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HOW ARE WE RELATED?

Cesar felt somehow disturbed by the commotion in the dock. He followed his instinct and secured the boat, then he decided to go back to meet up with Lino and Susan to take the offer.

Cesar thought that the girl was still asleep. He was startled for a while when Andrea said, “The man is not alone; his family is leaving him behind. Why do they leave their family?

Cesar observed the surroundings, he gently hushed the child and gently covered her mouth as a sign that there was a need to be silent, so she obeyed. Cesar took his chances. They went back to the Inn. They were able to see Lino in the area since he was helping the authorities with some details related to the property. While carrying the girl, he walked over to where Lino was standing and asked how he was and how Susan was doing after that shocking incident. Lino invited him to have a coffee at their house. Cesar did not waste any time, he accepted the invitation. The child raised her head and looked at Lino then she gave him a sweet smile. What happed was, she saw that Lino did not have any ulterior motives in inviting them, the invitation was just a friendly invitation.

Upon arriving at the small house, Andrea shouted, “Susan!” she excitedly said out loud upon seeing Susan in the garden. Cesar had to place her down, so she could go to the lady. The girl noticed that Susan was still thinking about what had happened. She could feel anxious in some ways. She used her little girl charm to keep her from thinking about the incident.

Lino led Cesar inside the house for a coffee. The surroundings were extremely calming, it made the child stay there with Susan momentarily. She took that moment trying to cheer her up, so she would not be bothered by the incident somehow.

Lino and Cesar were enjoying their coffee and, just like any other collectors, Lino showed Cesar some of his collections about sea navigation tools and stuff and a bunch of fishes that had undergone taxidermy, for display.

Cassius found himself enjoying the collections Lino had. He even talked about how to use the various equipment, his experience with them and how they helped him a lot with his voyages. He also displays his amazement at the taxidermies.

Lino was astonished at how familiar and seemed to be knowledgeable Cesar was with the tools. Out of amazement, Lino cracked a question,

“You seemed very familiar with this stuff. Was you a seafarer before?”

Cesar was silent for a moment, the smile on his face faded, and he said with teary eyes,

“I lived almost my entire life in the open sea since I was a kid. I grew up there with my siblings and parents.” He added, “Living in the sea and having fishing as a livelihood is how I grew up. I can still remember how father would teach me and my siblings to lure a shark.

He did not stop there. He continued, “In the seas where I also lost my family and my wife, Andrea is the only one I have left.”

Seeing Cesar's teary eyes, Lino must have felt guilty. He went straight to him and apologized.

“No, it’s okay, the sea is my friend, it’s my home, the sea did not take my family away from me. Humans do. The greed of men.”

“It must have been hard for you to stay out there after all that happened. You know you can stay in the city, or any island nearby.

“Speaking about it, I would just like to ask if maybe I can apply for a job with one of your friends? Or in the Inn? I somewhat decided to have a stable job, since Andrea is growing up.”

Lino tapped Cesar on his shoulder and said, “We’ll see about that tomorrow. “You can stay with us here for tonight, we would love to have kids in the house.”, Lino added while pointing his arm to the garden.

“If it isn’t too much, I would accept the offer, for Andrea,” he responded.

Lino whispered, “Susan could use Andrea’s presence. I noticed she was unusually quiet after that incident. I noticed that having Andrea makes her preoccupied. I would appreciate your help.”

“Yes, Andrea seemed to like her. If you allowed it, once I get a job, I would like to share the expenses in the house,” he offered.

Susan went to them with a cheerful smile and told Lino, “Love, can we let them stay for a while? Andrea just called me granma!

“Sure! I just offered Cesar to stay for a while.” He told her “It’s getting late, we need to attend to the shipments and some other business tomorrow, I need to sleep now.” He added.

“I’ll show them their room”, Susan replied.

They called Andrea and told her to come with them. Without any questions at all, she went with them. Susan started to tell them stories about the various areas in the house.

She was leading them to the room once used by their son. Their son died because he was killed by the pirates. Cesar asked how come there were pirates that were able to roam in the seas.

Susan said, "those were Alkantan’s people, but they were able to get away with their crimes because they were powerful."

“Alkantan? You mean the Alkantan clans? They still exist?” Cesar asked.

When he mentioned Alkantan, Andrea looked at him. She felt a forceful energy, she saw him being mad, she could feel his anger, there was an enormous amount of anger. She even saw him clenching his fist.

She pulled his hand and asked him “why?”

.

He just looked at her and did not respond and then started talking with Susan again. At that moment, the girl sensed anger.

They reached the room. It was clean, neat and well-kept. Susan bid the little girl good night and tucked her into bed. Cesar offered to accompany her back.

Andrea was still puzzled as to the reason why, when Susan mentioned the Alkantans, it angered Cesar.