I woke up much later to the scent of the grilled fish before me. The aroma filled my lungs and I had begun to salivate already in my sleep.
My back was rested against the wall of the cabin outside on the porch. There, I looked at the fish for a second and then reached for it without much thought.
The taste of food after I had been deprived of it for four days; it caused tears to well up in my eyes.
I consumed it all including the bones, before looking around. And there he was. Sabe. I instantly remembered what had happened and why I was knocked out and brought back here.
"You ba..."
"Do you want more?" Sabe asked before I could say a thing.
"More of what?"
"More fish"
It wasn't night yet but he was grilling fish. I had never seen him prepare a meal before night.
"You're giving me food" I said, wondering why he had a change of heart.
"At this rate, you'll really die if I leave you on your own" Sabe said. He always spoke with a straightforward tone, void of unnecessary expressions or emotions.
"I told you" I said.
And then he asked abruptly,
"How did you do it?"
I could hear the intentness in his tone but I genuinely had no idea of what he was talking about.
"How did I do what?"
"How did you do what you did last night?"
"What did I do last night?" I asked bluntly.
Sabe inhaled and exhaled calmly.
"How did you get so close to me? You hid your presence perfectly and got too close. No one has ever done that around me before"
It took me some time to remember.
'Ohh, that was why he looked surprised' I thought to myself once I recalled. He did look agitated the moment I reached for his meal the previous night.
"I didn't do anything. I just wanted some meat and I was ready to steal it if I had to" I said. "But then, shouldn't I be the one asking you that. Like, how were you inside the cabin that day and I didn't notice you. Even today, you got so close to me and I couldn't tell till you stopped me"
"That's something I am capable of, although it took me a lot of practice"
"Is it a qi thing?" I asked curiously.
"Yes. Here, it's called 'youling'. It means ghost"
"Wow" I said in awe.
"Why are you amazed. You used this same technique last night"
"I did?"
"Master Ashar told me your qi has been awakened and yet you know nothing about cultivation. It sounded unbelievable but on seeing how helpless you truly are these past few days, i can tell for myself" Sabe said as he continued to grill.
"Hmph" I turned my face away.
"Youling isn't something that can be used by beginners. Even experienced people find it difficult to use it perfectly"
"I told I have no idea I even did anything"
Sabe exhaled calmly again.
"It's quite far-fetched for a regular human to awaken qi without cultivation. And even more questionable for that person to be capable of using Youling so perfectly"
Then he pointed at me with one of his grilling prongs.
"You even used your qi back then in the forest. I thought you were about to do something but you were so stupid that you couldn't use an actual technique"
"Who are you calling stupid, flame-head?" I sneered.
"Flame-head?" Sabe repeated.
"Yeahhhhh. Flame-head!" I said, noticing how he reacted to the new name I found for him.
He brought the arm which he pointed towards me down slowly and then exhaled calmly, continuing his grilling.
"I'm calling you flame-head, flame-head!" I teased harder.
"You should stop making stupid noises" he said calmly.
"Why use a griller when you could just use your head, huh? Flame-head"
Sabe then let out a suppressed laugh. I had heard it. Honestly, I hadn't thought he could even laugh. Since I arrived here, he had strictly faced his own business cheerlessly.
"Do you still want to eat?" He then asked. It was a very obvious question to ask someone in the same condition as I was. It felt weird as I hadn't known him so far to be that concerned. It made me wonder just why he had me starve all this time.
"Yeah" I answered.
Once again, I had food before me. And it was quite appetising. He knew how to grill just like Me Ash. Perhaps, Sabe learnt it from him, although he wasn't exactly as good as the master.
"I will teach you, as master Ashar requested" he said. "Not because he asked me to, but because I think you might be interesting"
"Huh?" I said. Then, I was more focused on the food before me.
"I left you alone all this time to observe if you were really completely clueless. And I guess you are. Normally, i would have begun to teach you if you were a normal person" he said. "But you aren't. And that makes me want to see how far and fast you can go. I can tell you have some talent so I probably won't go so easy on you"
I coughed out as he said that. What did he mean by that? There was no way it would go so well for me.
"Wait..." I tried to interject but he cut me off.
"We'll start tomorrow. So get enough rest tonight" he said then stood up and disappeared into the forest.
It was around mid-day then. And also, he hadn't eaten any of the fish he grilled that afternoon. 'How could he resist it?' I said in my thoughts. Well, he had left enough for me to eat so it was all good.
At that moment, I felt relieved. Relief that Sabe wasn't so bad up close. At least, I knew why he treated me that way all this time, although it was still uncalled for, but then, he seemed like a decent guy.