The next day, I went about my normal business. Hena and I talked a little, but mostly she was finishing that novel she'd started reading.
On one rainy April night, over a dinner of pumpkin soup and smoked trout, Hena asked me what my family was like.
"Well," I said, "my papa builds houses and he works a long time so I didn't get to see him as much as my mama. He used to tell me stories about him and Aunt Hessia when they were young."
"My papa, you remember, he carved wood. Wealthy folk used to hire him to carve their door frames and window frames and things. It's too bad you didn't see your papa much. That must have been hard."
"Do you have a brother or a sister?
"I have three sisters, all older than me."
"Yikes."
"It was okay. They didn't bother me too much, except when all four of us had to share a room."
"How old are they?"
"Tasha is nineteen, Dalley is sixteen, and Lorica is fourteen. I'm the baby of the family."
"I have a sister. Her name is Kaliana. She's eight years old. She's obsessed with pretty dresses and the color yellow."
"What's your mother like?"
"She's really nice, but she's pretty scary when she's angry."
"I think that's how most mamas are. Mine is like that."
"How about other family? Uncles, aunts, grandparents?"
"I have one uncle. His name is Vechti. We don't really talk about this, but...he's kind of... mentally ill. He has a problem with...um...controlling himself. He tends to take out his anger on people and do exactly what he wants without caring who it hurts." Hena tensed her shoulders up to her neck and rubbed one arm. Her lips were pursed and she wasn't making eye contact. She eventually appeared to have made up her mind on just continuing and ignoring the subject of her crazy uncle.
"My grandmother knits lots of sweaters. My grandpa loves games like checkers and tic-tac-toe," she said decidedly.
"You know what my uncle and aunt do. They run an inn. They're Kudika's mama and papa." I tried to go along with it.
"I like Kudika," Hena remarked.
"Well, she saved your life."
We chuckled and went back to our soup.
YOU ARE READING
How I Met Hena Chakelithp
Fantasy(COMPLETED) Srarori Coreter lives off the coast of a dragon-filled land called Hereashana. When Srarori's cousin finds a half-starved girl from another land on the beach, Srarori decides to take the girl in. She eventually becomes best friends with...
