112 AFK

Irade

May 19 2:22 pm BT – 12:22 pm UT, Somewhere In The Tian Shan Mountain Range, China

"Chik chik chik," Irade recited. "Oyghan bala jan. Teyyerlidi chay, sangha ana jan."

Tik, tik, tik. Wake up young boy. Your mother made tea for you.

"Chik chik chik," Irade kept going on. "Mekhtepghe yol al, teriship ughen. Ustaz sözi...sözi..."

"Bal," said Käwsär, grinning as he walked into the house.

He had been outside, planning out the best place to set up the wall they had planned to put up three days ago. He and his dad had been planning out the best places to put the posts, around the moat they had worked on the previous couple of days.

The reason they were able to get the moat up so quickly was because Irade was basically a one-girl digging machine. With her strength, even without an arm, she was able to dig out a moat deep enough to fill with water.

With Käwsär's dad's engineering expertise, they had spent the second day filling the moat with water (by redirecting a river uphill) and some nasty traps. The plan was to then build a wall right at the edge, so that the monsters would have to try and break through it while still in the water.

Irade had come up with that particular idea. It was what she and the larger gaming community called a "d*** move."

Käwsär had liked that idea. A lot.

The problem was that setting up a wall so close to the water would also run the risk of the wall falling into the water. If it wasn't thick enough, or if the bank was too weak, then the wall would simply collapse into the water.

Of course, that itself could be a momentary advantage against the hoard of monsters coming in, but it they decided that it would be better for the wall to last as long as possible. That way, if the monsters did get through, they would be a lot more tired and weakened.

As such, he had spent most of the morning with his father, setting up the best places to put the posts for the fence. Positions where the ground was strong enough to bear the weight of the wall without collapsing into the water.

He had also checked up on the mud bricks they had been making on the past three days. Thankfully, the weather had been rather clear after the rain, and so the bricks had enough time to dry and harden. His dad had said that it was probably time to set up the wall, after a good lunch. Käwsär unbuttoned his vest as he walked, allowing the cool air to hit his chest. The two walked back together, brows glistening with sweat, joking and bantering.

Every now and then, however, Käwsär would look down at his father's arm, held in a sling. He'd feel a pang of guilt as he remembered how that situation came about, and resolved to never let anything like that happen again.

All of those thought disappeared, however, as soon as he walked in to the cool house. He found his mother teaching Irade basic Uyghur children's poems.

As such, the dining table had been turned into a makeshift classroom. Irade had a small exercise book filled with childish scrawling, copying from the numerous textbooks around her. From the looks of it, she was now reading the Uyghur Kheliq Chöchekliri – old Uyghur fairy tales. His mom sat in front of Irade, watching and correcting Irade's grammar and punctuation.

Käwsär had looked on in sympathy as his mother went over the Uyghur alphabet and vocabulary, shuddering from his own memories of learning how to read and write. His mom had not been a very lenient teacher.

That said, she did seem to be going a little easier on Irade. At least, Irade didn't have and red marks on her hand from being hit with a stick.

"Oh Käwsär, are you looking to study too?" said his mother, smiling widely. "I think I have just the perfect exercise for you if you do want to."

Every instinct in Käwsär's body was telling him apologize for interrupting. So he did. He knew better than to do anything else when his mother smiled like that.

She narrowed her eyes. Käwsär's heart beat faster. C'mon, what more could he do?

She opened her mouth to speak.

"Is is lunch time yet?" Irade asked suddenly.

Käwsär's mom looked over to the clock.

"Oh, the manta!" she shrieked before bolting to the other room.

Käwsär shot a grateful look at Irade, who simply grinned back.

"Better clear all this before she comes back," grunted Käwsär's dad, taking a seat beside Irade. "Otherwise she might remember what she was about to do."

Irade and Käwsär quickly cleared the table. Irade couldn't help but stare every now and then at Käwsär's bare chest and shoulders. She was pretty sure an ordinary fifteen year old didn't have muscles like that. Was it because he practiced with a bow and arrow? Or maybe because he sometimes wrestled with game before putting them down?

She suddenly conjured up an image of Käwsär cutting open a sheep's throat, blood splattering over his chest and face, then looking slowly up at her with those deep, dark eyes. Those eyelashes were really too unfair, they were so pretty, going too well with those well shaped eyebrows.

"Irade?" said Käwsär suddenly, snapping her out of her fantasy. "Do I have something on my face?"

Irade felt her face grow hot as he rubbed his cheek, confused. For the first time, probably ever, Irade was a little glad that her more tanned skin tone could hide her blushing.

"Go change," said his father before Irade could answer. "And wash yourself. You stink."

Käwsär sniffed himself in protest, but his expression quickly changed when he smelled himself. He slunk away, defeated, towards the bathroom.

"He's a little dense sometimes," said hid father, chuckling. "He'll grow out of it."

"I think he's nice," Irade replied. "He's very kind."

The past three days of instruction had also vastly improved Irade's vocabulary. Both Irade and Käwsär's mom had honestly been shocked at how quickly Irade learned how to read and write. She had basically picked it up in a day, and as soon as she could read, she started consuming words to expand her vocabulary.

