Lashara sighed as she got up in the morning. Dawn had just cracked the veil of darkness, ushering in a new day. Mornings used to cheer her up, but these days, it only depressed her.
She wasn't the only one.
A melancholic gloom had swept up the entire Quarrier Orphanage. An undertone of grief had occupied everybody's day-to-day life, much to her dismay. It didn't help that winter was on its way, either. It meant cold and dark days for an entire season.
Of course, the orphanage was doing much better these days financially. Rui and Julian had supported the orphanage a lot financially, nourishing the orphanage, and allowing it to expand and take in more children.
It was far larger than it was just a decade ago due to this reason.
This was a great blessing and one that she hadn't even dreamed of before. She should have been happy, and she had been.
That was until recently.
It had been nearly two years since the last time she saw Rui. She recalled the day he left like it was yesterday. He had bid them goodbye with a smile as he went away.
He hadn't returned ever since.
About a year ago, an official letter from the Martial Union had personally informed them that Rui had passed on all his wealth to them out of the blue.
Apparently, he had even sent them a message.
'I'm sorry.'
Lashara felt as though the blissful life that they had had at the Orphanage had come to a grinding halt.
She didn't understand.
What did this mean?
They had been unable to get more information from the Martial Union. Not even Julian with his contacts had been able to find out what was happening with Rui.
Every day, she prayed that he would come home, and every day, she would be disappointed. It wasn't until a year later after that that it became evidently clear that Rui wasn't coming home.
She didn't even know what to think.
She didn't even know if he was alive.
She could only hope, but she felt as though the uncertainty was driving her mad. She couldn't help but fear the worst.
On one hand, she knew for all her worries, Rui was very competent and strong. However, that didn't mean he wasn't capable of befalling some danger that could take his life.
On the other hand, if he had the chance to contact the Martial Union and tell them to convey a message, he couldn't possibly be under any acute threat.
Julian had thus concluded that Rui was most likely alive, and had made a decision to not come back home for some reason. He suspected that Rui must have found himself in truly exceptionally dire circumstances that caused him to leave without saying more than a few words.
He had had some suspicions as to what had gone on, but he couldn't be sure. Although Lashara appreciated his intelligent insights on the matter, it only made her feel worse
She got up earlier than the rest, preparing herself for a long day. She also quickly whipped up some food for Julian along with Myra. He headed to work at the Kandrian Institute of Technology quite early in the morning.
"Thank you for the food," Julian smiled as he hugged Lashara goodbye.
She was happy to see that he had recovered in the past year.
He had taken quite a hit from Rui's disappearance, but it appeared that he was finally making his way back to how he used to be.
He was closer to Rui than most of them. They knew that the two of them had always enjoyed spending time with each other, partly because they were quite similar to each other in several ways. For one, the two of them were incredibly gifted mentally far beyond the norm. Lashara recalled how the two of them began speaking, reading, and writing at ages far earlier than normal children.
They began being able to use complex language at the age of four.
The two had gotten swimmingly well despite the age gap between them, something that she had always found odd, having conversations that none of the others could follow.
Soon enough, the rest of the adult caretakers woke up as well, starting their duties and work early in the morning before the kids got up and swarmed them.
The size of the orphanage had grown remarkably, thus there was a lot of work to be done. A year had passed since they learned of Rui's message, most of the adults were in the same mind as her, they were simply unsure of what to make of the matter in the first place.
Nonetheless, they too had been quite depressed about it. However, their responsibilities with the young ones caused them to push it out of their minds for the most part, they couldn't afford to be affected by it.
This matter hadn't been disclosed to the children, naturally. They were only children, after all. They did not need to be burdened with such matters.
Lashara knew that it was only a matter of time before they realized something was wrong.
Rui often did spend quite some time away from home, but never this long.
The older ones had already begun to realize that something was off.
Particularly Max and Mana, who were also Martial Apprentices in the Martial Academy. They had wondered why they hadn't seen their big brother and teacher in so much time. However, they spent most of their time in the Martial Academy either training or completing missions now that they had received their learner's license.
All in all, Rui's disappearance had hurt the entire orphanage, but those who knew had no choice but to move on, and those who were too young to do so, didn't know.
Lashara didn't know where Rui was, or whether he was even alive, but she prayed that he was safe, and she prayed that he would one day return.
