daughter of esmund

Two

He stares at me wide eyed before shaking his head.

"I'm sorry, did I hear you right? Did you say your last name was-"

"Ro'meave, my last name is Ro'meave," I reply, smirking awkwardly.

"Um, well, this uh, wow, um..."

"I-I'm sorry! If you want me to leave I can," I say taking a few steps backwards.

"N-no! I'm sorry it's just, I wasn't expecting you to be a Ro'meave. I mean, you do look a lot like Garroth-" I cut him off.

"Garroth?!" My voice fills with hope.

I knew something was familiar about this place.

"Y-yes, but-,"

"Oh my Irene! I can see him after all this time! Can you take me to him? Please?"

"Annie, I..."

He pauses.

"Garroth, isn't..." he pauses once more, "he's not..ugh, how do I put this nicely? He's not...here."

My eyes widen.

"W-what? B-but you said-"

"I know and I'm sorry, it's complicated, it would be better if Aphmau explained it to you," he replies.

I didn't even notice the little girl, Nekoette, was hugging my leg. I looked at her for a moment, confused.

"Mama says that the best medicine for someone who is hurting is a hug! And I could tell you needed one," she says cheerfully.

The words make me smile for the first time in a while.

"Follow me, I'll take you to see Aphmau, I don't think she's left quite yet," the man motions for me to follow him as he takes ahold of his daughter's hand, "by the way, my name is Dante, pleased to meet you."

I nod and smile softly as we walk away from the campsite. I already had my things so I didn't worry about leaving anything behind. And Chelsea, there was nothing I could do to help her. I didn't know where she was, or where she was headed, but my gut told me she would be fine.

After a few minutes of walking we hit the site of an old abandoned village.

This is where this guy guards? I thought to myself, a look of confusion flashing in my eyes.

"Here, I have to take Nekoette back home, but, Aphmau should be in her house. It's the big purple one on the hill, you'll know which one it is when you see it," he says as he takes a hold of the girl's hand and starts to walk away, "good luck."

I nod as I look around me. The old crumbling walls are covered in ivy along with an assortment of other plants. The trees are overgrown and shrouding old houses and bridges, which were more like fragments of former buildings in shade and leaves. Eventually, after a small amount of walking, I see the purple and white striped house on the hill and start climbing up to it. After the trek up the hill I arrive at the door.

I raise my hand to knock but retreat it. I had to practice what I was going to say. After a few trial runs, I finally knock on the door, my heart beating a bit faster.

Moments pass, and soon the door opens.

A woman with black hair and brown eyes stands there a look of concern on her face.

"May I help you?"

"I, um, uh, yeah, so...." my words fall out jumbled together, my mouth unsure how to put together sentences.

"Are you okay?"

"Y-yes, I ran into one of your guards in the woods, he, um, said I could find you here?" I reply awkwardly.