"Yes, this is from the iñoka." Lisa confirmed and placed the coin-sized scale on a velvet box. It glistened when set against the dull color of the box.
She brought out her holographic screen and started to type down shapes and images again. Luca looked on as she worked.
"Lisa, what is an iñoka?" Luca asked out of nowhere just so it can have a conversation with her but did not expect her to answer.
"An iñoka is a batari but they change in the form of serpents. I have not found any other information why they were called iñokas so that's what I know about them." She shrugged her shoulders then continued to type. Luca shifted its gaze back to the house.
"Are we just leaving that brat like that? Are we going back to town now?" It continued to ask away.
"No, we'll wait. We'll wait until they come back for her." She bit her lip before she decided on an answer.
"Lisa..." The cat's voice trailed off and worry showed on its face. Lisa smiled bitterly.
"It's our only option, Luca."
Three more days passed and they lived through the same scenario each day. Little Sasha would come out of the house holding a bat in her hand and would keep shouting in the air looking for them then go back inside when the sun is up high. She had also tried to get out of the house and walked towards town but her round build and young age made her go tired pretty easily and she always goes back home.
Luca is starting to lose it's patient but when it looked towards its master and saw her patient look, it kept its grumble away. But it grew worried as days passed by and no sign of the family is coming back nor any fluctuations in space felt.
Little Sasha is also worried, the snacks that her Mani and Inos have bought for her are running out. She doesn't know how to cook and the plants outside looked like grass, she refused to eat them. She had to find them, ASAP. And she knew that the floating head of a black cat outside knows how to find them.
'Sniff.'
She fought her tears away and stared at the night sky as she curled her legs on her bed. She will try to go to town again tomorrow. With that thought, she closed her eyes and slept.
When morning came, little Sasha stretched her tiny limbs and cleaned herself up. Struggling to put her princess dress, she chose a loose jumper to wear instead. She clumsily tied her curly hair and ate the last edible thing she saw from their fridge. Then she checked her bag, packed the remaining snack inside and set out. Thinking she might need money to buy things in town, she grabbed her Nana's purse and left.
In the tent outside, the pair of woman and cat watched the low gate close as the little girl walked out and towards town. The little black cat grinned mischievously and looked at the woman beside her.
"Would you like to bet how long it's gonna take before she comes back?" It asked. Lisa looked towards the little girl's direction with concern.
"She's not coming back this time. Get up, we'll go back to town now." The wounds on her shoulder has now closed and she's now able to moved. She got up and walked towards one side of the tent. She pulled on the ground and a round lid covered by grass opened up to show a meter-long hole with dry ground inside.
Luca lazily stood and walked towards the hole slowly. It raised its head to see Lisa putting the tent down into her purse. Once done, she nodded at the cat and it jumped down the hole. Lisa followed suit and jumped down. Once she disappeared, the lid closed down and the ground looked the same as before.
In town. Lisa and the little cat Luca exited the storage shack and went towards their shabby little house. Luca frowned when it saw the house. It looked uglier the more they approached it. The grass has hotter taller to it's sitting height and vines have started to cover even the door. It poured and looked towards the lady beside her.
"I really don't understand how you're able to live in this place and whoa! Can you please warn me before you wear that ugly thing on your face!" It shrieked when it saw her young and pretty face change sag and grow wrinkles on it. Her pale face darkened and her body hunched forward as she reached for the door and opened it.
"Stop talking. We're now back in town." Old woman Lisa spoke sternly. Luca rolled its eyes but still clumped shut its mouth. It honestly did not understand, its master has a gorgeous face so why would she cover it with an old ad wrinkly flesh like that? Lisa seemed to understand and explained as she closed the door once they got inside the house.
"The owner of this house was an old lady. Her old and frail body was unable to weather through that storm and she peacefully left this place in her sleep." But she did not share how the previous owner had found her in the ground, lifeless and soaked in the pouring rain. She did not want to recall how her old and frail body had struggled the to carry her back to her little house and tended to her passed out self.
"I was a nobody here and have no past or whatsoever. So I'm left with no choice but to assume her identity. I did not want to invite trouble for myself while I'm here." She continued, her thoughts going back to that day when the old lady finally breathe her last and gave here a sincere smile before she closed her eyes.
'Take care of yourself and don't let yourself get hurt again.' She had been a stranger to her but helped her tremendously without asking for her identity. She had earlier shared that she no longer has any family which made it easier for her to completely assume her identity so she can keep living here.
She waived her hand and a hologram of a sleeping body is shown from her watch. She preserved the old woman's body so she can lay it a proper rest when the time comes for her to leave and return back her identity. As one looked, apart from the absence of rise and fall from the supposed breathing chest, she looked like she's only sleeping.
Luca saw the guilt on Lisa's eyes and realized her agony so it stopped complaining and went to lick her hand and settled on her arms. Lisa rubbed it's velvety fur and smiled, her tears threatening to drop anytime.
When it sensed her emotions have calmed down, it jumped from its masters embrace.
"I will go check on the kid. Who knows if she changed her mind and went back home again. Then would that make our return a wasted trip." It said and walked out of the house.
Lisa smiled and did not point out it's constipated look right now, showing its worry towards the child.
"Go." She said and turned away to find some tools to prune the grasses outside.