A New Kind of World

Elisa laughed at his remarks, a chuckle that chimed like bells, but that wasn't as loud or as silly that'd made her appear as frivolous. His last remark had hit its mark in her heart, again, he flattered her, and again she liked he was doing so. The blonde knew she was pretty, but she also knew there were even prettier girls there and back at home. Men ... well most of them went for appearance alone on her days. Not every one of them, but most of which she had met.

"Poor you, women fighting for your affections, a real horror" She commented, but she was only playing along, not trying to disrespect him in any way. Elisa liked sarcasm, so sue her, it wouldn't change who she was. "It's the curse of being a handsome one" She added, and she gestured all of him playfully.

Before she could comment on his last remark, ale and cider along with sops were placed before them. Judging by the manner in which they had been delivered, she could only guess the petite woman wasn't happy with either of them. Elisa took a hold of her cider and took a sip, licking the remaining liquid off her lips after doing so with a smile. Apple, she loved apples.

"I'm curious, though" She suddenly said, while sliding her fingertip across her glass "Have you never been interested in any of those women before? Never found your .. damsel?" She was genuinely curious as she looked up at him. Weren't people supposed to marry at young ages? Of course, she didn't know Victor age just yet "How old are you, by the way?"

Adam waited silently for a couple of seconds, his fingers wrapped around her hand as he allowed her to hold onto it as tight as she may want. Whatever burden she was carrying, he felt as if it really drag down a side of her who couldn't let go. He traced tender circles with his thumb on her hand, trying to either encourage her to go on or to comfort her, he wasn't sure as to which.

"It's okay" He mumbled gently and softly. One side of him really wanted to press on a bit, to somehow get her to share that burned so that he could find a way to take it off her shoulder. The other, though, advised him that the subject seemed a bit touchy, and he could be pestering her.

"It's okay, Rebecca" He repeated "I'll hear you out if you want to continue. But you can also stop if you do not wish to" He added this time. Whatever she chose, he'd go along with it.

The very thought of a man trying to even hurt Rebecca, set his blood boiling. A man wasn’t supposed to even hurt a woman, never. He swallowed the momentary rage that had washed over his body in quite an unexpected way. He remained quiet for a couple of seconds before he spoke again.

“ 'The past is a foreign country: they do things differently there.’ “ Adam declared softly, though loud enough for Rebecca to hear it. There were no other words of comfort he could possibly tell her without sounding like an idiot. As such, that quote seemed to deliver just what he was hoping to tell her, the message he was trying to get through.

Again he was itching to somehow comfort her again, but it felt as if he touched her she’d just … break. So he kept his hands on top of the table. He didn’t quite understood what she had meant to tell him, but he could tell her past was haunting her. A dreadful thing must have happened, but the lack of actual information made it difficult for him to do anything else but make a guess.

If he couldn’t be there to listen to her story, and was also reluctant to let her drown in her sorrow all alone, despite the fact that it wasn’t necessarily a bad thing, he had to come up with a new idea. Sometimes, pain could be fought with joy, and he hoped to bring some of that joy back. He may be doing the wrong thing, but in the past he had found out that distracting yourself helped to get one’s mind off the worries and problems.

His eyes skimmed over the place and found their way over to a man who was merrily chatting with a group of friends. If there was one good thing about inns, was that you could find almost every type of person there, any type you would need. And there was just the one he needed right there. He quietly stood from his place by the white haired lady, and while making his way over to the group of men he tapped the one who seemed to be the youngest of all in the shoulder before leaning in a bit to tell him his request.

Elisa found it funny how Victor actually thought he was ‘running a little late for women’ as he had stated it. In present time, a man married by the time he was twenty three was still pretty damn early. Her mom had married her father when she was twenty five, and still the young girl thought they had rushed it. That, of course, wasn’t the way people in the middle ages thought.

"The right one, huh?” She repeated and she drank a bit more of her cider before she let out a brief laugh. “I guess there’s no rush. You are young and handsome indeed. Perhaps, your bride hasn’t even been born just yet” She remembered having read and having being told that some people in those times married kids when they were older, though she didn’t quite see Victor doing so. Still, it was something she had read on a post on the internet two nights ago - a time that seemed so very far from her present - and couldn’t help it but think it fit the situation perfectly.

When the music started, string melody that irradiated happiness and just a little bit of frenzy, Elisa looked back almost immediately, curious. Across the room, a man who appeared to be on his mid-tweenties with ash blonde hair was skilfully playing what she could’ve sworn was a violin - or an early version of it - bow sliding across the strings of the instrument while he held it in place in the crook of the arm. Far from being the typical classical melody, his song was much more ‘folksy’ and it felt as if it crawled inside the very skin, waking it up and enveloping the entire being in a pleasant feeling.

Elisa noticed Adam by the man's side before he turned on his heels and walked over to where Rebecca was. The blonde’s brows furrowed when it seemed like her friend had been crying, though her face was hidden from view from where she was and she couldn’t tell for sure. She made an attempt to approach them, but stopped on her tracks when she saw Adam bending over and holding out his hand towards her, asking for a dance.

Elisa, who had already scrambled to her feet, hesitated for a moment before she nodded at Victor. Even she could see that Adam was not pestering, but that he seemed to be trying to cheer her up. The young girl didn't took a seat again, but instead leaned her hip against the wooden table as she looked over at Victor's offered hand. The smile was back on her face, though it was a bit of an apologetic one.

"I better not. To be honest, I don't know how to dance to this kind of music" She stated. She knew their steps were more precise and studied, or so she guessed, and if speaking of such dances she could hardly dance salsa, which her mother hand insisted on her to learn for some strange reason. She doubted it was anything like that.

