Chapter -151: A Game of Take and Take
It's been a couple days since Sarajin returned from Aquamoria. But having encountered the eye-opening sight he did that day, he was no longer content to just wander around his home minding his own business.
He's taken to sneaking around the corner of the houses, eyeing the perches sitting beside the front doors to see what the domesticated birds will bring back.
Gripping his hand tight on the cold stone, his expression is one of nervous anticipation, with him wondering if he was just making unwarranted assumptions.
"I haven't seen any other fish being brought up since then. Maybe there's just one bad adult stealing fish from Aquamoria..." But she persisted in this given task because his patience was plentiful.
He would spend a few minutes looking at one house, and then if a bird didn't return by then he'd move on to another house.
This has been how he's passed the time these last couple of days. But all he's seen the birds bring back are sticks and stones, with a couple chunks of metal too.
He was convincing himself a little too well that the birds were just picking stuff up from the surface and bringing it back to get their owner's attention.
But a couple of those people he observed were thankful for the scavenging jobs and took the objects back into their house like it was normal.
And in the absence of anything else going on, his mind filled in the dull air by focusing extra hard on the past. He was starting to think back to his younger, less ignorant days, when he would just walk through the village with his mom or be carried on his dad's shoulders...
He had seen birds flying back to their houses then. Were they carrying these kinds of objects back then as well? Why did he only realize how strange this was now?
Some hours passed in the day before he finally caught a large, feathery bird with a puffy chest tuft landing on its owner's perch. It was holding something in its beak. A small branch with tons of little dark red berries on it.
Sarajin's heart skipped a beat and his memories of the past overlaid with the present imagery to tell him, "T-Those are...Acai berries."
The owner, a middle-aged woman, walked out of her abode and plucked the berries from the bird's beak. She then picked one berry off and fed it to him, rubbing under his beak to make him coo.
"This'll go well with lunch, thank you so much for doing this for me, dear."
There was no way she could've known how much impact that specific choice of words would have. Nearly exposing himself in his retreat, Sarajin pinned his back against the wall and tensely grit his teeth.
He breathed slowly and heavily until his heart settled down a bit. Then he laid a hand on his chest and sighed, rearing his head back against the rough, rocky surface.
He then slowly opened his eyes, unable to tell if the sunny blue sky above was real or just a figment of his imagination.
"Thief", "Buzzard". He had defended the good name of his people from those insults almost at the cost of exile from Aquamoria...But now it seems like there was truth to their accusations.
"And they aren't just stealing from Aquamoria, but Tanglefae too? And they could be stealing from the other Tribes!"
He slowly peeled away from the wall, but as he did so and turned to the right, he caught a glimpse of a bird returning home with a small fish in its talons.
His eyes widened to the size of grapes. He didn't want to believe what he was seeing anymore, but it was impossible to deny now...The grown-ups in Arc Hurricanos were thieves.
"I've got to tell someone about this...!" Sarajin hastily ran through a few familiar faces in his head, "Nimus? No, he's just one guy, even if he is cool...Dad? No. Mom? Oh definitely not, how would she feel?"
Then came inspiration like a slap of cold air to the face, "Of course! Our leader!"
If there's one other adult he could trust in this village, it's their leader. Because as his mom always said: "He was like a second father to me."
"Mom's always trusted him, so he should be able to help!" He had been to his place a few times already thanks to his mom visiting him, so he knew which way to go.
Thus, as quick as the wind, Sarajin picked up his feet and bolted across the village towards the Northern side, where the shadow of the Titan's tower currently resided.
But along the way his heightened feeling of unease led to him glancing around at all the extra stuff inside of the village. Things like the wooden bridges and fence, which have stood here since long before he was born, could have been built on a foundation of thievery.
And who was to say that's all that was stolen? The birds were certainly theirs, but the cows? It is kind of odd how they were the only creatures in Arc Hurricanos that can't fly in some fashion...
Dishonesty. Distrust. Sarajin was already struggling to connect with his home after experiencing what the surface world had to offer, but now that he was beginning to understand what his people were doing...He was unsure he even wanted to live here anymore.
He eventually made his way around to the other side of the city and found the leader's house currently residing under the tower's shadow.
It was three-stories tall and built sort of like a giant birdhouse, complete with a sole round hole on the top floor where a telescope was poking out, aimed at the sky.
