It was about the time when wheat had reached full head, but had yet to fully ripen to the point of leaning that Alise started to harvest the garlic and shallots planted in their garden.

  Like usual, whenever she worked on anything, Gale would stay close to watch her, and she would often instruct him to help whenever she felt it must have been boring for him to just watch, such as now.

  Though this time was quite unlike usual, as a few fairies were there with him.

  Alise was initially worried that her son might catch unnecessary attention if people saw him with the fairies. They rarely become fond of humans afterall, so the sight of not one, but three fairies playing with her son would definitely draw attention that she can’t tell would be good or bad.

  But realistically, she couldn’t just kick the fairies back to where they come from, so she just resolved to hide them whenever the need arose.

  Now in the garden, Alise instructed her son to pull the bulbs out of the ground.

  Gripping the stem that grew out of the ground, Gale was able to pull the cluster of shallot bulbs out with relative ease despite his still growing strength.

  The garlics though, they put up more of a fight with their larger bulbs hidden beneath the dirt. And when he finally pulled one out of the ground, the sudden release after putting his all into it sent him stumbling backwards and the garlic into the air.

  His mother gasped a little and let out a giggle before she helped her son back to his feet. “Seems the garlic is too much a fight for you still, Gale,” she said while patting her son’s back to get the loose dirt off.

  The fairies, seemingly interested in what the small human is doing, turned in to help while his mother was dusting him off.

  Their features were not clearly defined when they first showed themself under the moonlight. But under the sun, the differences they have from one another became quite clear.

  One had a sleek body below their hips, tapering into a thick tail fin like that of a fish. This was the one that had come out of the river when they first met, and is likely the embodiment of a water spirit, which one could infer from the way their whole body glistens under the sun as if still wet even though they hadn’t been close to anything wet for some time now.

  The water fairy formed a ball of water seemingly out of thin air behind the parent and child before sending it towards the boy’s back to help clean the dirt stuck to him.

  The water ball burst on Gale’s back, sending splashes of water to Alise’s face who reacted with a yelp. Though it caught her by surprise, she knew that the fairy only meant to help, and it did. So she just laughed off the splash she received and thanked the fairy.

  Another fairy, the one with rocks encrusting their body, the embodiment of earth spirit then approached the family garden with garlic stems still protruding off the ground. When they touched the cultivated soil, the dirt covering the bulbs began to rumble, and a hole opened to reveal the vegetable underneath.

  Now that the bulbs are exposed, the last of the three fairies, the one with a smooth body, and a pair of butterfly wings on their back extended both their hands forward towards the garden, and a gust of wind began to blow.

  Judging from what they did, they were likely the embodiment of a wind spirit.

  The wind picked up speed over time and eventually got strong enough to slowly lift the garlic off the ground, kicking loose dust around as it did so. The vegetables were then brought towards Gale and dropped on his feet.

  “My! Thank you so much!” Gale’s mother exclaimed. Never in her wildest dream would she have thought a group of fairies would be helping her with her garden harvest. Though it was only a private garden, the amount of crops planted was still pretty sizable, so the help was greatly welcomed.

  Most of the yield from this harvest would be used for bartering with their neighbours, so they had more than enough to feed their household over winter.

  The hunter that had given them the rabbit a few days ago for example would be given some of the yield as thanks for that rabbit. In fact, that was probably why the hunter had given them the rabbit in the first place. Garlic and shallots goes well with roasted meat after all.

  Before they could be used for anything though, they still had to be dried for storing. They just had to be tied by the stems into a braid and hanged by windows, a shady and well ventilated place. Over a few weeks, the skin would harden and they would be suitable for use or trade.

  In the end, Alise finished her job close to the end of the day, just as the sky was starting to be painted orange by the setting sun. It had taken almost the whole day, but they actually finished the harvesting work surprisingly early thanks to the fairies’ help.

  Just then, outside their house, sounds of laughter could be heard.

  Looking out the window now adorned with bulb vegetables, Alise could see children chasing each other, laughing and shouting as they did—playing with each other.

  Gale wasn’t quite tall enough to look out the high window yet, but he could still hear the laughter coming from outside the window and turned towards it to try and find the source of the voice.

  “Would you like to go out and play?”

