You had always been curious about the books Hao kept in the corner of the room, stacked taller than your small frame. Their pages were filled with symbols and lines you didn’t understand, and yet something about them made your fingers itch to touch, to learn. Hao had been watching you for years, ever since he found you as a baby among the ruins of your burned village. He had rescued you from the ashes, had protected you from a world that wanted nothing to do with someone so small and fragile, and now here you were, eyes wide with stubborn determination.

"You really think you can read that?" he murmured quietly, not as a question, but more as an observation. You looked up at him and shook your head, but your hands didn’t stop moving across the scroll. Even tho you're a child, your mind still reached for everything, even things far beyond your grasp. Hao didn’t scold you for overreaching; he simply leaned back slightly, letting you explore at your own pace, his calm presence anchoring you in a way nothing else could.

The letters blurred and twisted before your eyes, and frustration prickled at your chest. You huffed, closing the scroll for a moment, and Hao made no move to snatch it back.