"You don't offend me" She shook her head with a chuckle. It was funny how he seemed to so naturally and casually shower her with such compliments without her feeling rather uncomfortable by that. Maybe because he was just being honest, and not actually using them to hit on her "It is very different from where we come from indeed. Back at home, I'd be quite a young bride if I decided to get married now. There's still so many things I want to do before tying my life to a single man. Either way, most marriages in which both the bride and the groom are still young end up badly as the years go by. They cheat on one another before it finally falls apart" She shook her head with a sigh "If you had found the one who you want to love for the rest of your life, you don't go and have an affair with someone else" Elisa had decided that if she found someone to love, really love, she wouldn't do such a thing behind his back. Tucking a loose strand of her behind her ear, she shrugged "Besides, there hasn't been any kind of proposal made in that matter. I guess I too have to find the right ... knight" Sure, she had been in a few relationships in the past, but nothing so serious. Right now there was even a guy she sort of liked on her college, and he seemed to like her too, but she didn't expect that to develop into a marriage, not even did she know how would it turn out for the both of them.

While speaking to Victor, she also eyed her friend and the knight curiously. Would Rebecca dance with him, or would she turn him down? For the moment, she didn't seem as if she'd take hold of his hand any time soon. However, Adam was not unperturbed. His eyes laid gentle on hers as he remained there, hand outstretched in a silent request.

Normally, any man could have felt shame if the girl he asked for a dance turned him down. Usually, they didn't. Not Adam, though, because he had managed to do what he had meant to do. If Rebecca refused, he felt content enough with the fact that he had achieved to wipe the sorrow from her gaze. Happiness suit her better, as much as that sweet blush did to her face.

"Come on! Give the man a dance!"

"Show 'em, Becs" Elisa exclaimed as well.

When her hand slipped into his hand, Adam's stare sparkled with an emotion that set a sort of jolt through his body. He flashed her a radiant smile and pulled her off her seat and to where they could have a dance among the few people who had began to dance as well. Most knights were taught how to dance in their childhood. Adam as well, given where he came from. Though the folk dance had been something he had been taught when he reached the capital.

"Just match my steps, Rebecca" He declared "This is the countryside, most people dance in whichever way they want and no one minds them" That being said, he turned to her and gave her a deep bow, one of his knees almost brushing the floor in doing so. He gave her hand a gentle squeeze and guided her to the rhythm of the music. He kept a hold of her hand, and with both of them facing to the front he started the dance. It was a rather simple combination of skipping back and forth, to one side and to the other, with the occasional spins and him raising her up in the air before letting her back down.

Elisa watched everyone dance to the music in awe. Some others seemed to gather in little groups to do much more elaborated dances, and other couples did whatever they wanted without following any steps. Even some women with no men where there, rocking her hips to the beat as they wanted. Again, she felt inside a fairytale. When Victor gripped the edge of her sleeve she leaned back a bit into the table to look at him, her back still pressed against it.

"Hm? Oh, no, not really. It's doing just fine. After all, it really was just a minor cut" Sure, she felt the dull like pain sometimes when she moved her arm, but nothing too serious for her not to ignore it. Absently, she used her other hand to brush the one that Victor had used to take a hold of her arm "Again, thank you for bandaging it" She felt as if she had thanked him a lot of times, but she'd guessed she'd keep on doing so for the rest of the time they took care of them.

That night had been a whole lot better than the one before. Elisa had had a pleasant conversation with Victor, and had, though not much, at least eaten the sops and a bit of pork which had been brought later. The pain in her stomach had stopped and she felt much calmer. With things carrying on like that, she felt much more optimistic, enough for her to hold real hopes, and not ones she had been trying to convince herself with.

Elisa nodded her head at Victor, still not all that comfortable with performing a bow of her own, of those women were supposed to do back then. She bid him goodbye with a goodnatured smile and stood up from their table. She sensed a sharp stare on the very back of her neck, and while raising her hands above her head to stretch her body, she glanced back. The red head, who had taken turns in glare both at her and Victor throughout the entire evening, was doing so again. Her glare as fiery as her hair. The blonde simply arched an eyebrow in a bit of a cynic gesture before she diverted her gaze.

She picked up her dress, which at one point she had hung near the fire on the first floor, and went upstairs, saying a "Good night, Adam" To the knight - who did the same - before she disappeared behind the door that led to the rooms. In the hallway there were still a few people who stepped into their rooms or talked between one another, among those groups, she found a white haired girl that stood out like the first snowflake that falls on the ground in the beginning of winter.

She fell into step by her side and wrapped a playful arm around her shoulders "So ... You and the knight?" She teased her with a sly smile.

Adam cupped his hand a bit as Rebecca pulled hers from his grip. As if that could slow down their goodbyes. His face was slightly flushed from all the dancing, and his gaze shimmered with gentle tenderness and something else for the girl. He corresponded her bow with one of his own before he spoke "It was my pleasure. Have a good night" And with a sweet kiss on his cheek on her behalf he watched her go.

He followed her before she disappeared from view, and even then his gaze remained on the wooden door a couple more of seconds before he ran a hand through his hair. It was somewhat sticky with sweat, but it was normal. His eyes lowered then to his friend, who remained though the bleach blonde girl was gone as well. He grinned a bit as he made his way over to where he was.

On his way he noticed a busty waitress with fiery red hair he thought had seen glaring at Elisa before burning invisible holes to Victor's skull with her eyes. He whistled when he was near enough his friend "Gods, Victor, what did you and Elisa do to the poor woman?" He said with a laugh.