A New Kind of World

Elisa remained silent for a long while, quietly staring up at the stone ceiling. The rain had come to a stop eventually, though she heard the drops that stubbornly still clung to the roof before falling to an imminent death. They disappeared and turned the already muddy ground to an even thicker thing. The young girl knew Rebecca liked him, she could see it in her eyes. And she felt somehow happy, because she also knew the girl deserved someone like him, that treated her with delicacy and tenderness. But in a way, she was right, he was a character from a book and they'd eventually go back, leaving this world behind as if was nothing more than a dream.

She wondered if falling in love was like the remaining drops of water that so desperately tried to remain on the roof. They stretched, and stretched until the weight was way to much and eventually they fell, fell and fell as they were supposed to. You could do anything that was in your hands to try to stop it, but in the end, even if they wanted to, they couldn't control their hearts.

"They are like us, Rebecca" She whispered, not sure if her friend had already fallen asleep and was not hearing to what she had to say, maybe that way was better because Elisa herself didn't know what she was trying to convey "The blood that runs in their veins may be as red as ours, or as black as the ink that brought them to life, but they are no different from us. Everything is doomed to end eventually, people die, love vanishes, friendships fall apart, empires crumble ... That doesn't mean that it they weren't worth to pursue just because of that, if it was worth it, you can just live it and move on when its over. This is our present, God knows which will be our future. We deserve to fall in love and pursue it if we want to, unless we wish to regret it for the rest of our lives" Elisa didn't exactly know why she was including herself in that statement, but she was too drowsy to mind it. She climbed up completely into bed and closed her eyes " 'Better to have a broken heart than none at all" She yawned, and all the tiredness of the day had her out like a light afterwards.

A pang of guiltiness shot through Adam's body when his friend stopped speaking. He had told himself the story was not his to tell, but now he was hesitating, was it really okay for him to hide it from Victor? We wouldn't have liked it if it was the other way around. He raised his hand to rub the back of his neck, something he did when something troubled him.

In silence, he tried to come up with an answer for a few seconds. Rebecca hadn't told him it was a secret he couldn't tell, and Victor deserved to know what they were actually doing, what were they pursuing by going to the capital. With that in mind, he was resolved.

"Actually ... " And with that he proceeded to explain the other knight what Rebecca had told him that very morning. He spoke about the realms, about their home, about the strange book, and about what they'd try to look for back on the capital; someone who could send them back. Of course, he didn't know the entire truth either, that they were actually a couple of book characters and that their world was merely fiction.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you before, too much going on. Also, I offered my help willingly, you are, by no means, bound to my promise to Rebecca" He finally stated. He didn't want for Victor to feel obliged to the two ladies by something him alone had agreed to do.

(Woah, that came out longer than I expect ... Sorry about that >.<)

Adam, like always, woke up early in the morning before he silently left the room. He felt lighter now, as if he had taken a weight off his shoulders when Victor hadn't seemed angry at him for hiding such a thing, but instead had said he'd help him on that matter. He went down the stairs, and found just a few morning people eating breakfast while the woman who Victor had turned down the night before giggled and handed out food and drinks here and there.

The woman looked up at him, and her gaze darkened when she recognised him as the man who had been speaking with that rude knight who had dared to reject her approaches so rudely. Adam sighed, but still walked over to her and politely asked her for water so that he could wash his face and hands, as well as something he could feed the horses with. The woman glared at him, but Adam was nice and spoke to her like only a gentleman could, and she was forced to comply at the end.

A few minutes later the woman was back with what the knight had asked for. Adam splashed his hands with the water provided and even ran a wet hand through his hair a couple of times to clean it as well. At least, the best he could do. There were no oils there, and so he couldn't do much. The lady dumped the remaining water outside, at the back of the inn, and was back inside to talk with Adam, but he was already gone. She furrowed her brows, and with that scowl continued cleaning the tables.

The young knight exited the inn, his now wet hair sticking a bit to his face before the breeze blew it back. Perhaps, he'd need to cut it some time soon. He breathed in the fresh air and stretched. His sword inside its scabbard tied to his hip, as it always was, reflecting the sunlight with silvery like colour. His hand was wrapped around a small sack that had been given to him by the redhead lady. The sky was blue with a few wandering white clouds on the sky, it was a beautiful morning.

