Maureen's pace picked up just a noticeable degree as they passed familiar trees, rays from the recently risen sun slipping through and illuminating their path forward. And when they passed the last bit of greenery blocking the makeshift walls of their camp, she ran forward. Jin didn't stop her. As excited as she'd been when they set out in search of knowledge about sorcery, she and her sisters spent the entirety of their lives together.
Being away from them was as much a first for her as looking out for children was to him.
Jin picked up on one oddity as he caught up. Sound. Or rather the lack of it. Mary training, Amy playing around, cries from Polyanna; he heard none of it.
He picked up his pace as Maureen did the pattern of knocks on the gates. And promptly found himself releasing a faint breath as they opened up, an annoyed but otherwise fine Mary on the other side, a practically bouncing Amy at her side.
Maureen rushed forward, trapping the two girls in a hug.
"You alright?" Mary asked, begrudgingly returning the gesture with a single arm.
"Yes, mister Jin made sure nothing happened to me." Maureen said, looking past them and into the camp. "Where's Millicent and Polyanna?"
Mary tsked. "Inside the cave. That little brat been doing nothing but screaming."
"Screaming?" Jin questioned, not batting an eye when Amy shot from Maureen to hug him.
"She's not hurt or anything. She just being a baby." Mary said with a shrug. Hopefully that was the case. The Scarlet Rot shouldn't have been able to worsen, not after such a short time, no matter how far he went.
Jin walked forward, only pausing to hold a hand out to Mary. She tsked once more but obeyed the silent demand, handing over his katana. He didn't need to do any checks to know it'd hadn't left it's sheath.
If it had, he and Maureen would've cut their trip short.
He held out the straight sword he'd taken from the knight and her displeasure was replaced by eagerness, the weapon snatched from his hand. She went to pull it from its sheath but stopped to look up at him.
"That blade is yours to do with as you please." He assured her. She already knew how to handle weapons. It was far past time that she had a proper one to walk around with, daggers and other tools no good substitute for one.
Mary quickly pulled the blade free, Amy gathering around her, both enthralled by the sword.
Leaving the three girls, Jin headed towards the caves, retying his katana to its usual spot, feeling far better now that it was where it belonged. Still, it didn't do much to lay rest the small measure of anxiety gnawing at the edge of his mind.
True to Mary's words, Polyanna's echoing cries hit him long before he reached the cave's main chamber, only growing louder as he entered their sleeping area.
Laid on the fur's of Millicent's bed Polyanna wailed to her heart's content, barely stopping to take a breath. Many among his clan would've believed that someone so young possessing such a strong set of lungs was a good sign of things to come but he had a feeling that Millicent, eyes closed and nursing her forehead, wouldn't have called all the crying a good thing.
As if some sort of switch had been flipped, the moment Polyanna's teary eyes landed on him the cries turned to low whines. After some struggling the girl turned herself over and begin to crawl her way towards him on wobbly arms.
He kneeled down once she got close, pressing a finger to her head. And sure enough, the dim fragment of his power that rested within her while somewhat weakened over the past few days of his absence, burned strong, deterring the rot so deeply entwined with her from writhing about freely.
Why was the girl so intent on screaming as if something was wrong when she was, for all intents and purposes, healthier than ever?
"You're back!" Arms wrapped around him, Millicent having rushed over when she noticed all the crying had finally stopped. She released him from the short hug, smiling. "We missed you. Polyanna has been spending every day crying since you both left."
Jin hummed, that gnawing feeling fading away as Polyanna reached out to him, clearly wanting to be picked up.
Was that it? She made so much noise over simple attachment?
"Can you watch her?" Millicent requested. He nodded absent-mindedly and the girl took off, far more eager than she let on to see Maureen.
Doing as the babbling girl wanted, Jin picked her up and stood up, wiping her tear-stained face. Giggles left her as she tried to catch his hand.
