Chapter -60: A Youth's Own Path

"My name is Pitori Gaia, and I have two of the best parents in the whole world!"

The young Pitori was fiddling around with some scraps of gemstones and metals that the blacksmiths didn't need, near the comfort of his home.

Horns blared through the ravine, rumbling coming from the west side.

He poked his head up, coming aware of the growing sounds of his people. A hundred miners were picking up their arms and armors to run into the heat of battle.

"Another invasion?" Pitori thought with worry.

Through all the people he picked on the faces of his mom and dad running side by side, the sight of them illuminated with a white backdrop.

Pitori smiled and dropped his pebbles as he stood and swung his fist before his chest, "Go get them, mom and dad!"

The stampede of able men and women carried him forward a little and he stumbled over his small feet. But not one to feel fear, he pressed forward and tried to run alongside them, gasping for air in the face of all the dust.

Once they were too far gone he looked around to make sure the adults weren't watching and then began climbing the nearby rock wall.

The gates were being forced open by frost-tipped ropes. Boulders were being dropped on the invaders.

"Cryofloe..." Pitori uttered midway up the cliff. He then stuck the tip of his tongue out and grunted his way up to the top of the ravine, where he'd run closer to the gate to get a better look at the battleground.

Cryofloe was launching a massive attack in an attempt to force their soldiers into the ravine. He didn't know why, he wasn't considered mature enough to learn about war.

But he could always overhear his parents talking about "strategy" in their bedroom, and picked up that Cryofloe's leader is a very bad man.

Mom in particular got meaner whenever they came up. There was history between them. He wanted to learn it. She wouldn't talk.

"Mom and I don't talk much. She's always keeping her distance. Watching me play, eat. I know she loves me. She kisses me when I fall asleep. I want to do more with her, cause I love her too."

He hunched towards the ground cause the last time he was caught, he got yelled at.

There was a lot of overwhelming action, but his mom stood out in the crowd.

She was graceful, strong and beautiful. Watching her was always a treat, making him giggle with pride.

"That's my mom!" He'd think.

She was slipping around and disabling the soldiers' big furry dogs, on her way to confront their leader.

Before she'd get her chance another bad man got in her way. Father called him a "flying rat", but he heard the name "Nimus" tossed around by Uncle Sarajin too.

They were able to keep his mom on her toes and away from Cryofloe's leader. And after forcing her back into the thick of battle she had to take up arms to combat the other soldiers.

This led to her standing back-to-back with his dad. They were in perfect sync, using each other's movements to line up soldiers for the other to knock down.

"Yeah!" He cheered quietly after the two kicked two different soldiers down at the same time.

That Nimus person blew on by them overhead and forced his way into the ravine.

"Ah!" Pitori let that out and then grabbed the edge of the ravine as it started shaking from the miners dislodging boulders to knock the rat out of the sky.

But he turned around to find they were losing that battle and worse than that, Nimus used his floating blades to stab into wheelbarrows and carry them off with him.

Pitori puffed his cheeks and gripped his fists up before his chest and ran to try and help.

He quickly found his father charging into the ravine on his elevated stone platform, the way opened to him thanks to a slide of ice his mother made.

Pitori couldn't keep pace, his dad was an adult after all. And he had the fire of a furnace and the roar of an angry Heaver keeping him going.

"Dad never gives up. He always put his best foot forward. He's courageous, and gentle. I love spending time with him. He's the strongest person I know!"

Nimus was good at dodging his dad's attacks but his dad wasn't making it easy on him. Boulders and rock walls were being thrown at the flying rat and it helped to free some of the loads he was trying to make off with.

Pitori fell from the shockwaves any clashes caused but picked himself back up and kept going.

His dad was going to win! Of course he was! Cause the men of Oreore are like diamonds: Unbreakable!

Circumstances let Pitori get ahead of his dad as they were nearing the end of the ravine. There, he gasped at another one of the bad people waiting to get in their way.

It was some lady with green hair and a slender, elegant body. She looked so tired, and withdrawn, but her presence came as a big enough shock to make his dad pause.

