A violet-haired little girl appeared out of thin air with a pop, jumping into Gaius’ embrace a moment later. After rearranging her messy hair, Gaius led them two into the hut, where La-Ti was already serving the dishes happily. The moment La-Ti and Nakama saw each other, they broke out into the high-spirited chatter that only kids had, eliciting smiles from Gaius and Weiwu.

Gesturing for the Chanter of Innocents to take a seat at the table, Gaius watched the two play around for a few more minutes, before clearing his throat.

“Nakama,” he began, “this is Weiwu, the Chanter of Innocents, a gre—”

“Hi, Grandpa Weiwu!” Nakama bounced over and stared at the great god, whose mouth twitched in response.

Was calling friendly old men ‘grandpa’ an instinct for children? Gaius wasn’t sure, especially since his sample size was too small, but the boy felt an urge to bring him around when the usual bunch of kids show up to see if his hypothesis was correct.

The great god turned his eyes to Gaius, and the boy looked away innocently. Upon seeing that, Weiwu sighed. “Are you Nakama?”

“I am, Grandpa Weiwu!” She beamed, and then skipped on the spot. “Can you do something for me?”

“Maybe, maybe not.” The great god’s eyes glinted. Gaius found it odd that Nakama didn’t notice the lack of synchronisation between the way the great god spoke and the words that she heard, but children were prone to being less attentive in the first place. “What do you want me to do?”

“Can you bring La-Ti out to Orb with me?” she asked.

“You want me to bring him out?” Weiwu narrowed his eyes. “Do you know what the current state of the people here is like? They’re just souls. Minds given form. They don’t have a body the way you and Gaius does.”

He turned to La-Ti. “If that’s your request, it’s going to be extremely difficult to fulfil. The reincarnation cycle — the means by which new lives are created — is something created by the old gods, an immutable law of this world. You and the others were meant to be eased into Orb, not picked up and stuffed in there.”

The little boy tilted his head, and Gaius rolled his eyes. “Senior, we may be able to converse as equals, but do not assume that every child around me is the same. You know full well that I’m a tad special.”

“Right.” The great god squatted down to La-Ti and Nakama’s eye level. “Basically, it’s going to be hard to bring him out. For starters, I would need something like a body for him, or else he would return here mere seconds after arriving.”

“Can a sculpture work?” Nakama asked, curious.

The great god froze for a moment. “What’s the point of having a sculpture? He can’t move even if I anchor his soul there. And he’ll be denied the luxury of living, trapped in a wooden shell of false life.”

“But my sculptures can move, though.” Nakama replied. “Why can’t it work?”

“Your sculptures can move?” Weiwu asked, incredulous. “What kind of sculptures can move?”

“It’s true,” Gaius chipped in. “My sister’s sculptures are both lifelike and mobile. They’re also partially artefacts too.”

He thought about Nexus, who was somehow able to prance around and move wildly despite being made out of wood. Nakama had gotten her own heritage and understanding of how to create lifelike sculptures from somewhere, something that Gaius never paid much attention to, but…

Was this fate? The Chanter of Innocents should have known her ability to do that, if he was the only one manipulating Gaius’ fate, but from the looks of it, the great god was genuinely unaware of his sister’s capabilities. For a moment, Gaius couldn’t help but wonder if there was another puppeteer behind the scenes, playing along with the representative of the Crying Abyss.

But this was a time of peace for him. If there was really a player two in the scenes, Gaius would at least thank that person for giving him, Nakama and the other two the opportunity to pass the days in peace. He wasn’t with them in spirit, true, but being able to while the days away in idleness was more than enough for him.

“I thought you knew about her ability to do that,” Gaius replied.

“I’m not omniscient on Orb,” Weiwu replied. “If I were, I’d have accomplished my goals a lot quicker.”

With a fork, he picked up some deboned meat and nibbled at it elegantly.

“I suppose we can shelve this discussion until after lunch,” Gaius mused.

It didn’t take long before the two kids turned lunch into an impromptu battlefield, as per custom. Only the vegetables were spared from the calamity, with the adults eating them.

Chewing on a stalk of broccoli, Gaius leaned back on his chair. “So, will it work?”

“I could try, but there’s no telling what will happen,” replied the great god. “You’ve been pioneering so many things, so I guess this shouldn’t come as a big surprise to me, should it?”

Placing down the utensils, he looked at the two kids snatching food from each other, and rested his chin on his right hand. For a moment, he looked very much the part of a grandfather looking at his grandchildren, and Gaius found himself startled by that observation.

On second thought, the great god never did have a family. Gaius could understand why he’d treat them as grandchildren.

“It’s worth a try, if you ask me,” Gaius replied. “Of course, that is if La-Ti is willing to give it a shot. We’ll need to understand the entire phenomenon, though. I’m not going to make him walk into the howling dark without him being prepared for it.”

“Naturally,” Weiwu replied. “Although I will not condone using other people as guinea pigs either.”

Gaius rubbed his nose. “Unless they’re willing.”

“Where would you find such people?”

“Good point.” Shaking his head, he moved on to the second topic he wanted to broach today. “Senior, did you know that the Dragon of Time has descended onto Cybral?”

“What?”