Author's Note: Late due to obvious reasons. This chapter tells us mostly about the Green Eyed people, although I know most of you hunger for more Arnold-Helga stuff. You won't be disappointed though because I allocated some scenes for the ever popular couple, something that the last chapter lacked a lot. Which is why I think contributes the lack of review for the previous chater, plus some other things like (I think) poor writing and some inconsistencies. Or maybe it's just because of the 'unlucky' number thirteen, not that I'm superstitious or anything. I also have to do a little bit research so I could expand the story of San Lorenzo itself in future chapters. That been said, enjoy.

Legal junk: I don't own Hey Arnold, but Nickelodeon does and Mr. Craig Bartlett created it. But this fic belongs to me. Clear? Good.

Chapter 14: Orphan

The Isayan people, colloquially known as the Green-Eyed people, are believed to be the very first settlers of San Lorenzo. Their ancestry can be traced back to the Mayans in Mainland Central America after an extensive DNA research and obvious visual similarities between their architecture and culture. According to a manuscript recently founded in a pyramid, they were banished from the mainland due to heresy and rebellion against the traditional Mayan religion by initiating a new sect which is considered blasphemous by the orthodox believers. They were then expelled to San Lorenzo by the decree of the ruler, as told in various sources from both civilizations. The manuscripts indicate it may hold some credibility. It is said that a jade, which the Green-Eyed people considers as sacred and holy, attributes the most distinguishing appearance of them – the dimly glowing green eyes. In accordance and respect to the local culture, such scientific studies regarding the sacred jade and its effects on the people are highly unlikely.

The Green-Eyes chose this particular place to settle in due to the lack of hostiles, the fertile grounds to plant crops, the availability of fresh water and the abundance of natural resources. The architecture and engineering of these people are considered highly advanced during their era, as beautiful and large monuments around the islands are proof of their ingenuity. Due to the expulsion, the Green-Eyes were expecting a war because of the mainland's hostility towards them. But after hundreds of years of buildup, they did not come, and their actual adversary was Mother Nature herself. Some time in the mid 16th century, the volcano Cabrakan erupted and wiped out most of the inhabitants of the main island and few from the other four. Their civilization declined sharply after the catastrophe and the arrival of Spanish colonists bring further destruction to their way of life. Since then they remained hidden in the more remote places of the island until their eventual rediscovery in the late 1900s.

-- Summarized excerpts from the PhD. thesis of 'The Rise and Fall of Isayan People' (Miles -------- MSc. of Archeology in Ancient Americas Studies)

---

The jeep went through the long and windy road, and the journey to Marcelo's village was done without any conversation being exchanged by Helga and Stella. Even when Stella promised her to tell about the situation along the away, she still hadn't told her anything about it yet. Helga knew something terrible had happened, judging from Stella's concerned look and the gloomy talk she just had on the phone earlier, and due to that Helga decided to keep her curiosity to herself and wait until they arrive at the village. Upon arrival, there were a lot of people gathering at Marcelo's dwelling and almost every one of them looked sad and depressed. Stella parked the jeep next to Miles', which she assumed that he arrived earlier than they did. Before getting out, she asked Helga, "Helga, could you look inside the glove compartment for a talisman?"

Helga nodded, and went over the compartment in search for the said talisman. She rummaged through the old papers and whatnot, and saw this strange key-like object made out of wood and there was an image of a green colored eye of some sort carved on it. "Is this it?"

Stella nodded and replied, "Thank you." She took the talisman away and put it around her neck. A string necklace with a talisman attached to it. As they got off from the jeep, they could see another one coming at them, rather speedily. The driver then parked next to Stella's vehicle, and stopped the car. Arnold came out of the jeep and walked over to the two females.

"Man, you guys are fast." Arnold said, like he was hasting.

"Do you have your talisman with you?" Stella asked him.

"What are you talking about mom?" Arnold then showed her his talisman by pulling it out from his shirt, "I always have this thing around my neck."

His mother nodded, "Okay then. Let's go." Then the three of them headed to the crowded small dwelling and their way through the sea of people. As they got to the main entrance, a guard had his hand up with his palm outwards to halt the newcomers from entering. The guard was wearing the usual everyday clothing, an exotic headdress and armbands. And the most striking feature of all, both of his eyes were green in color.

