#the okash wolves

[seumadruga]

The Okash wolves

Chapter 1- Basically Melissa’s family

Melissa

Melissa clicked the pen near to her right hear while listening to the sounds from the kitchen. The whistle of a song she did not know, food frying, bowls being placed in the sink, footsteps. But above all, the pen being clicked. The situation was weird, she did not remember hearing her aunt whistling while cooking or doing another activity before. Maybe she was having a good day and she decided to stim by whistling.

Melissa should go to the kitchen. After all, her stomach was hurting, and her mom had told her to spend time with her aunt during the trip. She got out of the bed taking care not to make a noise. She did not want to wake anyone. Down the stairs she went to the kitchen, and then she was paralyzed at the door. It was not her aunt who was there, it was the women she met yesterday. Maybe Melissa should go back to her room and wait someone wake up. She was twisting the fabric of her shirt. But then the woman turned and said smiling:

-Good morning, miss Melissa.

In the next second she was working again. What Melissa should say? Did she also have to do like the woman and say misses plus her name after the good morning? What was her name? Marta? Maria? The clicks were faster. Jennifer, maybe? The lady was with her back turned, she still needed to smile, or it was unnecessary? Maybe only a good morning was enough. But she still could reply to the greeting, or it was too late? Melissa did not want to ignore the lady, but that was better than saying something wrong. Or no, she would not like to be ignored. So, a good morning, without a smile. A deep breath and more quicker clicks.

-Good morning

Another deep breath. The lady turned back and made a weird face while looking to her. Was she doing the wrong expression? And then Benjamin would ask why she thought social interaction were so difficult.

While going up stairs to her room, Melissa decided that was useless to try to understand what went wrong by herself. She would ask someone later. When she was opening the door, her stomach rumbled. And then she closed her eyes, there was no eye she would stay with the woman alone. Her hunger needed to wait until another person wake up. It would not take that long, right?

One hour later, and she was still sitting in her bed clicking the pen in her right ear. Why did her body do that kind of thing? Most of the time she did not even remembered to go to the bathroom, if it were not for her alarms Melissa would not eat, drink water and pee for a whole day. But now that she needed to wait patiently until someone wake up it was like she did not eat for days. A long sight followed that thought.

Melissa frowned and stared her garden dragon sleeping peacefully in his cage. She loved Canela deeply, however it was very frustrating to have an empath link with a mostly nocturnal animal. He spent the entire night eating, and she was starving. Lucky boy.

Had he only eaten mosquitoes? Or would he have found a spider? The aunt's house was very clear and organized and it had screens on the windows, maybe he had not found enough food. If that were the case they would have to go to the yard, but it could not be too late because of the family dinner. If Canela woke up around 5 pm it would give time for...

- Mel, are you awake?

The question was followed by two knocks on the door. Then Diego's head appeared through a crack, he was scratching his eyes. Still clicking the pen, Melissa got op from the bed.

- Is the breakfast ready?

As she shook her head and walked towards the door, Melissa's belly rumbled, and her brother laughed.

- And I thought I was hungry- he yawned- How long have you been awake?

- I have no idea.

- Of course, you don' t.

Arriving at the bottom of the stairs they found the aunt's maid collecting the garbage from the room. As soon as she was finished, she turned and smiled.

- Good morning, mister Diego. Hello again Miss Melissa. Unfortunately, the breakfast is cold, your aunt told me you wake up early, but it seems I did it too early. I will warm everything up right now.

- Good morning, Maria. You do not need to worry; we are going to heat up the food.

Melissa was looking to his brother's arm; the pen was clicking a little faster.

- Yeah, Diego is going to warm up the food.

Maria nodded, dumped the trash in a bad and walked out of the door with a broom. Diego patted Melissa while they were going to the kitchen. On one of the counters there were fruits, bread, jam, milk, juice, and coffee. Turning on the stove, Diego said:

- You know that we are going to do that together, right?

- You are the older brother, your responsibility.

- We are twins! Then at least get the stuff of the counter and put it on the table.

- You were born ten minutes before - Melissa lowered her right arm but kept clicking the pen while she looked around the kitchen- Where can I put my pen? I do not want to put in on a place I can forget.

- You were born ten minutes before - Melissa lowered her right arm but kept clicking the pen while she looked around the kitchen- Where can I put my pen? I do not want to put in on a place I can forget.Melissa started her journey of going back from the kitchen to the pantry, from the pantry to the kitchen. The first thing to hit the table, obviously, was the pen.

- When you were my age, you were you were drooling and rubbing in bed.

- Wait. I can even snore sometimes.

- Aham

- But I do not drool.

- And I do not move in my sleep.

By some miracle Melissa was able to get all food to the table relatively quickly without getting hurt. She only tapped her foot when she was sitting down to eat, her expression didn't even change. She was used to feel pain and get hurt. She started preparing the same food she always eats at home, coffee and milk and bread with jam.

- I can't believe you are eating the same thing you eat every day at home.

