Chapter 1267: Dream of the hearth (2)
The teahouse erupted once more in jubilation at the arrival of a new life within its walls—a life that had already been marked as one of its own before he was even born.
The newlyweds had now become new parents, and with that came fresh panic and fear. Fortunately, the husband was no stranger to that feeling, and he knew exactly where to go. Only this time, he didn’t go alone.
The teahouse, with its ever-open arms, welcomed them once again to drink from its cup of wisdom and experience as those within its walls had walked many a time, the path the newly parents were just about to tread on.
Advice and support came in generous amounts, far more than the new parents had expected. Some of it was life-saving, some of it completely useless—or even mildly dangerous—but it was all welcomed nonetheless. And with it, the newest member had many hands and voices to support and cheer him on.
A few years in—after a couple of heart attacks and breakdowns—the newest member could finally recognize and interact with the hands and voices that had supported him all this time. He could finally distinguish them, and better yet, understand them and talk to them. He wasn’t as good at it as they were, but it was still exciting—especially when it came to the two pairs of hands and voices that were always with him, the ones that soothed him the most.
If he was being honest, they were also the clumsiest.
There were times he couldn’t breathe quite right because they fed him too much, held him too tightly, or at a weird angle. Though to be fair, one of them did make it up to him—by helping him fly. He liked that very much.
From those interactions, the newest member began to realize just how amazing the hands and voices around him truly were. And with that realization, his whole world expanded.
He discovered that one of the hands—though it looked old and wasn’t chubby and fleshy like his own—could carve a scary yet majestic-looking creature that he heard was called a dwegon or something. (He hadn’t heard too clearly because he was both afraid and really wanted to ride the thing.)
Anyway, that d-something was about the size of fifty of him—and it had been carved in just two hours. It looked alive, and a few times, he was sure it was, which led to a few accidents. Luckily, one of the owners of those hands he liked was always there to fix things.