"Stella, Arnold. That girl cannot enter." The guard said, pointing to Helga.

"Hey, come on man." Arnold appealed, "She's a friend of mine. You can trust her."

At this moment Helga wished she could follow the conversation between Arnold and that guard since she understood only a little Spanish.

"You know the rules, Arnold." The guard replied back, shaking his head, "Please respect our traditions. Unless the girl is an accepted member—"

Arnold sighed, and held both of his hands out as though to stop him to elaborate any further. "Okay, man. I understand." He nodded. He then turned around to Helga and said to her, "Sorry Helga, you can't come in."

"Why?" she asked back in curiosity.

"It's… a cultural thing." Arnold replied back. "I'm sorry, they just can't let you in. I won't be long, I promise. I just want to check on Marcelo, that's all. In the mean time, why don't you have a walk around the village and take a look around, but just don't go into the temple or touch the totem poles, okay?"

Helga then nodded and let Stella and Arnold walked into the house. From outside, she could see Stella talking to the many female members of the village community. Arnold was seen walking into a room, and Miles walked out. Helga knew that she couldn't do anything here, except for blocking other people's way in, so she walked out through the crowd and proceeded to educate herself about this exotic indigenous people by walking around the village and examine the people who made this place.

Every hut was made out of a combination of masonry and wood, and the roof was made out of thatched straws. And every hut had a small garden with picket fences to guard it to grow vegetables for self-sustaining purposes. Yet, in spite of the similarities between the huts, they had a thing or two to distinguish themselves from the others. Occasionally, there was a flock of chickens on the road she was walking on, pecking the ground in search for worms. There was a small stream in the middle of the village, dividing it in half. As she walked on the small, wooden bridge, she looked down below and could see fishes swimming inside the crystal clear, clean water. Then there were splashing sounds further up, and the fish scurried away. Helga looked upstream and saw kids swimming and splashing around, oblivious to the somber mood back at Marcelo's home.

Helga continued forward, thinking about her own problems, as she had her arms crossed while looking at her feet while still walking. Three days from now, she would depart from San Lorenzo and back to the miserable place that she called home. Was three days ample enough time to confess to Arnold about her feelings towards him? Would she be brave enough to tell Arnold during that three days time? Was her decision smart in terms of getting home so early? To face her sister, mother, and the most dreadful of all, her father? Was he really sincere that he missed her a lot and loved her so much? Or it was just a ploy so he could abuse her and her mother more? Somehow, she regretted that decision.

She stopped upon seeing a large, two storey building made out of stone next to her. It had an inscription carved on the two pillars at the entrance, and the smell of incense coming out aromatically from inside. There were four totem poles around the building, symbolizing that they were guarding it. Helga was getting curious; she wanted to get in to know more about this unique temple. But as soon as she took her first step, she remembered Arnold's words:

"…don't go into the temple, or touch the totem poles…"

She took a step back, and sighed in disappointment. She respected the local custom, and decided to walk away and continued to have a look around. Behind the temple, there was a cliffy hill, and on top of the hill, there was a barbed wire fence, with a large, rusty warning sign with a nuclear symbol and missile icon on it and a few words in Spanish and Russian written below them. Helga raised an eyebrow in incredulous surprise. She also noticed there was a red hammer and sickle symbol on it. A few stone's throws away from the temple, there was a hut, larger than the other ones in the village. Must've belonged to someone important, Helga thought. And after that, Helga returned back to Marcelo's house. It seemed that she had been walking around the village in a circle. As she arrived at the hut, she saw two old men, sitting on a self-made bench, talking to each other. Helga wondered what they were talking about.

"Poor kid. No parents, no siblings, no grandparents…" he shook his head and sighed, "Who's going to take care of him?"

"The village headman is going to take care of him for the moment. And then it's off to—"

"The gringos?" he shook his head, "Man… I can't believe he's actually going to America…"

"Hey… Miles, Stella and Arnold are very nice people. They helped us a lot before, and they still do."

"Well, that's true…"

"Besides, there are plenty of bright sides to it. His future is much brighter there… I mean, they have UCLA, MIT, Harvard…" he chuckled a bit and had his head looking towards the sky, "What do we have? Hopefully when he comes back he'll make changes to this country."