Nimus then escaped above the lady and snapped his fingers.

The lady raised her arms and caused parts of the rock walls to disappear and be replaced with water...Including Pitori's footing.

As the water went crashing into the ravine he was dragged down along with it, his heart racing like a fever.

He kept trying to look out for his dad, and found he was being swept up in the waters flooding the ravine.

He managed to stick his hammer into the ground to stand against the rising waters, while the bad people had turned tail and ran.

Pitori's mind was in a rush of excitement and panic, but focused more on the former when he was snatched up in his father's arm.

"Gotcha boy!" He grunted, helping him to get atop his shoulders until the waters ran dry.

With the danger of the moment passing, his dad took on a more stern tone as he sighed, "What'd I tell ya about laying low during invasions?"

"S-Sorry dad..."

"...As long as yer safe." By the time his dad settled out of his concern, the water had leveled out.

The rest of the day was pretty uneventful. Uncle Sarajin eventually showed up and pushed Cryofloe's forces out of the ravine, then stayed around to clean up.

Pitori got lectured. Again. This time by his grandma.

They don't like how his curiosity gets him into trouble. But he can't see anything wrong with what he's doing.

"I have a lot of questions. But nobody wants to answer them. Do I have to grow up to get them?" Were the way Pitori's thoughts tended to go, "I'm seven years old...eleven more until I'm old enough."

Days and weeks go by quickly when you're a kid. Curiosity fills in the dull hours.

There weren't as many invasions as he remembered their being when he was a baby. Cause his mom and dad were really strong. They lost supplies, but never their spirits.

One quiet day, Pitori took the family dog out for a walk while his mom and dad were busy reinforcing the eastern edge of the ravine.

The upside of being a kid was that nobody paid attention when he wandered. He stuck around the ravine, never poking his head out into the wastelands to the east.

He didn't have any friends outside of his family. Other children didn't share his hobbies of material collecting. In fact they laughed.

"Rocks get picked up and used. Metal is processed for weapons and armor. Gems are infused into our tools. I wanna find out what else they can do. They're very interesting to me."

There was a part of the outer wall where even a young fella like him could safely pull out some metal ore with his bare hands.

He used the dog's big droopy ears to carry them back in secret when his pockets got full.

"Huh?" During today's excavation he heard a loud winding noise joining up with where he was.

He quickly took cover behind a small rock and poked his head up, hushing the dog when he moaned.

He then itched away at the rock with anticipation and a smile.

A few metal boxes were rolling up to another excavation point close by. They were each as tall as him and had a sleek drill attached to the front of their bodies that they used to loosen the rock.

Once they started working Pitori was shaken by his dog howling and running off with a loud series of barks.

"Geo...!" He hissed through his teeth.

The metal boxes didn't budge and kept digging deeper into the wall.

Pitori knew his time was numbered, but this just amplified his inquisitive nature.

He fiddled his fingers on the stone and then tried to crawl out from behind cover, sneaking along the wall juuuuust enough to poke his head out and see what the metal boxes could do.

Once they drilled enough metal loose they backed off and the drills split in half, revealing a hole with a few metal blades inside.

"I think Uncle Sarajin called it a fan...?" He guessed, his eyes as wide as his smile, "Is THAT how they suck up the ore?"

Indeed, when metal turned and made the fan twirl, the little bits of ore were dragged into the box until it was full. Then the fan came to an abrupt stop and the metal boxes bobbled around.

"Wow...!" Pitori continued to crawl along and felt the hairs on his skin stick up, pulling towards the metal wheels at their base.

He tried to get EVEN closer but the metal boxes were on their way out. Their wheels sped up, creating a discharge of some strange, fizzy blue energy, and they were off.

All except one. It was making a lot of popping sounds and giving off smoke. The drill opened and shut, spewing out hot pebbles.

The fizzy energy was flying everywhere and one hit him, causing his hair to rise and his brain to go wild with energy.

The metal box then rammed backwards into the wall repeatedly until it seemed to run out of steam and stopped moving.