Was this the effect of the [Intelligence] stat? Helping her learn things faster?

For some reason, Irade didn't feel like that was quite right, but it didn't feel too far off base either.

They chatted a for a little while, Käwsär's dad chucking jovially every now and then. After the whole monster wave thing, he seemed a lot more relaxed around Irade. She supposed that saving his arm would make him feel at least a little grateful.

She looked down at it, and felt a twinge of guilt. It was all her fault that he had been attacked in the first place.

"Like I said, you're too kind," he said suddenly, making Irade blink in confusion. Then she remembered what he had said to her on the field that day.

"This isn't your fault," he said, picking up his arm. "I was careless. If I had been more careful, it would not have happened."

Irade didn't believe that, but she didn't want to say anything. Instead, she just gave him a look of doubt. He sighed.

"You think just because we aren't like you, that we can't fend for ourselves, little girl?" he harrumphed. "You need to learn to trust adults."

Irade opened her mouth to say something, then closed it. She fought a weird urge to laugh.

Trust adults?

Since when had any adult in her life ever been trustworthy?

"So, what are you all saying about me?" said Käwsär, walking back into the room in a new shirt. He grinned as he sat down, and his father snorted.

"Cocky little bastard, who says we're talking about you?" he said. "You think the sun goes to sleep when you can't see it anymore?"

Irade watched as they bantered. They could speak to each other as easily as water flowing down a river. Käwsär looked like he could and would tell anything to his father.

Was that what a normal relationship with parents supposed to be like? Sitting at the same table, eating the same food, having a conversation? Talking about problems and issues? Asking and getting advice, learning from each other?

Irade knew, intellectually, that her...situation...with her 'parents' had been somewhat abnormal. But after seeing Käwsär's family...

She realized there had been a gap in her heart, so small that she hadn't noticed it. But now that she had, it felt like it was a vacuum, demanding to be filled.

She was lonely. The realization hit her like a bear-man's swipe of his claws; the feeling of emptiness she had always felt, that dull, mindless buzz the filled her empty chest.

It was loneliness. All this time, she had been lonely.

But...she didn't feel like that now.

"Food is here!" said Käwsär's mum cheerfully, bringing a large platter of steaming meat dumplings.

Käwsär and his dad both cheered and clapped their hands together, their actions and faces mirrors of each other. Irade and Käwsär's mom both giggled at the sight, then caught each others' eye. They shared a small smile.

And that was when she knew. It was because she was here.

She didn't feel that aching emptiness right now, because she was here. With Käwsär and his parents.

Käwsär looked up at Irade, mouth full of manta.

"Aren't you gonna eat?" he said, mouth full.

"Don't talk with your mouth full," his parents both scolded at the same time.

Käwsär rolled his eyes as his parents went on to talk about whatever it was they were talking about. Irade couldn't help but feel but feel...a little sad.

Despite everything, for the first time in her life, she felt safe. Here, among this weird little Uyghur household in the mountains.

She knew she had to leave. She couldn't stay forever.

Because despite how welcome they made her feel, she knew she didn't belong. She was a stranger, someone they let in from the kindness of their hearts.

And she had her own family to find in Kashgar.

...

Irade took a manta, and held it in front of her. The hot, wet surface burned into her fingers, but she didn't bring it closer to her mouth.

Would her real mother have cooked manta like this for her?

Would she have had food like this every day, to the point where she could have gotten sick of it?

Irade searched her memory, trying to look back and find a memory of eating something like this before. She realized that she didn't even remember having a hot meal to come home to when she got back from school.

"Irade?" asked Käwsär. "You alright?"

To her horror, Irade found that she was crying. She wiped her tears with her forearm, still holding the manta.

"I'm fine," she said, voice wobbling. "I'm just...I'm...fine."

She took a deep breath, and bit into the manta. Hot, meaty juice burned her tongue as she chewed and swallowed.

It was so good. It tasted so good.

Was it really okay for someone like her to eat something so good?

"It's so good it's making me cry," she sniffled, biting into it again.

Käwsär and his dad simply looked at each other, at a loss for what to do. On the other hand, his mom got up and walked over to Irade.

"You've worked hard today," she said gently. "Make sure you eat up a lot, okay?"

Irade nodded, sniffled once more, and swallowed her food.

Her tears didn't stop until she was finished eating.

***

That night, once everyone had fallen asleep, Irade sneaked out of the house. With [Flight], it was easy to move about without making a sound.

Once she was outside, she looked around. She couldn't see much; the trees above blocked the light from the moon and stars. To compensate, she used [Flight] to get up to the top of the trees.

She broke through the canopy of trees, and gasped. A galaxy of lights swirled above her, shining tiny flicks of light on her. A half-moon hung over all of them, it's bright, white light looking over Irade.

For a moment, she was struck but the beauty of the heavens, unable to move. A small breeze blew through the trees, the leaves whispering as it passed by them.

Irade sighed. She knew she was just stalling now.

She called out to Black Wind, howling to the moon.

It was time to end this.