Chapter 02 - Departing

It feels like just a few days ago when he first learned to speak and said the word "mum" to me, and now he is 5 years old. He goes out of the house almost every day and returns after 5 pm. He is usually a silent type of kid, but sometimes when he is with his friends, he can be quite loud. A few days ago, he was shouting through the whole street.

Today, Father-in-law died; it turns out he passed away in his sleep, which is very sad for all of us. Reginald was especially saddened because he had already lost his mother at a young age, and now his father is also gone. I wondered how Brum would go through this; does he even understand what death is? But I was wrong; after all, Brum was indeed sad. He used to visit and play around with him every now and then, and even though Father didn't respond much, Brum was just happy to be there.

Father's body was taken to the cremation grounds, a small clearing within our network of tunnels where we honor our dead. In the cremation grounds, the dim light from the bioluminescent fungi that lined the cavern walls cast a gentle glow over the area. Children were not taken to that place, so Brum stayed at home with the maid. The body was placed on a stone slab and covered with a white sheet. On top of it was placed a gem made of Orichin, a blue-colored gemstone said to store fragments of the deceased person's soul. When a person dies, a small part of their soul remains in the body, which is stored in this gemstone and later given to the family as a memento. Father always kept Mother's Orichin stone in his pocket, often holding it tight in his hands.

The fire was lit on the body by Reginald; I could still see tears in his eyes. The smoke emitted from the fire was absorbed by the bioluminescent fungi on the walls, causing them to emit a blue light instead of their usual green. After a while, Reginald returned to me, and I tried to console him so that he wouldn't cry too much. It will probably take time for him to recover, but I will do my best to help him.

Several months have passed, and we have mostly overcome the pain of losing Father. Reginald commissioned one of his friends to turn the Orichin stone into a locket, and now he wears Mother's locket, while Father's locket was given to Brum. I was surprised at how much Brum loved the locket.

Council elections were approaching; they take place every three years, and the eight people with the highest number of votes are elected as council members. These eight seats are responsible for every major decision for the welfare of our underground settlement.

If Reginald gets elected this time as well, it would be his second term on the council, the first being in the year Brum was born. This also reminds me that Brum is now approaching the age where he will go to school to learn more about the world. Personally, I look forward to him going to school, but Reginald, on the other hand, is really worried about whether he will be safe there. At first, I thought he was joking, but the stern look on his face said otherwise.

Perhaps he is scared because his childhood friend is a teacher, and he cannot trust him enough to teach something meaningful to the kids. Instead of worrying about the council elections, I think he was more concerned about Brum going to school, which is probably a good thing because he is focusing more on his family than his work. However, it would be better for him to strike a balance between the two. So, I suggested to him that I will personally accompany Brum to school and even bring him back home. He agreed to this.

I'm still not very good at doing household chores; I manage some like cleaning and dusting, but Nocrain, our maid, handles most of them. Some of you might not get the internal joke it carries, but alright. Anyways, Nocrain takes care of most chores for us and sometimes even tells me not to bother with dusting and cleaning. I feel bad for not doing even that much because she does almost everything around the household, and I feel guilty because she doesn't ask for much money. However, having her live here all the time is also beneficial to me because I have someone to discuss my problems with, and she is also a good caretaker for Brum. She is a very reserved person, though; every time we converse, it mostly feels one-sided, but I guess I am used to that now. I hope someday she will also initiate the conversation.

Reginald came back home very happily. I wondered what happened, so I asked. He replied that since council elections are approaching, the council will be disbanded for two weeks until new council members are elected. He also mentioned that three of the previous council members will be retiring due to their old age.

So, they are finally approaching the council elections where people cast votes for eight out of the standing candidates to decide who will lead the settlement for the next three years. This year, it seems like 20 people will be standing for elections, which is more or less the same, but I would say it's more on the less side because Seat 5 was killed by a dragon while he was out with other council members and a few scavengers for protection, so I guess they are scared.

Brum was going to school for the first time today, and he was carrying a sling bag on his shoulders, which looked really cute. While I was admiring Brum, Reginald was cautioning him not to talk to strangers as if he was going outside for the first time. Even Brum told him it's fine and not to get so worked up. I laughed at that moment and reminded Reginald that it's time to drop Brum off at school. So, we headed out through the tunnel towards the public section of Sector 2 where the school was located, with Brum holding our hands in between.