The morning sun was pouring into the small room, where two persons were sleeping on a large bed, on one side slept a large beast child about fourteen years old and on the other slept a small half breed child, who had only known the comfort of sleeping in a bed for less than a week, but not that he would remember when the time came for him to return where he normally slept.

A large full busted woman entered the room and made her way over to the large beast child who happily slept in his corner not even aware of the guest that had invaded his space, he wasn't even aware that he was half way off the bed and only a few minutes away from falling onto his face and waking up to a headache, his mother saw this and gently righted her son, she sat down on the side of the bed and patted his cheek softly.

"Guiren, my sweet the sun has been up for sometime now, it is time for you to open your eyes, even Little Li is awake and he sleeps like a log." she smiled and ran her fingers through her child's unruly hair as grumbled and slowly awoke "mama needs you to bathe and prepare to go into town with her, okay." the still half asleep beast child nodded and the House mother got up and went around the bed.

With a sigh she sat down and placed her large palm on the child's head, he was slightly warm and no longer as hot as her iron stove would be when it was running, his shiver's had came to a stop less than a day ago and he was no longer sweating enough to soak the sheets, she nodded to herself he should be well enough to go back outside within a day but first she needed to take him to the doctor and since she was going in town today she decided to do it all in one as not waste valuable coin on the half breed.

She had already woken a long time ago and had been able to take a bath and was wearing the clothes she normally wore for travelling, she had even had the other children awake, cleaned and fed now the older ones were watching the smaller children as they played, she had left the infant with Huan the eldest beast girl who was of his same kind, she adored the baby and so she had the house mother's full trust when it came to caring for him, she treated him as if he was her little brother.

The house mother sighed and moved the blanket that was covering the half breed, she picked him up and carried him to the room with the tub, a small one had already been set aside for him, so she just took off the large shirt he was wearing and placed him to sit in it, as if lightning had struck the child his eyes flew open and he tried to scramble out of the water, she held him in place and checked the water as he looked around panicked with his heart hammering in his chest, she could hear it loud and clear.

The water was still warm so she didn't understand his reaction but decided no to pay attention to it for she knew if she had she was most likely to strike him and she didn't need to be yelled at when he showed up at the doctor's with a large bruise on his face, she rinsed his skin and then covered him in soap before washing him down and taking him out of the tub, the whole time the child had been letting out small whimpers that pained her ears.

She quickly dried him off and let him walk back to her son's room, she took a brush to his unusually dark hair, she had always wondered what breed he was but even from his sent she could never figure it out all she knew is that he was part elf and had a family that wanted nothing to do with him. He had been found below deck on a supply ship and was just dropped off here, at the time he may have been one year old and would cry at everything, even when the other children tried to play with him he would watch them blankly before crying.

No wonder your parents didn't want you.

When she was finished brushing his hair it was hanging in front of his face blocking everything above his nose, she almost laughed at the sight but just gave him a quick side part and brushed the hair to the side tucking some behind his short pointed ears, he stared at her while his green eyes seemed to swirl, the gold flecks shinning because of the sun that hit them, his small nose rose and fell every time he sniffed, his small lips were in a pout and his pale skin was flushed.

She shook her head and left the room to go to one of the other rooms where the younger children slept, she went for one of the twin elves clothes, the boy couldn't fit into the clothes of children that ran the same age as him and there was no way she would put those rags back on him to take him into town, she quickly returned to the room and dressed him in soft cotton pants and a white shirt, then she placed a green cloak on him and tied the draw strings together, she shook her head when he let out a small yawn.

She held his hand quickly letting it go, it was too small she might forget she was holding it and crush it when she got angry, she placed her hand on his shoulder and lead him him down stairs so he could eat a small bun and some left over broth, he drank water and then she led him to the front where two horses were waiting, already saddled as her son sat on the large brown one while holding the reigns for the white spotted one, she walked over to his horse and lifted the child up to sit in front of him.

The small child's eyes were pooled with fear and she wondered if it was the horse or how high he was off the ground that scared him, she shrugged her shoulders and made her way to her horse and got on, they started off in a short trot but soon they were galloping through the opening between the tree's, the small child holding on for dear life.

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The child could feel a large hand on his back and he leaned over throwing up everything he had eaten, his body felt weak but he stood up and turned to the woman that was glaring down at him, she took out a pouch of water she was carrying and gave it to him so he could wash out his mouth, when he was finished she used her apron to wipe his face and then pulled the hood for the cloak over his head, the hood was blocking his sight so he raised it up slightly only to get a huff in return from the house mother.