Between the second and third floors was a bed of straw, and between the first and second floor was a large wool poncho, part of which draped down over the very top of the windows.
The rest of the house was made of wood, and hasn't been damaged or aged in years.
Sarajin took a moment to catch his breath and then dragged himself to the front door, a cloth sheet nailed mostly in place by wooden pegs.
The air was freshest here thanks to it sharing the area of the windmill blades on the tower, and it helped relax Sarajin and make him feel more presentable as he headed on inside to meet with the leader.
There were no stairs to speak of, as the man inside could just use his wind to rise up through the holes in the ceiling with ease. On the left side of the foyer was a shelving unit filled with tapestries depicting the many different star alignments he's seen in the night sky.
In the center of the room was a wooden desk made of two interconnected circles, with a small stool behind it that had a cushion for comfort.
The man he was looking for wasn't down here at the moment, so Sarajin raised his head up high and propped the side of his hand beside his mouth, "Lostrom! Are you here, sir?!"
"That voice? Ho ho ho, is that little old Sarajin I hear?" A jolly if not wispy voice came echoing back from the floor above, followed by a portly man slowly descending from the hole in the ceiling, his sky-blue poncho fluttering aside like a pair of owl wings.
He had rosy cheeks and lacked hair atop his head, though most of the rest of his face had some, with his eyebrows in particular being long and fluffy and his beard reaching down to his chest, parting at the center. He occupied the space on his head with a pair of goggles.
Underneath the poncho were some green overalls and behind that, a white shirt. His shoes had many straps that climbed up to his knees.
He definitely looked like a man older than Sarajin's dad, but his soft face and pudgy features made him much easier to be around.
The man, named Lostrom Galleo, looked at Sarajin with a slight hint of discontent on his face and wondered aloud, "Oh my dear boy, you look completely exhausted. What appears to be the problem?"
"S-Sir!" Sarajin gave him a respectful look in the eyes and then pleaded hastily, "There's something really, really urgent I think you should know!"
"Something urgent, you say? Well, lets not dally then, come. Sit. I'll serve us some milk." Lostrom then went to his chilling box on the right and pulled out a large wooden cylinder tightly sealed with milk inside. He then opened the lid and poured some of it into two wooden cups.
He then served them out to Sarajin and himself, and sat down on one side of the desk after providing Sarajin with a seat of his own.
As Lostrom sipped his milk, Sarajin was hesitant to take any from his cup and instead leaned out, put his hands on the desk and told him feverishly, "The grown-ups are using their pet birds to steal stuff from the surface!"
Lostrom immediately spit up his drink onto his beard and started sputtering incoherently for a brief while, "Wh-wh-what?!"
After sputtering for a little while more his eyes bulged like an owl's and he continued, "S-Steal stuff?! That...that's a rather bold accusation you're leveraging against your people, Sarajin!"
Sarajin stood up and proclaimed, "But it's true, sir! I recognize the berries and fish the birds have been coming back with!"
"E-Eh...?" Lostrom's expression turned blank for a moment and it was like he was a statue. If he hadn't blinked Sarajin would've been tempted to tug on his beard to make sure he wasn't having a heart attack.
With a couple coarse coughs the man planted his hands together atop the desk and composed himself, "Ah. Right right...I had almost forgotten that you've made trips to the surface recently."
"Are...are you sure its thievery going on here, Sarajin? A-And not just the birds being their whimsical little selves?" Lostrom sure was stuttering a lot for the kind of man he was, and Sarajin felt a little uneasy seeing it.
"I'm...positive, sir," Sarajin slowly retreated to his seat and continued to look the leader in the eyes, though without as much weight as before, "I saw them delivering the food to their owners, and getting thanks for it."
"Hrrmm, yes, yes, that is a dilemma for sure," Lostrom bobbed his head and closed his eyes, then proceeded to stand up and face the wall behind him. He then raised his right hand with diction and proclaimed, "I will be sure to do something about it as soon as possible!"
Sarajin smiled and then stood up, bowing his head to the man and telling him, "Thank you very much, sir! I hope it'll stop soon, I don't want our people to be seen as thieves..."
"Yes yes of course not. Understandable! Now then, I hope you have a wonderful day, my boy!"
"You too, sir!" Sarajin then felt a little more uplifted as he turned and left the house.