Pitori wondered "What happened?" with the same pity a child would spare a wounded pet.

When he went to examine it, of course he didn't know what to do. There were a lot of metal parts with shapes he'd never seen, all of it working together for a time.

And that fizzy energy was all over the place on the inside. It was all super neat. He wanted to pick it apart and try to figure out how it worked.

This would have filled up an entire day. Maybe two! Maybe three!

This was a whole playground for a kid like him.

Sadly, the shout of panic from his dad made him freeze up and wait for him to get closer. He had lost track of time enjoying the company of this broken metal box.

Once his dad was there though, his hammer ground the metal into dented scrap. One dying gasp of fuzzy energy, and that was the last word spoken from it.

Pitori curled his lower lip while his dad held him down by the shoulder and reprimanded him, "Ya shouldn't be toyin' around with those thieving metal boxes, boy. Ya could get hurt..."

He was calm, gentle, guiding him back to the safety of home with his giant hand.

Pitori kept looking back at the metal box with a somber look in his eyes.

"Dad doesn't get mad much, except when those metal boxes are involved."

"I remember they weren't that big before. Nobody wants to tell me why..."

"A weird person had come into our home a year ago carrying an object that looked like metal boxes. Dad didn't like him either."

Pitori looked up to his dad's tired, serious expression and listened to him mumble under his breath, "Business as usual with 'em..."

Over the course of the following week Pitori kept trying to sneak back out to the remains of that metal box and take some of it back home to study.

Not everything was destroyed. Maybe he'd be able to figure out how it worked?

It was like a puzzle, but with some metal teeth instead of jagged stone.

He carried it outside whenever his dad and mom were busy talking with their comrades from other Tribes. He didn't want to be a bother.

One day he caught the tail end of a conversation between Uncle Sarajin and his dad.

Uncle Sarajin was saying, "Do you get what I'm saying now?"

To which his dad replied, "Ok, alright, I'll make my way to Tanglefae when I get a chance. Suppose I owe Carmine a favor anyways."

"Don't push yourself, Zeke." His Uncle raised his fist and his dad bumped it with a smile.

"Ha! Same goes to ya, brother!"

Sarajin then climbed down the steps while his dad went back into the house.

Pitori flinched and then hastily focused on his work. His Uncle's shadow lingered over him, he then bent down and greeted him with a cheery disposition.

"Hey Pitori, what did you get there?"

Pitori tried to tuck the gears he put together behind his hip and with an impish smile and blush he said, "N-Nothing, Uncle!"

"Hmmm..." Sarajin reached out behind him and brought the assembly into view, causing him to whisper with a degree of fondness, "Oh hey, I recognize these gears."

"Gears?" Pitori echoed, replacing shyness with intrigue.

Sarajin got on his knees and put the gears on his lap. His eyes continued to widen and then with a couple blinks in Pitori's direction he asked, "How did you get a hold of these?"

"Ummm, a metal box on the outer wall of the ravine."

"Metal box? Ha, I haven't heard them called that in years!" Sarajin said with a hint of child-like laughter in his voice.

Pitori gasped, "YOU know what they are?"

"Sure do!" Sarajin proudly proclaimed.

Pitori got on his hands and knees and crawled up closer to his Uncle, his excitement nearing a peak, "Can you tell me? Pleeeease? Nobody else wants to..."

Sarajin's face sagged with a sigh and he relented without a second thought, "You're really into this kind of stuff, aren't you?"

Pitori nodded until he felt dizzy.

"Ha ha!" Sarajin then handed the gears back and stood up, "I'll do you one better then, I'll introduce you to a guy who works with these."

"You know who made the metal boxes?"

"That's right!"

Pitori stood, looking a little shaken as he asked, "I-Is it ok if I go somewhere else?"

"That depends," Sarajin smiled, "Did you eat?"

"Mom made a big lunch for me."

"Then we're fine! Here, hop on my back." Sarajin then bent back down so Pitori could climb up.

While he rose back up he gave a fair warning, "This is your first time flying, so hold on tight to my waist."