After a couple of minutes under the sun, he finally made his way over to where the horses were kept. He stopped on his tracks. Not seeing her there was nearly impossible. Her beautiful white hair was swayed back and forth by the breeze that sneaked into the shelter. It was like pure white snow. He took a moment to stare at her, though she hadn't noticed him. After a moment, though, he felt as if he was doing something improper by looking a woman who didn't know you were doing such thing and cleared his throat, a bit awkwardly.

"Good morning, Rebecca" He stated, and made his way over to one of the horses "I apologise for the intrusion, but I'm here to feed the horses" He declared while he opened the sack. There were only oats on that inn for them but it'd suffice "Did you sleep well?"

"For goodness sake, I- Hey" Elisa, who had slipped out of her room several minutes after her friend, positioned herself in front of the red haired girl, scowling. She took a hold of her wooden tray and lowered it to one empty nearby table. She had been trying to speak to her for a while now, but the woman kept on ignoring her while she went around with that stupid tray in her hands as if she needed to deliver an inexistent beverage or food to someone.

"What do you think y-" She started, but Elisa raised an impatient her hand to cut her off.

"Look, I really am not his sister, but not his lover either, okay? The fact that he rejected you is not my fault, so stop with ... with all of this stupid kind of sulk or whatever it is. Yes, he turned you down, no, the world doesn't end because of it. He gives a damn if you glare at him and frankly I do so too; It's pathetic. But if you work here the least you could do is pay attention when a client is talking to you. Do you understand?" Elisa wasn't usually a mean person, but if you got on her bad side, you better be prepared. The woman was speechless, and she could see in her gaze that she felt offended, but shocked as well.

"I don't have the time for this" Elisa clicked her tongue "As I was saying. Where can I take a bath, or get some water, or whatever that can help me on that matter?" She guessed they didn't exactly had showers and tubs. At least not there in the inn. "Can you stop being a bitch for just a moment and tell me that? Just that. Because I really, really am running out of patience here" The fact that the redhead denied her of that information frustrated her enough to speak to her like that. Elisa felt a bit sticky and she hadn't had a bath in what felt like ages, though it had only been a day.

"T-t-the buckets and well are on the back" She finally replied, though still quite stunned, while pointing at the back door. Her bark was worse than her bite.

"That's more like it" The blonde said and even smiled as she removed her hand from the woman's tray. It was obvious she was someone people better not mess up with. "Thank you" She stated and stalked off to the back of the inn. Outside, the thick forest stood endlessly, obviously not fit to be a route for travellers, which is why she guessed the main door led to the route instead of that one. The saw three wooden buckets leaning against the wall, one used and the others dry, and took them all with her as she headed to where the well was.

She managed to tie the bucket from one side with a rope and retrieve icy cold water from the well. It wasn't difficult, but what she dreaded was that she'd be forced to take a bath with that cold water. She shuddered and filled the other two buckets completely before sitting on the edge of the stone well. She could try and wash her body with the dress still on, either way the other one was almost dry by now, but that was not the point. She glanced over at the woods, and with a sigh pulled on the rope she had used to pull the buckets up from the well before walking over to the nearest trees. It was highly unlikely that someone would appear from the woods.

The blonde tied the rope in an horizontal line by two branches of different trees, and brought the three buckets to where she had done so. She could've gone deeper into the woods to completely ensure no one would be able to take a look of her, even by chance, but she was afraid of getting far from the inn. So she situated herself where she could still see the inn; the nearest trees to it. The least she needed was getting lost there. She glanced around a few times before she slipped her dress down her body and as quickly and skilfully as she could tied it to the rope, so as to use it as a curtain and have some privacy, if that could even be called so. She stripped off her underwear too, if only because - and that made her a bit sick - she only had one pair with her and it wasn't the wisest thing to soak it.

The sun rays bathed her exposed body up on the sky, but she didn't have time to enjoy it as she picked up the first bucket and splashed the water all at once over herself. She sucked in a ragged breath at the coldness of it, but scrubbed her body even with her shaky hands, while keeping an eye at her surroundings at all time. This was the worst thing she could have ever think of doing. Taking a 'bath' outside, with nothing but a dress to conceal her naked body, and even that did not do a really good job. She tried to hurry up throughout all the process.