  Children in the village are mostly a lively bunch. As they grow up, they naturally become more curious and they try to explore the world around them. Oftentimes, they would even be a little mischievous while doing so, but that’s just how children are.

  Gale on the other hand, never left his mother’s side. Even when he was taken outside during open market season, or to trade with other villagers, he would always stick with his mother, seemingly uninterested in the world around him.

  “Play?” the boy asked while looking up to his mother.

  Alise answered with a nod before crouching down to meet her son’s gaze. “Won’t you go out and play with the other kids?”

  “Forest not too early?”

  He was indeed too young to be alone in the forest. Not only was it easy to get lost, there were also lots of wild animals there.

  But this time, Alise ruffled his hair, and smiled a little. “You’d be alright now. Just be careful not to get hurt. Also, come back when the sun is about to set, yeah?”

  Really, the kids would probably only play within the village boundaries. Even if they do get mischievous and go out into the forest, they likely won’t go that deep inside. Also, the older kids would be able to protect them from whatever is on this side of the forest. It’s not like Alise herself hadn’t done the same thing back when she was their age.

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  “Go on, then.” Alise said as she turned her son around and pushed him towards the door.

  Outside, Gale was still looking back at his mother. The three fairies were accompanying her to send him on his way, but at this point Gale didn’t know what to do.

  The other children that just passed by were long gone and are now no longer anywhere to be seen. Their laughter couldn't even be heard anymore.

  And it seems like his confusion wasn’t getting through to his mother.

  She herself was just as confused, wondering why her son was just standing still. It hadn’t come to her mind that her son wouldn’t be able to find the other children. While she was young, she would wander around the whole village until she found her friends, so it wasn’t a problem she had faced.

  After a moment of silence, the wind fairy took flight and landed on Gale’s shoulder. Following them, a gentle breeze blew past him and he could hear gentle whispers in the passing wind.

  When he caught on that the wind fairy was trying to help him find his way, Gale began making his way, following the wind with a slow start.

  The wind fairy, having done their part, flew away from Gale and headed back to where the other fairies and Alise are to watch the boy leave.

  When he turned around a house and was no longer in sight, the fairies all went back into the forest as they had no reason to stay. And thus, Alise was left alone at her house.

  A little outside Carmul’s boundaries, right on the outskirts of the forest, some kids are playing around a tree that grew there. Some of them had wooden swords on their hands and were swinging them around, fighting with each other.

  Those that didn't have a wooden sword instead use a fallen branch they found lying around. While their tools might be inferior, all the same they pretend to take on the role of the brave in opposition to each other.

  Carmul, the village they live in, is a part of a frontier domain. And while the village itself is a distance away from the border and is located behind the town where their lord resides, being a soldier was still a common aspiration due to how well the lord treated and paid his soldiers. This is why the children of the village typically play a sort of war game.

  It was during the middle of such a game when Gale found the group of children. He was still quite a distance away and is able to get a good look at the whole battlefield the match takes place in.

  Two trees have been marked with a long strip of cloth as the bases of opposing teams. On each side, there’s about a dozen or so kids acting as soldiers that’s trying to beat the other side to gain ground towards the enemy’s base.

  The match had progressed enough for one side to push halfway into enemy territory. But unlike actual battle, the children playing this game could rejoin the fight even after being tagged out by touching their own base.

  This is where the dynamic of battle comes into play, as Gale can see the losing team was quicker to touch their own base and return to the fight compared to the winning team.

  At this point when the battle was heated and the children were hard at each other’s throat, Gale was at a loss for what to do. So he waited for some time until eventually, one side succumbed to their opponent’s charge, and lost the game.

  As they sat down to take a break, someone finally noticed Gale.

  He’s still a good distance away from the other children and was staring at them somewhat eerily still with a vacant look in his eyes. When the kid who noticed him pointed toward him and called it out, it earned a series of “Who’s that?”s

  Seeing that no one went to approach him, one of the older girls took it upon herself to approach the newcomer.

  She’s almost a head taller than most and was carrying a wooden sword, leaning it on her shoulder. Her long black hair that reached halfway through her back was fluttering in the wind and there was a fierce, burning gaze in her eyes.

  “I am the War Goddess!” she said with a volume much louder than needed to reach the boy right in front of her. “State your name!”

