"Can I see?" Sasha's face looked stern as she asked. Tala looked at her worriedly.
"Sasha, Mani will buy you one instead." But Sasha is more stubborn than ever.
"I just want to see it Mani." Then she looked at the boy again and stretched her open palms to him.
"Give it to me!" She demanded. The young boy shook his head and trembled as little Sasha started to walk towards him. Without saying anything, she snatch the plastic object from his hands and began fiddling with it.
There was a small screen on the plastic with some buttons on it. When pressed, the object makes a sound. Interested, she played on it more left the young boy with tears in his eyes standing on the street.
Tala walked to reprimand their lite sister but Zari held her arms and when she turned to glare, he just shook his head.
"She might lose control and transform here. It will be irreversible by then." He reasoned and Tala pursed her lips as she went to console the young boy.
"I'm sorry. Sasha will return it to you later, okay?" She patted his head and something rippled in his head as she did so. The young boy felt comfortable and nodded his head.
When Sasha saw her older sister talking to the young boy, she felt jealous and ran back to them. Pushing the boy aside, she glared at him and threw his toy in his face. The shocked boy did not even get to yelp when little Sasha walked over and stomped over his toy. The toy was broken in no time and the boy immediately burst into tears.
"Stop talking to my Mani! She's not your sister! And stop crying, you're annoying. Just a little toy and you won't even share it with me. Hmp!" She smirked and grabbed Tala as she led her away from the crying boy.
Angered, Tala shook her hand away and faced her little sister.
"Sasha, you need to apologize." She said in a firm tone but it just incensed the bratty little girl.
"No!" She refused. What? Now, her Mani is even siding with that unrelated boy.
"Sasha."
"No! I won't listen to you! I'm not apologizing. I did not do anything wrong!" She yelled and when he saw her elder brother, she ran to him and cried, as if she's the one that got wronged. Zari knelt down to pick her up and console her when another voice is heard behind them.
"Sasha, apologize to the young boy now." Sasha heard her father speak. Be wore a teacher's uniform and looked neat. But his brows are furrowed together and he looked angry. Disappointed, she graced and answered back.
"No!"
"Do it now while I'm still being nice." His voice carried some threat on it but their constant spoiling of her gave her enough courage to resist.
"No!" Then she pushed her elder brother and ran away. Zari gave Eder a probing look then stood up to follow after her but his father stopped him.
"Don't follow her. I have failed to raise her properly and so I need to correct her now while she's still young. I appreciate your kindness but please let me discipline my daughter." Eder did not fail to keep up with their appearances as he talked in a stern voice.
Zari fell silent and walked towards their snack bar where Tala had already gone to and worked with a troubled look. Eder saw that Sasha went on the direction of their house and sighed in relief. He then checked the little boy who now stopped crying but still sniffling her tears and after making some promises to console him, he sent him home. He nodded to his older children before he went back to school.
Tala and Zari shared a worried look. They knew that they've been partly responsible for the worsening behavior of their youngest sibling but what can they do? Since she did not transform on the age of metamorphosis, they decided to give her all the best in the world. It worsened when they thought she might be transforming too and it may happen any time so he handled her more delicately.
"Did I go too far?" Tala hesitantly asked after a long silence.
"It's our own fault." Zari gave out a sad smile and lightly ruffled her hair.
"I hope it's still not too late. Once she transforms and continues to be like that then this town will not survive." She felt sorry for this town that fostered them. Bataris are already an independent and unrestrained race. If they don't put any self-control, the coming days until Sasha comes of age would be very difficult.
"Let's trust Baba. His plans are always careful and for the best." Zari finally said after contemplating.
They closed the store with silence. First, there were few customers as most people know Sasha stays here a lot and have decided to not frequent this place to avoid her. But as the day goes on and the students found out about Sasha walking away, the store was flocked with almost all the students, cheering and laughing with each other as they ate their snack. Tala and Zari saw this and were disheartened. Sasha must have had given them quite a scare.
'This can't be. If she became cast off just like this, it may put a knot in her heart and hinder her future advancements.' Tala thought. Zari had the same thought so instead of closing their snack bar early, they waited for their father and drove home together. It's already known to the townspeople that the couple are renting a part of their house to the young man and woman so it was of no surprise that they went home together with him.
The sun is still up when they arrived home and Latini's cooking can already be smelled from the house. Eder helped Zari bring out their stuff while Tala rushed inside to console her younger sister.
"Sasha. Mani's home. Are you still mad?" She asked and entered their room. Her bed is empty and the messy beddings she left this morning had already been tidied up by their mother. She walked to the kitchen and found her mother looking at her with curious eyes.
"I scolded her a bit earlier today, Nana." She confessed and told her about the days events. Understand dawned on Latini and she just smiled.
"You did the right thing. We're supposed to..." She did not finish her sentence as a hawked rushed inside, flapped its wings vigorously and screeched. Latini and Tala grimaced from the ear piercing noise and tried to shoo the bird away.
"Put some clothes on Huan. We're having dinner in a bit." Latini chided the hawk. Huan flew to their room and after a quick change, he went out. Making sure Sasha is not around, he whispered in an urgent manner.
"Toradashi. It opened. The gateway opened today! We can now go home!"