Few years ago...

"Lily! I missed you soooo much!" A young teenage girl came jumping from the stairway and pulled Lily in her arms. "I can't believe you're here!" She jumped.

"Shall I pinch you then?" Lily laughed. "No, no no!" Little Charlotte looked wide eyed and started running away from her sister who ran behind her to tickle defeat her.

"Hey, Charlotte?" Arthur pulled her out of the happy memory.

"Yes, Everly." She asked.

Do you really think the tribals will come to the aid of the civilized?" 

"The only thing I believe at the moment is, humanity brings you near to nature, it doesn't inspire to recreate on the basis of massacres. The civilization is running out of humanity, destroying the core of the planet, the nature. And here, into this wilderness, these tribals keep nature alive, they keep humanity alive." Charlotte looked at the rough general, the tribe head welcoming them, even after the roughness, his presence was warm, happy with a positive aura around.

"All I hope is, they help us out then. We, the civilized need to be humanized again." Arthur chuckled nervously.

Soon, they found themselves in a complete another dimension. So pure, so untouched by the polluting times of today, hidden in the wild were these people, with simpler dreams for tomorrow,  like going on a hunt, painting a few hundred pots or weaving few new soft clothes for the newborns, lighting a bonfire, etc, etc. The three wanders of ours thought the same thing, questioned the same question. Where did we lose all this through the time?

Watching at the children chasing the hens, girls braiding each others hair, few boys running around, playing. That felt so human. So lively. Where did we lose it? They looked at each other as if trying to ask each other. 

Then a small girl walked up to them with three small clay painted pots filled with acai berries. She said something which only Dominic understood and placed the pots in each of their hands and walked away.

"What's this for?" Arthur asked Dominic.

"It's the tradition of this tribe. To bestow the guests with gifts. They believe that when they give gifts to each other, they make God happy. And you know, they don't worship any idolized god, they worship the soil, the trees, the water, the sun, the earth. They worship the life flowing through each and every thing in this world. 

"Ohh.. Interesting! It's been a long time since I got any gifts." Arthur chuckled eating the berries.

"Can I ask you both a question?" Dominic asked.

"Speak up." Charlotte said as a girl added few wild flowers to her braid and was laughing with her.

"If you could decide, then what things would be the three best gifts one can give in this world?"

"Woah I surely have to think about it." Arthur said.

"Not necessarily Arthur. Time, Hope and Truth." She said.

"Give the person time, your time, your presence. Give him hope, give him a reason, a strong one to go on. And finally give that person the truth. The truth in your time, your presence, the truth in your hope, the truth in your reason. Nobody gifts each other these things nowadays. Sometime I wonder if such gifts became extinct." Charlotte smiled and walked with the girl who was pulling her with her towards her friends to play.

"Are you thinking the same thing what I am thinking?" Dominic asked Arthur as they both looked at Charlotte who completely blended in the atmosphere.

"Uh huh. Absolutely yes." Arthur responded.

"I still can't believe the wisdom coming out of her mouth I wonder if she's the same woman who had ran off from five weddings, burnt down places, shoots and kills people." Arthur chuckled.

"And the list goes on." Dominic said laughing.

Somewhere inside, they too kept thinking the same question though. Were such gifts disappearing from the earth? There were pits of hollowness in each one of them too. Only if someone had given them such gifts, they might have healed. To be true, that's the case with each one of us too. In today's times, very rarely someone might bestow such excellent gift over you. These three things, time, hope and truth, are the things a human craves the most for. These three things are the best medicines to wounds, physical ones or mental ones. But sadly, these medicines aren't available to us at any of the medical stores outside. Little do we know that these gifts are kinda magical. The one who's being gifted is lucky too, and the provider is much more lucky, much more intelligent. These gifts work both ways. These gifts make the provider and the receiver both happy. We say such gifts are rare, little do we know that this is the human power which each and everyone of us has. The only power which works for the other person, and not for the self. When you gift your time, your truthfulness, a hope to some other soul, you are gifting yourself in amazing ways. Just because you don't recognize it at an instant doesn't mean it's not working. Such gifts work only when they are needed. To be gifted, you need to start by gifting someone.

That day after discussing the plans of attacks and defence  with the tribal head, Dominic and Arthur found Charlotte sitting near the waters looking up at the sky, thinking.

"We've got gifts for you." Arthur spoke making her turn around and look at them.

They held two baskets filled with food and walked towards her and sat at the raised platform where she sat playing with her pistol.

"What's the celebration about?" She questioned furrowing her brows in confusion.

"Well, like we said, we have got gifts for you." Dominic chuckled and unpacked the food and they started eating.

"Charlotte, we know we're messed up people, we've not even done a single good thing in life yet. But maybe we can make our lives easier by sticking together." Arthur said.

"Today we give you the three gifts of the world. Our time, A true Hope and Truth in all aspects." Dominic smiled.

"And you both will always have my time, bright hopes and truth always with you." Charlotte smiled through the glassy eyes and so did the Arthur. 

"But our gifts come with a condition." Dominic said.

"What condition?" She asked. To which Arthur replied,

"Promise us, you'll always keep a firefly spirit."

"I promise."

Author's note

This is how friendship breathes, how it survives. We have to work to keep it alive, to keep it breathing. In return it always keeps us alive. It's the magic of the universe. The more good you do to others, the more good comes to your path. Always remember, we're humans and we can give these three gifts to the world, our time, hope and the truth. It's our superpower.

And if you haven't yet gifted someone these gifts in your life, you can start now. And believe me, it's something which you can never regret. Because regret is born in the womb of expectations and is nurtured with the unkind. And when you gift someone, you never expect anything in return. You just want them to be happy.

My best wishes to you!