Surprisingly Cilia's nose was quite exception and especially when it came to tracking food. It was almost as she could sense or even hear the food call out to her and she would diligently follow. Even now as they walked through the Normals sect of the village Lozo couldn't help but be amazed ay how adept she was and following her nose.
The night was approaching fast with the sun's light being replaced by distant blinking stars. The only light lighting the path they walked on was that of the candles from the homes of the people of the village. Though it did not cover the entirety of it was sufficient for Lozo to see where he was going. Or even keep up with Cilia who was soulfully focused on the smell that fragranced the village with its hunger inducing aroma.
The light was also enough to see the faces of the few villagers closing shop and heading into their homes just adjacent to their working place. Just like the cabins back at the Harmatia sect their homes were majorly wood but had an earthy crust on top of them, possibly to keep the warmth in. Just outside them were small make-shift stands that held pumpkins and some apples in them. They were easily foldable into a smaller and compact form which even the children could drag back into the houses.
"Hey Cilia shouldn't we be going back. I don't like the way they are looking at us." Lozo said glancing to a couple quickly shuffle their stall and climb into their house.
"Shhh!" Cilia shushed Lozo. "I can almost hear the oven sizzling from here." she said advancing forward under the guidance of her nose.
"But…"
"Don't worry, you got your bag right?" she asked. She then tugged on her silver moon necklace and continued.
"As long as you have that they'll know that you are marked and you are a vassal. So stop worrying and get me some of that cake." She concluded as she pointed at a piece of cake or pie, too dark to tell, cooling by a window of one of the houses.
"So that's what this is for." Lozo said shifting his eyes to his bag.
'Guess that's why they were so mean to me back in Himo. I wasn't marked.'
"What does marked mean anyway?"
Cilia shook her head. "I'll tell you once we get that cake. Come on."
Gart village was sparsely populated. Judging by the number of buildings there approximately fifty people lived there, excluding the children. It was a small farmers village at the edge of a big forest which just like the night held an air of mystery to it.
"Hehe." Cilia laughed as she watched Lozo crawl to the open window. He looked like a turtle trying to walk past a puddle of mud but was too conscious of its shell getting dirty. Even so it needed to get to the other side.
Lozo hesitated. His hands were just below the now clear pie and the only thing left to do was grab it and make away with it. But his conscious didn't agree to it. There was an easier way to go about this and it was as simple as just asking. But through this method he achieved something else quite different and crucial for his time in the Himo family.
He needed a friend.
Surviving alone was hard and more than that inefficient for his goal. In order to give Hinari a better place to live, he need to gauge the world for its boons and boos. Meaning he needed to know more about the world, this new world outside the orphanage fast. And there is no better way to achieve that than with a friend.
Hence in his mind, obscured mind, this daring act was what he needed to seal his potential friendship with Cilia. A seal with an apple pie.
But still it felt wrong…
"Oh, what do we have here?" A slow tired voice asked right after Lozo had decided to retreat from his thievish endeavor.
He looked up noticing two wrinkled hands rested on the open window. Above them were two eyes squinting down trying to make out who was there.
"Oh no!"
"You…aren't you from earlier?"
Lozo got up covering his face and tried to leave, hoping that she hadn't fully recognized him.
"Oh, don't go. Come in come in." The old lady said waving for him to come back.
"You too." She said looking into the dark.
A few steps away Cilia was crouched behind a bush trying to hide her presence. She rose with a cheeky smile and a slight chuckle at the back of it.
"Don't worry, I'll give you some cake." The old lady said.
And with those words Cilia's hesitation took a 180, being first to walk in the home of the old lady.
***
A hurrying sound of cutlery clanging with the hard glass surface of a place broke silence in the small home of the old lady. With no mercy, whether to the pie or to their gracious host, Cilia hurriedly gobbled down the piece on her plate and quickly requesting for another. It was quite the unrefined showing, especially for two who had just been caught trying to steal on their first day in a new village.
'At least show some restraint' Lozo thought as he watched Cilia eat her piece beside him.
But if you looked at it on a different angle, one could take it as a silent compliment to the chef who made it. Taking down one piece after another without choking and asking for seconds right after could be seen as a way of gratitude if thought of in a different light. But one would need a lot of light to see it that way.
"Quite the appetite you have." Granny Metti said looking at the pie tray almost fully empty.
"I'm glad you liked it." she said a smiled widening on her lips.
Lozo was still on his first plate. Not that he wasn't hungry more of he was guilt ridden. Something Cilia looked immune to.
"I'm sorry for earlier. I don't know what came over me." He said barely able to look Granny Met in the eyes.
"No problem. I'm just glad you were able to enjoy it. But you…" she said pointing to Lozo. "You haven't eaten as much as her. I'll only fully forgive you if you eat just as much as her."
To Lozo's count that would mean at the least two and a half pie trays. And the bar was gradually rising.
"So do you live here alone?" Cilia abruptly asked, mouth full of pie.
Granny Mett was slightly startled at first. She looked at the two then looked over the wall where a fire place was slowly coming to life.
Just above it was a portrait of a man, a lady and two boys. The man and the two boys were each draped in overalls and had sweat glittering of their foreheads.
"Hey… you shouldn't ask things so abruptly." Lozo warned but was immediately stopped by Granny Mett.
"No worries, I'll gladly answer."
Just before her answer a she had a deep cough. On the other side the window was still open and fluttering the curtains in full fury.
"I'll get it." Lozo said, pushing back on his seat and moving to close the window.
"Yes. My children moved out a long time ago and my husband…" there was a slight linger before she continued. "But that doesn't worry me too much. I have the village here with me and are my family now."
From where he stood Lozo couldn't see her face but he could tell what she felt. She had the same air as old man Ji did every-time he looked at the large portrait that hung in his office. He only guessed that that was what old age did to people.
"I'm sorry to hear about your husband. I'm sure he's safe with the moon bunnies." Cilia said cleaning up the final piece of pie on her plate.
Granny confused at first chuckled. "I hope so too."
Her old smile reminded him a lot from back when he was still at the orphanage. Like how old man Ji tried to cheer them up with his odd smile. Lozo sighed as he closed the window.
Just then something crossed his eyes. A shadow… no two shadows. Both masked and stealthily crossing from one house to the other and plaster something on the walls of the houses.
His eyes narrowed. Something about them was familiar.
"Hey Cilia…" He called.
Cilia was already on her feet and walking toward him.
"Are you living already?" granny Metti asked.
"Sorry we have to go back. Thanks for the meal, it was delicious." Lozo explained.
The smile on Granny Mett faded. She turned to the table and took the piece of pie left. She wrapped it in a thin paper and packaged it.
"Here, take this to you friends and come back anytime." She said before slipping the pie into Lozo's bag that was on one of the chairs of the dining.
She walked to the two who were standing by the door and handed Lozo his bag.
"Hmm" Lozo and Cilia nodded in unison.
Just before they left, Lozo's eyes crossed across the room and onto the painting just by the fire place. The painting of a family of four. A father, a mother and two sons standing at midst of a farm filled with apple tree. At the background of the picture a large tree stood at a distance. On it was a piece of paper… talisman that read:
Beware of the Cursed Forest.
He closed the door with that image in mind.