Steel guided me as I walked behind him, many kids were running around and laughing, hopefully not at me, but they still ran around, tagging hiding or roughly playing with each other.
Steel looked around and waved to many of the adults and some of the older kids that he saw, he was like a village celebrity.
Many other adults waved to me as well, I waved back. I felt like a nepo baby.
We ended up coming up to the same rocky gate that we were outside of just a day ago.
Steel was still in front of me until I ran out from behind him and toward the closed wooden gate between me and the cabin behind it, our house.
Pushing on the gate, it was still slowly moving inward, but not fast enough.
While pushing held in my breath and my arms, along with my legs, began to shake slightly. I stopped for a second to take a breath of air, and just like that Steel was behind me and pushed the gate open with no struggle.
"Thank you…"
"Your welcome."
Steel said that with a smug smile on his face.
He walked around me and held it open for me. Giving him a sour look as I walk past him, I fully go toward the door, that one is less in the ground and moreover easier to open.
I push the door open and about halfway through opening the door, it stops with a thump on the other side of it.
It's not big enough for Steel to fit through since he's an adult, but I can shimmy my way through.
I turn backwards toward Steel who's standing right behind me:
"Something is blocking the door, I'll go move it and open it for you."
Steel nods:
"Okay, but be quick, only thing I want is to eat breakfast and relax for some time, before I have to scout for Kobolts."
With a few good sidewalks through the small gap between the door frame and the door, I make it inside the house.
Looking up above my height there's nothing blocking the door, looking down, I see Marcilene, her long ears and hair blocking her face as she's laid down and sleeping at the door.
Her legs stopping the door from opening all the way.
Her sleeping garments, a white dress draped on the ground and splayed out.
Steel yells from the other side of the door:
"What is it?!"
He's pretty loud and I shush him through the door.
He lets out a confused sound.
Walking around Marcilene to face her face to face, I move her hair from her face.
"Marcilene… Marcilene… Marcilene."
I softly call for her name, she wiggles and moves around but nothing more.
"Marcilene."
My voice a bit louder, and more forceful.
"Marcilene!"
I put force behind it when I called this time.
She woke slowly, her hair, getting into her mouth, I smiled as she woke.
She lunged over to me and put her arms around my neck to hug me, but it felt like she was trying to kill me with the way she was tightly wrapped around me neck.
"Lazi!"
As she lunged she moved away from the door, making it sway open.
She yelled out loud, making even Steel hear her.
He slowly pushed open the door as Marcilene mercilessly wrapped her arms ever so tightly around me.
Steel smiled at it.
"Marci you can let go now…"
My voice coming out strained.
"Just a little longer…"
'A little longer and I'm going to die.'
"At least not as tight."
She slightly pulled back on her grip, it's not very noticeable unless you are the one that's feeling the pain of the arms wrapping around your neck.
"I missed you!"
She said as she turned her head up to kiss my forehead.
"I can feel and see that."
She let out a little giggle, as she pulled back and looked at me better, she saw my eye patch that was just stuck onto my left eye.
"Is that what the doctor put on your eye?"
I nod as she examined it, disappearing then reappearing in my vision with her head bobbing in and out of my vision.
Before it would be easier for me to just see with the small amount of movements that she did, now, she could have very easily disappeared into the left side of my view and was gone.
"Was it bad? Did they take his eye?"
Marcilene looked toward Steel his body standing over us, with a sullen look.
'He's going to lie to her…'
Mentally making a stupid face at him.
I can see it already, Steel faking tears saying that's he's sorry or something.
Steel nodded his head softly.
Marcilene looked at him full of concern, then she looked over to me, her face still full of concern for me.
"No, oh my goodness Lazuli, are you okay, did it hurt?"
I give Steel a look of disbelief and then look down toward Marcilene.
"The doctor didn't take my eye."
Marcilene looked at me with confusion.
"He just covered it because of to much Soul Energy absorbed in by it."
Her face slowly shifted toward a smile, small smile but still a smile.
She then turned her head and shot Steel a sour face, the same as what I made when he opened the gate before I could.
"You suck dad."
Steel lets out a chuckle.
"I was hoping that Lazi would go through with it but I guess it's good that he didn't or else she would have took the eye out herself."
'WHAT?!'
Steel laughed, Marcilene looked back to me and went back to hugging before she had a revelation.
She pushed me back and looked at me with a curious look.
"Was it my fault that you absorbed Soul Energy through your eye?"
I slowly shake my head, looking up at Steel with my one good eye.
He nods, giving me permission to tell her, his face shows that he's still slightly disappointed by his choices of his actions.
"Steel wanted to train me and in the process he ended up letting out to much Soul Energy, and without knowing that my Inherited Soul Ability granted me the ability to absorb Soul Energy I took in too much of it which over worked my eye…"
She look at me taking in all of what I said.
"… Doctor Vic, said that he's going to have to check the eye every week, and that we're going to go outside and get an eye patch for me!"
The last part, even though it was scary, was still slightly exciting to learn about, we can go outside together.
Marcilene gave me a look of fear when I said that though.
Giving her a look of confusion as I looked into her eyes.
"You want to go outside…?"
Slowly, I nodded my head and she turned towards Steel.
Steel looked down to her and nodded as well.
"Do you not like playing with me?"
Her voice sounded like it was going to break and fall into tears as she still looked to Steel, I could tell she was talking about me.
"No, that's not it… I love playing with you Marcilene, but I want to see what type of eyepatches I can get, I want it to look cool."
I point to my eye that just has a white patch of, cotton feeling on my face, I tap it softly, not wanting to irritate my eye anymore that needed to.
"Okay…"
Marcilene looks to me with a sad look on her face.
"We can go outside when the time comes for the Centennial festival."
"Do you not want to go outside…?"
She gives a smile, but I could see through that fake facade.
She didn't.
"I do, but I'm not used to a lot of people."
Marcilene lied, her face was pale.
Steel leaned down beside us, holding his large hand over Marcilene's shoulder.
"Lazuli, how about you go and get some more rest, I can tell by the look on your face, that you'll need it."
For some reason it was true.
When I got up from the same spot that Marcilene lunged into me and made me fall to, she looked up and for some reason I felt compelled to hug her once more before I went to rest.
I wrapped my arms around her this time as tight as I could, but it just didn't compare to hers.
"Are you trying to choke me?"
She could feel it.
"Noooo…"
I said with sarcasm in my voice, before I pushed off of her and got to my feet and went backwards towards the stairs of the building going toward the top I could hear footsteps of them going into the Livingroom.
I got to the end of the hall and heard the talking, I wanted to go and hear what they were talking about, but my body was slowly running out of gas.
When I entered for what felt like the first time I looked at the window of the room that was there forever and saw the forest.
Remembering what Else said:
"That's Warren Forest."
With a few steps more I plop myself onto the bed and with little to no time I fall quickly asleep.