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Chapter 4: Sue

Felix felt entirely too much like a parent as he watched Winwin check over the little cat hybrid girl. The warlock was only gently poking and prodding at her to see if she really had no injuries. Of course, she could also not escape some questions. Understanding her was not an issue anymore thanks to a translation spell. Winwin had used the spell on her with her permission, which was a bit more difficult to get due to them speaking widely different languages. Though, they were all used to this process by now. It was a standard procedure which had established itself in the last four years, but it always took some time to cast the translation spell.

The first thing the little cat hybrid girl told them was her name. She was called Sue and she was five years old - or five winters as she said. While her nature-based language was occasionally confusing to the three magical creatures in the room, Felix and Minho had no problem understanding her. Maybe it was a cat hybrid thing. Though, the more logical explanation would be that Felix and Minho grew up in a cat hybrid clan just like Sue and had used nature-based language themselves for most of their childhood. Their parents had taught them the standardized language of the  supernatural world of the country they lived in and as a means to practiced they had used it at home a lot even before moving to Yellow Wood. Felix could not remember the day where he stopped saying 'years' instead of 'winters', or 'months' instead of 'moon cycles'. Seeing Sue use such language was endearing to Felix. 

Among the older creatures in the room was the agreement to not ask Sue about what had happened to her or her family. There was no need to remind the small girl of the horrors she had to live through only hours ago. Instead, they did their best to distract her by being as goofy as possible in front of her - or rather Jisung was being goofy. The young warlock was essentially making a fool of himself to get Sue to laugh. Meanwhile, Jeongin was delighted to have the opportunity to make fun of Jisung. Minho occasionally chimed in with a witty remark and Felix continued to silently worry while also trying to be reassuring.

Sue was so small and now she had no one. No parents, no siblings, no friends, no clan. She was completely alone, but she was still laughing at Jisung's goofiness and Jeongin's teasing of the warlock and Minho's sarcastic remarks. It made Felix question if he should be relieved or even more concerned that she was laughing at the other's obvious attempts to distract her.

"I think you are good to go, Sue," Winwin spoke up when the last of his magic fell off Sue's small frame. The warlock had done a little more with his magic than just check her over. Her clothes were free of dirt and her socks were dry now.

"Really? Thank you, healer," Sue said and looked directly into Winwin's eyes for a good few seconds before she jumped down from the examining table. Winwin seemed a bit confused by the gesture, probably not fully comprehending that Sue was thanking him in a very polite cat-hybrid way. To his credit, he was still smiling despite it.

"You are very welcome, Sue. Whenever something hurts you can always come to me," Winwin offered. The little girl nodded her head before she waddled over to Minho and attached herself to his leg. Minho gently patted her head as he showed zero reaction to her clinginess. Felix wanted to feel offended that Sue had decided to seek out Minho instead of him, but then the little girl simply looked at him with her big, innocent eyes. He moved towards her almost on instinct. Sue's grip on Minho's leg lessened ever so slightly when she stood between the Lee brothers. It made Felix's heart break all over again. He reached his hand towards her. Without hesitation Sue let one arm fall away from her hold on Minho's leg and grab Felix's hand. Her hand was not big enough to properly hold onto his, so she was holding onto three of his fingers instead.

"Hello. May I come in?" a familiar voice asked. Felix's cat ears twitched as he recognized the voice of his mother. She was probably here to get Sue to bring her to one of the facilities that housed war orphaned children. After all, she was one of the main care takers for cat hybrids there.