Each family member took that differently.
Ag could only do a simple smile, something in his eyes holding back a stronger response.
Olivia was beaming from those words, a light red apparent on her face as it softened to those words as she mouthed 'thank you.'
Amara & Lisa each responded awkwardly, the latter hiding her face while Amara smiled with her teeth.
Qier, for all intents & purposes, nodded his head, his eyes seemingly more telling of his gratefulness than he could express with words or body expressions.
Lula & Arron had the strongest responses.
"I am so glad we got to meet someone like you Cari...not just for what you've done, but for who you are."
Her smile & eyes reflected gentleness.
"On behalf of all of us, and even the village itself, we don't just thank you but welcome you to stay with open arms!"
Cari was surprised to hear that.
"I was going to save it for after dinner, but since I already mentioned it...-"
He got up from the chair.
Returning, he held a necklace.
"I know you can't wear it, or even carry it, but it symbolizes our trust to you; it's something ancestral to our village, and we as goblins, while not united, rather stay connected to each other.
Even though we're spread across the world now, we primarily work with each other when we can, cohesive, and with this gift, you'll share in our cooperation...where you find one of us, you'll find someone to trust."
Silver small rings made the link, however, the centerpiece, the gem, emanated an almost hazel orange, embroidering it, the pendant was the same silver with little bumps at the corners with a curvature pattern strewn around it.
Carved on the gem itself, a unique symbol presented itself, hands reaching together in the middle, however, they overlapped, curved, some bigger, others smaller, each hand followed its own pattern and direction, but they all still came together into a single palm in the middle.
"Our culture, despite weakening as we spread out, only grew stronger as a majority of us strived to maintain our connections, in the end diversifying it and making us stronger as a whole."
Overwhelmed, as Arron placed the necklace around Cari on the table, he couldn't accept, his head already shaking very much.
~NALA~
{This is too much! I barely have known you all for just a DAY!}
The family, besides the Chief, were as much shocked from the gift as they felt odd, not just from that statement, but the idea of Cari rejecting it.
"Saving Olivia, helping in dealing with that foreign fungi that would have taken by surprise & risked the family, and meaningfully added to the whole of our family and village.
Listing off these things, Cari looked over to Lula.
"In one day, you did these things...
You are right not just in the fact of how little time we got to know each other, but to understand one another, however... your actions...who you are as a person, has more than been enough to convince me, my husband, and all of us that you are someone more than worth having in our lives."
Cari's previous blush returned, only brighter.
"You are deserving, as long as you are who you are, for us as a family, and as a people, to always want to have close relations with you, and this gift will allow, just that.
Take it."
Instantly, a glow overtook the entirety of the hole where Cari's eyes lay, making his expression unreadable.
Underneath all that light however... were eyes that were manifesting tears, droplets of green light, similar to the orbs of life energy, but given physical form.
They fell onto the gem, and a reaction occurred.
In a single moment, they melted into the necklace, it began to gain the attributes on Cari, ethereal, matching the current 'night' form of his body, silver turning to black, the hazel orange shifted, turning into a hazel green.
It had shrunk, and affixed itself onto Cari's stem, just below the hole where his face was.
After Cari wrangled his touched emotions, both him and the family could only stare in surprise at the result.
"You are a strange being Cari."
Qier could only comment as he tried to refocus on his food in the liveliness Cari brought with her.
'Always something with her, huh?'
He could only smile to himself, so much has happened that he just can't understand how things worked anymore.
He knows anything can happen in this world, not just in what their father taught them, but proven on their journey, they didn't see too much of it on their travels; Cari almost equated all the crazy things they saw in the entirety of their journey, alone! In a single day!
'Just what would living with her be like?'
Arron stared at the necklace and back to Cari.
"It would be difficult for others to tell with how small it is, but nothing impossible to manage knowing you'll only learn how to, ahem, 'undo' it as time goes on; what's more concerning is the color change as each color represents a different tribe, with that one, you'd naturally be associated with-"
Pausing, seeing the rest of the family staring.
"...let's not just bypass this warm moment; thank you for accepting my gift and let us continue our feast."
Cari could only nod, more now on his mind than before.
The family continued to enjoy the food as they discussed; Cari, despite everything, seemed filled with more than enough energy, both literally and metaphorically, to communicate with everyone, for multiple reasons from the scenario before, to him getting better with manipulating life energy to form shapes.
{Green isn't my favorite color, I do not have one yet.}
{I named myself.}
{...that reminds me, to answer your question Lusi, the most beautiful place I've seen is my birthplace, flowers of a myriad of colors, the nice breeze and sunlight felt, the teal leaves on the grey trees, rustling with the light shining through, the grass around me to the beautiful sky; the image as a whole is ingrained in my head, I can't forget it, and I never want to.}
As the meal came to a close, Cari could only think to himself as the family wrapped the meal up, cleaned, and moved together with him back to the living room.
'So much, yet so little time...I'll learn as time goes on, En's advice was spot on, so many innate abilities yet no mastery over them, wonder what else I can do-"
Just then, he felt it...what gave him these lovely, wonderful people he could call friends & family was calling again.
Someone was in pain...and it was very odd kind of one, it seemed...almost unnatural, a sensation he just, didn't understand.
The luminous dark green of his cap intensified, contrasting the black of the spots on it, and body begun to radiate stronger than normal, the family who were relaxing and chatting noticed.
"Cari?"
Olivia responded first as she had notice Cari freeze as her body reacted.
'Nearly pure south, south-east...the human village? Feels similar to Olivia, another sentient life likely.'
His brain worked before his body could, however, before he could act, he realized what leaving would mean.
Looking up at all of them, he... he-
He knew exactly what he had, and wanted, to do, but that would mean leaving them, and he may not "instantly" return.