Melissa gasped in fright and started coughing which made Diego rush to put the pans on the table and then smack her on the back a little harder than necessary. When she stopped coughing, she punched his brother's thighs. She wanted to complain but she knew she would do the same thing and her brother knew too. She snorted and frowned. Biting a piece of her bread she asked:

- The tapioca you are eating, is of what?

Diego looked up from his food and sighed.

- Cheese and guava paste. Do you want some?

He held out the tapioca and Melissa took a bite. She shouldn't be surprised by the fact that Diego had almost eaten the tapioca while she barely had finished to eat her first bread.

- It was just me, or Ben's beard was worse than it looked by phone.

Melissa frowned and began moving her left arm back and forth.

- I don't know if it looked worse because we've only seen that by the phone or if it's because it grew during this week.

- Probably both. I cannot believe he didn't shave that thing before he came here. So, you...

- Humpf

- Fine, I got it, I will stop talking- Diego raised his hands like he was being attacked.

By the time Melissa finished eating her brother had been gone for some time. Quando Melissa terminou de comer seu irmão já tinha saído há algum tempo. Climbing the ladder, she was able to hear Diego brushing his teeth. She waited unit he was done.

- Ops.

His eyebrows rose and his eyes widened.

- You told me you'd give the book after breakfast. So, give me the book.

Diego sighed and rolled his eyes. They went to the room he was staying; the suitcase was in a chair on the side of the door and there were some clothes scattered around the room. Which didn't make sense since they arrived yesterday. After searching in his suitcase, a little, Diego took the book and used it to push her out of the room.

- Happy now?

- Humpf

Finally, Melissa would know what happened after Willian been kidnapped. She got in the bed and started looking for her pen, then she remembered she had left it on the canopy table. She began to wring the fabric of her shirt. While she was going down, she notices her knee was hurting a little, she asked herself it what meant she would need to use her cane tomorrow in the Arts Festival. She really disliked stairs. Luckily, the aunt's maid wasn't around, and she managed to retrieve her pen in peace.

Melissa got immersed in the book, she didn't hear Benjamin or her parents getting up and her aunt going downstairs complaining all the way. She didn't even realize that Benjamin opened the door and entered her room, not until he was sitting next to her on the bed.

- Hey, Mel?

They hugged and Melissa smelled the eucalyptus smell characteristic of her older brother, she remembered smelling it during many meltdowns during her childhood. Before Benjamin left home, she never thought she would cry When she saw one of her brothers, but this happened every time they met. However, she didn't understand why she was crying at this moment considering she had already soaked his shirt yesterday. The hug got tighter, and she could feel his beard pining her cheek.

- Mom asked to tell you, y'all going to the grocery and you should spend time with Aunt Vanessa.

Melissa squeezed her brother one last time and let him go. She wiped her eyes and took her book and her pen; she was ready to come down with Benjamin. She listened to her mother talking with the aunt's maid, her dad was at the table speaking something with her brother. He nodded at her.

Melissa went straight to her aunt's studio. She always had this strange feeling whenever she entered there. It was very clean and organized, the paints were in her bad leg side and the painting materials in the good one side, on the back wall there was a table with a lot of paper. Her aunt always painted in the center of the room. The walls were white, contrary to what people usually thought having a colorful and full of trinkets house didn't help every single artist to produce. Her aunt needed a clean space to be able to concentrate in what she was doing.

Her aunt turned back and sighed.

- Mel, I love you- her aunt's voice always seemed tired. Melissa didn't know if this was because she had chronic fatigue or simply because she didn't have much patience for people- But do you need to click that pen?

Melissa blinked; she hadn't realized she'd begun stimming. She lowered her right hand and when to sit on the couch.

- What are you painting?

- Myself, but uglier. The nose is bigger, the chin practically non-existent, the mouth is too big, the eyes more separated, I added much more wrinkles than I have, this kind of thing.

Tilting her head, she could see that the face was basically ready, but the bottom had not even been done yet. It was always interesting to see the aunt's paintings, because while Diego used more the traces of the northern tribe in which everything was square or pointy, the aunt painted as the tribe that was on the northeast coast. And the differences were huge, Diego's drawings didn't have deep most of the time, the black outline of the image was always visible, and the background was always one color. Whenever she saw Aunt Melissa's work, she always thought she could take the brush and mix all the colors of the painting until it formed one. There were no lines in this style of painting, all the components of it were connected through the color gradient. Melissa also liked the fact that if the main image had predominantly light colors the background would have darker colors and vice versa. And she thought it was kind of funny that only one element had details and the rest was basically a blur. The first time she realized this was when her aunt painted a picture of a family in a house on fire in response to the criticism, she received for being single. The house was the only clear thing on that board.

Two knocks were followed from her mom's head appearing through the door. She had a smile in her face that ended up turning a grimace as soon as she looked at Melissa.

-Darling, we are going to the Market now. I just put your smartphone in charge, which means you ran out of your alarms this morning. So please, first go to the bathroom and have some water.

