"Lord Raiden, the tea is ready."

The aroma of gyokuro tea wafted from the direction of a silvery, drowsy voice. The deity opens his eyes, and sees his student standing timidly a few feet away, at the doors of his meditation room. "Come sit with me."

"I hope I didn't disturb you, my lord," she chirped, and poured the tea. The young girl offered the cup to her master, before pouring into another one for herself. "Not at all, child." The Yaw-Yan practitioner sat comfortably beside her master, letting out a satisfied hum at the first taste of the sweet tea.

Raiden fondly remembers the first time he met this particular student of his. The thunder god came all the way to their hideout in the mountains of Baguio City to deliver somber news about the fate of their ancestors in the Netherrealm. An aging spinster greeted him with an infant girl in her arms. The child's eyes were brimming with tears, startled by the thunder that accompanied his arrival. Her mother tried to calm her down as Raiden spoke to her, but to no avail. The sound of a kettle whistling prompted the woman to excuse herself, and set the child in her crib.

The infant looked at him with bewildered eyes, threatening to cry again. Raiden offered a hand to the child in an attempt to calm her, and she reluctantly wrapped her tiny hand around his smallest finger. The child's fearful expression was replaced by one of curiosity and wonder. As he picked the child up, a giggle is starting to bubble from her throat. She squealed and babbled as she grabbed the deity's nose. A small chuckle escaped Raiden's lips when the baby grabbed his conical hat and tried to nibble at the brim.

"Ah! Look at you, drooling all over his hat," an older woman chided. "It is not of trouble," Raiden assured. "May I hold her for a while longer?"

"Of course! I'm surprised you actually managed to get her to laugh. She's always crying, the fussy child." The other woman emerged from the kitchen, hauling several mugs of coffee, a jar of strawberry jam, and a paper bag full of pandesal. "Thank goodness. I hope she didn't give you trouble. Come sit for coffee, please."

"What is her name?" Raiden queried, his expression bright for the first time in years. Earthrealm's losses, especially Liu Kang's accidental death by his hand, still haunts him to that day, but with the bubbly infant in his arms, his troubles temporarily melted away.

"Sinagtala," the older woman quipped, much to the younger one's disapproval. "I told you tita, I am not naming my child after inay. Her name is Esther."

"But she looks so much like Ate Tala. It would honor her."

While the two women were sorting out their small argument, Raiden noted that Esther had fallen asleep in his arms, her round, gentle face nuzzled against his bicep.

The sound of soft snoring brought back Raiden's mind to present time. His student had fallen asleep. Just how long was he reminiscing? He looked at the sleeping girl who leaned against his bicep, dark strands of hair straying from her loose braid. In this world, life wasn't kind to anyone, yet she persevered, and her face is still serene in her sound sleep. She is a survivor, and Raiden swore to keep it that way as she carried her to her quarters and tucked her in. He will protect her; he suffered from far too many losses.

"Good night, Sinagtala."

A/N: *Italicized dialogue translated from Filipino. I figured that as a deity, Raiden would have known an array of languages.

*Sinagtala's name means "starlight" (sinag = ray/light, tala = star). It is a rare name in modern Philippine society.

Translations:

gyokuro - a type of shaded green tea from Japan. Its taste is described as rich, almost full-bodied, and smooth, with sweet ending and complex notes.

Yaw-Yan - a Filipino style of kickboxing; it means Sayaw ng Kamatayan, which translates to "Dance of Death".

pandesal - a common bread roll in the Philippines; a corrupted form of Spanish "pan de sal", which means "salted bread".

tita - a Filipino term for aunt. Can also be used to address a female friend of one's parents.

inay - a Filipino term for mother

ate (pronounced ah-TEH) - a Filipino term used to address older sisters. Can also be used to address to an older female friend/acquaintance.