It was so easy for me to joke around and to smile today… all thanks to this charming little girl. “How old are you again?”
“I’m nine years old. I’m not fooling you, Mister Sormont. I just happened to be smart. All my teachers told me so. In the place where I came from, I’ve been accelerated twice,” she said as she raised her two fingers. “I’m now in the fifth grade. But I’m only second place in our class. My best friend got the first place because he has better grades than me in Physical Education. I don’t do very well in that subject, you see.” She suddenly looked disappointed before she shook her head.
“Why? You look very athletic to me.”
“I can’t control my magic yet. I’m afraid that my classmates would notice it and pick on me.”
That’s the thing about this little girl. I will only ask her one question but her answers were usually very long which really amuses me. Because I want to keep hearing her stories and her voice, most especially. I also like to see her different facial expressions as she tell me stories. But at that very young age, she was able to make me realize things. No, scratch that. It was her mother who was making me realize important things about life. It was clear how much this girl love and adore her mother. Ali carries her mother’s advices wherever she goes. And now, she was sharing those advices to me.
Peace, indeed, was not a thing to be found anywhere else. It was true that peace lies not in a certain place but in a person. I don’t have it with me although I could say that peace was just within my arm’s reach right now. I have found peace in my passenger who disappears after the sun sets and would reappear when the sun rises.
I don’t question Ali’s identity anymore because I’m sure that she would not confess anyway. Ali could be talkative, but secretive at the same time.
Maybe people had their own way of finding peace. But in my case, I never had to create it inside me. Ali was the one who created it for me without being aware of it. Every time I see her, I began to feel excited about having a kid of my own. It would have been so wonderful to have a daughter like her, a daughter whom I could talk to the way I talk to Ali.
But when the last words she said crossed my mind, my brows knitted. “And why would you hide your magic?”
“Because my classmates don’t have it. In our school, in the place where I live, I’m probably among the few people who has magic. I don’t know anybody else who have it, too.”
So Ali lives in a kingdom with no magic? I did not expect that since she seemed so accustomed to using her magic. There are nearby kingdoms with no magic, but they make it up through their armory. They make the best armors in all of the kingdoms. One of them was Gergari. Arameth even trade with Gergari. Nothing could beat them when it comes to weaponry. As a matter of fact, they were our main supplier. They may not have magic, but they have strong immune systems and long lifespans, too.
There were only three kingdoms that we transact with. The first two have magic so she must be from Gergari since only the people from those kingdoms could visit Arameth freely.
I thought all these time, Ali was enrolled in some magical school. It must have been so hard growing up with superpowers and having no one to teach her or to train her about it. Judging from what she said, her mother was a Gergarin and her father was an Armethian. Who would have thought that this bubbly kid was going through something?
“I’m sorry. That must have been painful for you.”
Her eyes, nose, and cheeks became red as if she was about to cry any minute now. To my surprise, she held my hand tightly. “It is. It’s so painful living without a Daddy.”
“Do you hate your father for not being by your side as you grow up?”
Ali quickly shook her head. “No. I could never hate someone so respectable and so admirable. I love my Dad so much. It was so hard without him because I miss him so much but I’m trying to be strong for him and for Mommy. I would have wanted to show him to my classmates so I could brag about him, but that’s not possible so I told them stories about him instead. Mommy also filled me with many amazing stories about Daddy while I was growing up that’s why I know that he never wanted to leave me and Mommy. He just had no choice. He loves us. I can feel it in my heart. I can feel it through this necklace that he asked my Mom to give me.” She held her platinum necklace and smiled as her eyes watered.
“You are so sure that your father is a good man. I hope he doesn’t disappoint you once you meet him.”
“He won’t. Mommy wouldn’t have fallen in love with him if he wasn’t a good man. And you said I’m a good girl, right? That’s because of my parents, too.”
I laughed and pinched her cheeks. “Oh, stop it, kiddo. You are doing it now. You are bragging so much now.”
She giggled and took the last cookie from the box before she sat beside me on a piece of wood and leaned on my arm. “I really like spending time with you like this, Mister Sormont. It’s always a fun day when I’m with you.”
“Same here, kid. Same here.” I softly kissed her hair. “Give me your hand.”
She did it without any questions. It amazes me until now how much this kid trusts me.