- Ok, I'll do it.

- And can you trade these pajamas for a more... presentable outfit?

- I'll see what I can do about it.

Her mother sighed.

- Bye, Vanessa. Bye, darling.

-Bye, mom.

- Bye, Alice.

Melissa snored and went to do what her mother had asked. She decided that today she would put a red scarf on her knee. When she returned to her aunt's studio, she was already painting the background of the picture. She sat comfortably on the couch and began reading her book.

When she was reading for the third time about the rock spirit story a light appeared above her book. A green ball was in front of her, it pulsed like a heart, and it called the magic inside her. It was not the only spirit in the room, dozens of colorful balls were flying around.

- It is weird, isn't it? - the voice of her aunt was extremely soft, there was respect and admiration there - In the City of the Sanctuary, where Proch and all resurrected lives, the spirits barely appear. But all over the country, in little ctiies like that, it is so common to them just come for a visit. Often without an offering.

The spirit in front of Melissa started to come closer and she could feel her empath link with Canela getting stronger. It was almost like their emotions were becoming thoughts. She was not sure which emotions were her and which were his. When the spirit touched her face, Melissa's skin turned into scales, the same color as Canela's. The spirit became a garden dragon and started flying around her.

The room was getting darker and the paintings there were suddenly glowing. The spirits were almost dancing in the room, some were colorful balls while others turned garden dragons. Melissa's scales were fluorescent. It was the most beautiful thing she have ever seen in her life. She felt like she was about to explode, the beauty of what was happening in front of her, the fact she was seeing that many spirits... She was almost screaming.

The Spirits began to go away, and she was almost started crying. Her skin was returning to normal, and she could no longer feel Canela well. Melissa stood looking out the window as the Spirits came out, her aunt had already returned to work. Her head was full of questions, her pen was clicking relatively fast. Had the spirits who turned garden dragons been affected by their new form? Was it hard for them to be awake since garden dragons were nocturnal animals? Did they want to eat insects? Would they also have had the urge to look for a warm place? Had they become cold-blooded beings?

- Mel?

She took a little leap and wide her eyes. She hadn't neither realized that her family had already returned home, nor that Diego had entered the studio.

- Mom asked you to help her to make the lunch.

Melissa should have known there'd be some trick behind the fact her mother didn't even bother to ask her to go to the supermarket. Before anything, she put the book and her pen in her bedroom bed, her knee wasn't liking going up and down stars all these times. When she arrived in the kitchen her mother was guarding the groceries along with her father.

- How can I help with the lunch?

- Melissa! - her mother's voice was surprised and happy – I can't believe you decided to volunteer to help me make the lunch!

She couldn't believe Diego had done this to her. Her arms shook back and forth.

[seumadruga]

The Okash wolves

Chapter 4 - What the hell happened?

Melissa

The Arts Fair was a great event, artists from all over the country and world participated in it. Village blocks and buildings were used for the fair. It was indebted to sections: paintings and drawings, photography, theater, music, dance, cinema and sculpture. It was the biggest art event in the country. But instead of enjoying the event Melissa and her brothers were staring in front of a mirror admiring Benjamin's shaved face. Well, Melissa and Diego were doing it, Benjamin was missing his gone beard.

They were alike, the same pointed chin, upst nose and brown eyes. Melissa was happy to see that she looked as healthy as her siblings. She still looked pale compared to them, their skin was a darker brown compared to hers. But it looked like she had regained the weight she had lost.

What bothered Melissa the most about the situation was that they had come out of the cold of their village to come to the Arts Fair and feel cold. She had finally understood why she had been lucky enough to wake up painless yesterday, her knee was preparing her for the pain she would feel that day.

Her cell phone started shaking in her pocket, she pulled it out and saw it was an alarm to eat, drink water and go to the bathroom. Melissa breathed a sigh, just the idea of walking around until she found a restaurant made her knee hurt more. Ben came close and put his hand on his shoulder.

- Diego went to admire some sculptures, we can go eat together - He pointed to a building that was further ahead - there is a snack bar nearby.

Melissa didn't even realize Diego was gone. But she was happy to know that not only did she have a snack bar nearby, but that Benjamin would be the one who would accompany her to her meal.

Although they walk slowly, they were not enjoying the many sculptures that were in the tents or in the open sky. Most of them were abstract and none of them could understand how they meant more than twisted metal in a strange position.

 Before they reached the diner, something strange happened. Melissa could feel Canela as if he were by her side, at this distance she should hardly be able to connect through the link. And the feeling was different from what she had felt over the last few years. It was the same link, but something had been added to it.

She began to breathe heavily, her hands twisting her blouse. Every moment she felt Canela better. Suddenly she began to see his cage and her room while watching the street of the Arts Fair. She winked and scratched her eyes, but she kept seeing what Canela was seeing. During the confusion she knocked down her noise cancelling headphones.

