The Lantern Bearers

chapter 28: a man named Moro

Needless to say, Willow was going to be tapped out for a good few days after all that. There isn't any way she was going to recover quickly from all that, especially with the lack of pain meds and such.

It was very fortunate that nothing bad happened during or after the birth to say the least. That last push really made Willow go to her limits. She's a strong young woman for a sixteen year old, I'll give her that. However, it was reckless and could have spelled out her doom if she wasn't careful.

When we left the rickety house she gave birth in, Zeus would look mine and Yui's way, stand up off the barrel he was sitting on, and walked towards us with a mixture of concern and fear.

"She was screaming loudly papa....is she okay?" He asked, pale as a ghost.

"She's fine, kiddo. She was just going through a lot of pain and agony, because of childbirth." I explained.

"But it sounded like she was dying!" He exclaimed.

I shook my head.

"Childbirth is one of the most painful experiences a woman can go through. So much is happening at once and she had no pain reducers or anything to ease it." I said.

"Oh, i see." He said, calming down.

I nodded and took out a cigarette and lit it, then took a deep breath and exhaled a cloud of smoke.

"How painful is it?" He asked.

"As research dictates that passing a kidney stone is close to it for a man." Yui said bluntly.

"Kidney stones?" He asked.

"Literal stones that form in your kidneys. Many things contribute to it, such as eating too much high sodium foods, diabetes, and so on." Yui said.

"Where the hell do you learn this crap??" I asked.

"Nathan has books in his shop. I would often borrow them when i visited him and read them." She said with a casual shrug.

"Hm...." i replied.

"So, she's okay?" Zeus asked again.

"Yeah, she's gonna be out of it for a while though. Her and baby are asleep right now." I said.

"Good, she deserves rest." Zeus said with a smile.

As we were about to go and settle around the campfire and pick a barrel or chair to sit in, a newcomer would walk into our haven.

He was possibly in his early twenties, had white swept back hair, had bullet proof vest, long sleeved shirt, cargo pants, brown combat boots, and a lantern on his hip, as well as a large pack on his back. He would walk around for a moment, before noticing us and approached.

The white hair gave off strider vibes, due to all of us having white hair, through experiments and such that the strider corperation put us through. Needless to say, i was on high alert with this guy. He doesn't have a cloak on and i don't recognize him at all. There have been stories of people's hair turning white due to lack of certain vitamins, stress, smoking, and so on though, but having dealt with a strider recently, a possibility of another popping up is very high.

"Greetings, my name is Moro and I am a lantern bearer!" He said with a smile and patting his lantern.

This dude is rookie as can be. He is young and thinks that being a lantern bearer is "super cool" and that since he's one of them, then that makes him something cool and special. That goofy smile makes me feel.....embarrassed.

"Dude's a total dork." Zeus said out loud.

"Zeus!" I groaned.

"I ah...haha....er...i see...nono its okay, really! It's not the first time I've been called a dork. My social skills are lacking heavily heheh....heh..." moro said, rubbing the back of his neck.