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“White Lily, why on Earthbread did you drag me with you?” Pure Vanilla complained. The red he assumed to be some sort of fruit was all blurred together in front of him. Or maybe it was meat?
He really didn’t know.
Why didn’t he go with Green Apple and Sweet Sapphire and the Professor to find some clothes? At least he could feel the texture of the pattern on them.
“You messed up the spell to bring us to Saint Volition’s Pagoda, and now we’re stuck here!” White Lily argued. “If you were with those two, they would have done something to embarrass you in return!”
He wasn’t very surprised by that. Sweet Sapphire and Green Apple did love their petty revenge. They would probably still spell his scrolls to not open if when they get back to the Academy, though.
He picked up one of the maybe-fruits, and sniffed it.
Sweet, but it had that stink of rot on one side.
He’d left his staff at the Spire of Knowledge, under the impression that they would just be briefly visiting the Ivory Pagoda. He did not expect to sneeze midway through the incantation and send them to witches knows where.
And thus, he couldn’t see.
“This one seems decent,” he said, handing it to White Lily to inspect.
Just then, a child collided into his legs, stumbling to the ground.
Tears and snot streamed down their face as they choked out, “I’m sorry, mister! I’m really sorry!”
BARK! BARK!
The kid scrambled behind Pure Vanilla, clinging desperately to his robes. They trembled horribly.
“Oh… Shh.. Shh…” The blonde picked up the child, cradling them into his robes. They were so small, and the weather felt like it was just barely out of winter. It would be very lucky if they didn’t have any sort of cold.
Wei Ying stuck himself to the man with gold hair. He looked like how he imagined young lords would be: clean white and blue robes trailing to the floor; a young, unaged face; callused hands that felt as though they were used to holding a sword.
“Where are your parents, little one?” one dressed in similar robes asked. She had flowers in her hair, and stark red eyes.
“I- I don’t know!” Wei Ying said. “They- they went hunting for something months ago…”
The two shared a look.
“Do you want to get something to eat?” the woman inquired.
“I had a meat bun… but…”
It was a wonder he wasn’t bitten by the dogs this time.
“Would you like another one?”
He nodded.
The golden haired man carried him higher so he could wrap his arms around his neck.
The woman pulled them along, muttering warnings to them like, “There’s a large rock here, don’t trip,” and “Stall on your left.”
“...Jiejie, why are you doing that?” Wei Ying didn’t mean to call her Jiejie. But she seemed nice so far…
“Hm?”
“Gege has eyes, right? Why are you telling him of everything in front of us?”
“My vision is very blurry,” gold gege explained. “Normally I have a staff to guide me… but…”
“He forgot it,” flower jiejie said. “And then got us lost. So now we’re here.” She handed him a couple meat buns. “Maybe the Professor will get us a few rooms at an inn?” she pondered. “Either way, we can get you even more food later.”
“I don’t want to bother you or your teacher…” Wei Ying said.
“Please. You just bat your eyes at him and he’ll crumple like a wet scroll,” she proclaimed.
“Professor! Please, can we keep him?” was the first thing Blueberry Milk had heard from White Lily since he sent her and Pure Vanilla out for food.
He turned around, fully expecting to see a cakehound, or maybe even a jelly wyrm.
“Where– Why do you have a child!?” he gasped.
“I gave birth to him,” Pure Vanilla deadpanned.
“No!” Sweet Sapphire groaned. “Didn’t I tell you not to follow in Professor’s footsteps!?”
What was that supposed to mean!?
“Did you or did you not kidnap a child?” the Fount of Knowledge asked. He did not want to deal with whatever laws were in place here. His reputation on Earthbread was already shaky enough without dumping a stolen child onto the pile of his problems.
“Not technically,” White Lily grinned.
“Papa, he just said he gave birth to him!” Green Apple very helpfully chirruped. “You’re a grandpa now!”
“Do you think I’m lying?” Pure Vanilla said pitifully.
“Gege…” the small child spoke up. “He’s not gonna make you abandon me… is he?” His dirty little face was streaked with tears.
Witches damn everyone here.
“Of course not,” Blueberry Milk relented. He magicked up a chair, just to collapse into it. At least his children were working together…
But why did it have to be to torture him?
“Do you have anyone?” he asked the kid. Family, other homeless kids, maybe a pet? Even a little pet hound?
He shook his head.
“I call dibs then!” Sweet Sapphire called.
“What do you mean, dibs!?” Pure Vanilla yelled. “I’m holding him! He already calls me Gege!”
“I look the most like him!”
“Well, he calls me Jiejie, and I’m older than you,” White Lily grinned. “And I paid for his food.”
“I’m older than the both of you!”
“Well, he’s closest to my age, so it is my duty to take care of him!” Green Apple claimed.
“If he’s the closest to your age then he would be more of a little brother than anything!”
“He’s still only a few years younger than you!”
Blueberry Milk silently snatched the boy from Pure Vanilla’s arms. His other children were fighting over the kid like he was a new toy.
“What’s your name, little one?” he quietly asked.
“Wei Ying,” the child responded.
“Well, Wei Ying. This one apologises for his students’ behaviour. Normally, they have a bit more… tact.”
“What does tack mean?”
“Tact,” he gently corrected. “Respect. Manners. You seem to have a lot more than the rest of them,” he smiled. “How old are you?”
“I’m ten,” Wei Ying bragged.
Hmm… that was a good age to start learning magic. If not a bit old. Though he started most of his children young. Even Green Apple was about two years into her studies, and she seemed to be a similar age mentally to Wei Ying.
Wait… was she? Between Blueberry Milk’s faerie blood, and Powdered Sugar’s… whatever she had going on… how old was his daughter?
“Mister? Are you ok?”
“Ah, yes, don’t worry. This one is just thinking.”
He shifted away from the clamour that was his menagerie of children (though most of them were teenagers now), and began looking for an inn.
“Pardon,” he asked the innkeeper. “Do you perhaps have three free rooms?”
The man glanced over his robes, and bowed deep. “Yes, Daozhang. For how long will you need them for?” Such a reaction. At least he was… decent. He didn’t recognise the Fount of Knowledge (not that Blueberry Milk particularly wanted it), nor did he check him out.
“Ah… this one isn’t sure how long we’ll be here. Can we pay you nightly?”
“Of course, Daozhang.”
Blueberry Milk followed the man into one of the rooms, noting that the two next to him could be split between his children. The newest addition of Wei Ying practically glowed with excitement.
“Before you touch anything, this one would recommend that you take a bath. This one has a neat set of student robes for you to wear.”
The second Wei Ying got back to the rooms, the blue eyed man sat him down and started brushing out his hair.
It was agony!
Wei Ying felt each little knot pulled out, even though the teacher shushed him and gave him breaks in between.
No pain would ever be able to compete with this!
He fiddled with the cuffs of his robes, the purpley blue a shade he had only seen in the sky at sunrise. They were so soft and clean…
The other two people he hadn’t met properly yet were in the room, staring at him. They had changed into more casual robes.
“Mama, will you brush my hair after his?” the green one asked. She was a different sort of green than flower jiejie. She was more like a yellow green than a blue one.
“Of course, Apple,” the teacher responded.
“I’ll go get something for us all to eat,” the other one said. He was clearly the oldest of all of the students. He smelled so strongly of grapes that Wei Ying could pick it out halfway across the room.
“Thank you, Sapphire.”
They all had such odd names! Maybe they would give Wei Ying an odd name too! Having a nickname would be nice!
He was glad that they were so kind.