Melissa then began to smoke during her breaths. She had let go of her cane and closed her eyes hard. Her hands were on her ears and just when she thought she couldn't take it anymore, she stopped feeling Cinnamon. She had not been the only one to be affected, several people in the square were in a situation similar to hers. The rest seemed to be confused by what the empaths had done.

Just when Melissa was starting to calm down, she realized she hadn't thought about garden dragons all morning. Her breathing accelerated again, the street became very noisy and the questions that came into her head only made her more nervous. Aren’t garden dragons my special interest anymore? What's my career going to be if I don't like animals anymore? Can I choose a career based on my special interest? What if my next special interest lasts less time? Will that change how I feel about Cinnamon? She was in pain and the noises she heard from the busy street hurt her ears. So many different loud sounds, they suffocated her and prevented her from thinking clearly. Some people were watching Melissa had a meltdown, with her hands in her ears, crying, not breathing properly, and repeating the same word.

She was lifted and forced to walk. She smelled eucalyptus coming from the person who was making her walk. Her injured leg was making her more nervous.

Melissa was taken to an establishment where she climbed the stairs to a room that was basically empty. The noises of the street became more muffled, and she finally sat down. It was only when she heard a waterfall that her breathing began to return to normal. Her hands stopped pressing her ears so tightly and she no longer felt suffocated.

Melissa still couldn't think clearly, but she was much less tense. All the pain she had felt with the emotional and sensory overload was gone, only her left knee hurt. As soon as she began to wipe her face from the tears she had shed, her brother gave her a wet handkerchief.

She picked up her brother's phone and increased the volume, until she could not hear anything other than the waterfall. She couldn't handle the noise she heard from downstairs, the doors opening, glasses slamming, people eating, talking.

- Mel, I got your noise cancelling headphones and your cane.

It took her some time to understand what her brother had said. And a few more seconds were needed for her to formulate an answer.

- Can we go home?

- Of course - his voice was soft and calm - now?

Melissa shook her head negatively; she was not yet ready to face all the people who were at the fair. She also didn't want to think about what happened and what it meant until she was in her room. She forced herself to only have two things in her head, the sound of the waterfall and the pain of her knee.

 When Melissa woke up, she was in the room that had been separated for her at her aunt's house. She scratched her eyes and started looking for her cell phone. An hour had passed since the last time she touched a cell phone. Which meant she could take painkillers again.

She was turning to reach the remedies that were on the dresser when she saw Cinnamon. She almost screamed. Melissa wanted to know how he was so badly. If what had happened had changed anything from their bond. If any damage had been caused. If the fact that garden dragons were no longer her special interest changed their connection. But she couldn't do that at the time. She was in no condition to connect with him without making him feel her pain. First, she'd have to take the painkiller and wait for it to take effect.

Melissa got out of her bed, went to where Cinnamon was and pulled him out of her cage. After taking the medicine she lay down and put it on top of her tattoo, on top of her heart. She took a bubble wrap she had put on top of the dresser and started bursting it. Every snap she heard made her anger over her situation diminished a little.

[seumadruga]

The Okash wolves

Chapter 3- An annoying thing about spirits

Sinag

An annoying thing about spirits was how they pretended that everyone had the same magic. Sinag had seen a story this morning about an academic who thought he was close to understand the basic rules of magic.

This was stupid, different kinds of magic had different rules. Yet spirits liked to pretend that everything was the same. What annoyed him the most about it was that they knew everything about humans. They were there the whole time, since the beginning, always watching.

- All right boys, the forms are ready.

Another annoying thing about spirits were how much they liked bureaucracy. Both there and in schools in the North and East it was necessary to fill out forms and documents for almost anything.

When Sinag sat in his chair he realized he had left his glasses in his bedroom. Desperate he hit his pockets to see if he hadn’t put them there, but it was in vain.

- I’m such an idiot.

- You really are.

Sinag rolled his eyes. He began to move his mouse over the screen to see if the screen reader had been turned on, But no sound came out. It was true that there weren’t many disabled people in the school, but he’d been there for years the lady should know he was visually impaired. She should have enabled the accessibility option.

He heard his friend’s chair approaching and then Batu’s coffee breath was on his face.

- Has the asshole tried to see if it works with the headphone?

Batu went back to his computer. By using the headphone Sinag was able to hear what was happening on screen. I’m sorry lady. He found the function that increased the letter of the screen and then began to fill out the form. He pulled a mind leaf out of his bad and started chewing.

Batu happily sighed and Sinag heard him drink the coffee noisily.

- Coffee is so good.

- Really? And here I was thinking that spitting in your coffee would spoil the taste.

Batu spat out the coffee he was drinking and coughed a few times.

- I can’t believe you did this. You’re going to make some coffee for me.

- Not possible, I have violin class right now.

Sinag lowered the source of the letters from the computer and took his cane. He knew Batu would pay back, but it would probably happen at night. He could relax for now.

Technically Sinag should be able to walk around the school without his cane, he studied there for over ten years. But there were some problems.

