Athyyah

Chapter Eight Living arrangements

The group followed the two women as they were led to Ellenah's home where she and Alex split off from the group. They said their farewells and good nights. Anthieyah then carried on leading the group on her own. She took them down the same street to her home, a quick two-minute stroll. It wasn't a very big place, perhaps seven hundred square feet, split into two bedrooms and the kitchen. There was little decoration in the house, for the most part the walls were bare and the only decoration they saw were the curtains that were on the window through which the twilight shown. Kris was greatly disappointed with the home. He had expected something far more extravagant. He had hoped and expected to see many pieces of art like the place they had left.

"Where will we be staying?" asked Valerie, seeing that there was very little room.

"You and Kris will be in the guest room over there," Anthieyah answered pointing to one of the two bedrooms. A very small room filled almost entirely by a single bed.

Kris looked in and saw that there was only one bed, a mattress lying on the ground essentially. The bed had something the size of a double. The mattress, as much as it could be called that, seemed filled with wool, bulging all over. He ended up saying, "There's only one bed."

"It's big enough for the two of you to sleep in it, is it not?"

"Well, yes. I was just under the impression we would be sleeping in different beds," Kris answered. As he said that, he went over to poke the mattress, to find it was surprisingly firm.

"What Kris is trying to say, is that we aren't used to sleeping in a bed with another person. But we are grateful for your hospitality and will make due." Arnold explained trying to fix the awkward situation.

"I see. I just thought she'd be pleased to be sleeping with a man," Anthieyah said, mildly amused at the customs and way of doing things this group had.

"Yeah, well... You see where we come from; there isn't a shortage of males, quite the difference from here... A man over there is happy to find a woman that will sleep with him," Arnold said, with a little smirk, meeting Kris's look and seeing his smile.

"I would love to visit your home someday," replied Anthieyah.

"Yes, but until we can figure out how we got here and how to undo it, that's not likely to happen," Kris answered, carefully avoiding comments he could have made on that answer she gave, mostly to Valerie's not so happy look she was giving him.

"Of course," Anthieyah said, followed by a sigh. Whichever thought crossed her mind disappeared as quickly as it came to her. She then said. "I'm told that I am to offer you whatever you may need as long as you're under my roof."

"Well, I don't think we need anything for now." Said Kaitlyn, with the other three shaking their heads in agreement.

"Is it customary for people to not have decorations on their walls?" asked Arnold. "It just seems a contrast to have such elegant curtains, and yet nothing on the walls."

"I do not have the wealth many others have. So I cannot afford the niceties you are referring to," answered Anthieyah. "The reason we have the elegant curtains is a way to identify one's home. It's a custom that has been passed on for many generations. The story behind it goes that that is how our ancestors used to do it in order to know who lived where when the population was more spaced out."

"I see," replied Kris as he looked around.

"That is really interesting way of showing where you live. In our world people used to display banners and paint their shields in order to be recognized that you belonged to a certain faction. Now we just use numbers. If we have time Anthieyah, I'd like to see more patterns." Kaitlyn said, immersed in her appreciation for history.