Author's Note: Another chapter is finally done! I hope everyone likes this one.

Dealing With Bullies

About two months had passed since the visit to Largo's farm. Isara was starting to worry more and more about her friend Laura. Even though they were still playing a lot together at recess, Laura seemed sad every now and then. Those kids kept calling her names and saying mean things behind her back. Laura kept telling her that everything was alright but Isara seemed concerned that it wasn't.

She was currently waiting for Laura to come out and play during recess when it happened. She started to hear crying and she knew almost instantly that it had to be Laura. She soon saw her weeping and ran towards her.

"Laura! Is everything alright?" Isara asked her friend in a concerned voice.

"I-I'm sorry Isara, I had brought this nice toy to school for us to play with, it was one of my favorites, and well…" Laura explained but soon more tears welled up in her eyes.

"Gee, what a crybaby. It's just a toy. Darcsens have done much worse to people throughout history than braking some brat's toy." a young boy with curly brown hair said.

"Yeah, maybe read a history book once in a while. Everyone knows darcsens are no good." Another boy with blonde hair and freckles sneered.

"Pathetic. How pathetic." the young boy with curly brown hair then said.

Both of them started to laugh at Laura. Isara at this point was angry, more angry then she had ever been in her life.

"Are you the boys who were making fun of Laura?" Isara asked her voice almost like ice.

"Yeah, so?" the boy with blonde hair replied.

"Did you break my friends toy?" Isara then asked.

"Yeah, but it was Terry's great idea." the blonde haired boy replied almost gleefully, pointing to his curly brown haired friend to give his credit.

At that point, Isara then remembered what Largo had said to her.

"If things like this get bad and I mean so bad that your friend starts crying or is badly hurt. Do what you have to do to help your friend no matter what. Friends stick together. Remember that."

And in that split second…

BAM!

Isara ran up and punched the blonde haired boy in his nose as hard as she could. The anger was visible in her eyes as she did it.

"You jerk! I'm telling what you did to Alex!" Terry the curly brown haired boy said and ran towards a teacher.

Laura looked on in horror as Isara punched Alex. The boy's nose was now bleeding from the sheer force of the punch.

"Darcsen loving brat…" Alex growled and proceeded to tackle Isara to the ground. A fight then broke out.

An older looking gray-haired female teacher soon ran towards the two kids and pulled them apart.

"You're in trouble young lady!" the older woman hissed.

Isara soon froze as it became obvious what she did.

"What have I done…" Isara said to her herself as tears came down her face.

—

Alicia was currently busy at the bakery alongside her husband Welkin who had taken the day off today to help out. Alicia was starting to show a little in her abdomen as well. Alicia was already convinced by motherly instinct perhaps, that it was going to be a boy.

"You really think it's going to be a boy?" Welkin asked his wife as he handed a customer an order of bread.

"It has to be. I can really tell by the way he's moving around." Alicia replied warmly.

"If I recall, Isara did a lot of that too." Welkin replied skeptically at Alicia's claim.

"Welkin, I can tell the difference." Alicia replied slightly annoyed.

"Well, even so…" Welkin said as he hugged his wife. "I'm sure Isara will love him or her no matter what."

"Oh, Welkin…" Alicia said.

"Alicia…"

The two were about to kiss passionately when all of a sudden series of knocks were heard at the ordering table.

Alicia and Welkin soon blushed and turned around to see Isara's school teacher Mrs. Ellet out of breath. She seemed very troubled.

"I-Irene!?" Welkin responded almost shocked.

"Hey…sorry we couldn't meet again on better circumstances…" Irene said as she caught her breath.

"What's wrong?" Alicia asked.

"Look, we need to get to the school now. I don't know all the details but it seems Isara had an altercation with another student." Irene explained.

"W-what?" Welkin replied almost shocked.

Irene took a deep breath. This wasn't going to be easy to explain to her parents.

"She got into a fight and she's in the principal's office now. That's all I know." Irene said.

Welkin and Alicia could respond with looks of shock. Alicia almost seemed in denial. But they quickly locked up shop and went to the school.

—

Isara seemed shaken and was very scared. She had never done anything like that before. She wasn't sure what was going to happen but now she was in the principles office and he did not look very happy.

"Isara, do you know why you're in here right now?" the principle, an older gray haired man with glasses said.

"I-I..well…" Isara said trying to explain herself.

Soon there were door knocks and Alicia and Welkin soon appeared with troubled looks on their faces.

"Ah, you're parents are here. How unexpected." the principle said calmly but stern.

"Hey, what happened? Did my daughter do something bad?" Welkin asked.

The principle took a deep breath.

"You're daughter punched a boy in the 2nd grade in his nose. He's now in the nurse's office being treated. The boy has a bloody nose." the principle explained.

"W-what…!? Isara! How could you…?" Welkin said angry at his daughter but couldn't help but restrain his emotions when he saw his daughter start to cry.

"I'm sorry Daddy! I really am! I didn't mean to hurt anyone! I was just trying to be there for my friend. That mean boy and his friend broke her toy." Isara said crying.

"Those boys kept calling her mean names like Darcsen! I don't know why they did it Daddy, I just wanted to see my friend Laura happy again!" Isara further said now crying hysterically.

Welkin could only look on with horror and felt his heart sank. He knew this feeling all too well. His younger adopted sister who was a darcsen, had went through similar bullying when they were kids.

