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AIR Chapter 175
🕑 Added 2025-07-10 09:09:00 +0000 UTCChapter 175
Nai had a problem and that problem had a name.
It was a concept, unfortunately and not a man. She couldn’t beat this problem. She couldn’t fight it. She could only conquer it.
Putting one foot in front of the other, she started.
She failed.
Walking should have been easy for a being of her level. She had crawled down flat but walking was something else, a monster all its own.
You had to balance the whole of your body on two tiny little feet. There was constantly shifting weight.
Nai frowned and got back up.
One step this time, then two, then the floor met her.
“Aghou,” she yelled.
“There there now, you’ll get the hang of it if you keep trying. Honestly, you're only two months old and this much is very impressive already.”
Medin’s words didn’t appease her. She had been trying to walk for about an hour now and each attempt had ended in failure.
When she had taken her first steps, everyone had praised her. But now she wanted to do more than just waddle about for a few seconds. She wanted to run. She wanted to feel her feet pressing up against the soil and race through the village.
Medin watched her with a happy smile. Rin stood next to Medin and they both looked at her with vicious mockery, or at least that’s what it felt like.
Standing, how could they do it so easily?
Here she was, a near immortal being, someone with a divine bloodline, and yet, she couldn’t walk.
“Pfft!” Nai yelled at Rin.
Rin sighed.
“Arg ough!”
“No,” Rin replied. “We are not hiding some secret walking technique from you. It’s really just trying till you get a hang of it.”
“Ag!”
“I don’t know why it’s taking you so long,” Rin shrugged. “Most young masters come out of the womb walking.”
Those words did not help Nai’s confidence, but they did fuel her frustrations. She glared at Rin and Rin simply shrugged.
Nai understood ofcourse. Something in her bloodline was telling her to stay on all fours. It didn’t want her to walk. It didn’t even want her to speak. It wanted her to howl and growl and bite people’s heads off in the most brutal way possible.
It was stupid, Nai believed.
Again she stood, fighting against all her instincts and forcing herself to be on two legs.
This time, Medin came by and held her hand.
“That’s it Nai, just balance against me for a bit come on now.”
Nai refused, yanking her own hand away before Medin could grab it and thus breaking her balance and falling right on her bum.
“BLough!” She yelled.
That word held no meaning.
“Oh come now. It would only be for a while, until you learn to balance by yourself. There’s nothing wrong with taking a helping hand for a few moments, is there?”
Well, no, there wasn’t anything wrong with that.
But this was supposed to be easy. It was supposed to be something she could do without a second thought. Why was it so hard?
“Look Nai, just try it for a bit. I’m sure you’ll get the hang of it eventually, but for now, just lean on me, alright?”
Medin smiled down at her, and Nai, slightly teary eyes in firm frustration, gave the slightest of nods.
Medin reached down and picked the girl up, wiping away at her eyes and letting the tears soak into her apron.
“You’re strong and smart, but we all have trouble walking Nai. Everyone has trouble with that. Its normal. But trouble comes for everyone, you just have to keep getting back up and face it, alright?”
Nai nodded, firmly this time.
“Good, now let’s try again.”
Medin set her on the ground and watched as Nai struggled to get off her but. First she got on all fours, then she bent one of her knees, then the other, untill she was off of them.
Medin stuck out a finger and Nai reached for it.
She shifted her weight onto Medin, carefully using the leverage to get onto her feet and then stood there.
Then she took a step, relying on Medin to keep herself upright. She waited until she was balanced again and took another.
Then another, then another, then she lean back--
And she slipped.
The world felt distant and the roof faced her once more. She was falling.
Nai closed her eyes, resolute in the inevitable end until she stopped, but not because she hit the floor, but because she felt a firm hand against her back.
Bill stared down at her from above, his hand still on her back and pushed her back into the standing position.
Quickly, she found the confidence she had so totally lost just an instant ago.
When had he gotten here?
“I came by to check on you and here you are walking already, huh?”
Nai nodded.
Again, she stood firm and walked. One hand was in front of her, helping her balance and another, while not near her, was there to catch her fall.
They kept doing this for fifteen minutes, and by the end of it, Nai could reliably walk around on her own. She fell a few times, straight on her bum. But by then she knew she’d be alright. She could just get back up again.
An hour later she was jogging.
Two hours later and she was sprinting throughout the house.
Two and a half hours later, she was apologizing to Medin because she ran into a vase and broke it into smithereens.
No running in the house became the new house rule and Nai almost cried for the second time that day.
Comments
chad osborn
I love Nai moments. Common hilarity always ensues with her mischief
Nathaniel Jacob moore
I do love that the impetus for Nai walking was trusting Bill, like ah yes, everything is good, dads here xD