There were cabinets, tables and shelves that were in the hallways and to time to time someone would move them, which wouldn’t be a problem if the furniture weren’t as white as the walls. Besides, there were the kids who played in the hallways and left their toys scattered. And then there was that time he stepped on someone sleeping on the floor. So, he used his cane all the time.

Sinag needed to get out of the building, go to his room, pick up his violin and then go back to the building for the violin class. He sighed at the idea and could immediately hear his older sister’s voice in his head. Lazy, ungrateful, spoiled. And then it came the guilt he always felt whenever he thought in his family, especially Atay.

The guilt was quickly replaced by discomfort. There were many spirits around, he could feel them. There were always spirits all over the school, it was impossible for you to go into one place, and they weren’t there. But it was strange to have so many in one hallway. The weird thing was that it looked like they were following Sinag. He started sweating and fixed his shirt nervously.

He breathed deeply as he came down the stairs. His shoulders were tense. He hadn’t done anything wrong this time; he was sure of it. Arriving on the second floor the spirits disappeared, but this didn’t make Sinag relaxed.

He left the building and headed for the dorms. They were three in total, one for boys, one for girls and the last one for teachers and the staff. There was a path that connected the school building and the dorms, but it unfortunately had no tactile floor.

In the right side there was the cafeteria and the library. They were in the same building, with many trees around the building and gardens made by students. On the left side there a court and bleachers around it. There was always a group throwing something on the court. Sinag could hear people playing on it in the moment.

All building were circular and white with oval windows. The tallest building was the school one and the library was the smallest.

The dorms were the only place the spirits didn’t come in. Sinag knew it wasn’t for that, the spirits at the entrance would have followed him to his room. His sweaty hadn’t made holding the cane difficult.

Although the dormitories were separated it was common to see boys and girls prowling and even sleeping in the other building. That wasn’t a very strict rule.

His room was on the third floor, he shared it with Lali. They weren't friends, but they got along and that was enough. It was extremely difficult to change roommates, the process took months and dozens of forms needed to be filled out in the process.

Just before arriving in the room Sinag felt the presence of Ahfa. She was in the building and probably behind him. He tried to breathe and count to ten to calm down. It wasn't working.

The children who were playing had stopped and hurriedly packed their toys. The conversation in the hallway had become a whisper. Sinag hadn't moved yet. And then he could see the green glow coming his way.

Ahfa was an imposing figure. She was 1.90 tall and a serious, powerful voice. She had crowbar and two horns. Her clothes seemed to be made of feathers and her hair was like running water. And everything about her, from the eyes to the hair were grass-colored, even the clothes. She smelled like herbal tea. Once while touching her Sinag felt that despite being palpable it was almost as if he could overtake her. However, the strangest thing about The Ahfa was that despite touching the ground she made no noise when walking.

She came very close to Sinag, instilling his personal space. He swallowed it dry.

- Sinag, darling. I saw that this month you filled out two more forms than usual. Is there a reason for that?

Sinag swallowed it dry.

- Well, my sister broke her leg, so my family needed a little help with that. And then came this disease that ended up harming many plantations here in the South as you may know. My family was also harmed - he took a break to take a deep breath - and that's why I filled out two forms.

- Humm. Did you know that there is a way to delete forms that were submitted? – her voice was soft and sweet - I'm just asking because sometimes we don't know about places we've lived in a long time.

- I already knew that.

She was silent for a while. Sinag was all sweaty.

- Don't you think two forms are too much? Did you have that impression?

He opened his mouth to answer, but then closed it. Maybe she was right. Maybe two forms were too much. The school already sent financial aid monthly to his family. Asking for more, not just once, but twice, seemed wrong.

- Do you think I should delete one of the forms?

- Well, my dear if you think this is the best choice, I want you to know that I'm going to support you.

With that she moved away and went up the stairs. Sinag wasn't breathing properly, and his pulse was racing. He headed to his room slowly. He could hear Lali walking in the room.

Upon entering he went straight to pick up his violin, he always stood at the end of his bed, leaning against the wall. His breathing had not been stabilized yet.

- Sinag, I'm going to change my dresser tomorrow could you help me with this process?

Sinag sat on his bed and nodded. He wasn't exactly the best person for that. Even Kito is stronger than you and he's 12. Weak is too little for you. The funniest thing about all this was that he and Atay were very much alike. Both had a small nose, big eyes, thick eyebrows, lots of acne and big ears. But it was with her that he had the worst relationship.

She talked to you, didn't she?

- Aham.

- About what?

Sinag sighed.

- Actually, I do not know exactly what she wanted– another annoying thing about spirits, they were always confused and obtuse. He ran his hand through his face – Maybe I should delete one of my forms, ask for two was too much.

No, not at all. Sinag the role of this college is to help society and support the students who study here. This help you asked for is necessary. Your family needs this.

Sinag agreed, which Lali said made sense. But he couldn't think straight.

- Don't you have violin class now?

- I do, but - but she was still in the building. He could bump into her on the way to class.