"Listen, can we talk alone?" Welkin asked the principle who himself was rather shocked at what had just transpired.

Alicia soon went to comfort Isara outside the office with Mrs. Ellet.

—

"Did you know that Laura was being bullied because she was a Darcsen?" Welkin asked the principle with a stern expression on his face, it could also be heard in his voice.

"….."

"Please answer my question." Welkin asked again.

The older man took a deep breath.

"Yes. We knew. But we figured it was just kids being kids. That it was nothing too serious." the principle said trying to defend his position on the matter.

Welkin then took a deep breath of his own.

"Nothing too serious? Look, I'm not happy with what my daughter did either, but why didn't you do anything to prevent something like this? Schools are supposed to be a place of learning. Kids should feel safe going to school, they shouldn't be unhappy because of bullying!" Welkin said trying hard to control his composure.

"What would you know about it?" the principle said almost defensive.

"For your information, I work as a teacher in a different school. My younger foster sister was a Darcsen. But she died as a casualty during the war with the empire." Welkin explained.

The principle could only look on in defeat. He then adjusted his glasses a bit.

"We will make sure this doesn't ever happen again. But, we do have a strict policy when it comes to fights on school grounds. Usually the punishments for such things are more severe than this. But I will make an exception this one time. Your daughter is suspended from school for three days until further notice." the principle explained.

Welkin could only admit defeat as well when he heard that.

"…Understood." Welkin replied. He reluctantly shook the principle's hand before he left.

—

Welkin then saw Isara on the bench beside the office alongside Alicia and Mrs. Ellet. She had calmed down after crying but was still a little upset.

"We're going to need to have a long talk when we get home. Okay?" Welkin said gently but sternly to his daughter.

"O-okay." Isara responded.

Welkin then looked to Alicia.

"She's been suspended for three days." Welkin said to Alicia.

—

The family was soon walking home from the school. Alicia and Welkin were silent as they held Isara's hands.

"Am I in trouble?" Isara asked her parents. She seemed nervous and afraid.

Welkin and Alicia looked at each other.

"You're not in trouble with us Isara. But, you won't be going to school for the next three days." Welkin explained to his daughter.

"Isara, I'm upset with what you did but me and your father still love you very much." Alicia further explained.

—

By now the family was seated in the living room. Welkin was going to have a hard time explaining this to Isara but knew that he had to. He couldn't have his daughter getting into fights over stuff like this.

"Listen, Isara-" Welkin proceeded to say.

*Knock* *Knock*

"Who could that be at this hour?" Alicia asked.

Welkin and Alicia walked towards the door and opened it.

"Z-Zaka!?" Welkin said surprised to see an old friend from the war.

"Hey. It's been a while. Sorry, I couldn't come visit at a better time." Zaka said.

"Is Isara okay? I was worried." a young girl beside him asked.

"L-Laura!" Isara said with surprise.

The two girls ran and hugged each other.

"Zaka, You know Laura?" Alicia asked.

"Yeah, she's my niece. I'm glad that she was able to make a friend." Zaka said in his laid back tone.

—

As Laura and Isara played together in the living room, Welkin Alicia & Zaka talked amongst each other about the current predicament.

"So what did the principle say?" Zaka asked Welkin.

"Isara's been suspended for three days. The principle said said he was going to make sure the bullying wouldn't happen again but somehow I doubt it." Welkin explained to Zaka.

"That sounds typical of a lot of the school officials like him. I remember when I was in school, nobody even cared about this let alone say that they were going try and prevent it. You just had to put up with it." Zaka replied.

"Anyway, I think it's important to let your daughter know that violence isn't the answer. This isn't a war after all. It's a time of peace." Zaka explained.

"It's difficult for me…When my sister was bullied I would defend her from it through violence because the kids used to get very cruel with her. But…I don't know. I don't what to do in this situation." Welkin said very concerned.

"Let me help you out. I'm sort of an expert on this subject." Zaka offered.

"It just sounds like you would be. Sure." Welkin said happily.

—

"Hey, I heard you got into a fight at school." Zaka said to Isara.

Isara looked nervously at Zaka she wasn't sure what to say.

"Am I a bad person for doing punching that kid?" Isara asked hesitantly.

"No. No you're not. But listen, violence is never the answer when dealing with bullies. Even when they make you or your friends cry. You're just gonna have to ignore them and be there for each other. It isn't going to be easy but eventually they'll go away if they realize can't hurt you." Zaka explained.

"I…I understand." Isara said meekly.

"Don't be too upset. You made a mistake and you learned from it. Anyhow, I have to get going for now." Zaka said trying to cheer Isara up.

"You sure you can't stay a little longer?" Welkin asked Zaka.

"I'd love to. But I'm really pressed for time today and I have to get Laura back to her family." Zaka explained.

"Hey, Isara, I…wanted to give you this. For being there for me." Laura then said to Isara.

She proceeded to hand Isara a small doll made of thatched fisher-grass.

"It's called a darcsen doll, we give these to people we care about. They're good luck charms designed to protect those we care about. I want you to have one." Laura explained.

"Thank you Laura. I'll treasure it." Isara said smiling clutching the doll to her chest.

The two girls then hugged each other one last time before saying their goodbyes.

—

That night before going to bed, Isara placed the darcsen doll right next to her teddy bear on her bedside. It had been an exhausting and stressful day but Isara learned an important lesson and promised herself that she would never resort to violence again.