However, unbeknownst to him Lostrom's face was in a cold sweat and he had to let a lot of stress out with a single breath. He then ruffled his brows and mumbled, "Why why oh wise Twinbeak, did I feel compelled to lie to that poor boy?"
"Mmmrr..." Lostrom turned to the front door with a melancholic look in his eyes, "It's happening all over again. Darnia...you must do something about your boy, before it's too late for him."
Some time passes, and now that Sarajin feels a little better about the state of things back home he has been able to concentrate on enjoying himself in Tanglefae and Aquamoria.
Spending his time in Tanglefae napping on Ividae's back alongside Carmine, he learns about many of the different plants they have and even gets to meet some of the insects up close and personal.
He has an unfortunate encounter with a stinger one time though, leaving him with a swollen bump on his arm. Though he's able to laugh it off cause it was funny in hindsight, and helped Carmine learn to laugh a little too.
He drags Justek out of his home to join him on his trips every now and then, but whenever he comes with him to Tanglefae he just leans against a tree and reads from a book, not really interacting with the forest around him.
Ividae tends to trip him up or disrupt his reading whenever he does this though.
And over in Aquamoria, Sarajin takes up Lulu's offer to learn more how to fish. Without her treating him like an enemy, instead he has to deal with the horrors of her treating him like a student alongside Brine.
"C'mon you two! That ain't proper posture!" She shouted, slapping them both right on the center of their spines to make them jolt upright, "If yer gonna hunch over like that might as well be invitin' the fish to jump up and suck your faces off!"
She then lightly patted them on the backs to move them a little closer to the edge, making their legs dangle off in a perfect ninety degree angle.
"There ya go, now don't go slacking on posture again or next time, I'll be getting the eel out." She hit them with a playful bit of banter to motivate them along, but the two took her dead seriously and practically froze in their proper place.
Lulu then wandered off a little bit away and peered over the edge.
Brine and Sarajin stiffly turned their gaze at one another and Brine was the first to break by grinning, "I'm so glad ya weren't scared off of fishing, chum!"
"Why would I be?" Sarajin replied, tilting his head.
"Weeeeeeell..." Brine slowly looked around and Sarajin followed his gaze to the north of the docks, where a couple other fishermen weren't being very subtle with the contempt in their eyes.
But when pressured by the returning gazes of the ones they disliked, they focused back on their fishing. Sarajin hung his head a little and sighed, "I guess I still got to prove myself to some people."
"Ah forget 'em!" Lulu proclaimed, having gotten close by in a snap, "So, how've things been for ya since last time?"
"Besides coming here and Tanglefae? Pretty uneventful." Sarajin said in a haste.
"Haaa, still conversing with those green-thumbs are ye?" Lulu rolled her shoulders and sighed, "What've those wooden planks got that we ain't?"
Sarajin playfully grinned at her and said, "You should go there sometime and find out!"
"Heh, nice joke ya slippery little clam." Lulu then grabbed hold of Sarajin's head hard and ruffled his hair up.
"Ha ha ha!" He laughed, hunching forward, "I'm serious!"
"I know ya are," Lulu then lightly slapped the back of his spine to get him upright, "But that ain't an excuse to slack on yer posture."
Sarajin then sighed pleasantly and looked out to sea. It seemed like there were a couple of fishing hovering around his hook. He had to glue his eyes forward now, and wait for them to bite.
Though that wasn't so easy to do when Brine was striking up a conversation with him this very moment, "So what of ya goal to travel the planet, chum?"
"I betcha he's found his place to be here and don't need to go anywhere else no more." Lulu chimed in with an assertive guess.
However, Sarajin shook his head and chuckled, "I do like it here a lot, but I guess when it comes to going elsewhere..."
Sarajin took a deep breath and a really big smile rose up from his face. He looked up to the sky and remarked, "I don't know where to start! There's so much of the planet left to cover!"
He then craned his head back over his shoulder and remarked, "Just uhhh, remind me again how many Tribes I still need to visit, Justek?"
Justek was on the opposite side of the dock sitting with his legs crossed and a book on his lap. He was insisting on using his back as a shield against any potential water splashes.
He peered his head up for a moment and nudged his glasses into place, "Seven."
Sarajin then snapped his head back and got all excited thinking about it, "See? How am I supposed to decide when there's so many options?!"
Lulu put her arms under her chest and shrugged, "It'd be easier if ya just picked the best one, buuuut I suppose there ain't much use convincin' ya, is there?"
