Dream of the Guardians I-1: Rising

Chapter 17 - Meeting

A few months after Chris' training course change, Priestess Hama returns to the temple with a new orphan to host: a scruffy girl named Fanny. In a matter of minutes Hama leaves the temple again and the monks have no choice but to lead the newly arrived girl to her new life.

On her first day, Fanny met the rest of the orphans, but she didn't respond positively to all the attention of the other children, so it was easy for them to keep their distance. "It's a very big temple, we won't even see it all day." It is what they think when they discard it.

Having once again arrived on the most important day of the year, Yamamoto again appraises the orphans, but that year only Fanny was untested, resulting in the rarest element of all: Air.

Having a solo training for the great advantage that the other orphans took her, she took the lessons at her own pace, with great freedom as indicated by her element, which gave her a lot of opportunity to fill her empty agenda like the pockets of her clothes.

Exploring the temple on her own, Fanny runs into a boy as lonely as she is:

"..." she doesn't know what to say or do, but she stumbles when trying to take a better look at the young man.

"Excuse me, I'm trying to meditate." Chris says without even bothering to look at the source of the noise.

"Sorry, ehm, I was just walking around and." Fanny doesn't stop babbling trying to explain herself.

«Please stop talking, I just want to meditate » Chris cries internally.

"Ah, my name is Fanny, I arrived at the temple a couple of days ago." the newcomer who Chris never asked about it is introduced, "What do you do so much?"

"I just want to meditate, in fact, every word I say is a step back towards my goal." Chris replies, trying to get rid of his distraction.

"Oh, you're meditating, I'm sorry, and why?" Fanny's curiosity overshadows her manners.

"Because I want to." and while he doesn't mention it, that's all Chris is going to say in the rest of the day.

Fanny watches as Chris meditates, even as the hours pass, she stays more immersed in Chris' meditation than he does. Even if he doesn't do any action, Chris can feel the look of the girl his own age. He gets fed up and takes Fanny out of the meditation room and she realizes what she had done.

Just as she begins to withdraw from the place, her stomach roars quite loudly, which embarrasses her in front of Chris and causes him a slight laugh. While Chris laughs his stomach also roars and there is no choice but to eat after a fruitless day.

As the two skipped a meal and Fanny is a newcomer, Chris has no choice but to cook for two. A simple white rice and some boiled vegetables is all he could get at such short notice, but Fanny enjoys the food. It is very different from the food prepared by the monks, she fails to understand why, but it is the first time she can enjoy the food since she lost her family.

Seeing Fanny vent with the food, Chris decides to prepare the food for her from time to time and she thanks him wholeheartedly. Karen is sneaking through the halls in search of a nightly snack as she has always done since she arrived at the temple and sees the two friends having dinner and after a few minutes of continuously looking she retreats back to her bed.

From then on, Karen tried much harder in her training, while Fanny supported and encouraged Chris in his meditation, and they always ate together. Having got close enough, Chris reveals to Fanny that he left the adept course to concentrate on the spiritual arts and Fanny upon learning this begins to take her own training seriously.

In a matter of months, the adept course became a daily competition between Karen and Fanny, as the two became the most outstanding of the course. Although this rivalry was only declared by the other orphans and not by themselves. The daily spectacle that caught the attention of both orphans and monks became a daily life.