After spending time with mom and Blake, I was in the forest to help with the deforestation.
Though along the way, we would occasionally find some animals, birds, squirrels, and some small animals.
We would relocate them to a safer area and use the trees to create new homes. Though some of the people decided to make small homes for the critters.
Some made birdhouses, others made small huts for the animals. Even Blake and mom made a few homes themselves.
Now, most of the homes in the village had either a bird house or a small hut for the animals.
What's surprising, we would find some Grimm wandering through the forest, mostly nevermore, but still rare to find the Grimm on the island.
We sent a few of the new guards to get rid of them, letting them experience combat with the Grimm.
And to say this kindly, they sucked. They had no coordination, they argued with one another, and some didn't show any interest.
In the end, I had to deal with them myself. While my grandfather scolded the soldiers, expressing his disappointment.
Currently, the soldiers are chopping down the trees as punishment. Working together to bring the wood to the village.
The only catch for them was to carry each trunk on foot, with no tools to help them haul the tree towards the village.
They would work together, guiding each other towards the village. Some complained, saying that they did what they could.
But gramps wasn't having it, and he only swung his arm, cutting down multiple trees. "If you don't want to fight, then you can be helpful with your corps."
This was enough to silence them and get to work, hauling one tree to the village. Others began to haul two or three, but they couldn't compare to gramps, who carried thirty by himself.
However, he called it a warm-up. This shattered their pride, causing them to fall to their knees.
I, on the other hand, carried ten, making sure I kept my balance. After all, when wielding a weapon or fighting, you need to have a good center of gravity.
Along the way, Gramps soon spoke. "Kid, don't you think your rushing things?" He asked.
"Definitely," I replied. "With all the problems slowly growing, I'm starting to get stressed." I sighed.
"Then it's best if you take things slow, enjoy your childhood while you can." He said, taking the trees off my hands, and taking all forty trees to the village.
It was weird, I've trained through most of my life. Now that I was given the day off, it felt wrong for me.
Like something was missing. "Having trouble with your now day off?" My mother asked me, appearing by my side.
"Yeah… I didn't expect this to happen." My mother only smiled and placed her hand on my head.
"That's understandable, you've trained for so long, you never found anything interesting for yourself." She gently ran her hand through my hair, trying to comfort me.
"Come, let's go back home." She then carried me in her arms, taking her time to let me see the forest and animals.
I'll admit, everything was slow before my eyes. The sight of the bird flapping its wings, the rustling of the leaves, to the movement of a squirrel, everything was slow.
It was too calm, too peaceful. I wanted to train, to plan, and to prepare for the future. Yet, my mother made sure to calm my nerves, trying to get me to relax.
"You've done enough, rest, and leave the stressful duties to us." She said, in the end, I did as she asked.
And I was left back home, wondering what I could do to spend the day. In the end, I decided to ask Blake if she wanted to go to the village.
The second I asked her, she smiled and soon dragged me towards the village. While our mom waved goodbye.
"Remember, don't stay out for too long, or the Grimm will eat you!" She shouted, watching us run.
"Sakura, can you take care of the reports?" She asked and soon placed her hand on her face.
"I want to have a loooonnnng talk with my husband." She licked her lips and didn't wait for a reply, she only made her way inside.
"Oh hooonnneeeey~!" She said, making her way to dads office. All the while, my mother smiled and sighed, her face filled with pity.
"I'm sorry for that man, though at least I don't have to suffer." She entered and closed the door.
Meanwhile, Blake and I walked through the village, walking through the same street, the same vendors, and the same beach.
The only new thing was a constant puppet show made by Kairai. Who entertained the children with stories she constantly made.
"And the brave knight slayed the ravenous beast, saving the princess; and lived happily ever after." While under the large puppet were two smaller ones.
One was a knight, with its foot on top of the head of a large creature. To the knight's side was a princess hugging him.
The children cheered, happy to hear the knight won against the beast, and lived happily ever after with the princess.
"Kairai really enjoys telling stories. I wonder what else she knows." Blake says, wanting to get close.
The second we were close enough, the puppet's head turned towards us, and soon it stood up, making its way towards us.
"Blake, Aiko, what brings you both to my stage on this fine day?" She asked, and Blake shuffled nervously forward, barely meeting the puppet's eyes.
"Do… do you know any other stories?" She asked with a whisper. Kairai giggled, making the puppet nod its head.
"I have multiple stories, happy ones, sad ones, adventurous ones, and romantic ones." She said, making the puppet change its stance when naming each story genre.
"E-even the..." She then motioned to the puppet to come closer, which it did. Blake then whispered into the side of the puppet.
