Mako

Hi Corinne, it's the third day already and here is the next chapter of the story, hope you like it🥰

Hope you have a good day💞

Take-chi makes his way to the post office to get the shoes for his 40 dwarf companions.

Part 2:

A few minutes later, Take-chi had just made a short distance, he heard voices approaching him from not too far away.

"Nii-san, you said it wasn't far, but look at my shoes, they're all covered in mud. What a mess, I'll have to clean them again later...", he thought he knew from whom these grumpy words could have escaped, but Take-chi had never heard of a 'Nii-san'. So, having ridden behind a hill, he got off his bike and peeked past the rock that was concealing him.

As he had already thought, there was Aki-chi, one of the smallest dwarves, hence the spit-gifties. They were the ones Take-chi got along with the least, even less than the big ones. They were simple, sneaky, there was no other way to describe it... As soon as they realised that the person in front of them might be weaker than they were, they lost their respect for them. Take-chi was still too young when he joined them to understand this, so now he had to live with the consequences. He almost sighed, but he felt the need not to be noticed, so he held back the sound.

What was Aki-chi doing in the forest? The little ones usually gathered on the other side of the dwarf valley, near the lakes, because some of them loved to fish. When they caught fish, they never wanted to prepare them themselves, but left that task to the young prince, because they loved Take-chi's expression, every time he had to gut one of the sea creatures, or even kill it himself, the sadness in his look was worth gold in their eyes.

If he had known better, if he had ever experienced anything else, the word cruel would describe his 'family' quite well, but he only had the dwarves to listen to, they only told him that this was something every boy had to do and that he would grow from it.

In the meantime, however, he sometimes doubted the dwarves' morals, he had received a few books from the witch and in none of the stories did anyone need to obtain approval in this way. However, the 40 dwarves were all the family he had and some of them were not something he would ever want to trade.

The boggy ground pattered with each approaching footstep, there were of course others on the way besides Aki-chi and this Nii-san, Aki-chi was a 'pack dwarf' if you could put it that way. He recognised Ayuka-tan, Neri-jin, Tsuchi-pi, one of them he couldn't place, it had to be the stranger Aki-chi had addressed before. Admittedly, he did not see him very well, but the guy seemed taller to him than anyone else, even than himself, and this could only mean that the stranger was not a dwarf.

Take-chi's heart beat wildly in his chest. Another human, here, behind the forty mountains? He had never experienced anything like this before... What was this being doing here? And why did Aki-chi seem to get along so well with him, or rather to accept him? He must be a great, strong human being, to have them all look up to him!

To avoid being heard, Take-chi held a hand over his mouth and breathed shallowly. But he had to get closer, simply to see what, what he looked like, this human. The beautiful boy had not seen a creature that resembled him for a long time, especially not a male one.

Carefully, he leaned his bike against the stone, taking care that neither it nor he would sink into the swamp. When he had both hands free, he peered around the corner again. The troop had come closer and stopped, which was quite lucky for the prince, because it made it easier for him to get the big man in his sights.

He was slim but muscular, if what could be seen under the black leather jacket was actually a trained bicep... The prince swallowed, he had only ever heard such a description in his books. The stranger's hair was a turquoise-like colour, Take-chi was almost sure that until this moment he had thought such a thing could not possibly look good, but now he had to admit that he was very wrong.

He tore his gaze from his hair and looked at the man's tired-looking brown eyes. Although he looked exhausted, 'Nii-san' was anything but dull, on the contrary, his every movement seemed fluid and effortless. But what was he doing here, behind the 40 mountains? The appearance of this guy bordered on a miracle in Take-chi's eyes and he was so spellbound by this apparition that he became careless for a brief moment and tripped over his shoelaces, which had become caught on the rock.