I Love Him

Alyth's P.O.V

- "Hey Mister, do you perhaps happen to know anything about the Lephetaris?"

There was a long pause, but daddy and Ribius kept walking. Everytime we go to Masilta (the village) who's name I found out after hearing daddy talk to his friends, it usually doesn't feel long at all. But this time, it felt like hours.

"The Lephetaris? They are extinct from a long time ago, so how do you know about them?"

What? What are they saying? The Lephetaris? What's that? Or, THEY as daddy mentioned. "Heard about it somewhere. Now tell me, do you?" Ribius said in a very sharp tone, and daddy seemed to pick it up. "No. Nothing is known about them, and nobody really cares." Are they like some sort of ancient people? Ribius and daddy both seem to know about them, even though daddy said that they were extinct.

"Lies. You know at least one thing, if not anything else." That sentence sent shivers down my body. Daddy knows something about an old ancient tribe. "Why'd you ask me if you won't believe me then?" Ribius shrugged.

"I guess, I know some basic stuff as I am a reader. I know that they were formed a few millenniums ago, and that they were one of the first tribes in the world to find gems and actually use them."

Ribius's P.O.V

Oh really? How does this man know that? Not even books mentioned the Lephetaris. I know because-

"And when they found the most ethereal and rarest gem-" and I cut him like he did to me.

"The Quavs stole it. The Vandestry. The oldest and first found gem in the world, and there's only one gem of that kind in the entire world, so they took it." Hm? What's this? Is he shaking, with anger? Why is that?

I knew it. He has something to do with them. Although he wanted to hide it, my questions pushed him so far that he couldn't answer normally. Of course, that wasn't a coincidence. I am very specialized in making people rage and do what I want them to.

Even I think it isn't fair. The old Taris found the Vandestry, yet the ancient Quavs stole it. But life isn't fair. That's why the old man here is angry because he HAS to have something to do with them.

Soon after, we arrived at the village. Good thing my mom doesn't work here, but at the end of Masilta so even if she wandered around, slacking off, she wouldn't find us. "Bibus! Bibus!" And there was her… How annoying.

Yet she was also amusing. I never recited the alphabet for her, but she memorized it. She's so dumb. I tested her. To see if she would tell me to read it for her. She didn't. That let out a huge hint.

She's pretty similar to me, being what people would call 'bright' for her age. Still, she's a few months old. How do people not find it strange or try to look deeper into finding out who she is?

If anything, she could be a completely normal child and I am overthinking things, but my instincts and calculations are never wrong, and I know that from experience.

"Angyar! Over here!" I heard an annoying voice call. Who the hell has such a squeaky, girly voice? We walked over to them, so that question didn't stay for too long. There were at least 6 people, not including us, who just came. That made it 9 people. How annoying.

Alyth's P.O.V

Although the topic that daddy and Ribius were talking about stayed on my mind, it was time to talk to someone who understood me. Daddy put me down so I could wander around because the door of the bakery got closed after we came.

Is it me, or does the bakery just randomly welcome people like us? Maybe someone here owns the bakery so whenever we want to meet up, we come to the bakery? Whatever.

Daddy and everyone else was talking and Ribius just sat on a chair, ignoring everyone else.

I wandered around, looking for one person. I couldn't find him so I pulled on Ben's pants. "Mawo?" He didn't seem to understand so he ignored me.

That son of a bi-

Then I went and pulled on Vindra's dress. "Yes, Alyth?" I did want to ask her something, but that doesn't mean she can pick me up! Let's just ask her then I can start crying and motioning for her to put me down. "Mawoo!!" "Huh?" She too, can't understand. "M.A.W.OOOO!!" … They aren't saying anything.

"Is there someone with the name Mallo here? Something like that.." Yes, exactly! Good job Ribius! You understand me!

"Mallo didn't come."

…

…

Why not?! I was so excited… SIGH. Only Halvort, Moltis, Ben, Jin, Vindra, and Aver came. Now that they got me disappointed, I'll go join Ribius on the table. But damn Vindra still held me.

"Wet go. Awyth Wanth Fwoor (Let go. Alyth wants to go on the floor)." Silence took over again, so I looked at Ribius. He frowned and turned his head away. TRAITOR! "...She says to put her on the floor." Oh. He actually said it… MAYBE HE'S NICE AFTER ALL!