"Nope!" Sarajin cheerfully proclaimed.
Suddenly his rod jerked forward, and because he distracted himself he wasn't able to start reeling it in before the fish lost interest and pulled away.
"Aww, shoot. That could've been a tasty one." He said with his mouth salivating at the thought.
"Ah, don't fret over it. You'll get more of a hang of it over time. Just relax for now." Lulu said in a supportive tone, akin to how his mother did it, just with some more energy.
"Shoot!" Brine proclaimed then after.
Lulu's gaze then narrowed and she waltzed on up to Brine, who flashed a tiny grin and said, "Sorry teacher, I let one get away."
She then pinched his ear lobe gently and he froze stiff in place as she told him, "C'mon boyo! There's such a thing as being too lax! Ya ain't on the level where ya can lean back and let the fish come to ya yet!"
"W-Why are you givin' me grief but not him?! Ack!" When he barked back, Lulu pinched harder and then grinned.
"Don't be back-talkin' me! Or do I hafta tell yer mother yer bein' disrespectful to a girl?"
Brine rapidly shook his hands around and proclaimed, "N-No! Anything but that!"
Lulu let go and then patted him on the back, "Then sit up proper and you'll catch the next fish that comes yer way."
She then laid her hands flat on her hips and said, "Now, I'll leave ya two to it for a bit. Need to go sharpen my knife."
She started to make her way off the docks and when both of them were certain she was out of earshot, Brine spoke up, "She's been a little softer ever since ya faced her, chum."
Sarajin looked back at him wide-eyed and remarked, "Softer?!"
"Ya like, before she'd be pinchin' both my ears when I goofed up," Brine rubbed the back of his head and chuckled, "My ears'd be lookin' like they'd been stung by a Saltpuffer quill by the time she was done! Ha ha ha!"
"Saltpuffer, you say?" Justek poked his head up momentarily to remark, "You should fish me up one of those while you're here. I've heard they're very tasty."
"I can try." Sarajin said, unsure of his chances.
Brine then glanced over his shoulder and remarked, "Why're ya makin' him do the dirty work for ya? He ain't yer slave."
"I mean if he's already sitting there with a rod and hand, who am I not to encourage him to try his best?" Justek said in a smarmy tone that Brine cut right through in an instant.
"Oh good grief..." He groaned.
"He's right," Sarajin said, taking Brine aback momentarily, "I should try and fish up some bigger fish. The smaller ones have been pretty tasty but..."
He was half-salivating, causing Brine to give a wobbly frown and bemoan, "Ah c'mon now, yer 'friend' has got a leash around ya stomach, chum!"
Justek was chuckling behind them and Brine was having none of it. Standing up and turning around to face him, he proclaimed, "You could at least try and fish instead of acting like yer entitled to some!"
Justek cared more about looking down at his book than giving him the time of day, "I told you, not interested."
"Heh, ain't no surprise," Brine scoffed, "Yer so set in yer ways that even the very planet shakin' beneath yer feet couldn't get ya to budge!"
Suddenly, the docks began to shake, starting off with a light rumble until it increased into a very violent tremor. Sarajin was fine sitting on his butt but the intensity of the shakes left his voice vibrating for a good while, "W-W-W-W-What's going o-o-o-o-o-on?!"
The water's surface was going nuts with small waves splashing around all over the place against each other and the fish scrambling away.
And then Brine, caught heel first on the edge of the dock, found himself staggering back. He flailed his arms around rapidly but then, with his eyes wide, he tumbled off the edge and went plummeting towards the water screaming.
"BRINE!" Sarajin shouted, trying at the very last moment to reach his hand out and save him, only to miss.
He continued to lean forward only for Justek to suddenly pull him back by the stomach, right as the tremors settled down, "No you idiot! He'll be fine! He's born for this!"
Sarajin shoved his elbow into Justek's gut and watched as Brine flailed away at the water's surface, struggling to keep his head above sea level, "No Justek! He can't swim!"
Sarajin stood up, tossed his rod to the wayside and prepared to jump without hesitation.
"Don't be a daft fool, boy!" Lulu screamed like a concerned mother as she came rushing up to their side and then jumped straight off into the water.
She swam a short distance to grab and hold Brine up out of the water, where he clung his arms around her neck for safety.
