Dreaming Cinderella

Chapter 8

"Emilia where are you going?" Emilia's Mother asked, as the Stranger pulled her along gently behind him, his hand still holding onto her wrist, being careful so that he didn't hurt her finger. To her surprise the Stranger stopped in his tracks', turning to her Mother with a small smile, and Emilia just barely stopped in time before she bumped into him.

"I'm afraid your daughter cut her finger while peeling potatoes." He told her and Emilia's Mother instantly became worried. Her eyes flew to Emilia's wrapped finger, which had already started leaking through, making the wound appear worse than it actually was. Before Emilia could reassure her Mother that it wasn't anything serious, the Stranger cut in. "Please let me take care of it while you tend to your work, I feel responsible. I'm afraid I caused a bit of a ruckus in the kitchens' and because of that your daughter cut her finger." He admitted bowing his head in apology and Emilia saw her Mother relax, her eyes' softening at his words'. 

"I'm sure that wasn't the case, however, I appreciate your honesty." Emilia's Mother tried to reassure the stranger, who Emilia couldn't help notice was still holding onto her wrist. She was staring down at his hand holding onto hers wondering whether she should pull away or not. "I'll leave my daughter in your hands'..." Her Mother was saying but stopped mid sentence titling her head to the side to look at the Stranger a question forming behind those eyes'. "I'm afraid I never caught your name, young man." She said and suddenly Emilia realized she hadn't bothered to ask it either. Which she realized was strange for her, normally that was one of the first things' she did. She loved names' almost as much as stories', after all a persons name was like a story in itself. At least that was what she thought.

She looked over at the Stranger, who was standing very close beside her, and listed off a list of names in her head trying to guess what would fit, but couldn't find any that seemed to fit his personality. "Um, it's Aster," He finally answered after a moments' pause, and Emilia couldn't help notice the way his eyes had fallen to the ground. It reminded her of how she used to look away when she was guilty of something. Was he lying about his name? Or was there something he was hiding? Suddenly she was curious about the stranger holding her hand.

"Aster. That's unique." Emilia said and realized she'd spoken the words' aloud instead of in her head. Aster had turned to look at her and her Mother laughed giving her a knowing look.

"Uh oh, I know that look." Emilia's Mother teased turning to look at Aster with a wink. "You'd better watch out Aster, Emilia loves to hear peoples stories, she'll ask you questions until your ears hurt." Emilia's face turned red at her Mother's words' even though they were true, she couldn't believe she was being so embarrassing. 

"Does she now? Well, then perhaps I'll just have to share a few." He said looking down at Emilia who was watching him and he winked squeezing her hand slightly. Suddenly self conscious, Emilia pulled her hand away, her face now even redder. She looked over at her Mother who she remembered was still in the room with them, and her Mother raised her eyebrows at her before smiling.

"Well, then Aster, thank you for looking after my daughter. I'll just leave her in your care." Emilia shot her Mother a hard stare at her words'. It sounded like she was giving her away to be married with how formal she was being. But her look did nothing to change her Mother's words', if anything it only made the grin on her Mother's face widen. 

"Alright, I'll see to it that her cut is cleaned." He promised taking hold of Emilia's wrist again looking down at her. "Shall we?" He asked, but didn't wait for her answer before gently pulling her along behind him. He kept his strides short despite his long legs and she knew it was so that she could follow him easier. 

Once they were outside, Aster lead Emilia to the well where he finally let go of her hand so that he could draw up fresh water. She brought her hand up so that she could look at it, she could still feel the warmth of his hand on her skin. "Does it hurt?" Aster asked taking her sudden interest in her hand was because of the cut on her finger. She dropped her hand embarrassed at being caught but relieved he didn't know the actual reason she'd been staring down at it.

"Just stings a little." She admitted realizing that it did actually. She hadn't really noticed the pain till now, and realized that it was because he'd kept her distracted from it. Had he planned that? No. She didn't think so. She knew she was just being silly.

"Here, let me see it." He said taking her hand again, he unwrapped the cloth from the finger and gave it to her to hold in her other hand. Scooping up some fresh water in his hand he gently dropped it over her hand washing away the blood. She watched as he took the cloth back from her being careful as he gently cleaned away the wound. She hissed slightly at the pain.

"Sorry." He mumbled wincing at the sound, but he continued to clean up her wound until it was secured by another handkerchief produced from his pocket. "There, all finished." He announced after he'd tied the cloth off. She looked down at her finger it was all bandaged up.

"Thank you." She told him knowing most people wouldn't have bothered to help her. After all it hadn't really been his fault at all, and he didn't even know her. Yet he'd offered to help her where nobody else had. Of course she knew Margaret would have helped her but what about the others? Helga would have just left her on her own calling her clumsy or something. 

"Sure, I suppose you have to get back to work now?" He asked and she thought she heard a hint of disappointment in his voice, as if he didn't want her to go just yet and realized he must be bored on his own. After all he was just waiting for his companions to meet up with him and he had nothing else to do. No wonder he had offered to help in the kitchens' it was better than sitting in a room with nothing to do all day.

"Actually, I believe we're going to need a few things from the market before supper." She lied, knowing that her Mother had already been to the markets', but Aster didn't have to know that. "Care to join me?" She asked waiting for his answer.

"The market? Sounds fun." He answered and she laughed, he had no idea what he was getting himself into.