Curious as she might be, Helga then tried to forget the whole thing as she shook her head. She then saw Arnold walking out from the house with his head hanging in deep sadness. He stopped in front of Helga and gazed at her with his misty eyes. He took a deep breath, and with a somber tone, he said to her, "Marcelo's grandma just died." Helga widened her eyes in shock, and then lowered her head in grief. Arnold then continued, "They're going to perform some rituals at the temple, and bury her soon after that. It's a Green-Eye's tradition that the deceased must be buried as soon as possible."

---

Later that night, at the Sunset Arms Boarding House…

"Okay, okay, hold yer horses… I'm coming. I'm coming." Grandpa muttered to himself as he walked up to the phone, with the aid of his stick. He, along with his wife's health had been degrading rapidly in the past few years. Grandpa could do pushups up to one hundred a couple of years ago, but now, it had decreased to a pathetic eighty, and grandma could no longer clock a respectable time of five minutes on a one mile jog. Yet, despite of their lack of their fitness, they continued to live out their live fully and remained optimistic.

"Hello, Sunset Arms Boarding House." He introduced, "where rents are affordable and neighbors are suspiciously friendly."

"Hello, dad?" the voice on the other side of the phone spoke.

"Miles, is that you?" grandpa asked, almost in surprise. "He, he!" he laughed, in a geriatric, senile sort of laugh, "I haven't heard from you in weeks!" he then put a hand over the phone and shouted to her wife, "Pookie! Miles is on the phone!"

At that time, grandma was at the kitchen. She wasn't cooking, but unfortunately, doing a can-can dance on the table in front of three frightened, stunned and confused gentlemen which so happened to be the victims of this eye-boggling charade.

"I am… scared…" Oskar said, in a hypnotized sort of state, "yet I can't… get my eyes… off it…"

"I shoulda moved outta the house years ago…" Ernie said in regret.

"Yes…" Mr. Hyunh concurred. "I too… should move to my daughter's place."

Suzie emerged from the door from her day of shopping groceries, and upon entering the kitchen; she didn't like what she was seeing, "Yikes!" she gasped in shock and accidentally dropped the shopping bags full of groceries on the floor. "Oh, darn it!" she stomped her feet in distress, and proceeded to pick up what was left of the grocery items scattered around the floor. "Oskar, could you lend me a hand here?"

"Uh… what?" he was still in state of hypnotization.

"Oskar, snapped out of it and help me darn you!" Suzie shouted at her, and managed to snap the three men out.

"Well… better than watching the freak show anyway…" Oskar murmured to the other tenants. The other two nodded in agreement and walked away from the table.

"Oh, and grandma." Suzie said to her, "The phone rang, and I think it's Miles on the phone…"

"MILES?" grandma shouted in joy, and quickly ran to the phone where his husband was speaking with their son. Suddenly there was a wailing noise coming from Oskar and Suzie's room.

"Oh…" Suzie sighed, "The babies have waken up. Could someone make them some milk?" she looked around and saw nobody in the kitchen. Everyone had run away in a blink of an eye. "Anyone?"

Grandpa was pretty shocked to hear the terrible news from his son and ran his hand on his bald head in deep distress, "Oh… oh m-my… oh my God. My sympathies." Grandpa lowered his head in mourning. His wife who was cheerful before drastically changed her expression to a more sorrowful look. "So… do you really want to go on with the plan, son?" he asked.

"Yeah…" Miles reluctantly agreed, "What can I do? It's a promise that Stella and I tend to keep."

"What about Arnold?" grandpa asked, "Have you told him about it yet? You do know he's never supportive of the plan, don't you?"

"I know, dad. I know." He replied back, weakly.

Grandpa shook his head. "Boy, he's going to throw a fit when he hears about it."

"Well, he's just gonna have to accept the fact that the world isn't always what we want it to be." He replied. After he took a breath, he continued, "Dad, the reason why I call you is because Stella is on her way to Geneva this Sunday and the flight stops at the city for a few hours."

There was a slight pause, "Go on." Grandpa said.

"And we're hoping to put him on a same flight with her."

Grandpa was a bit surprised, "So soon?"

"Afraid so."

"Well…" he contemplated, as he scratched his head, "okay." Grandpa nodded weakly, as he looked at her wife with a concerned and worried look. Grandma had this same similar expression too. "Hopefully he'll make this place frenetic like it used to be. We haven't had a kid around the house since Arnold moved out with you, well, except for the babies. So… how are Stella and Arnold? Did you get the shipment I sent to you?"