Lali approached Sinag and put his hand on his shoulder, he was silent. When they felt Ahfa moving around the building, Lali squeezed Sinag's shoulder slightly tighter. And then finally Sinag's breath began to return to normal.

[seumadruga]

The Okash Wolves

Chapter 2- When everything went wrong

Jafari

Jafari was sure his grandma had a spirit inhabiting her body because she was a force of nature. He remembered when he was about 8 years old, and the government took his family's land and even his grandmother was expelled from there The world only made sense again when she forced the government to give a plot of land in the village where her father had grown up. They didn't stand a chance. He still couldn't understand how his grandma had been taken from her home.

It was because of this strength that they had come to visit their grandmother. She was already in her 70's and his father didn't think it was good to her live alone anymore. He wouldn't mind that much if she lived in a house in the center of the village, but his grandma insisted to have her own mini farm. And she didn't let anyone come and "get in her way". His father and mother wanted to try to convince her to move in with Uncle Baakir, who also had a small farm and plantation.

They all knew the conversation was doomed to failure. The trip was tense and silent, his parents were preparing for the discussion that would come. Then, before they even started arguing for real, they had taken him out of the house. Grandma told him to go outside and wash some of his grandpa's belongings in the river. For a moment Jafari thought to say that as soon as they arrived, she had said she had done it in the morning but gave up his ridiculous idea.

Jafari hadn't met his grandfather, he had died 6 years before his father married. There were no photographs of him, all he had were stories told by his father and uncle. There were also those told by his grandma, however most of them were stories about the time his grandpa had spent in the army fighting for Fisi's freedom. His grandma said that one day Jafari would also fight the same war and that he would also return victorious. He didn't like to think about it.

He wondered if the streams and lakes in Uncle Baakir's house were polluted like those in the city in which he lived. Grandma wouldn't go there at all if that were the case. She would refuse to wash any of her grandfather's belongings in a body of dirty water. She'd say grandpa didn't deserved that. No one deserved it, but Jafari didn't think his grandma believed it.

Despite knowing how important it was to wash the remaining objects of a dead person, the fact that he was there only because his parents did not want him to listen to the "adult" talk took away almost all the honor and respect he should have for this act. He was already 16 years old; it was about time to them started treating him like a grown man. One of his grandma's goats seemed to bleat agreeing with him.

Jafari continued the tedious task, with no hurry to finish. He knew the conversation would last a lot of time. Not even the fact that his grandfather's machetes had there cheered him up.

They were beautiful, they had a drawing of a hyena on one side, a gnu on the other and on the handle a lightning bold was notched. All these things were sacred to every fisi who valued himself. Sometimes Jafari dreamed that he used his grandfather's pair of machetes to cook, he always felt angry at himself after waking up. When the grandma died all her belongings, including her grandfather's knives, would go to Uncle Baakir and then his eldest son, cousin Kito.

Sighing Jafari asked aloud if the river could wash the machetes himself. And then the water began to shine, and he screamed. Not in a million years he thought the river would listen to him, even less that it would answer him. When the water stopped shining, he pulled the machetes out; they were shining in a mystical way. They were beautiful.

And then he heard a growl behind him. Jafari turned around and saw a wolf staring at him. He was obviously a spirit; his skin was almost transparent and the color of rain clouds. Jafari's heart was beating fast, he was barely able to breath. His mouth was dry and despite wanting to scream he couldn't. He lost his balance and fell into the river and at that instant the wolf attacked.

Within second he was on top of Jafari. The bite that should have been on his neck and fatal, ended up happening on his shoulder. He had slipped, pushed was a the right word and with that the wolf bit his shoulder. The pain was very strange, as if his shoulder were numb. Desperate he stabbed the wolf, he knew it would not work, it was not possible to hurt most spirits with common weapons, especially those who were transparent. But then the wolf whined, and he felt something warm and sticky in his hands. He shoved the machete even more, the creature's breath decreased.

Jafari was shaking. After a while he took the wolf off him, it was heavier than it looked. Looking at his hand he saw that there was no blood on it, which was strange because he could feel it. He was crying and his nose running.

When his breathing was relatively stabilized, he rushed to his grandmother's house, with the machetes still in his hands. Entering the house, his grandma began shouting for him leave. But she shut up quickly and his father approached.

- Jafari what happened?

His voice was as soft as he had ever seen.

- A spirit – a deep breath – I killed a spirit.

He heard his grandma laughing, he couldn't pay attention in his surroundings. It didn't matter how much he breath it seemed like he was incapable of having enough air.

- Of all lies you could imagine, this was the only one you could think? – her tone was condescending - Honestly, I expected mor from you.

- Mother – his father scolded her – Jafari take it easy, what happened?

Stuttering he told what he had done, the short story was quite disconnected. His grandma stopped laughing when he talked about how the river shone as he washed his grandpa's machetes.

His mom made him sit and hugged him, she began to mutter words to calm him down. He didn't notice but his grandma and father had gone to see the situation.

