"Not every guest is a stranger; some are old stories waiting to start again."
— introductory rhyme in Children of the Hidden Flame, a graded reader in the Verdant Flame Sect
*Theo POV*
The weekend started off as all weekends do: Uncle Phil came to visit us whilst mother went shopping, and father locked himself away in the smithy. Uncle used to be a hunter, and sometimes still hunts wild boar for us every now and then, and he really wants me to be just like him. I don't really want to hunt or hurt any animals, but the training he makes me go through is very fun.
Currently, he's making me climb that tall, thin tree in our front yard, again and again until he thinks I've done it fast enough. Everyone's jealous of our tree, since you can see the entire village and beyond from the top of it. Uncle used to take me up there when I was much younger and tell me all about how small the village is compared to where we're originally from, but when I ask now, he says I'm making things up. I know I'm not making things up.
"Come on, Theo. You're going way too slow! Really push yourself, and, if you fall... it's all up to you to not hurt yourself."
He says that, but every time I've fallen so far, he's caught me. From where I was hanging, about two thirds of the way up the tree, I can see mother walking back home, humming a song to herself, and carrying the week's groceries. She's still too far away for me to make out what exactly she bought, but it's always the same herbs and same meat. I think she only knows how to cook one thing - a dish so spicy that it burns my tongue and throat. Mother says I complain too much; that she had to live for months in the woods when she was younger, and could only cook with what she foraged. To that, I say we live in a beautiful village, with choice manifold, so she's only really coming up with excuses to justify her horrible culinary capabilities.
Once I see her approaching the front door, I jump off the tree, trusting that Uncle would catch me. The sound of air whistling past my ears is oddly comforting after weeks of this training. He caught me.
"Theo! You nearly gave me a heart attack!" cried mother, upon seeing me fall from the heavens. "By the way, tomorrow, you're going to have a visitor!"
I blinked. "Who?"
"Richard. That little boy you played Cultivators and Monsters with at daycare? Remember him? His mother owns the herb shop and he was there, so I invited him over for tomorrow."
"Yeah, I remember him," I mumbled. He was... strange. Quiet, a bit slow to follow the group, but I thought that's because he was shy. He looked solemn, and I thought that was because of his family, but, if mother knew his mother, then there's no way they'd be bad people. And the way he spoke. It felt more like speaking to Uncle than to the other children.
Mother pointed her finger at me. "You better be on your best behaviour, you hear me? And listen to me carefully: if that boy goes home with a single scratch, his mother will kidnap you and eat you. Boil you right in her herb pot! Add some Mossleaf and make a Theo Stew."
I gulped. Maybe he does have scary parents after all.
She laughed, ruffled my hair, and then went inside to organise the pantry.
***
When Richard arrived, he looked much smaller than in my memories - his arms were crossed, he wasn't walking straight, and his eyes darted around the house. At least he was polite, saying hello, albeit timidly. He must have been forced over here by his mother.
I tried everything. I offered my wooden sword, asking to duel him and play around. He flinched at that, and looked at me funny. Since that didn't land, I got out my slingshots, asking him to play dodge with me. He seemed absolutely terrified. I really didn't mean to scare him. I asked if he wanted to climb trees with uncle's supervision, and he didn't seem to want to do that either. Absolutely nothing worked.
Until, I remembered something. When he was at daycare, he had a book in his hands. In fact, he was stood at the reading corner all by himself. None of us could read, so none of us ever went there. Maybe he was into reading?
"Hey, uhh, Rich. We have a small reading space downstairs if you want to go read some books together."
His eyes widened. Finally, something worked.
"Yes, I'd actually quite love that. Do you have any books on herbs?"
"I don't know. Let's go find out together."
*Richard POV*
He's way too active. And that's an understatement. What do you mean a four-year-old boy is swinging around swords, climbing trees, even dodging rocks. Does he have a death wish? I, on the other hand, quite enjoy living. There are too many things worth looking forward to, like getting back home, lying in my own bed, and doomscrolling on my phone. And for me to achieve that, I'll have to ideally not die as a four-year-old attempting to imitate flight by jumping off a tree double the height of a building.
What was Johanna thinking? Sending me, her precious child, off to die at some freak's home? And here I was thinking we had bonded properly - that conversation about herbs was genuinely really interesting.
Thankfully, Theo also had a reading space. Maybe I could even find some books on herbology to impress Johanna. We made our way downstairs, down those creaky, wooden steps of his into pure darkness. Without any modern-day lighting, it really was impossible to see anything. Then, Theo flicked a switch on the wall, and a bunch of torches placed around the room all lit up. Must've been some Qi tomfoolery or something.
The room itself was fairly large - well anything is when you have the perspective of a child - and quite tastefully decorated. There was a desk at which two cushioned seats faced one another, and a pile of books lay on the desk.
"Theo, you really undersold this place. It's awesome. Come, let's go to the desk and read one of the books on there," I say, visibly excited. I came from a world with shitty Xianxia novels... now imagine the quality of novels in a world where all that Qi-bullshit is real. I could finally enjoy the genre!
"Alright. But, I don't know how to read. Can you read the books out to me?"
Thankfully this world used the Roman alphabet, something I noticed when I read Theo's name tag two days ago. We picked up a book titled "Little Jade and the Midnight Bridge", and I began to narrate. It was a dreamy, slightly spooky adventure about a girl who crosses a spirit bridge at midnight, and ends up in a mirror version of her village. She explores this new world where the roles of Cultivators and Spirit Beasts have flipped, and realises that some beasts aren't evil, before crossing the bridge once more and begging her parents for a pet beast. A heartfelt ending.
*Theo POV*
I sat there, listening to him read out the book, moving his arms in animation, and changing his voice for each character. This guy, he'd be a great storyteller. I just sat there, entranced, listening to him paint pictures in my mind through this hefty book we had picked up together. If reading can bring all these worlds into reality, maybe I should ask mother to teach me.
I didn't understand every word, but I didn't care. I was completely hooked.
At some point I leaned against his shoulder, and then the next thing I knew, everything faded into a warm, safe blur.
Elisabeth stood in the doorway with a basket in her arms, smiling as she took in the scene: her son curled up on a rug, head against Richard's shoulder, both of them fast asleep. A book lay open between them, pages crumpled from tiny fingers and long hours.
She quiety stepped inside and knelt towards the two children asleep on a table.
"I don't know how you worked your magic, little Richard, but Theo's never this quiet."
She placed the basket on the floor and gently lifted both children, one in each arm. Theo snuggled into her arms, as she walked to his bedroom and lay him in her bed. Then, after admiring the scene for a couple seconds, she walked Richard back to Johanna and Gertherd's house.
Both his parents were at home by the time she had arrived there, and they immediately apologised for their son falling asleep. Elisabeth just chuckled, telling them not to worry. "Your boy really is something. Had Theo quiet all afternoon reading some of our dusty old books."
"Reading?" Johanna asked, eyebrows raised. "We haven't started teaching him yet. He hasn't even learned his letters!"
The two women exchanged a moment of puzzled silence, and then burst out laughing.
"Maybe he was just making it all up," Elisabeth said between giggles. "Telling stories out loud like that. Maybe we've got a little bard on our hands!"
Johanna grinned, pressing a kiss to Richard's forehead. "Well, if that's true, we'll have to start teaching him how to play the lute!"