Miles sighed, and replied, "They're good, they're good. Both of them are fine and well. You don't have to worry about them. And I got the shipment today, thanks dad."

"Yeah… oh, and your mother wants to talk with ya." He then gave the phone to his wife.

"Hi Miles. I'm so happy you called us." She said, beaming.

"Hi mom. It's good to hear from you too." Miles said with a soft smile. He was glad that his mother was hale and hearty, despite her claims of her health being degrading. "How are you?"

"Oh, ho ho…" she laughed, "You don't have to worry about me… it's your family you should be more concerned about. Say, is Stella still cooking those terrible food for you and Arnold?"

Miles looked at her wife. She was had a fire extinguisher on her hands to put the fire out on the stove. The fire was successfully put out, but it left the room with a thick fog. The both of them coughed a few times as they tried to fan the fog out through the window with their bare hands. After the room was clear, Stella was so frustrated with her cooking that she started to scream. Grandma could hear her screaming from the phone.

"I take that as a yes…" grandma said nonchalantly.

"Whoa… is that…" Helga asked Arnold. The both of them were in Arnold's room, talking about the incident that occurred today and about the Green-Eyed people.

"Don't mind her." Arnold replied back, "That happens at least once a month."

Stella then walked over to the living room and threw herself on the sofa. She then sat upright and had both of her hands clasping her face, sighing. She was extremely frustrated.

"I'll call you back mom." Miles said to his mother. He realized that he needed to comfort her wife right now.

"Yeah, I understand. "Grandma replied back. "I love you."

"Love you mom." He replied back, and put the phone back. He then walked up to his wife, sat next to her and had one of his arm on her shoulders. The other hand was put on Stella's lap and he rubbed it gently as to calm her down.

---

"Are you really certain about that decision, Helga?" Arnold asked her.

She turned her body around and looked at the ceiling. She then replied, "No." as she threw small plastic rubber ball at the wall. The ball bounced back but she couldn't catch it. She groaned in frustration as she banged her fists on the mattress in frustration.

"Then why did you make it?" He asked back.

"I wasn't aware I'm in an interrogating session, Fútbol Cabeza." She then reached for a random object on a shelf.

Arnold rolled his eyes. That didn't make any sense at all. "Come on, Helga. I'm really worried about this. Last night you said your dad did terrible things to you and your mom, but suddenly you want to go back? Why is that?" he shook his head. "What makes you change your opinion in a matter of seconds?"

"You do that, man." She replied calmly, "Keep on trying." She then shook the snow globe in her hands. It had a 'GREETINGS FROM WINTER HILLWOOD' with Rhonda's signature, couple of hearts and 'Miss you!' on it. "Did Rhonda really give you this junk? What a cheapskate, she is."

Arnold scoffed in disbelief, "Now you're being difficult. The heck is wrong with you?"

She then got up, "You really want to know?" She asked, as she threw the globe at Arnold, and managed to catch it in time. Although, it hit his stomach a bit. "It's your mother. She convinced me to go back. I was so stressed out when she asked me all that dumb questions back at the camp that I couldn't think right. Then she made me called my parents, and I talked to my mother." She shook her head. She really didn't want to talk about it, but Arnold made her do it. "Fortunately, she's happy to finally hear from me. Then I asked her about her wellbeing, and Olga. I didn't mention or hint about Bob, yet still she told me about him. She said he really has changed ever since I'm gone. He really regretted his actions and will do whatever it takes to have me back with my family. I say it's full of crap."

"You're still unconvinced, huh?" Arnold asked again, as he put the globe on the table.

"And the winner is you." She replied back sarcastically, "What does she think I am? She thinks that I'm that gullible? I mean, they've been fighting for God knows how long and suddenly, it's all over and they finally made up and the whole world seems to bright and shiny again?"

Arnold looked at her, trying to answer back. "I guess… your decision by running away does unite them together. It shows that, your whole family cares about you Helga, despite of what you said. I mean… you said it yourself, right? Your mom had little sleep because she was worried about you… your dad called here everyday and tried his best to look for you all over the city with your sister…"

Helga was surprised by the given answer. "Wow…" she said as she looked at the ground, in contemplation, "now you're making me feel bad…" she chuckled weakly. "I've never thought of it before." She then looked at him, "So you're saying that I made a good decision then? Running away from home and all?"