She muttered sweet and calm words and in time Jafari was calming down. He felt like a little boy again, who after having a nightmare went straight to his mother's lap. And then they both heard grandma scream, not a screaming of anger or debauchery, but of pain. He had never even heard his grandma complain of headache.

They both were rushing out to see what had happened. There was a wolf on top of his grandmother, his father was near the river lying with blood around him. There were at least six wolves there, all wanting revenge. Jafari was still holding his grandfather's machetes.

One of them jumped toward him and Jafari felt his heart stop beating. He was on the floor, his mother next to him with the wolf on top of her. The bite had been right in her neck. He could barely breath, she was dead.

Now the wolf was looking at him, other were approaching. His grandma had stopped screaming. He couldn't see straight with his eyes full of tears. I'm so sorry I caused all this to you. And then he heard a hurried and desperate song and fainted.

Jafari woke up with water being thrown in his face. He got up suddenly. He was sitting on a couch in an unknown room. It came into his mind what had happened yesterday, but he pushed it to the deepest part of his memory.

The couch was made of animal skin and was leaning against a wall, to its left there was a window and underneath a wooden table where his grandfather's machetes were. Looking to the right he saw a transparent green fox chewing what appeared to be a bone in a dog bed. There was newspaper besides the bed and pots of kibble and water. And then right after it there was the kitchen, it had a wood burning stove, an old refrigerator, and a table where there were three bags, a mandolin, an accordion, and a bongo.

However, what caught Jafari's attention were the spirits that were there. All three had the same light purple skin, same small noses, square chins, and broad orange eyes. There are sleeveless dresses, which went up to their feet, they were white and had sheet music embroidery on them that changed every few seconds. The hair was fern leaves, and it was the only thing that set them apart. The one in front of him was holding a pot, she had her hair loose and wore a dirt-colored headband. The other tow was resting on the window, one had a loose bun and several "strands" of hair escaped from there, some were over her eyes, but she didn't seem to care. There other had her hair was arranged in a braid.

- Did he wake up? – the triplet with the hair arranged in a bun asked. Her voice was like violins or guitars talking.

- Yes – the one in front of him replied. Her voice was also strange, it sounded like a trumpet or a saxophone. She was looking at a scroll that floated in front of her.

- Then what are we waiting for? We must start moving.

- He's obviously in shock, we were just taking a break for him to recover.

- He can recover while he gets ready for us to leave. Come on kid, you need to eat, take a shower, change your clothes, pee, and drink water before we leave.

- I ... what?

She sighed.

- The wolves are still after you kid. We let you get some rest, but now it's time to go. So, start getting ready, we need to go as far away from them was we can.

The one with braids began to sign and a metallic voice arose.

- We should to the town, it's going to be easier to lose them there. I'm Saflik, Jagip is the one who threw water at you and Oifai is the one who seems to be in a bad mood. I think it's important to say that I'm nonverbal, Jagip is deaf and Oifai is blind. We'll explain how communication will happen along the way. Now go do what Oifai told you, we must get out of here as fast as we can.

Jafari was a little stunned, but he did what was asked. Whenever he thought about his family, more specifically what had happened yesterday (yesterday? Had it been passed a day?), he forced his mind to focus on something else. He thought about school, recipes. The last film he'd seen or the pollution of the city he lived in. When he was almost ready, he went to pick up his grandfather's machetes.

- You can't take the machetes – Oifai's voice was severe – they're bewitched, so the wolves will find us more easily.

The triplets were already prepared to leave, already holding their bags and each with their respective instrument. Oifai had remade the bun, the fox that was hers was on a leash and she had a neon yellow cane, on her back there was the mandolin. Jagip had the accordion, she also wore a belt where there were about 5 scrolls attached. Saflik had the bongos and was the only one who wore a cape, it was beige and reached the ground.

Jafari felt his throat stuck, how could he leave his grandfather's machetes behind?

- Objects do not hold memories kid. Go to the bathroom, we must go.

Breathing deeply, he did what was asked, his hands trembled. He didn't look in the direction the machetes were on when he left the house.

[seumadruga]

The Okash Wolves

Chapter 5- Some explanations

Melissa

Melissa was twisting the fabric of her dress and clicking the pen in her right ear. She had dark circles under her eyes and was yawning a lot. Instead of following her routine, Melissa had stayed up late reading the book. She knew that collection of books was the special interest of many people and she understood why. A lot of the supporting characters were neurodivergent like her, she figured that it would make her fall in love with the book. And she had liked it, but not the way she had liked garden dragons for so long. Not the way she wanted to like it. She twisted her dress harder.

Melissa looked at the list of stalls and activities they held at the Art Festival. Maybe something there would interest her, maybe something there would be her new special interest. "But what's the point of looking for a new special interest? It's going to go away like the old one. How can you choose a career based on something that's gone a few years from now?" The pen was clicking faster, her eyes were closed, and her hands ached from the force it used to twist the fabric of her dress.

