It was all Nannoc could do to wait until the girl closed the door behind her to collapse onto the bed on top of his pack and the ceremonial sword. He was exhausted in every sense of the word. Today marked the 5th day since he had deserted the People. Three of those five days had been spent doing nothing but running. He spent long hours travelling down streams and through trees to throw off the Hunters and the Raiders that had been sent out after him. He stopped neither to eat nor sleep, pausing only to drink to remain at least semi-hydrated. When he had arrived at this small farmhouse he was at his breaking point. He needed food, rest, and shade, or else he would pass out in the countryside, easy prey for the Hunters.
The girl had been very hesitant about letting him stay. Probably because he spoke the wrong language at first, or because he was shirtless, or perhaps because of the large sword he had strapped to his back. Whatever the reason, she had eventually relented, and for that he was grateful. She had seemed uneasy and skittish when she first showed him around the house. She had definitely been so whenever he looked at her. He didn’t understand. He didn’t think his actions were that much different than hers.
And then she had asked him for his name. That had surprised Nannoc at first, but when he thought about it, it made sense. After all, she had to know who was staying in her house. He had known that he would eventually need to give his name to others, but he hadn’t really been prepared for it. He had said the first name that came across his mind: Christopher. He wasn’t entirely sure where that name had come from, though she certainly accepted it as normal.
Before he knew it, Nannoc was sliding into unconsciousness. The last thought to pass through his head as he embraced the sweet oblivion of sleep was that he had never asked her name.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *Elina stirred the soup nervously, running various defenses through her head. She was regretting her decision to let Christopher come into the house. What would her father think? She knew all too well what he would think: that she was an irresponsible and reckless young girl who didn’t deserve to leave the house ever again after this. It had been hard enough persuading him to leave her alone in the house in the first place; he had wanted to take her with him. She had finally managed to convince him otherwise, but this would cost her independence for sure. Still…
Her thoughts strayed to the state of her guest. When Christopher had shown up at the door, she immediately saw that he was tired. Actually, that was an understatement. He looked worse than her father did after an entire day’s worth of plowing under the sun. The bags under his eyes made it look as though he had been awake for days, and his shirtless chest had been burnt to a bright red crisp. She could tell he was muscular, but he looked like he hadn’t eaten in a long time and he had to have been dehydrated. The more she thought about it, the more she was sure that if she hadn’t let Christopher in, he would have passed out and maybe have died right there on her door step. She was positive that she had done the right thing.
This confidence Elina had in her decision wavered as she heard the sound of the work horses trotting back to the house. Matais and Leleiatal! She got more and more nervous as she heard her father putting away his equipment and taking care of the horses. She said a quick prayer to the gods, asking for strength to explain herself as well as quickly apologizing for using their names as curses. Then her father, Pharon, walked through the side door into the kitchen from the barn.
Pharon definitely looked the part of a father and a farmer. He wasn’t particularly tall, but he wasn’t short either, with a build that only comes from plowing large fields by oneself for years. His skin was tanned from long days in the sun, with tan lines where his clothing cut off the sun. It was obvious that Elina got her silky brunette hair and soft brown eyes from her father. His hair was long and kept in control by several knots of twine. The lower half of his face was covered by a neatly trimmed beard; both his hair and his beard were threaded with strands of silver. Pharon had always joked with Elina, saying that every time she was bad, one of his hairs went grey. She would always say that she must have been a terror when she was young, and he would laugh his deep and roaring laugh that made everyone near laugh along. He was also very good at reading Elina’s thoughts.
Her father had barely walked through the door, when he stopped and asked Elina, “So, what’s going on that you don’t want me to know?” Elina squeaked. Was she really that obvious?
“Well,” she started, “You see, there was this boy and-“
Pharon cut her off, “You let a someone in the house while I was gone?”
“-And he looked tired-“
Interrupting again, Pharon asked, “And you let him into the house while I wasn’t here?”
“And he asked if he could stay here and I let him, but only because he looked so exhausted and weak and please don’t be mad at me, Daddy,” she finished quickly and looked down at the ground.
For a while, Pharon just stood there silently. Elina just kept looking down, drawing tiny circles with her foot. After what felt like forever, he finally said, “You know I’m not happy about this, Elina. I specifically told you not to let anyone, especially a male-anyone, into the house when I’m not home.”
“I know, but-“ Pharon held up his hand and she stopped.
“As such, I’m going to assume that you had a really good reason to do so. Am I right?” He looked sternly at her.
“Yes.”
“Then I’ll forget about the fact that you disobeyed me for now. I want to meet this mysterious boy-“
“Christopher. His name is Christopher.” Having her father’s forgiveness gave Elina back some of the courage she had before.
“Yes, Christopher, and I want to eat. Dinner is ready, right?” He smiled at her.
Elina smiled back. “Of course it is.” She put the soup pot and the fresh bread on the table while Pharon set it, and went upstairs to wake Christopher for supper.
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