The Grand Mistress

Hawk adjusted pretty easily in the life in Comis Village as although he was one of the richest men in Devon City, he grew up running from places to places and being able to adjust easily to new environments was something normal for him. Also, living with Butler Gah, they had lived on simple resources that eventually, even though he was a Monsanto, he was used to the life of being poor.

In just days, he was able to befriend some of the villagers and had been helping the village folks in their daily chores specially when it comes to farming and tilting the lands. He noticed that villagers in Comis village were all old folks and small children—this got him intrigued, especially that it was very odd for a community not to have any young adults. He asked one of the people he befriended and it was explained that all of the young adults in the village usually migrate to the nearest town which is miles away as soon as they reach the age of thirteen. 

This was because the village did not have a highschool and so when the kids graduated from elementary, they were all being sent to a nearby town to continue their education. After highschool, most of the Comis youngbloods migrated to the city either to work or continue their studies and so this explains why the only regular people staying in the Comis village were old folks and young children.

The young children in the village  on the  other hand were composed either by the children of the young adults that they cannot take care of in the city so they send them to their parents for regular care and the rest of the population comes from the nearby orphanage that is situated in the village. That orphanage had long been built and they were one of the institutions that kept the village vibrant and lively despite their small population.

Hawk, one sunny afternoon was helping the villagers plant some potatoes which was their main crop. There in that big open land near the road, Hawk tilted and dug the soil while his companions, mostly elders, were the one planting the crop. They had started the planting since early morning and this continued until past afternoon with just a little break and rest. This was what occupied most of Hawk's days in Comis village and although the job requires a great deal of physical activity, he didn't mind it such. In fact he was thankful that at least something was keeping him busy and exhausted so when the night ended, due to physical exhaustion, he splacked down the bed with no trouble sleeping.

"Thank you Hawk for your help," The village head, elder Santio, expressed his great thanks to him. Normally, because of their small population, it took them almost a week to fill the empty but with Hawk's presence, they had been able to do almost seventy percent of the job in three days. Since Hawk was still young, he had no problems digging the land and since he was very fast with it, their planting process accelerated fast. "It's really good to have young bloods during planting season, it fastens the job."

"But youngbloods these days would prefer to work in the big cities than tilt the land," Elder Susan, the village head's wife, joined the conversation as she had been filling cut potatoes to the soil that Hawk dug in a straight line. "Even our own son would not come home anymore as I think he had been enjoying life in the city. Oh that child! I wonder when will he come and visit us again,"

"Just let him be," Thinking about his son, Elder Santio turned to Hawk and with pride introduced his son to him, "My son Hawk is working in a big conglomerate in the capital. You two should see each other when you go back home in Devon City so you could ask help with him if you are looking for a job. He might even recommend you to the company he was working at then. That company pays a lot,"

"Hey you old fart! Do not influence Hawk to go and live in the city. Can't you see he is training as a monk? He sure do not like the city at all," His wife brushed off the village head's suggestions, "Not all youngbloods like the city you know, I wish our son would have chosen to live here with us and help us caring for the lands and just like what Hawk is doing right now,"

Hawk only smiled at the folk's words. He finds it amusing how people in the Comis village see him as an ordinary person. They all didn't know he was a rich man in the city as he was introduced as the adoptive son of the village monk and since Comis village was remote enough not to have any reception for internet and television, it was easy for Hawk to hide his identity. They thought that he came to train for being a monk and follow his father's footsteps of being a man of faith.

As the afternoon ripened, Hawk and the villagers decided to retreat from the fields and so they all gathered in the small river to clean themselves up. The river was a great distance from the road but even then, the people in the river noticed the flock of people that were hiking towards the village. There were like fifteen of them and together with their group was a small carriage being pulled by a horse and in it were boxes of something that Hawk had no idea off.

"It seemed like the volunteers had come," Elder Susan announced as she dragged her eyes to the newcomers. They were of considerable distance so they could not clearly scrutinize them one by one but something like that was not new to the village so it was easy for her to conclude that those were indeed volunteers from the city.

"Volunteers?" Hawk turned to ask her more about it.

"They are here for the orphanage. Volunteers come here regularly for the kids," Someone explained and Hawk already had a grasp of what it was all about. It's not new to him how some non-profit organizations go on volunteering for some good deeds to give back to the society so he easily understood it. "I heard from the directress that what was scheduled to come these days were a group of foreigners,"

This announcement didn't intrigued Hawk much and so he went on cleaning himself in the cold water of the river. However, for some reasons he could not tell, there was some force within that drove him to scrutinize the new comes as if something significant was with them. He thought what he felt was pretty odd so he brushed the thought  and went on with what he was doing. Soon, he waved his companions goodbye and went home to the temple where his father was already preparing a dinner.

"How was the planting today?" Butler Gah asked. He had seen how clean he was when he came home so he prepared the table immediately so they could already eat. He knew he must be hungry and his face already shouts exhaustion all over.

"We are almost done," Hawk replied and helped his father prepare the utensils. He then sat at the table with them and talked about the newcomers that they had seen. "Foreigners had come for the orphanage,"

"I see," Butler Gah seemed not surprised. He was used to seeing volunteers once in a while and so the news wasn't a big deal to him. However his statement somehow reminded him of something and so he went on. "The directress actually sent an errand boy earlier to invite me for tomorrow's activity in the orphanage. I don't usually go since I had to schedule prayer and you know how I don't like fancy celebrations. However you must since everyone in the village will be there, the elders might look for you,"

"We still have to finish planting tomorrow so I don't think I'll have the time," Hawk announced. Truth was he was not up for any celebration and lively gatherings these days as it seemed not apt for the reason why he came here. He must pray and meditate like his father does and perhaps do more good deeds for the village,"

"I'm sure the farmers will halt the planting tomorrow to cater the orphanage's request," His papa replied but seeing how reluctant Hawk was, he just dropped off the conversation about it. "You are not required to go. Just go if you want, if you don't feel like it then join me with my prayers tomorrow,"

"Alright papa," Hawk obediently answered and started digging on his food. The meal was sumptuous and delicious even when they were just a simple menu and so Hawk didn't withhold himself and satisfied his tummy. After dinner, Hawk was the one who cleaned the table and washed the dishes as his father had to pray. Soon, after all the household chores was finish, he withdrew to his bedroom and had a goodnight sleep.