The Protector [ENGLISH]

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Chapter One: Unexpected Visitor

BELINA

A new day was dawning in Riviena. 

I woke up all stiff and hurting. I had fallen asleep clenching my hands and teeth again, I realized that I had been doing this for a while now. Before getting up from my bed, I opened the window next to the bed and took a deep breath. The clean mountain air refreshed me as always. I got up from my bed and straightened my sheets, quilt and even my pillow. I always kept my surroundings tidy, just in case I didn't come back. Why couldn't I come back? Because that's all I knew. I didn't have a house to call mine, I mean a home. 

My fate was like a bird's route, flying from here to there. I didn't know when the time would come, but leaving was the only thing that I knew, I was sure of it.

Days before my 21st birthday, I was at my current house,  with my mother's cousin. I was in this village, located almost on the Eleina border of Riviena, isolated from the rest of the land, at the foot of Mount Matea. We had a kitchen where we ate and spent time together, a room for each of us where we slept, and a bathroom, that was all. My room, although small, was looking quite empty: It contained of a broken mirror, an old wardrobe in which my clothes could only fit when folded, and my bed. My bed was a second handed child's bed that had been too small for me since the day one. But we could only afford to buy that. Sometimes my feet would be left outside, I would immediately fold my legs and put them inside the quilt. The cold always reminded me of those dark old days. War time...

The only thing I had after the war was the locket around my neck that I inherited from my mother. I held it tightly, I didn't tell anyone, but this locket was made of real gold. Its chain reached up to my chest, it was in the shape of a heart and there were embroideries on it that I didn't know the meaning of yet. It looked dark in color due to years of dust but I didn't clean it on purpose, I was afraid it would be stolen in case someone found out. 

It was like a part of me and after all this time I didn't even feel its weight. 

I had nothing else, just this locket. 

There was nothing in it, nothing at all.

But it always felt she had her hands on my heart. It's like she's always watching me, always protecting me.

Of course, there was nothing following me except my own shadow.

I took off my clothes until only my underwear remained and put on my number one day dress, I had two dresses in total. Actually, most of the babels in the village had five or six dresses, but our financial situation was not very good. It bothered me that I didn't contribute much to the house, and it would hurt me to see my aunt using old things rather than myself. I knew she would be more comfortable if she didn't bother with me.  Aunt Talina made this dress with bare hands, which is in a relatively better condition then the other and which I am wearing now, it was once white and is now off-white, has simple ruffles and beige threads on the chest, and the skirt is not puffy but extends simply to my ankles and the waist fits perfectly on my body. She had sewn with her love. Yes, maybe I didn't have a home, but almost 4 years ago, when it was implied that I was an extra in my uncle's grandson's house and I was told to marry one of his children, I took shelter with her. I really don't know what would have happened to me if she hadn't come to visit there that week. Where would I be?

I had nobody. 

Maybe Aunt Talina took pity on me and embraced me no matter what. She was lonely like me. She had no children and her husband died in the war. We returned to her house together and slept in her bed together on our first nights. That month, she bought me a bed and a dress with all hers savings. In fact, until she got sick, she made me believe that she was eating less because she had a low appetite. She was magnanimous, shared everything she had with me, even if she had nothing.