheese. Finally, he managed to get his hands on on a considerable portion of cheese in exchange for another solar powered gadgets, and this one was really useless on this trip as it was a mere toy.
But then he noticed that the large monk bought a huge amount of cheese that he was about to carry back to the temple. Adrien knew that amount was intended to feed the students and the monks for the celebratory dinner that evening. And he also knew a certain tiny deity that would probably float over and phase into that bag if he was not careful. So he quickly took one chunk of cheese and stuffed it into his shirt. He disposed the rest into a small bag he carried.
Marinette watched the exchange and almost bent over with laughter.
"Go and lead Dorje away, quickly. We have to keep distance between a certain kwami and that parcel" She said to Pema. "Adrien and me are going to be late. Really late." the girl whispered while she struggled to contain her laughter. "Otherwise Plagg will make that load considerably lighter."
They return back to the temple was filled with thaking photos and banter with Marinette's cousins.
"You have to come to Paris when you find the time." Adrien told them in between two jokes.
All three of them laughed.
"It is not that simple, we have university to go to, the practice and probably part time jobs to support us." Ling said when they got a bit more serious.
Adrien took a breath then exhaled.
"I wanted to say that I could cover your plane tickets, but I guess that changed too." He said glumly.
"Perhaps you could play a game just like I did?" Marinette asked feeling particularly lucky.
"Not everyone has your luck, you know." Ye smiled.
Marinette felt one kwami pat her belly from the pocked in her jacket.
"Yeah." she sighed happily.
The government guide stood at the top of the steps, her arms were stacked with a number of identical forms.
"I did everyone except those two." The guide motioned towards Pema and Dorje. "And those two old ones. The really old ones. Please help me?" She raised her eyebrow at Adrien. The boy nodded in response. "There, name, date and place of birth, education, known illnesses, everything I need." The guide said flatly. "Please, just fill in at least the first page. I know it is silly, but they are Chinese citizens now." She added. "I really do not like the paperwork, but it is a part of this job."