She gasped a little in shock but nevertheless kept her cool and pushed her free hand down into the water. The water then began to rise up beneath her, carrying the two of them back to the safety of the docks.
She then laid him out flat on his back and put both her hands on his chest, "Can ya breathe, Brine?!"
His breaths were a little watery but he was able to spit up most of the water that had gotten inside of him. Lulu breathed a sigh of relief while Sarajin just looked on, his racing heartbeat slowing down, but still plagued by questions.
After Brine had craned his body up, Lulu looked him right in the eyes and had a half-hearted smile, "I leave ya alone for one second and ya get into trouble. Honestly..."
"S-Sorry, teacher..." Brine murmured weakly.
"Ain't yer fault, boyo..." Lulu replied, shaking her head to deny all his guilt.
"What WAS that?!" Sarajin proclaimed in exasperation.
Lulu helped Brine stand and then firmly turned to the east, planting her arms against her chest and looking very intense overall. At least this time it wasn't directed at him.
"It's those damn Quakers in Oreore again..." She said with a snarl.
"Oreore?" Sarajin's intrigue was followed by an immediate recognition of the name, "Oh! That must be the Earth Tribe!"
"Grrrr, buncha dirt-bathin', noise-makin' wankers is what they are," Lulu's complaints about the folks of Oreore weren't sending warning signals to Sarajin though, but building his intrigue, "All of 'em muscleheads pound away at rocks and cause tremors that scare off all the fish!"
"They're very rude, cgghh, cgghhh...!" Brine spat up a little more water.
"Bah, that ain't good..." Lulu groaned, patting Brine on the back to move him along towards the shore, "C'mon, we're gettin' ya back to yer parents."
"T-Teacher, I can still fish!" Brine pleaded.
"They'll be waitin' for yer line in the morning. YOU, need some rest..." Lulu insisted, holding no hostility in her tone.
She then looked over her shoulder and sighed, "Sorry to cut it short today, Sarajin. Ye be takin' care now, and see you later."
Sarajin waved his hand up and was empathetic to Brine's pain, "Ok, you take care of yourself, Brine! You too, Lulu!"
He sighed after lowering his hand, but his tone had a strange amount of enthusiasm to it. And not helping that was the fact he was smiling too.
Justek peered at him from the side and remarked, "Hmph, I can tell you've just decided on where to go next."
Sarajin turned and with a quick but powerful bob of his head said, "Yeah! We should go and visit Oreore next!"
He then clenched his fists up before his chest excitedly and proclaimed, "I want to know just how they caused those shakes to happen! It sounds interesting!"
"And dangerous," Justek said in an ominous tone, before shifting right towards a nonchalant smile, "So, head there tomorrow?"
"Yeah! Oreore is like...to the right of my home, I think?" Sarajin crossed his arms against his chest and then waved a hand towards Justek, "Do you want to meet up part way here?"
"With your tendency to be late I'd rather you just come pick me up at home so I'm not forced to endure the awful sea air."
"Fair enough! Alright, I'll catch you tomorrow then, Justek!" Sarajin proclaimed.
"Very well, it's a plan." He agreed with little enthusiasm.
The two then parted their separate ways for now, with Sarajin returning home to get some dinner and hopefully, a comfortable night's sleep.
It would be hard to do that now when a new horizon awaited him tomorrow, but he was going to try. It was nice that things were looking up again after that brief worry he had a while back.
He arrived back on Arc Hurricanos and made his way through the familiar path back home. But before he crossed the bridge back home, something caught his attention out of the corner of his eye.
A large bird was coming down to land on its owner's perch...And in its beak was a rather large fish.
"..." Sarajin stared at the bird for a bit and then rubbed his eyes. When he opened them again the bird was still there doing that, with the owner coming out to take the fish.
He detoured off his given course to make his way over to the man and wasted no time with a rhetorical question, "Where did you get that fish?"
The man stopped turning for the front door and answered cheerfully, "Why, I got it from the surface!"
"You mean you stole it from Aquamoria." Sarajin replied, beginning to glare at him.
"No...My bird here picked it up from the sea." Would've worked as a defense, had Sarajin been a few weeks younger.
"The sea belongs to the people of Aquamoria! You need to give that fish back!"
"Look kid," The man's tone turned dismissive, "My family's waiting to eat. Just go home."
Sarajin suddenly jumped towards him and tried to snatch the fish out of his hands, "This isn't yours!"