Pitori was trembling with excitement and Sarajin giggled at him warmly for it.

"Ok! HOLD ON!"

Pitori felt his weight leaving him as his Uncle carried him high over the ravine and flew straight towards the south side.

He was already farther away from his home in one second than he had been his entire life. There were rocks everywhere, but his wandering gaze didn't last long...

"I wouldn't look down if I were you," Sarajin warned with a more serious tone than usual, "Juuuust keep looking straight. Our destination is ahead of us."

Pitori opened his eyes as far as they'd go to a new land coming up. It was a massive city made of metal and had a glow similar to that fuzzy energy the metal boxes emitted.

"Welcome to Pulsa Minoria, Pitori, this is the Tribe of Electricity!"

"Electricity...wooooow...!" His eyes were lighting up like the stars he gazed upon at night, and he carried that feeling until Sarajin landed them at the front of the city.

The gates were armed with a ton of that fuzzy energy, which MUST be the element of Electricity he was talking about.

Sarajin waved his hand around and the gate was dispelled. He kept Pitori behind for the moment and headed inside, returning with a strange, smooth material folded up into a bundle.

He unfurled it to reveal it was shaped to fit a kid his size save for the head, and he didn't even have to take off his clothes to use it!

Sarajin then guided him inside and Pitori saw all the city for what it was worth. So many new sights and sounds, tons of electricity flowing through every nook and cranny.

And all of it was built out of metal, the material he loved the most!

Sarajin let him roam free but stuck close behind so he wouldn't get lost.

Pitori quickly jumped on these metal creatures roaming around that looked like his dog and spent a long time petting them and rubbing his cheeks against their electrified bodies.

His child-like sense of wandering carried his voice throughout his journey through the city. And it was only when he was content with seeing all there was to see that he ran up to his Uncle and pleaded with him for answers, "How was this all made? It's. So. Cool!"

"Heh heh, isn't it?!" Sarajin cheered his excitement with similar enthusiasm, "Well hey, I promised to introduce you to one of the guys who helps make this stuff. You ready to see them now?"

Pitori gasped until he went silent.

"Then follow me!" Sarajin turned around and, waving his hand over his shoulder, took him to a building that didn't seem any different from the rest in its sector.

He gave a couple knocks on the door and remarked, "Valic! I got someone who wants to meet you."

"A visitor?" Mumbled a vaguely familiar voice behind the door, "Ha, I'd rather you give me more time to prepare but whatever. Come in."

Sarajin used a bit of electricity from his finger to make a metal panel change colors and the door slid open all on its own.

Pitori's dropped jaw trailed the door until he entered the building and overheard Sarajin starting a conversation with the lone man in the room.

Pitori then froze up and felt awkward being here when he saw the man's face, "It's the guy dad doesn't like...!"

He hung around at the door while Sarajin and Valic talked it out for a bit. This was definitely a conversation for grown-ups, he didn't understand what was going on.

So he wound up tip-toeing over to the nearby table, where a bunch of strange metal scrap pieces were laid out.

Metal that had been twisted into a spiral, copper lines sticking out of a metal pipe, and a thick, curved pipe that looked like it could hold a lot of air. These were just a few of the things he managed to get his hands on.

He picked up the spiral and tucked it into his vest pocket and shuffled his way down to the adjacent table. There he noticed the object Valic had brought with him to Oreore, just lying there.

He picked it up and twirled it around until he had visibility on the hole the electricity might come out of.

"Huh..." He hummed, then looked between the spiral and the object, noticing how the end of the spiral was big enough to fit in the hole.

He started to push it in when...

"Excuse me." Valic had planted his hand down atop his wrist and started looking at him with a deep, introspective look.

Pitori shivered, feeling like he was being judged by one of his parents, "U-Umm, I'm sorry, I was just...looking at your stuff."

"I can see that," Valic quickly turned aside and gestured lightly at Sarajin, "Sarajin, did you not lay out the rules to this kid before entering?"

"Maaay have slipped my mind." He replied while rubbing the back of his head and barely fazing Valic with his smile.