"May be. Despite of what my mother said, personally I think it's a good decision."

Helga nodded weakly, with a smile began to develop across her face, "You think I should give them a chance?"

"I don't see why not." He smiled back, to give assurance.

Helga returned the smile back, "So… why is your mom going to Geneva?"

"Aside from being an aid worker for the Red Cross, she's also WHO observer for San Lorenzo."

"The 'Who' observer?"

"You know… The World Health Organization. She's going to present a report about the Sleeping Sickness along with two other San Lorenzonian doctors."

"Ah…"

---

"Feeling any better?" Miles asked.

"A bit…" she chuckled weakly. Stella then shifted her body a bit and put her head on Miles' chest while having her hand next to her head while the other was put around her husband's body. Miles began to broaden his smile and began to gently caress her wife's hair. He then kissed her on the forehead and Stella smiled at the affectionate display. "Do you think that I'm a bad cook?"

Miles was too afraid to answer this question. It might be a trap. "Well…" he said nervously, trying to find a viable answer, "It depends…" wrong.

Stella lifted her head a bit, looking towards him, "On what?" she demanded.

"Uh…" came the nervous reply, "Depends on…" he knew he was in deep trouble if he told her what he actually thought about her cooking. So he just conjured up some ridiculous answer to save his skin, and to lighten up the mood, "wind condition, traffic, atmospheric pressure…"

Stella gave him a soft jab on his chest and laughed softly, "You moron." They then gave each other a kiss on the lips. They then looked deeply to each other, smiling.

"Dad said he's okay with the plan…" Miles suddenly said to her.

"It's expected. Your parents took a great care of Arnold when we weren't with him, and I think they'll do a great job with him as well."

"Problem is… Arnold is very against it. Remember the time when he got into an argument with his grandmother, trying to talk her out of it and all? The poor old lady couldn't understand a word he's saying."

"Heh…" she chuckled, "His Spanish was totally off back then. At least he has improved a bit now."

"So… are we're ready to tell him about it?"

"I know he's not going to like it, but we have to."

Miles then nodded, "Hey, Arnold!" He called him.

"I wonder what they want." Arnold said to Helga. "Hopefully it isn't about him…" he said as he got up from his chair and went to the living room. Helga decided to stay in the room, since they weren't calling for them both. Hopefully they wouldn't be discussing about her.

"Take a seat." Miles said. Arnold then sat in front them, with the coffee table in between.

Arnold then began to shake his head, like he was listening to a catchy tune, "So… is there a reason for my summoning, wardens?"

His parents then looked at each other with a serious look and shook their heads in disbelief. "Arnold…" Miles said, "It's about Marcelo. We've decided to bring Marcelo to America. His future will be brighter there."

Arnold began to furrow his eyebrows and his expression was everything but happy. He was totally furious about the decision.

"I know you don't agree with it, but—"

"Well, of course I don't agree with it!" he yelled at them angrily. "Don't you guys realize what you're doing? America is totally different from San Lorenzo! And he'll be all alone in that place!"

Calmly, his mother replied, "We know, we disagreed with his grandmother too. But… just look at the bright side, Arnold. He'll have a better—"

"NO!" he yelled, "Mom… please reconsider it. There are only 800 Green-Eyed people left in the world in comparison of 8000 before the war! And by sending him to America you're bringing him further from his people! HIS DYING CULTURE! And don't give me that one person doesn't change a bit junk, because it does!" Helga could hear the family arguing from the confines of the room. It pretty much shattered her every perception of Arnold's family of never been into an argument before.

"Arnold!" Miles said angrily. "Don't you raise that voice to your mother! We don't want to do this either, but we have to!"

"His grandmother wanted us to send him to The United States because she knows he'll have a better future there!" Stella said to her son, "And this is her last wish Arnold, and I suggest for you to respect her wishes!"

Helga slowly opened the door and could see Arnold looking back at his parents in defeated rage. He then promptly got up from his seat and walked out from the house, slamming the door. And everything went quiet after that. Stella and Miles looked at each other in disbelief. Miles shook his head, and sighed. "He didn't take that well, did he?"

