After the fall

Chapter 4

"Well, you look like shit." A man's voice suddenly said to the side of her.

Startled, Lapisa turned her head to look at where the voice came from and was met with a man carrying a big bag on his back coming out of one of the fallen tents while holding some fabric in one of his hands.

Lapisa's shoulder throbbed as she looked at the unfamiliar man and took in his appearance. What caught her eye immediately was the jagged scar running down his face, going from his right brow to his jaw. The scar really didn't fit to his appearance with the soft looking face and gray doe eyes. His platinum blond hair was coated in dirt and fluffed up when the wind picked up and when the sun shone his slightly tan skin looked to glow softly, as if made of honey. He also had a beauty mark placed right above his lip as if drawn on by a marker. If not for the scar, Lapisa was sure he would have been popular with the girls in her university, maybe even some of the boys. He was wearing a forest green cape as well as brown pants and when Lapisa took in his full appearance, she noticed that he was slightly taller than her.

At Lapisa's lack of response the man raised an eyebrow looking at her as if she were an open book. The wind suddenly picked up and Lapisa's thin clothes were not helping her keep warm and she felt herself start shivering. She brought up her arms to hug them around her body to try and generate some heat to keep her warm.

"You cold?" The man asked as he took in her slightly damp appearance and thin clothing. Lapisa nodded her head as she stared at him with wary eyes. "I can give you a cape to keep you warm if you'd like." The man said as he put down his bag and started to rummage through it and took out a midnight blue cape with gold embroidery on the hood. Lapisa, still wary of the new world and the stranger in front of her, hesitantly nodded her head and reached for the cape with her right hand when the man suddenly took hold of her hand, hindering her movement. "Ah ah, I don't do charity. You gotta pay up if you want it, like maybe with that necklace of yours" The man said as he eyed the silver necklace with a single butterfly on it hanging loosely around Lapisas neck. Lapisa pulled back her hand that the man had a hold of and clasped it around her necklace and shook her head. The necklace was the only thing she still had of her grandma that passed away when she was younger and she cherished it deeply.

The man showed a small hint of disappointment and said "You gotta give me something of value if you want the cape.  But if you really don't have anything to trade with me then I guess you'll have to die of hypothermia." The man made a gesture of putting the cape back in his bag when Lapisa dropped down to the ground in a panic to unclasp the ankle bracelet she had wrapped around her ankle and reached out her hand with it in her grasp towards the man. "Ohh, that will work nicely." The man pulled the cape out of his bag again and placed it in Lapisa's stretched out hand and took the ankle bracelet to further inspect it. Lapisa stood up again and clasped the cape around her shoulders to try and stop her body from shivering as much. As she pulled up the hood over her head the man turned to face Lapisa with a smile on his face. "It was a pleasure doing business with ya, Miss...?" He said as he dragged out the last part hoping to get a name to address his customer. "Lapisa" Lapisa said quietly as she looked away from the man's face, starting to feel a bit uncomfortable. "So you can speak! I thought for a moment that you were a mute. Guess you're just shy." The man said teasingly with a glint in his eyes. The man eyed Lapisa up and down and leaned back on his legs, "Just by looking at your clothes, my guess is that you aren't from around here, little miss."

Lapisa looked down at herself and took in her appearance with her mud covered jeans and her long sleeved shirt that was ripped at the bottom from when she took care of her wounded shoulder. Her sneakers were muddied over to the point where you couldn't tell they're original color. Compared to how the man looked, Lapisa was bound to stand out like a sore thumb in a crowd.

"Well, I'm done here so I'll leave you to it and we'll go our separate ways, little miss." The man said as he turned his back and started walking away. The distance between the two strangers grew with each second and Lapisa became uneasy at the thought of being left alone in an unknown world again with no one to rely on. Despite the warning bells in her head going off at the thought of going with a stranger, she jogged after the man in hopes of accompanying him to a possibly nearby town.

At the sounds of footsteps harshly hitting the ground the man turned to face Lapisa as she came to a stop in front of him, slightly panting from the jogging. A small smile grew on his lips and his eyes shone with amusement as he looked over his shoulder at her.

"To what pleasure do I owe your attention again, little miss?"

Hesitantly Lapisa opened her mouth to ask, but closed it again as no noise made its way out of her lips. She opened her mouth again in another attempt at asking him and this time the words flowed out like a stream.

"Could I possibly accompany you to a nearby town? I don't really know where I am at the moment and could really use a meal and a clean bath."

As if on cue, Lapisas stomach let out a deep growl, asking for food. Lapisa's dirty face went red in embarrassment and she looked down at her feet in an attempt at hiding her red face. She heard a chuckle come from the man and looked up from her feet to face him.

"And my name is Lapisa, not 'little miss'." Lapisa muttered at the man and slightly glared at him.

"You know you look more like an angry kitten than a tiger, little-, ahem, I mean 'Miss Lapisa'." The man said as he turned fully towards her and looked at her, slightly bending his head down. "And I would gladly take you to a town to clean yourself up, I was actually on my way to one myself."

Not caring if the conversation was finished or not, the man turned his back and began walking in the direction he went before. Lapisa stood in her place, flustered over the nickname, and only began walking after the man when a strong gust of wind blew from behind her.