…

What did he tell you, Vindra? DAMN PUT ME DOWN, BUSTED WOMAN! And by busted, I meant by how big her b-... Nevermind. She is quite pretty. She also has an hourglass figure. Wait, this isn't the time to compliment her! I started moving a lot and whining. "Oh, s-sorry!" She finally put me down!

I crawled over to Ribius and motioned for HIM to pick me up. "UP!" He hesitated a bit and I can see Vindra's betrayed look.

Serves you right, busted woman. Okay, I feel bad for her since she is so nice to me, but I can't like her for some reason! Still, I should be a bit nicer. She always volunteered to keep me with her whenever dad had work.

Yeah, these days when dad goes off to whatever work he has, I always stay with Vindra. She's a librarian, meaning her work isn't too intense, since not a lot of people read books. Fine, I'll try to be nicer to her. But it was still her fault for picking me up!

Well, she's a young woman in her mid-twenties, so I guess she likes little kids.

After a few seconds, Ribius did pick me up (I never thought he would) and put me on his lap. I motioned for him to come closer to me and he looked curious about what I wanted, so he did as I told him, and

CHU!

I kissed him on the cheek of course! Everyone seemed to be staring at us, and Ribius was very surprised. He blinked a few times before turning his face away.

I am guessing he was blushing. How cute~ but… Daddy doesn't seem too happy. In fact, he's glaring at Ribius. Hehehehehehehe.

Anyway, I stayed with Ribius on his lap while daddy and the others were talking about something serious. I couldn't hear them, but I don't really care unless it endangered my and daddy's lives.

Now that I talk about danger, I wonder what happened with daddy and the others with their fight against the Abanders or whatever it was. Maybe they hadn't shown after all. Daddy does seem to give me less and less attention each passing day.

Probably just my imagination, right? I mean come on! A dad wouldn't purposely do that to their child! He's just busy!

After some damn while, (I napped on Ribius's lap) we left. The others went back to their work, while dad, ribius, and I walked around the village. "Hey Alyth, let's go buy you some clothes."

New clothes? YAY!!! I am sick and tired of these dumb clothes I am wearing! (it's a pale brown dress with a few stitches on it since she crawls around and rips her clothes) Let's see…

WHY ARE THEY SO EXPENSIVE?! After a few visits to the village, I was able to figure out how the numbering system worked in this world, so I can tell that this is a lot! AND DAD DOESN'T SEEM TO CARE!

That's sorta heart touching but still. I am fine with a brown dress as usual. On the mention of colors, why are brown dresses cheaper than any other colors? Especially pink, purple, and blue.

"Papa! Why Cowowsth Mowe Ecphpenfive? (Why are colors more expensive)" … I look at Ribius again.

"She said..why are colors more expensive." Daddy nodded while Ribius looked extremely annoyed.

"Because they're harder to make. It's also very hard to get the colors. Brown can be extracted from many different things, which is why it's very cheap." Ahh, I see. If what Ribius said is true, then what made daddy want to buy me some clothes today?

Just as I was thinking that and tottering (while holding daddy's hand), I went past a shop with so many colorful and pretty, yet simple dresses.

"You want those? They aren't too expensive." UM, YES THEY ARE! If I were to calculate it using dollars, a single dress would be around $85. That was a lot.

A normal dress would be near $10 if I were back in my time. And daddy earns around $5 a week. So we were NOT rich. Rich people would refer to us as 'plebeians'. I don't know what dad works, but he doesn't earn much from it. Basically, he earns 50 cents a day. I shake my head. Let's look for something cheaper-

He already bought them!

"Papa! Awyth no need dwesses!" He seems to have understood that.

"It's okay. I can get a lot of money when I need to." What does he mean by that? But he has to buy me diapers and baby food! He's already spending so much goddamn money… yet… He… SNIFF.

"Alyth? What- why are you crying?! What's wrong?!" He dropped the bag and picked me up. Ribius instead picked up the bag and stood by daddy's side.

But wait. Why's daddy freaking out? Why does my chest feel so tight..? Why do I feel tears streaming down my face?

"WAAHHHH!!!"

Daddy looked extremely worried while I cried my eyes off. Ribius seemed to understand my feelings, so he just looked away. I can't help but cry... He works all day long every day (except today since it was a break. He only has one day off the entire week and a week here is ten days) and he's still willing to buy me something that took him 4 months (and a week) to get!

No wait, he bought me several dresses that should cost him a year of work!! "WAHHH!!!" I can feel everyone's eyes on me, it's embarrassing, but I can't stop. I…

Really do love my dad.

___End Of Chapter 4___