FoR (On Hold)

Chapter 1.5

The group of native girls stood, waiting for a response. We were too stunned to say anything, until Alex unconsciously groaned, lolling over onto his side. The blonde one, apparently the healer, let out a small gasp and went to pick him back up.

Genuine concern shone in her eyes, making me think we could trust them. I turned to the others, and brought them into a huddle. "Alright, what do you guys think," I whispered, "because I think they're our best bet right now. We don't have anywhere else to stay, and they seem like they know their way around here."

Theo clearly didn't like the idea, but he pushed up his glasses, like he did when he was thinking. "Well..." He spoke slowly. "They truly seem like they won't hurt us purposely unless we provoke them somehow. As who knows if that typhoon could come back, plus it's getting a little dark."

Leo agreed with his younger brother for once, nodding. "Yeah. I vote we go. Any objections?" Nobody spoke, but they might've been to nervous to talk anyway. I exhaled, closing my eyes for a second, prepping myself. Then I opened them again and faced the women.

"Alright, we'll come with you." In the corner of my eye, the healer nodded to herself as if she figured we would say that. In front of me, the leader dipped her head and picked her weapons back up, causing Daichi to stiffen behind me. I placed a hand on his shoulder, and gave him a comforting look.

"It's okay. They won't hurt us." Popping up from seemingly nowhere, the scaled one piped in. "Nope! We don't hurt our visitors. Unless of course they try to hurt us first. But you guys wouldn't do that would you? Nah, you all look too soft for that."

Startled by the sudden conversation, I couldn't decide to be offended or thankful for her comment. "O-oh, yes, right. Of course not." She nodded, and smiled brightly. "My name, I think, is translated into something along the lines of 'Mist' in English. Does that sound right?"

Daichi looked at me and shrugged. "I think so." She smiled again and seemed to perk up. "Oh, good. So what's your names?" "Well, I'm Joshua, and-" I was interrupted by her shaking my hand. "Nice to meet you, Joshua!" I nodded slowly and turned to Daichi. "This is my friend, Daichi."

Even though the perky girl was quite tall herself, probably around 5' 6, she had to crane her neck to look up at him. "Wow... You're really tall! And... Your eyes are pointy like mine, only more so!" I couldn't help but chuckle at her antics. This one seemed approachable and friendly, unlike the hot-headed leader.

The twins came over to talk with us, and as soon as she spotted them, she gasped and ran up to them. "Oh my gosh, there's two of you!" Leo, who was used to things like this, charmingly smiled and shook his head. "Not exactly. You see, we're twins."

Mist slowly nodded, obviously still confused. "Oh, I see. What are your names?" "My name is Leo, and this is my brother, Theo." She smiled and dipped her head as a sign of respect. Then, she discovered Theo's glasses. Amazed at the clear lenses, she carefully removed them off of Theo's face and studied them in her hand.

"What... What is this?" "It's called glasses. I can't really see without them," Theo patiently explained, squinting his eyes and fumbling around. "Amazing... Do you mind if I show someone this... Glasses?" "Not really."

With that, Mist hurried over to another woman, the jeweled one, and started speaking to her. The jeweled one examined the glasses, became very excited, and came back over to us with Mist in tow.

"Excuse me, where did you get this?" The girl asked inquisitively. It would have been too complicated to explain what an optometrist was, so Theo shrugged nonchalantly. "People just make them. I didn't, I got it from another person who makes them professionally."