Elina hummed as she danced about the kitchen preparing dinner, her waist-long brunette hair swinging about her waist. Her father, Pharon, would be home soon and she wanted to make sure that she had a full meal waiting when he arrived. After all, he had been working so hard lately, trying to get the fields all plowed. Her mouth puckered into a frown as she thought. It was getting much more difficult for him, considering his age. She pleaded with him to hire a farmhand, but he wouldn't hear of it. She sighed and went back to her cooking; the least she could do for him was make sure he ate well. Her brown eyes watched the bread as it baked in the brick oven as she stirred the soup. This meal was going to be a good one. She licked off a drop of soup that had landed on her tanned skin and laughed. She should really pay more attention when dealing with hot things!
She heard a knock at the door. Was her father here already? That couldn't be a good sign. Readying herself for bad news, she went to the door and opened it.
"Oh!" She gasped in surprise. Instead of her father, as she expected, it was a boy. Elina stepped back, closing the door a little. Her father had always warned her against opening the door while she was home alone. Now she knew what he was talking about. This boy was not from around here. His deep blue eyes, set into an oval face, watched her every movement, staring. His hair was cut very close to his head, though she could tell it was nearly black. He had very fair skin in the places that weren't burnt bright red from the sun. And that happened to be a very large area of skin as he had no shirt on, weird, and- was that a sword on his back? Around his neck was a turquoise necklace with a metal pendant that had some weird symbol etched on it.
He said something, pulling her from her study of him. "I'm sorry, what did you say?" She flashed him a smile, hoping that he wasn't one of those men her father was always telling her about. He said something again, but it was completely unintelligible, reaffirming her belief that he definitely wasn't from around here. Why in the world was a random traveler here? They were pretty far from anything. In fact, the nearest town was 10 miles away, at the edge of their land. And the main road went the other way through town, completely bypassing her father's farm. Whatever the reason, she couldn't understand a single word he said.
"I'm sorry, but I don't understand what you say." She shook her head, showing him that she didn't know what he was saying.
"Oh, I apologize. I forgot that you wouldn't understand me." Elina paused in the middle of shaking her head. What? She looked at him puzzled.
"You speak our language too?" He nodded.
"Shouldn't I? You don't understand mine." He had a point.
"Alright, that makes sense. It's just that most travelers only know one language: ours or their own. You're the first I've ever seen that knew two."
He didn't say anything, just continued that blank stare. She wrinkled her brow. He certainly was an odd one. Now he seemed to be waiting for something. What could he be waiting for? Oh. Right.
"Can I help you?"
"I need a place to stay for the night." Elina hesitated. He hadn't given her any reason to distrust him, and surely, judging by the looks of his arms and chest, he could have gotten past her into the house whether or not she agreed. Still, her father's warning words were playing in her mind. "Please. I've come a long way and my body is exhausted." He really did look tired. She made up her mind, though it might get her in trouble with her father.
"Alright, come on in." She led him into the house, mentally beating herself up for not having cleaned it up earlier. "Okay, so, this is the living room, over there's the dining room, and around that corner is the kitchen." He merely watched as she pointed, looking to each room as she gestured. "I'm sure you must be really tired, so I'll show you where you can wash up and then you can sleep until dinner." He looked at her and she felt her face flushing. She then cursed silently at herself for being so silly. She purposefully marched up the stairs and down the hall to the washroom. She showed him the pitcher and the cloths for washing and then took him to their spare room.
"Now that you know where everything is, you can just stay here until I call you when dinner's ready, okay?" He nodded and unbuckled the sword belt, tossing it on the bed, along with a pack she hadn't seen earlier. Elina then realized she should probably leave so he could wash and so she could finish dinner. As she was walking through the door, she turned and asked, "What's your name?"
"...Christopher."
"Okay. It was nice to meet you, Christopher.
With that, she hopped down the stairs and into the kitchen, reflecting on her strange visitor. She could almost hear her father yelling at her now...
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