"Unsurprising," Valic sighed, before guiding his hand across the table to his object, and pulling it from Pitori's grip, "Please don't mess my stuff. I just rebuilt this a few months back."

Valic then carried it off beside his hip and Pitori followed, more enamored with questioning this man while he had his attention, "You made this by yourself?"

"Of course." Valic beamed with pride.

"What does it do?"

"Well, if you'd just give me a moment to correct your error..." Valic tried to pull the spiral free from the object but struggled.

"Mmmph...! Mmph...!" He put this to a stop and handed it off to Sarajin.

"Here, you started this."

Sarajin waved his hand out and laughed, "I don't want to break it by accident. Maybe if you fire it the electricity will repel it out of there?"

Valic pointed the object at the door and with a mere shrug clicked the trigger and held it down. The object started to glow with electricity that infused inside of the spiral, and made it glow bright red.

The object fell out of his grip in a hurry and upon hitting the floor, the glowing part caused it to sizzle.

Pitori felt a terrible vibe in the air and backed away, pressing his pointer fingers together, "S-Sorry...this is my fault."

Valic was silent, Sarajin had his eyes wide open, carrying the same level of curiosity Pitori could relate to.

When the glow died out, Valic picked the object up and moved it around similar to how Pitori examined objects.

Once he had his fill, all he could utter was a meager "What a fascinating reaction..." and attempted to keep that to himself, only to draw out more of Pitori's intrigue as he edged in closer.

Valic then surprised him by turning to face him, leveraging the object towards his face with his lips puckered slightly, "Boy. What was your theory behind putting these two objects together?"

"Th-Theory?" Pitori shook his head a lot while explaining, "I...felt like they belonged together."

"Felt?" Valic spoke as though the word was foreign to him.

His eyelashes fluttering, he turned to Sarajin with wide eyes and asked, "Sarajin, who is this boy? Where is he from?"

"You don't recognize him? You had to have seen him when you were in Oreore."

"I'd rather not remember that day but, oh..." Valic was mid-scratching his head before his mood started to sour, "Yes, ok, I vaguely recall a child in that household."

He then pointed across his chest at Pitori with mouth agape.

Pitori saw a bunch of question marks in his head and didn't know where this conversation was going or if it was good or bad.

"O-Oh!" Pitori reached into his pockets and pulled out the gears he had been working on, bowing his head as he passed them off to Valic, "I think...these belong to you. I picked them off one of your metal boxes."

Valic slowly took them out of his head and was sounding friendlier by the moment, "W-Well, I appreciate the kindness, but those aren't MY drones. I don't have much use for them these days."

Valic then nudged his head aside, "Not when I have a useful metal supplier on my side."

Sarajin crossed his arms under his poncho and grumbled, "I'm glad our relationship has come soooo far."

Valic stared deep at the gears and winced. With no hesitation he gestured them out and whispered, "Did you put them back together?"

"Yeah...?"

"Why?"

"Ummm, I was trying to fix what I could, maybe...figure out why it went 'Kaboom!'"

"Haaaa, our new recruits are being too eager with the medium-class prototypes." Valic then put the gears on the table and lingered there for a while before putting the fused objects up as well.

Overlooking them both while Pitori stood over his shoulder, Valic began to hang his head and sigh deeply.

He then slammed his hands down, accidentally scaring the boy off before he turned around to face him.

He first directed his attention towards Sarajin and muttered aloud, "I suppose...I should be the bigger man for once, shouldn't I?"

Valic then turned to Pitori and asked him a very personal question with his hands tied behind his back and a wise smile on his face, "Kid, do you like our creations here in Pulsa Minoria?"

"T-They're very interesting, I like the feeling they project..."

Valic then waved his hand out and hastened his voice, "Then I'll cut straight to the point. Become my pupil. I will teach you how to make electronics like we do."

"H-Huh, really...?!"

Sarajin gasped, "Valic...you..."

Valic put a finger up to silence him and then extended his hand to Pitori, whose heart was racing with ecstasy, "You have perspective. I can respect that. Perhaps that's what we need more of around here."