The man's height let him hold the fish out of the way while his tone got more hostile, "Cut it out! Why do you care what we eat?!"
"Because you didn't earn it!" Sarajin quickly fired off a blast of air beneath his feet to boost his jump, allowing him to snatch the fish out of his hands and land behind him.
Without any other thoughts weighing him down, Sarajin ran to the side of the area and tossed the fish over. If it'd land in the water again or not likely didn't matter for its survival, but at least it'd be where it belonged.
Huffing and puffing, he turned himself around only to receive a sharp slap to the side of his face. His expression morphed into one of pain and surprise as he stumbled sideways, his head hung over and a hand slowly rising to the throbbing pain on his face.
"You crazy brat! That was our meal for tonight!" The man aggressively pulled him up by his shirt and his face was a scary shade of red.
Sarajin stammered for some sort of response but there was nothing he could think of.
"HEY!" A loud, commanding voice came from atop the nearby stairs, and when Sarajin looked up he saw his dad lurking in front of the setting sun.
His presence was marked with a nasty glare in his eyes pointed at the man. Without a second warning his father ran down the stairs and pulled Sarajin out of his grasp, his eyes never turning away from the man as he gently put his son on the ground.
"How dare you lay a hand on my son." His father's voice was grizzled and provoked into aggression. Sarajin was scared into silence from how harsh a tone his dad was taking.
The man opposite them trembled a little but then narrowed his gaze at his father, "This your boy, Darnia?"
The tension in the air was thick, with the man continuing to press Sarajin's dad some more, "Well he just went and took my fish and tossed it out of the city."
He crossed his arms and gestured a hand off his elbow, "So how is he going to compensate me for it?"
Sarajin watched as his father's expression went from intense to warm, as he turned and settled his gaze on his face. Then, with a demure sigh he stood up all the way and approached the man to whisper in his ear, "Let us head inside for a moment."
The man raised his brows and then the two of them went into his house. Sarajin just stood there and waited quietly for a few minutes until his dad walked out, turning to give the man one last remark. The man was now looking pale in the face, but overall much more pleasant than he had before.
His dad raised his finger at the man and all he could make out him saying was, "This doesn't leave this house."
"Y-Yes, sure..." The man hesitantly retreated into the house while Sarajin's dad turned and made his way over to his son.
"D-Dad, I-" Sarajin tried to speak up but his dad was looking at him with a sagging glare. He closed his eyes and shook his head, showing neither contempt nor pity. He was just tired, and gently placed his hand on his son's shoulder.
"Say nothing. Let's go home now, son."
It was a long, quiet walk back to the house, where all they could do was look at each other, or the sun setting in the sky.
In his mind Sarajin didn't feel like he had done anything wrong, but his heart was so heavy it might as well be falling out of his body this very moment.
When they finally arrived at home it was a little uplifting to find his mom just going about her normal business, like making dinner, even if she wasn't standing tall.
Tonight was beef patties and a dandelion salad, with a little bit of washed moss for flavor. The three of them sat down and began to eat. Sarajin took in food slowly and only peeked up occasionally to see if his father was looking his way.
He was, every now and then. He clearly wanted to say something, so he should've just said it and gotten it over with.
After many minutes of silent back and forth, his father put a resounding end to it by clinking his fork down onto his plate. He then looked his son in the eyes and remarked, "Are you going to tell your mother what you did, or shall I?"
Sarajin jerked his head up and gave his full attention. But when his mom set her plate down and looked at him with worry, he was hesitant to say a word.
So it didn't take long for his dad to sigh and do the job for him, "Our son got into trouble with one of the neighbors."
"Uh oh..." His mom whispered.
His dad then looked at her and remarked, "He took their meal and tossed it off the side of the city."
His mom gasped and then, with her tender eyes joining his father's stern glare, Sarajin could only feel terrible as his mom asked, "Is that true?"
Shaking and rattling deep inside, a defiant outcry burst out of Sarajin's guilty conscience, "T-They had stolen a fish from Aquamoria! I-I was just trying to make things right..."
"Oh, well..." His mom pulled away and though it sounded like she had something else to say, went silent and put her hands on her lap.
Without her backing, Sarajin was forced to look at his dad's face and his disappointment was immeasurable. He closed his eyes and muttered, "You robbed someone of their meal, Sarajin. You were lucky I was there to set things right."