  She was clearly acting out some sort of role to intimidate the newcomer. But her foe was not one to falter under such superficial things—or anything, really.

  “Gale,” He responded. It was the name given to him by his mother and who he is.

  “Gale?! Are you strong?” she asked as she pointed her sword towards him.

  “Strong?”

  “Come on!” She said while raising her sword. She then swung her sword down towards Gale. It was a relatively slow swing and she fully expected him to dodge the blow. But instead, he just stood still and took the blow to his head.

  His head was knocked down when he received the blow but he was able to stay on his feet. Despite the lack of strength, the blow was still quite harsh, and the hit left a mark hidden behind his hair.

  “Eh? I’m sorr—” The girl said, wide eyed after quickly throwing her sword to the side to check on the boy.

  She was flustered, but when she got a glance of his face, the remorse quickly went away. It was clear the blow didn’t leave that much of an affect on the boy. He was still flat faced, without any reaction to being hit.

  “You’re weird,” she said before moving to pick up her sword and get back to the other children. “Go away, you weirdo!” she shouted when she reached the other children before talking to them.

  With that, they all went back to their game, once again leaving Gale all by himself. So he did as told, and walked away from them, intending to go back home to his mother. But on the way, he once again heard whispers in the wind.

  It beckoned him to go into the forest. Though his feet hesitated at first, he went and followed the call anyway. His mother did say that it’d be fine for him to go into the forest now.

  Surrounded by trees, he made his way deeper and deeper into the forest. The occasional cheerful shouts he heard from the children’s battleground sounded further and further away until eventually, he could no longer hear it. That was when a fairy revealed themselves from between the trees, and flew in the wind to reach him.

  Gale reached out his hands and the fairy went to sit on his open palm. “Mom said I should ask for help,” He said as he brought the fairy closer to the top of his head. “It hurts.”

  The fairy prodded the boy’s head and quickly found the open wound beneath his hair. There’s a slight patch where his skin had broken and blood seeped out of it.

  Eager to help, the fairy then flew away from his hand and pushed him on his back with the wind. And Gale followed them through the forest for some time. Until eventually, he reached the river.

  There, the water fairy was already waiting by the stream. They slithered on the gravel, and climbed up Gale’s feet, body, and head to reach the top of his head.

  “Will you help me?” He asked.

  The water fairy gently rested their hands upon his head, right where the wooden sword had struck him earlier. At their touch, a bubble of water began to form, glistening under the sunlight.

  The bubble swelled quickly, enveloping the bruised area and dampening a lock of his hair. A cool and calming sensation followed by a gentle soothe washed over him and within moments, the ache faded into nothing, as if the injury had never been.

  The water healed his bruise. The fairies had helped him, just as his mother told him so.

  The water bubble then burst. Having completed its job, it now left Gale’s hair soaking, dripping to his clothes. That’s when Gale raised a hand to scoop the fairy from on top of his head.

  As he placed the fairy back down on the ground, he then noticed the sky turning a deep golden hue. The sun was about to set and his mother had told him to go back then. So, he looked back down onto the two fairies and waved goodbye to them. When they turned to leave, Gale too left the river to go back to his house.

  When he got there, it was about time his father also came back from work and they ran into each other right outside the house.

  His father saw him and quickly looked away, but said nothing as they both walked side by side towards the house they live in.

  Walking through the door, he noticed the braids of garlic and shallots hanging by the windows of their house. “You’ve finished hanging them up?” he asked his wife.

  Years prior, Gale’s mother would hang their harvest well into the night as she had to spend more time just harvesting them. Thinking back on those times, she put a hand on her son’s head as he walked through the door after playing outside and ruffled his hair a little. “I had help this year,” she said proudly, before noticing how wet her son’s head is.

  Thinking nothing of it, Alise just grabbed a towel and started drying her son’s head with it. “Did you have fun?” she asked her boy. Before he could answer, though. His father first responded to his mother’s earlier remark.

  “Yeah? The kid could pull garlic off the ground now could he?” he asked, a little sceptical, considering his son’s small size. The kid might be able to do it if he loosened the ground before pulling the crop out of the ground, but seeing how clean he is, that was unlikely. After a while, he seemingly lost interest, and just let it go. “Yeah, he better help out ‘round here. Can’t eat for nothing these days.”