Pitori looked to Sarajin and then back to Valic, then back at Sarajin, stuttering the whole way through.

All he could think about...was his mom and dad.

"Mom and dad don't like this person...b-but, he doesn't seem like a bad man."

"I really, really, really do like Electricity...but it's not my element. I'm supposed to grow up to either be an Ice or Earth wielder. That's what my parents expect of me."

"...But, I really want to learn more about what makes electricity work. They built houses, tools, and even dogs with it."

"What do I do? Why can't anyone give me answers?"

This was really too much for a seven-year old to take in all at once, so Sarajin stepped in between the two's conversation and offered his input, "I know Pitori wants to be your pupil, but first we're going to need to run this by his parents."

Valic withdrew his hand and with a lofty breath murmured, "Right, he's the son of that furry-chested barbarian I suppose."

Valic rolled his hand around and commented with a hint of bitterness, "PLEASE make a good effort to convince them. I'd hate to see this child's curiosity be wasted."

"I-I'll do my best..." Sarajin said, with the addendum of him muttering, "Hoo boy..."

They then left Valic to the comfort of his lab. Sarajin picked Pitori up and flew him back home.

Pitori could sense that something bad was about to unfold...

And at first he'd be disarmed of that feeling by the comfort of home, only to have that snatched away by his dad scrambling to his feet to come and greet him.

"There ya are! Ya had me worried SICK boy!" He dove to his knees and embraced his son in a tight hug that went down to the bone.

"I-I'm fine, dad..."

His mom approached, but more to address Sarajin, "I suppose you can be good for some things, Sarajin."

"Gee, that's the nicest thing you've ever said to me, Cecilia." Sarajin said in a jovial manner.

Pitori's dad pulled away, put his hands on his shoulders and muttered in a cracking voice that was fighting off tears, "Ya gotta stop runnin' off on me. What'd I ever do...if I were to lose ya, son?"

"I-I didn't run off, dad...Uncle Sarajin took me to Pulsa Minoria."

It was but an innocent spark that set off the ensuing fire. Pitori watched as his father's eyes began to burn, drying out the tears as he rose and nudged him behind his legs over towards his mom.

Then, directing that hot glare towards Sarajin, his dad muttered in a deep baritone, "Excuse me?"

Sarajin slanted his brows and tried to appeal to his rage in a sensible manner, "It's not a big deal. He was interested in their electronics, so I showed him around there."

"No big deal?!" Pitori's dad was thoroughly in disagreement, "Who gave ya permission to take our son away from home, into enemy territory no less?!"

"'Enemy territory'? Zeke, come on! How long are you going to keep this grudge up?!"

"Until their all on their hands and knees apologizin' for all the stuff they've stolen from us!" His father sputtered his lips and then lashed his head out, "That ain't the point! What the HELL were ya thinkin'?!"

"I-I was just trying to give him what he wanted..." Sarajin said, retreating like a meeker man.

"He ain't yer boy, brother," His father squeezed his fists and put one of them forward, "If ya want to be reckless with yer son's life, by all means go right ahead, but you don't get to be the father of mine."

Sarajin narrowed his eyes and remarked, "Do you know what happened when I went there? Valic was impressed by his instincts. YOUR son...!"

Sarajin pointed over at Pitori, who was curling up against his mother's thigh in fright, "Was just asked to work under the smartest mind in all of Pulsa Minoria! That's a great opportunity for him, for US! It can be the first step in bridging the gap between your Tribe and theirs!"

"Oh ho ho! Maybe ya've been too busy with yer head in the clouds but in case ya've forgotten, that brainiac just accused me of murder not even a year ago!" His father then scoffed and crossed his arms, "Interested in my boy, bah! He just wants a hostage!"

"Valic is NOT like that!" Sarajin then stumbled back on his words, "M-Maybe back then, he would have considered it...But he's choosing to be the bigger man here and trying to reach out."

"I don't CARE!" His father's roar shook the whole house and made Pitori start to see him in a beastly light.