"Dad, he stole food!" Sarajin put his hands down on a table and his voice was practically pleading his case, "And it's not just him! Other people are stealing food from Aquamoria AND Tanglefae! I told Lostrom about it a while back but I guess he's having trouble figuring out who all the thieves are..."
His dad's forehead crinkled and with yet another sigh he gently laid his hands on the end of the table and remarked, "...They do what they must to survive."
"W-What...?" Sarajin gasped.
"Sometimes I don't think you grasp just how privileged you are, Sarajin." He replied in a stern, tired tone.
Sarajin rattled his head around in disbelief and then thrust it forward, "Y-You're defending them?! Stealing is wrong!"
His father thrust his eyes wide open and dully raised his voice, "Is it wrong when it ensures your family is healthy and well-fed?"
"I-I...!" Sarajin gawked, his mouth agape in an embarrassing way.
"You're thinking about what's right instead of what is correct, Sarajin," He remarked, his tone not cold, but distant all the same in Sarajin's eyes, "You're at that age where your emotions control you, and it clouded you to the bigger picture."
"We are not a spacious Tribe. Our population doesn't even reach into the tens of thousands. There's only so much food that can go around at any given time, as it's not like the cows and chickens will just birth new livestock on command."
"So some houses will go without eggs, or milk, and thus have to resort to other means to feed themselves. And if that means taking from other Tribes, it'll at least help them sleep at night knowing they did it to help the ones they love."
Even with all the patience his dad had spared him, Sarajin thought only in terms of what his heart was telling him was true. So he responded with a blunt question of, "But WHY do they have to steal? If they just went down to the surface and asked Tanglefae and Aquamoria for help, they'd-"
"Comply with their demands?" His father's brows slanted, and he punctuated his point with a firmer tone than before, "And then what? Having dined on the pleasures they have to offer, our people would crave more and more. With an endless, ravenous appetite they would continue to feed themselves on the plants and fish. Then they'd start living down on the surface, adding to the population of the Tribes, creating an ecological imbalance that not even the Titans would be able to overturn."
Sarajin grit his teeth but that pitiful denial of the truth couldn't prevent his father from speaking it, "The way things are now may be dull and flawed but it works. It keeps us alive. It keeps us safe."
He then closed his eyes and muttered, "And you assume too much about how the other Tribes would accept our people."
"But I earned their acceptance!" Sarajin shouted one last brave cry before his father's glare turned icy, and rendered him immobile in both actions and tongue.
"The rest of the world does not conform to your naive idealism, Sarajin!" He proclaimed, standing up tall, and looming over his son with a menacing look on his face.
Sarajin shook all over and backed away from the table. He was so scared and miserable looking that it made his father's expression ease up. But the damage had been done, and he watched as his son ran for the stairs and went to his room without ever looking back.
Darnia frowned and hung his head in anguish, seeing only the silent stare of his wife from the corner of his eyes.
He raised his head and asked following a poignant sigh, "...What else am I supposed to do, Misty?"
"...I didn't say anything because I believe both of you have a point," Misty closed her eyes and took hers and Sarajin's plates off the table, "And I think you agreed with him too. It just pains you to hear him speak that way."
As she went off to the kitchen, Darnia picked up his own plate and brought it over to her. And all he felt was a sense of melancholy, and remorse, "...When did I become who our son feared the most?"
"It doesn't have to be that way, honey," She said while cleaning the dishes off, "You can still protect someone, while letting them be free."
"But just how much freedom is too much?" Darnia put a gentle hand over his wife's shoulder and whispered in her ear, "I wish you would help me more."
She leaned back and kissed him on the nose, giving him a playful smile, "Somebody has to be the good guy in this household. But I know you'll do what is needed in time, honey."
"...You're right." Darnia kissed her back on the cheek and then with a couple pats to her shoulder, he turned and slowly made his way up the stairs.
He took a brief glance at the door on his left where his son had gone to and peeked inside. He was lying atop his bed with his face pressed against the sheets.
He pulled away in silence and then turned to enter the other room. Inside he moved straight for the closet curtain and peeled it back, staring longingly at what was inside.
After what felt like a minute, he closed his eyes and sighed, "I wish I had the strength within me. But more than anything I fear for what my son would think..."
He closed the curtain, concealing a fishing rod made out intertwined black wood roots laying against the back wall.
"If I told him the truth..."
Next Time: Decay