“Sis, I think it’s time you should go.”
“But I still have work that needs to be done by the day.”
“Ekara’s orders, Sis. Or do we have to bring this matter up to Nikerym Nerwin?”
“Seriously, Sis; Ekara Ithilien ordered you to take a break. C’mon now, I volunteered to cover for you.”
The silence was quite long, then she simply broke it with a soft sigh.
She shook her head lightly as she looked around. A long week has passed, in which the elven archer was busy either doing reconnaissance missions or laying ambush points against the growing orcish army. Ithilien ordered her to stand down and take her leave, as to “not wear herself out of exhaustion”; she mentally scoffed at that, but Serethil was more than happy that “Sis is going to take a break from her rigorous grind.”
She sighed again, and once more took a long, sweeping gaze. Saint haven seemed peaceful, the people mostly unaware of what was happening outside their walls.
But the bliss looked enticing...
The soft wind touched her cheeks, as she closed her eyes and listened to the breeze. Not a moment too soon, she was on her way.
She took a step forward and knocked on the wooden door. Once. Then twice.
A woman in her late twenties opened the door, and she was immediately awestruck at her.
“Good day to you,” she politely said to the girl.
“Is Aethanael here?” the Bowmaster queried in her typical low, modular tone.
“Ah, yes, yes!” Please wait just a moment,” the younger woman replied, then hurried off inside the orphanage.
“Okay, okay, no need to shove me, c’mon,” her leaf-shaped ears twitched at a familiar voice.
And as he came into view, their eyes met.
Despite the seemingly indifferent countenance of the elf, he let himself get lost in her piercing, yet beautiful cobalt-blue gaze...
A quick slap on the back of his head made him snap up. His assistant was giving him a slight scowl, then as she left the two of them he turned his attention back to the guest in front of him.
“Ishnu alah, Aethanael,” she greeted him.
“Ehh..., what?” His usual loss of words was getting him again.
“It is our elven greeting to one another,” she explained. “It is like, ‘good day to you’, in human terms.”
He blinked. He recalled sometime ago of seeing a group of elves in the city, and they usually greet the shop owners with the usual ‘good morning’, or ‘good afternoon’, not with the phrase she just used.
But then again, Sedina seemed not the usual elf that he sees, or even interacts to, everyday...
“Uhm, uh...well, good day to you too, Sedina,” he quickly recomposed himself, bowing his head slightly to her.
“I hope I have not disturbed any of your activities.”
“Oh, no, no, it’s all right...the children are out for now with another guardian, and Martha and I are just fixing some light stuff here in the orphanage.”
The silence that followed made him a bit awkward. She merely stood in front of him, her cobalt-blue eyes staring at her.
“Ah..., so, what brings you here?” he wasn’t sure if that was either polite, or too blunt, or just plain ridiculous of a question.
“I was ordered..., relieved of my duties for awhile,” she replied, her low, modular tone seemed hesitant at the statement she used. “And I would like to take up the offer that you proposed to me a month ago.”
A month ago..., was that so long already?
He quickly fixed his thoughts, and smiled a bit at her. “Of course Sedina. Welcome to the orphanage of Saint Haven.”
Save for the chirping crickets, the night in Saint Haven was peaceful. Lit torches dot the streets, as the guards for the night shift and patrolled their stations. Above them, the night was clear, as stars shone and twinkled over the city.
Earlier this evening it was her first time interacting with children; they were noisy, tugging her blouse every now and then, and one child was able to overcome his shyness and lay his head on her lap while she told them of her ‘adventures’, which were, in reality, her excursions with her elven cadre, though she toned down the details, as per Aethanael’s suggestion.
The elf breathed a sigh as she sat more on the window ledge of the orphanage, her gaze focused on a flickering torch nearby. She lifted her legs and feet to stretch them onto the window ledge; Martha convinced her to change clothes while she washed her adventurer garment, and so she wore this cottony one piece dress and had a blanket with her to keep her warm.
She huddled close to herself, wrapped the blanket around her body as she looked at the flames of the torch outside.
The light from the window didn’t quite reach him, and only the candle illuminated his face.
She was so enamored with the dancing flames of the torch that she did not even hear the faintest footsteps. Her ears twitched at the sound of his voice, and when she turned, he was there, standing in the darkness, save for the dimly-lit candle.
“I am just not….used to this,” Sedina replied to his query, and it was the second time that she was hesitant with her words, as he silently observed her. Elves never really slept like humans do, but they still require to rest their bodies regularly. She folded her legs up to a curl, her gaze going back to the flickering flames as she adjusted her blanket.
“Is there anything amiss tonight?”
“Just doing my rounds, checking up on the kids and seeing to it that they stay in bed,” he replied to her, as he slowly made his way towards the window she sat on.
The elf fell silent, her attention back to the night sky outside. The stars twinkled silently above them.
“I hope you don’t mind if I sit next to you?”
She turned towards him and tilted her head, her brow raised.
Every time she does that to him, he tensed up, like he was a child again. Then again elves are waaaay older than humans right now...
Without saying a word she moved a bit, giving him space for him to sit beside her.
And without saying anything else, the young cleric sat down with her, his eyes admiring the dim landscape outside.
And once more, they shared the silence for a long while, which neither seemed to be a bother.
“Aethanael?” she spoke up first. He turned his head quietly towards her, emulating her silent gesture of hers.
Her lips seemed to tremble, as if she was struggling to say anything else.
“Eh?” he blinked. His heart raced all of a sudden, and he was sure his cheeks were reddening.
“That I extend my stay here in the orphanage?”
Now he was the one who was at a loss of words.
“I do not have much...money with me to pay for lodging, but I am more than willing to help out with the chores around here with you.”
“What..no, no! You don’t need to pay anything, Sedina!” he blurted out, as he struggled to keep his voice down. “You’re our guest here.”
“But I am imposing too much on your generosity--”
“No, please! Don’t think like that. We don’t do things like this for profit.”
She's so hard-pressed on returning the favor, he mused in his thoughts. He breathed a soft sigh before saying anything else. “If you insist then, well...I guess helping out in some work in the orphanage would do.”
She was silent for awhile, then spoke up. “Is it all right then, just like that?”
He shrugged. “If you mean that my superior needs to know, well, no. Most of the guardians of the children here are volunteers.”
Well, she’s really quick to notice.
“Yes, and no,” was his reply to her, which made her raise her brow just a bit. He deflected her query by adding, “And besides, it’s nice to have a new face here around.”
“W-well, I...I mean, the children, actually. They’re kinda fond of you the first time around.”
She nodded at his statement. “The children can be a handful.”
He barked a soft laugh. “That’s putting it lightly.”
“So my tasks will start tomorrow, then?” He nodded at her. Her cobalt-blue eyes twinkled slightly at the dim lights as she stared at him.
“I’ll just do another round of checking up the kids before I head to my room,” he said, as he stood up and picked the candle, which has now melted almost to its base of the holder. “You better get some rest too, Sedina.”
“I am used to this kind of fatigue, Aethanael.”
“Just don’t push yourself too hard, okay?” he gently patted her shoulder, to which she stared back at him. He realized she was not used to such a gesture, so he withdrew his hand immediately.
“I understand, Aethanael,” she replied to him, as she turned her attention back to the cloudless night sky.
Either she ignored it, or she was okay with it.
He still has a long way to go to understand her, it seems.
She turned her head to one side, and bowed slightly at him.
At least he got that from her. He smiled at himself as he turned his attention back to checking up the children in their sleep,