"He's a THIEF...! My son belongs to this family, these lands...!"

"What if he wants to be someone else though?!" Sarajin shouted, "Remember what we're fighting for, Ezekiel!"

"He'll be what I want him to be! I'm his father, and if I say he'll be just like me I...I..." His rage boiled down to him quivering in place and losing the strength of will in his expression...

"O-Oh no..." He mumbled, sorrowful and regretful at once...

When he tried to put his tender eyes upon his son, Pitori shoved off of his mother's leg and ran out the door in fear and silence.

He ended up going up atop the ravine and sat near the gate with his legs tucked against his face and his whole body shivering.

He was up there for some time before anyone came to visit him.

And it was his dad, somber and cautious, his voice as weak as dirt, "Pitori..."

He sat down beside him and put his hand on his back, giving it a slow rub.

When they two settled into each other's presence, Pitori raised his head and asked the question no parent wanted to hear, "Dad...am I...a disappointment to you...?"

"Aaah..." He pulled his hand away and dumped it onto his lap, hunched over with a sigh, "No. No, hardly."

"Really? Cause I feel so different from everyone," Pitori murmured, "Mom's calm, beautiful, strong. You're tough, kind, strong...I don't feel any of that inside of me. And it feels like you're expecting me to choose who I want to be like..."

"No," His father quickly said in a firm tone, looking him dead in the eyes to tell him, "I...never wanted to put any expectations on ya, boy."

With another sigh he then looked up at the sky and whispered, "...I never talk enough about yer grandpapa. His name was Johnathan. He was a great man. An even greater man than me."

"I always wanted to follow in his big footsteps. He was an inspiration to all his fellow men. And I felt like, whenever I was with him, I could someday BE him..."

"But being a Gaia...ain't all it's cracked up to be..."

"We're burdened with a great and frightening legacy to be the strongest there is, and if we can't manage that much...We'll be buried in the dirt. Dead."

The words taken were harsh but he had to put in the faith that his son was ready to hear them.

Pitori shivered, only comforted by the tender gaze of his father's watering eyes, "I-I want ya to be free of it, all of it, I do. But...does it...really have to be with them? Do ya...really have that much interest in Electricity?"

"I-I dunno...I'm confused...about everything..." Pitori holds his hands out and looks at them while fiddling his fingers, "But when I hold those metal things...electronics...I feel focused. I feel...like me..."

He looked his father in the eyes and whispered innocently, "Is there...no way we can all get along?"

"...I-I wish there was, boy, I really do. Our scars run deep, deeper than the deepest mine..." And as his father's breath weakened his voice cracked as he made himself admit, "B-But...ya shouldn't have to pay for 'em."

"If...if ya really do want to work with that man, then..." He shook his head and then dragged his son in against his chest, "Bloody heck...I can't do it...Yer still so young. I don't want ya to leave the nest..."

"Ya still need to learn so much from me and yer mum...a-and I...I want to see ya shine like a diamond."

Pitori hugged him back, two men crying under the sun, "I-I won't be leaving forever dad. I'll come back and visit often. I-I-I...I love you both very, very, VERY much."

His dad sniffled, "Y-Ya better. If that bad man does anything to ya, ya know...I'll be right there to bail ya out."

"Thanks...dad..."

The two then let go, and with all their emotions laid bare Pitori felt braver and happier with himself.

He smiled and asked, "U-Uhhh, will you be able to still be friends with Uncle Sarajin?"

"Heh..." His dad patted him on the shoulder and grinned, "Oh I'm gonna clobber him on the head for this one later but...yeah, we'll still be friends."

"Good! I like him!"

"Eh, he can be right sometimes," He gave a wink and then helped his son to stand, "Now let's go home. Yer mom's got dinner waiting for us."

"Ok, dad!"

As they walked back side-by-side, Pitori's thoughts bloomed with joy, "My mom and dad love me. And now I know they will...no matter how different I am from them. I want to help them make the world a better place. So I hope this way...I can make their lives easier."

Next Time: A Change of Swords