The two stood just at the entrance for the town waiting on the larger boy he had ridden with to return, he soon showed up without the horses and the child's eyes widened at this, if he didn't have the horses how were they getting back to the house, he didn't have much time to think about this as he was lifted off the ground and placed on the beast child's back who placed one of his arms under him and used the other to place his arms around his neck before letting go.

His eyes snapped to everything as they walked though the town, this was the first time he was so far away from the house and everything was knew to him, all of the buildings were larger than the house especially the white one that was sitting across from the entrance and looked much more fancier than the rest, he looked at all the people that were calling out he could see what he thought was food on large stands in front of them, he wandered why they were screaming weren't they just giving the food to the people that passed?

Something shone in his eyes and he blinked few times before looking over at a tall man that stood in strange metal clothes, the child thought he looked ridiculous, but then he saw many others that dressed just like him and he wondered how they could bear to walk around like that, one of the men looked at him and smiled as he came over to them, his dark brows scrunched up why was this large man smiling at him, he had never seen him before, then it dawned on him that the man wasn't smiling at him but the House mother who stood happily talking with him.

He rested his chin on the beast child's shoulder and continued to watch them, the woman soon said something to the man and they were walking away, his ears perked when he saw the woman handing flat round brown things to a man that gave her a large ham leg, followed by other types of meat, he could feel his stomach grumbling but looked away when he remembered he won't be getting any of it, he always saw them hanging in a small room off the kitchen but he had never tasted it because the woman never gave him any and he wouldn't dare try to take it for himself.

After a while the woman was holding a lot of bags that were overflowing with food, food he would never eat, and then he thought they were going to the large white house but they turned a corner and he was left staring at the giant white house, in front had many men that wore the silver material, they were funny looking but one of them looked at him with a angry face and he quickly looked around.

The boys eyes widened as they went into a large brown build it was slightly smaller than the house he was staring in but it was the similar style, he saw strange curvy letters on the front of the building but couldn't work out what it was saying, he looked in front when he heard the woman talking to someone in a strange voice, he couldn't understand what she was saying but he knew she was talking about him when the man that only came up to her hips looked at him and nodded.

He felt frightened when the man with an angry looking face started walking towards him but could do nothing as he was lifted off of the beast child's back and put to stand in front of him, he nodded looking him over at the woman and said something before they headed into a room at the end of the hall, the man said something in the strange words and then left the room, the woman turned to him and started taking off all his clothes, then she took a seat in the corner leaving him to stand in the middle of the room completely naked.

The man came back in the room and made his way over to the boy no matter how shorter he was than the large beast woman the child was way shorter than him, even if he was a half elf he should have at least picked up some of their genes, he looked at the scared child and felt a bit pity, he walked closer than the child who begun to step back as his body started shaking, the man stopped in his tracks and gave his best smile.

"It's okay little half ling, I'm not going to hurt you, I just want to check and make sure you're feeling okay."

The boy stopped in his tracks he could barely understand what the short man was saying but he could see from the look in his eyes and the way he smiled at him he meant no harm, so he walked over to the man even as his heart raced and threatened to give up on him, the man nodded and took his hand, he watched as he closed his eyes and nodded three times then moved away to take notes before going back to the child.

He ran through test after test frowning at most of the results he got from the small child, he was too small for his age looking as if he was barely three years old, when in a few days he would be six years old, he was also underweight and from what he could see didn't eat the foods he was supposed to. He felt his ears wiggle at this, something was wrong at that children's home, he glanced at the woman before going back to the child, pressing his palm on his stomach, it was empty from what he could tell, the child may have eaten with the early sun but hasn't had anything since.

He needed to do one last test but that would require the child to still be able to stand when he was done, he went to his draw and opened the wrapper that held the lunch his daughter had prepared for him, he took a fried ball of dough that was stuffed with meat and went back handing it to the child, who stared at it strangely, he could see the beast in the child raising up as he sniffed the dough before collecting in and taking a large bite.

For a second he swore he saw scales on the child's skin but it was gone in an instant as he begun to eat, while the child ate he turned to the woman and called her over, she came over and asked what he needed and he told her to fill in the child's information, she did as she was told and then returned to her seat, he picked up the parchment and his eyes widened when he looked where the child's name was supposed to be, what in the name of Aibell?!