Stella could only shake her head. Helga approached them, and looked at the door where Arnold slammed it earlier. Miles and Stella looked at Helga, and she looked at them back. "I think I'll go and see what's going on with that child of yours." She then walked out from the house. Stella then put her hands over her face and her elbows on the lap. "Why is this so difficult?" she said, muffled by the hands.

Helga could see Arnold at the veranda, sitting on a chair while looking at the night sky, deep in thought. She could also see chess pieces scattered all over the floor. She shook her head in disbelief as this was the first time she saw Arnold in an angry rampage. "I get the talk with your parents didn't go as smoothly as you were expecting." She then took a seat on another available chair as she too, look at the star covered sky.

"It's an insane idea." Arnold replied back weakly, with subtle anger imbedded in it. "I can relate with Marcelo though. I was an orphan once. I know the pain of losing someone who you love so much. But it's even more sad to know that he now has nobody to take care of him… all of his family members are dead… his parents… his brother, sister… his grandma… And they'll…" he shook his head, "never come back… and he'll never get a second chance or get to his family back because they're gone forever…"

Helga was saddened by his remark. A kid like Marcelo shouldn't bear the tragedy of losing all of his family members at such a young age, like Arnold. She tried not to say anything back to him, since she felt like he wanted someone to hear him out instead of having a discussion with.

"They'd still be alive if it wasn't for that civil war." Arnold shook his head, "Those power hungry morons… and despite of the ever growing crisis, nobody cared about this insignificant country."

"Arnold…" Helga tried to interject, "I heard there was genocide happened here. I'm sure the world took notice of it."

Arnold shook his head in disbelief. He felt that she needed to be educated, "Helga… have you ever heard of the Bosnian War?"

Helga raised an eyebrow. To where did he want to lead her to? She thought. She had heard of the war before, back when she was in grade school. But back then she didn't care much for what was happening at the other places of the world, but at least she had heard of it, "It's the war in the Balkans right? Bosniaks, Croats, Serbs…"

"Heh…" Arnold scoffed a bit, "It's funny, isn't it? When it got the world's attention, drawing every media group there was covering every inch of the war, places like Rwanda and San Lorenzo were totally neglected. Nobody cared. The only thing I read about San Lorenzo when we were in grade school was a small article in the newspaper about four paragraphs long in page 32, while the Bosnian War made the front page headline. And that war happened thousands of miles away, whereas San Lorenzo is just down south." Arnold shook his head, "If only the world cared, and sent help here earlier, the civil war would've been avoided. Marcelo's family would've been still alive, my parents would've return back home safely..." and at this point he started to say his words brokenly, and his eyes began to brim with tears, "and my brother would've been alive today." A tear rolled down from his eye.

Helga sympathized with his plight. With this little conversation with him she had discovered a new Arnold. She felt like he had always been optimistic and positive just because he wanted to conceal his depressed state from everyone. He didn't want his friends to worry about him had he been morose and melancholic every time when he was with them. Helga on the other hand, showed her aggressive side just to mask her tender side. She was pessimistic about her own life. She couldn't care less what her friends thought about her.

Arnold longed for his parents' love, as opposed to Helga when she was a kid, felt like she was confined and wanted to grow up to quickly so she could get out of the house. She realized that Arnold was her opposite, and because of that, she felt like they needed each other to bring balance to each other's life. If only she was strong enough to confess her feelings to him…

Helga brought her chair next to him, and sat next to each other. The both of them were staring at the beautiful blueish-black colored sky with bright stars dotted around the canvas. They were both deep in thought, and felt like the sky was their only way to cool them down. It gave peace to their mind and soul. Arnold then sat leaning back and had his arm on the armrest. Helga looked at it, and braved herself to take the gamble. Her hand was shaken, but she was determined to do it. She put her hand on his hand. Arnold was taken aback a bit, but he liked the gesture. He responded back by holding her hands tightly and yet, gently. It was… so warm… and comforting and soft.

"The sky is beautiful today, isn't it?" he asked.

"Yes… yes it is." She replied back.

Thus the last scene sparks a plot about how Helga will, little by little, but eventually confess to him. This is just a buildup to a more developed relationship between them. How will it end? That's entirely up to me. Well, thanks for reading, and please give me some feedback. Thank you.

BTW, I'm really sorry about this. I really can't resist my inner geek tendencies since it forces me to do it, so blame him:

He responded back by holding her hands tightly and yet, gently. It was… so warm… and comforting and soft, unlike sand.