She started paying attention on her breathing. Maybe her new special interest would not define her career, but she needed to get a new one. And she needed to do it as soon as possible. She couldn't handle that emptiness, not with everything that was happening in the moment.

There were too many events in the list

- Hey, come one. Let's go to the origami tent.

Melissa frowned, why did Diego want your company? He spent the past week talking about how the size of the Arts Festival would give them a slim chance of meeting each other.

- Why are you calling me? 

He raised his eyebrows, opened his mouth and widened his eyes. If it had been anyone else Melissa would have thought he was surprised. But as it was her brother she could see that his expression was exaggeratedly fake and the hand he placed on her chest made her realize he was pretending to be offended. 

- How dare you doubt my honest intentions?

Melissa raised an eyebrow. She was no longer wringing the fabric of her clothing, but still clicking her pen. Her brother sighed. 

- Mom asked me to babysit you.

The pen started clicking faster.

- Mom asked what?

- Ok, Mel calm down.

- Babysit? - she said like she didn't listen to it. Now she was twisting her dress - I'm not a child, I'm going to college next year. I don't need to be babysited.

She took a deep breath

- I know mom has been worried recently, but this is ridiculous.

Diego opened a small smile and approached Melissa. 

- Mom, just don't want you having a meltdown alone.  You know, I was exagerating. Mom didn't ask me to babysit you. Just to be here for you since you seem to be having a hard time.

Melissa leaned towards her brother. Her eyes closed, she wanted to punch him.

- It's okay. 

Her voice was harsh, she was clearly lying. Diego kissed her forehead.

- I'm sorry.

She breathed heavily.

- It'll be okay.

They stayed silent for a moment.

- Do you still want to go to the tent with me? If you don’t, we can just be here and do... whatever you were doing. But, I mean, this origami class was, like, the main reason I wanted to go here.

Melissa put the list in her purse and grabed her headphones. 

- Yeah, we can go. 

Her leg was hurting less than yesterday, but she still needed her cane. They were walking slowly. She got closer to her brother.

- Wasn’t seeing Ahfa giving a feather to some artist your main interest in the Festival?

- Well, that too. I actually have other activities I really want to do. 

- How many?

- I don’t know, maybe 20?

- You cannot have that many!

Melissa said that breathing shortly, she passed throught the crowd and leaned in a wall to rest a little.

- Because there are supposed to be the main activities, how are they gonna be special if you think all the activities are important? You cannot say the activities you most want to do are every activity. They need to be just a few.

- First of all, I didn’t put all the activities of the Festival in my to-do list. Second, there are thousands of things to do here, 20 is just few proportinally.

- I would understand if it was 10, but 20? Besides there are not thousands of things to do here. 

- I was exaggerating and...

- Yeah, because it is not like that caused problems before

- Then mom asks me why we do not spend time together...

Melissa was about to answer back when she realized she only wanted to continue the discussion because she was still mad at him. Actually this was the reason she started it in the first place. She breathed deeply and then put her hand in her purse. She started popping the bubble wrap, and even though she couldn’t hear it popping because of the crowd and her noise-cancelling headphones, it calmed her down.

- Come on, let’s go to the origami tent. 

...

For her surprise, Melissa really liked to do origami. The instructor was calm, explained things well and answered all her questions. When she finished folding a bird she almost started clapping in happiness. She was folding a bird for the third time when Diego interrupted her.

- Mel look at it.

He gave her his earphone and showed his smartphone. He touched the screen and a video started playing, a news woman started talking:

- Yesterday, thousands of empaths around the contry and the world had a sort of meltdown when, according to some empaths, the magic became bigger, larger for some amount of time. After that a lot of empaths reported that their empatic link with their animals had changed. The cause? Experts believe it is the appearance of two spirits in the City of the Santuary who look very similar to Proch. The Santuary didn’t say anything until now. 

Melissa didn’t hear the rest, she was too busy looking at the picture of the two spirits. They were just like Proch, made of shadows in an humanoid form that seemed to be fighting to get away. They also looked like they were sucking the sunlight. Melissa stared twisting her clothes. How was it possible? She couldn’t understand the fact two other elemental spirits existed and not only no one knew, but it seemed they haven’t been around for a lot of time. It wasn’t right, empaths were supposed to have only one elemental spirit.

- What are other people saying? 

Her voice was low. Diego put another video.

- Most of people right now are talking about how it is likely the two spirits that appared are elemental, and... - the man’s voice was angry and his eyebrows were furrowed - what is the doubt? They look exactly like Proch, every single empath tribe has those three colors as their sacred colors. The empath’s magic changed since they appeared and we have so many anticent artifacts with three spirits all similar to Proch on them. What is the doubt? They are elemental spirits. Now why they disappeared, why they decided to come back and how this is gonna affect us, that’s we need to discover. 

The man took of his glasses and cleaned them.

- We need to discover, why they got away. Because they were here before. It is not like they became elemental spirits yesterday, they were here before and they went away. We need to discover how they disapperence affected the magic and how they appering again is affecting the magic.