The puppet stood up quickly, bending its body backwards. "Hahahahaha! How bold Blake, how bold indeed!" She said and the back of the puppet opened.
Kairai then stepped out, wearing a large smile on her face. "Aiko, your sister and I will be having some girl talk, I'll need you to run along."
She shooed me away, placing her arm around Blake, lifting her up in her arms. The two of them walked away, where I could no longer hear them.
To be fair, I'm glad that they left. I was just about to sneak off to train, but I soon felt a strong grip stop me from moving.
"Oi, didn't I tell you?" I wanted to move my head, but the grip kept my head in place. Though, I could count it as a blessing, since the face gramps could make was scary.
"I. Told. You. To. Relax!" He shouted, throwing me towards back home, the amount of strength he used caused the ground around him to crack, yet no one didn't panic.
Instead, they all stared at my gramps with admiration. With a few elder woman blushing, fanning themselves to keep calm.
"Sorry ladies." Gramps said, turning towards them with a smile. "I have a wonderful wife." He flashed grin towards them, causing them to swoon.
I on the other hand flew towards my room, breaking the window and landing on the bed with a loud bang, luckily, my family modified my room a bit in order for it to withstand the impact.
How it was able to do so? I have no idea, all I knew is to not ask too many questions. Now that I was in my home, I had nothing to do.
Until I had an idea form in my mind.
When we left to protest in Atlas, I never brought my tea kit. So I never had the chance to drink some tea.
Now that I was back, I rushed towards the kitchen. Not noticing, the picture frames shook as I ran past them.
Once I arrived at the kitchen, I grabbed a few tea kettles and looked for the tea leaves my mom had placed on the top counter.
It wasn't hard to reach it, since I used my flames to conjure a set of stairs to reach the top. Once I grabbed the jars, I looked for the tea kettle mom always used.
At the same time, I used my tail to locate the miniature stove that I took on the trip. Once I located the necessary supplies, I ran outside to the backyard.
Placing the items around me, I already felt my mind being clear. I first looked at the tea leaves I have. Taking the time to choose.
From what I remembered from a book I read, the best tea to help lower stress and clear one's mind was lavender tea.
So I looked at the jars to see if there was any lavender, and lo and behold, there was a bit left. But before grabbing the jar, I took the chance to fill the kettle first.
I can't make tea if there's no water. Besides that, I also looked for sugar and honey, it didn't hurt to have something sweet.
Once I rushed back out, I turned on the miniature stove and placed the kettle on top of it.
While waiting for the water to boil, I opened the top of the kettle with one hand, while also tossing the lavender inside with the other.
Once I closed the lid, I decided to try to make a puppet. Though, controlling it was easier said than done.
The first time I tried it, all I could do was make it jumble around. Its arms soon crossed with one another, its legs barley moved the way I wanted to.
In the end, I slammed my hand on tip of it, growing annoyed on how hard it is. "Fucking bullshit!" I shouted, conveniently the kettle began to whistle, signaling the tea was done.
"What was I doing?" I asked no one, lifting the kettle off the small stove and placing it on one of my tails.
Interesting fact that I learned a while back, I can store the heat of anything within my body. While also choosing where to release said heat.
Though, the first time I tried this, I ended up drying a few plants mom planted. And she was not happy about it one bit.
Anyways, I made sure the small stove was turned off before rushing inside to grab something.
And the items I grabbed, was a cup, and a book that I was reading from before. Once I sat back down, I poured in the tea, while also adding some sugar, and a little drizzle of honey.
"I needed this." I sighed, sipping the contents of the drink and feeling the warmth spread across my body.
The taste of lavender, the sweetness of sugar, and the spice from honey. It felt like I was back in my old world, typing on my keyboard and breaking into multiple accounts.
Now, I just make tea, open a good book, and enjoy my new life that I have. It's something I actually enjoy, I have people who love me.
Two mothers, a dad, and a sister. Heck, I ended up with a weird relationship. Though, I'd rather be older before considering to call it a relationship.
In the end, I was feeling better. No problems with life, no worries of politics, and no stress. I finally had a day to myself.
And I had to admit, I should have done this a long time ago. It was just hard to admit it, guess I needed someone to tell me to take a break.
After all, a happy mind, is a happy life.
And I'm enjoying my life as it is, tea, a book, and enjoying the warmth of the setting sun.
(A/N) Hey, hey, sorry for the late update. My car decided to protest on me. But I was able to fix it, studying mechanics was worth it, though no shop wants to hire me.
Anyways, I'm trying my best to get my PT running, but Rome wasn't built in a day, so sit tight, and I'll figure it out somehow.
For now, send them power stones to show some support.
Peace!!