Had he been like this once? Perhaps his father, in his later years, might've put up with such a thing but he couldn't imagine his parents dealing with something like this in his youth. They wouldn't have given a crying child a second thought. They'd certainly never bothered with Akai who'd been far slower than others among the clan to grow out of it.
Jin let his finger be caught once her face was cleaned up, turning to join the others outside.
No use thinking about something like that. The girls were alive and well and that's all that mattered right now.
…
Sparring was one of the main ways members of his clan passed time. Unless children were involved, and he meant the absolute youngest of children, real blades were involved, ensuring that it was always a painfully bloody affair. After all, the only real way to prepare for the pain that came with being slashed or stabbed was to have prior experience with the sensations. Even the young had their practice blades coated in a toxin, that while unable kill things as big as humans, induced searing pain made to mimic the pain of a real battle.
He firmly believed that that was the only true way to get the most out of sparring.
Polyanna in his lap, clapped her hands together, cheering as Mary's and Millicent's wooden swords clashed against one another. The latter slowly lost ground, too weak to match Mary's full force but shifted her weapon, angling it so that Mary's slid along it, the surprised girl stumbling past Millicent but regaining her balance before the opening could be used against her.
Since returning he'd taken to sparing with all of them, skewing his teachings to match their strengths. With Mary, he'd taught the girl a good mix of defensive and offensive techniques and tactics, the girl well suited to both despite her aggressive attitude. Millicent's teachings almost exclusively revolved around defensive tactics; signs of talent aside the girl didn't have the heart to kill.
A fatal weakness.
Best case scenario, if the girls were ever caught out alone Millicent could protect herself long enough for one of the others to finish the job.
Jin shifted over to some of the training dummies as a streak of blue light hit it, a dark mark left behind. While he hadn't stopped teaching Maureen the blade completely most of her focus was on sorcery now which was working out well for her.
Maureen shot a few more of those shinning projectiles before handing her staff to Amy, who swung to no effect.
Then there was Amy of course; he didn't teach her the same way he did the others. They fought and she adapted, aided by an instinct the others lacked. Once she grew, and the disparity in physical attributes wasn't so large, she'd be the best fighter among the girls without question.
Only time would tell how deep that instinct of hers went.
The air beside him shifted, a warm breeze rolling in as Melina took shape. Even when she fully manifested, others could not perceive her.
"You've managed to build something seldom seen in these times." She said, looking out amongst the children. "I wonder if there was a time when I was like these children?" Apparently he was the only one being hit with a bout of retrospection. In a way, though she hadn't taken an active roll in any of it, she'd been watching over them just as he had. All the way from that rotted cave to this small slice of safety.
She turned to him, her single eye of gold purer that of the children's focused. "Do you truly have no wish to obtain the title Elden Lord? To take the power of the Elden Ring for yourself?"
Once upon a time, before the girls, before Akai's death, before the Long March, he'd have agreed to her request without a second thought. For him it wouldn't have been about fixing the world or restoring the old. The pure untainted challenge of putting competing demigods of immense power to the blade would've been the only motivation he needed.
Even now his blood boiled at the thought, his body inching for such battles.
Jin said nothing, choosing to look towards the children instead, but that was more than enough of an answer for her.
"I see." A breeze passed as her body began to fade away into bluish light. "Should our paths cross again, I sincerely hope no harm will have befallen any of you…" Her voice grew fainter with each word until it became too quiet for him to pick up. Her warm ever present essence soon followed, completely vanishing from his perception for the first time since they'd met.
Hope was not a concept truly respected in his clan. Not in the traditional sense. There was a time and place for but to call upon it typically meant with disapproval, the very act no different than giving up. If one wanted something to happen they should do everything in their power to make it a reality not sit back and hope things fell into place.
Still, perhaps due to the faint familiarity her constant presence forged, he found himself hoping that she fulfilled her goals.
Such resolve was rare, even among his people.
Polyanna gurgled while reaching up, her small hands reaching out to the blue wisps of Melina's distancing presence, her eyes tracking them far too well for the act to be a coincidence.
Did this child possess a sensitivity for things of a spiritual nature?