Xenotober Day 4. A vision

Homs are not quite used to seeing High Entia, so Melia quickly becomes the centre of attention whenever they go anywhere Homs live.

Maybe not quite what the prompt meant, but whatever.

Enjoy!

Day 4. A rare sight for some

"Is it just my imagination, or is everyone... staring at us?" Melia asks as the group walks through the Colony. It's her first time visiting a Homs Colony, and she's looking all around, curious as to how they live, and see the differences between the Homs and High Entia lifestyles.

It doesn't take long for her to notice how people stop whatever they're doing, be it work or conversations, to start staring and whispering amongst themselves as soon as they notice the group.

"Yeah, they are," Reyn confirms, seemingly completely unconcerned about it. "They tend to do that, with Shulk having the Monado an' all."

"That's true," Dunban agrees, looking around them. "But I don't think they're looking at Shulk this time."

"Huh? What do you mean?" Reyn asks, looking around as if trying to find whatever else they might be staring at. "What's so interesting to look at, then?"

"Sometimes, you can be so clueless, Reyn," Sharla says, looking over at Reyn with a rather exasperated look. "You really can't figure it out?"

"What? What am I supposed to figure out? What else is there to stare at?" Reyn, while not stupid, can be very clueless sometimes.

"Well," Dunban, feeling it's his responsibility to educate the younger people, starts explaining. "Considering most Homs have never seen a High Entia before, I believe the reasonable assumption is that they're staring at Melia."

At his statement, the whole group turns to look at Melia, who is, for the first time since leaving Alcamoth, not covering her wings in any way, making it impossible to mistake her for a Homs like they first did.

"Oh, right," Reyn says, scratching his head. "Sorry Melia, I forgot us Homs don't get to see High Entia too often. I guess I just got so used to you being around."

"It is alright," Melia replies. It's actually quite nice that he sees her as a pert of their group, that he doesn't care if she's High Entia, to the point he actually forgot it's something most people would react to.

"Hey, lady!" A young boy runs up to them, staring at Melia with curious, wide eyes. "You're very pretty!"

"Ah- Thank you," Melia manages to answer, feeling quite out of her depth. This is not something anyone in Alcamoth would dare to just walk up and tell her. "That's very sweet of you." And blunt.

Soon, other children start coming up to them as well, clearly curious about Melia, but only worked up the courage to approach her until the first boy did. Now they're all flocking around her, easily making her the centre of attention, more or less pushing the others to the side as they all ask her questions like "What's it like living so high up on the Bionis?", and "Why don't High Entia ever visit us Homs?", and "Can you fly?", and even a "Can I touch your wings?"

Melia handles them with patience, answering at least most of the question as well as she can. Though it's clear by her behaviour that she's not used to young children. Soon enough, she manages to satisfy their curiosity, at least for the time being, and joins the rest of the group.

"You handled those children quite well, Melia," Shulk says as they're walking onward. "They looked really happy talking to you."

"Thank you," Melia replies, looking down at her feet. "That is good to hear. I have little experience in dealing with young children, and I was unsure if I was acting correctly."

"Riki think Melly very good with the Littlepon Homs," Riki informs her, speaking up for the first time in a little while. Might be because he was busy eating the pollen cakes Oka made for him before they left, though. "Riki not think Melly have no experience with Littlepon, Melly that good!"

"Thank you, Riki," Melia smiles at him. "I've had some lessons on how to speak to people, but I was unsure if speaking to Homs children is much different from speaking to High Entia children. Turns out it's not, which helped much."

"Well, guess kids will be kids regardless of where they live," Reyn sums it up pretty nicely. Melia thinks how the Homs and High Entia children are indeed very similar, despite their difference in culture and upbringing.

"I see," Dunban muses, almost to himself. "It makes sense that a future ruler should be able to communicate with all of the subjects, not just the adults."

"Yes," Melia agrees. She takes one more look at the children, now playing in a nearby field. "I hope that one day, it will be possible for children of all the races of Bionis to play together, and that seeing a Homs or a high Entia or a Nopon is considered normal, and not something rare and strange."

"That sounds like a great plan," Shulk says. "I don't even need a vision to see you'll totally be able to achieve that dream!"