Cari had nearly forgotten about the human village; at first, he was just exploring, learned lots of stuff in a short time, wanting to seek others, with the knowledge of the village, decided to go see it for himself, got distracted with the intensity and concern Olivia radiated back then, to now.
He didn't want to go, but life called, he still wanted to explore the world, to help & bond with people...
He didn't want to let go of what he had gained either though.
However, in the midst of his thoughts, Cari refocused on Olivia.
Seeing her stare at him...knowing what would've happened if he didn't respond to her pain...and everything he gained, learned, and experience by following it.
Cari resolved his thoughts.
'I will see them again.'
Olivia saw the changes in Cari's eyes, and she found herself confused as she suddenly felt sad for something she's yet to hear but subconsciously knew.
{I found you because I can feel others pain, Olivia.}
Caught off-guard, she could only suddenly question the things Cari did for her as much as the reason why he's stating this now.
{I helped because I want them to feel better, I also want to explore the world; someone is hurting, and I am going to help them, meaning I have to leave.}
Hearing that, not just Olivia, but the family surrounding them reacted.
"Being hurt can imply they are in danger, meaning you may put yourself in it as well Cari.", Arron could only warn him.
{You're right, but I can't ignore someone in pain; I found you all because of that, I learned so many things, beautiful and more thanks to it, and got to see more of the world because of it.}
Arron could only watch, as the sisters surrounded him, especially Lusi.
"I don't wanna see you go!"
She attempted to grab him.
Cari however released his glow, startling her.
{Lusi, that night you were crying...someone is out there, even worse off, possibly crying too: I have to be there.
I care about you, about your sister, about all of you, that has been true as I got to spend this day with you all, since before I even came to this village, I cared about Olivia...and I won't stop caring about any of you when I'm gone, as much as I won't for this person.}
Tears started to come out as her hands reached for him again.
But they instead wrapped around him, pulling him into an embrace.
"Come back...please..."
~hic~
{I don't know how many people I will heal before I will...but I can promise that I will.}
~hic~
The other sisters joined them.
"I look forward to you coming back.", Amara seemed at peace with it, smiling lightly.
"Lets play herbs & gatherers when you come back.", Lisa could only smile widely in anticipation for him returning.
Lula put her hand to her mouth, Arron approached, with her following.
The older siblings did the same.
"I can't stop you...I just- can't, but I can wish you to be safe."
Olivia could only speak with her eyes being watery.
Qier only hugged, choosing to remain quiet.
"This village will hold a feast, when you get back, and we as a village & family can get to know you better."
{Thank you, for the gift, for that, and being someone for me to cherish.}
Arron only smiled to that, although, something akin to regret was on his face.
It didn't beat the amount of it on Ag's face though.
They separated; Cari was set down on the table by Lusi.
{I'm gonna get going, if they are in danger, I must hurry.}
Cari hopped off the table, about to get hopping, but-
"Wait Cari!"
Cari tripped over himself and fell face-first as he heard that, getting up & turning, he found Ag walking up behind.
"I'm sorry, but I must tell you this."
As he fell to one knee, he spoke.
"Thank you, for protecting me before...for saving Olivia, I- before, when you were hurt because of that, I- struggled to fully value you for healing her before, and I worried so much that I even wanted to not think of you like that...I'm sorry, you are a part of the family to me, a loved one."
Cari felt something strange in his body, besides the pain that was already beginning to dig into him, an emotion he wasn't familiar with in the slightest, negative and infectious; all of 'this' was too much right now, he was held up for too long already.
{I don't know how to feel about that, nor have time to dig into that right now...when I come back, we can talk about it, but know that...I, don't hold it harshly? I'm guessing feelings right now, I must go, goodbye.}
Cari jumped out of the clay house, past the porch, down the back-and-forth stairs, and back out the village around where he entered it.
The family walked out the home as he left it, watching as Cari left their sight.
• • • • • •
Bearing the intensification of the pain as he closed in was something he got better at from before, however, not only did the pain seem stronger, but the unique 'taste' of it being so odious, cut back on him being good enough to not have a similar result to before.
He could not speed up fast enough without tripping and falling, so he controlled his speed, trying to get into the feeling he was in before, his brain refused to budge on this, however.
He had to do something he didn't like...
He allowed the horrible feeling to invade his mind.
Purposely stopping for a moment, he allowed it to infect and consume, the voice from before never showed up though.
He didn't fall into it as deeply as before, but it still hurt both in mind and body.
Following the train of thought from before, he pushed back, hoping for the same boost, luckily enough, it did respond.
Albeit weakly, the glow surrounding his body condensed, and he pushed forward once more in reality.
No longer flickering, but the strength was barely comparable to the enhancement the first time.
Bugs crawled along the ground he traversed, no bird calls thankfully, the nature was a beauty, but Cari couldn't appreciate it at the moment.
He could only be glad no animals seemed to roam the night.
It was lucky that the distance seemed not too far, with his increased pace, he got there in roughly a dozen minutes or so.
Calming his mind and settling the feeling that was now eroding his mind, he focused on pushing to the furthest corners of his head; whoever this was, was randomly in this forest, and passing out like before was a major no-no to his safety.
He found a rather large bush, shrubbery all around, right behind it was a hillside, looking like someone had come down it...maybe fell looked more like it.
He entered the shrubbery; the strange pain had reached an apotheosis: they were here.
Hearing a little bit of movement, he approached, and after passing a couple of leaves, found the individual.
A human little girl, in a damaged nightgown, one leg covered widely in scrapes & injuries, the other not as much but the foot twisted at an extremely nasty angle; bumps, bruises, cuts spread out through the rest of the body.