Adam threw a glance in her direction and nodded, smiling. He guessed that the race the day before hadn't been enough to cure her from her fear. Of course, childhood trauma were the most difficult ones to eradicate. He raised the sack to the horse he had approached, and it lowered its head to it. He kept it in place as he absently patted the neck. The horse's hair was shiny and silky, which meant that Victor's dad really did a great job at taking care of them.

"Perfectly" He replied when she asked about his sleep. He had gone to bed as if he had been walking on the air. He felt light, so very light, and it wasn't only because of his conversation with Victor. He knew that much. "Though I crossed ways with this lady on my way here ... " He shook his head before laughing "I guess she won't be all that pleased with us. No free breakfast today"

After a while, he changed horses, and went to feed the other one. The animal's tail swished and it dug its mouth into the sack eagerly, surely the creature had been really hungry. Even as the horse took big bite and swallowed quickly, Adam kept holding the sack up to him, not really scared, but careful so as to avoid getting bitten accidentally.

"It doesn't matter, though, good thing is that we can pay for our own food" He continued, flashing her a radiant and reassuring smile. Another soft breeze entered the place and messed with his hair, which seemed to be shades darker because of the wetness "Also, it is a good thing that the weather is so perfect today"

Not as soon as she'd have liked it, Elisa was finally done with her bath. It hadn't been all that easy, because she had run out of water and had been forced to run all the way to the well and retrieve more. Good thing was, even as she run bare as she was, there was no body near to see her doing it. By the time she was back she splashed the last bucket over her head, her muscles contracting with each bitter cold contact with the water, and she felt as if she had taken years in finishing something she meant to do quick and brief.

A mild breeze caressed her body and lifted the dress in the process. She grumbled under her breath and pulled it back down. At least, it had proven to be a safe place to take her bath, and she felt extremely better now. Even if she hadn't been able to get her hands on soap. Now that she thought about it, she didn't know that much about medieval times, did they even have soap? She knew romans had oils, but only the wealthiest people get to own it.

She put her underwear back on, and though it didn't mean much change didn't feel as bad anymore. She was grateful of the fact that she hadn't forgotten to grab her bra before they left Victor's house. With her hands, she also squeezed the water of her hair, and while she did so, she took a good look of her skin. It was a blessing that, unlike her mom, she didn't have freckles on her body too, but it way way too pale. Each time she went to the beach, she managed to get tanned after hours of being under the sun, but it didn't last long. She squeezed her hair much tighter to get rid of any remaining water, while she felt the nice sun on her skin. Being in her underwear was like being on a bikini, and she had to fight the impulse of sunbathing right there.

Adam glanced back at Rebecca, but for the first time he couldn't find words of comfort. She seemed paler than usual, and it could be seen in her face she hadn't slept all that well that night. But it was what she had said that had made his words die on his throat. It may be subtle, but he heard in her voice a clear distinction between her and him. 'All mine are yours, and yours are mine' ... It didn't apply. Not only that, but she had made it evident she couldn't wait to go back home. The young knight knew that's what they were to do, but for some reason, something bothered him of that statement.

Her, approaching them, snapped him back into focus. He stepped aside, almost without thinking, as if her being near him could burn him to ashes. It, however, seemed as if he had just casually took a step back for her to go near the horse calmly. Adam shook the feeling off. Suddenly, whatever they had shared the day before was gone. He pushed the memory away. After that simple thing happened in his head, he was back to his cheerful mood.

"As a knight .. " He shook his head "No, as a gentleman, I can't not buy you breakfast" he stated with a smile "Besides, inns aren't usually expensive" He shrugged. He kept a close use to Rebecca, in case the horse approached her again and he had to step in if it went wrong.

Elisa remained like that just a bit longer, before she finally slipped into the dress. As much as she had found it relatively safe, she didn't want to risk anyone seeing her like that. Again, she adjusted the bodice, and without braiding her hair as usual, she headed back to the well. The cloth which Victor had used to dress her cut was there, she had washed it and had decided to hang it in the sun while she finished her bath.

She picked it up, and though it wasn't all that dry yet it wasn't all that wet either. At least, she believed she didn't need it now. The blood had dried and it didn't allow for more to leak out. Refreshed, she also left the buckets where she had found him and with a last look at the forest, she opened the back door to enter the place.

"Victor" She exclaimed, surprised. She tilted her head to the side, not expecting to see him right by the door "What are you-? I mean, morning" She shook her head.