Our second world- book one: Past beginnings

Chapter 16: Grace

When I woke up, the first thing I noticed was that Haren wasn't lying next to me anymore. The fire had also died out, so I spread what was left of the white coals and picked up my coat. August was still sound asleep, so I was quiet.

There was a rustle in the bushes and I turned to find Haren shoving his way through the thick underbrush. I was surprised to see a short, brown haired girl following close behind him. Haren said something to her and the girl sat down on the large stone in the grass nearby. I watched as Haren used a small gray dagger to skillfully even out the crudely cut hair of the small girl.

"Hey, Grace, come over and look at this. Do you think it's a good length or should I make it shorter?" Haren called to me.

Confused, I walked over and examined the length of what he had cut. It barely brushed the tops of the girls shoulders," I think it's fine," turning to the girl, I asked." What do you think?"

The girl shook her head," I do not care. Cut it as short as you want."

"Um...ok." I glanced at Haren, and he shrugged.

"It's a long story, but she's traveling with us now."

I rolled my eyes," well, it sounds like you have it figured out, so I'm not going to ask. When are we leaving?"

"I want to make it past the Morgan river by tomorrow, so soon, I would think." I jumped at the sudden sound of Augusts' voice behind me.

Haren nodded," I agree."

"So, who's the girl?" August asked.

"My name is Marylyn. I am a slave. Specifically Master Harens' slave." said the brown haired girl. I was shocked to hear her say something like that without even batting an eye. I had no idea slavery was something legal in this world.

Haren sighed and put a hand on the girls shoulder," in name only, mind you. She's going to be coming with us now."

August nodded and extended a hand to the girl," I'm looking forward to it," he smiled." I'm August. Nice to meet you."

"My name's Grace. It's nice to meet you, Marylyn." I added.

"It's...nice to meet...you too," she replied in a timid voice.

"Alright. Now that that's settled, we should head out. We're wasting daylight." Haren said, retrieving his bag from by the fire.

I looked up to find that the sun had risen, a fair distance too.

While we walked, the wind picked up, blowing hair into my face. Haren was having similar difficulties with flyaways that had escaped his ponytail. Since August and Marylyn had short hair, the two of them were not experiencing the same problem.

When the sun started to set, we stopped again for the night. The sound of running water told us we were close to the river, or, at least, a stream that ran off it. While Haren started working on setting up a fire with August, I brought Marylyn with me to search around for the nearby stream. I found it not far from where we had set up camp, and I set my bag down by a rock near the water. I unbuttoned my coat and pulled off the red over-robe of my sacred robe, setting both in a neat pile by the bag. I was now left with only the thin white under robe while I pulled off my black flats.

"What are you doing?" Marylyn asked, cocking her head to the side.

"I figure we won't get many chances to wash up before we hit the mountains, so it would be best to do it while we can," I replied, pulling a small rag from my bag. I dipped it into the clear stream water and rung it out before wiping down my arms and legs." Come over here, I'll help you. We can get you different clothes, too."

Marylyn seemed apprehensive of my offer, but walked over to me anyway. She took off her armor to reveal a set of thin black clothes that looked like shorts and a tank-top hidden underneath. I handed her the wet rag and let her clean herself off while I shuffled through my bag for something to give her. Obviously all of my clothes would be too big for a child, but at least she would have something until we reached the next town.

"Here, this should work for now," I said, handing her a white set of clothes.

It was the under-robe of one of my other outfits, but it was a little smaller than the others, so I figured it would be the closest fit. I was partially right. The sleeves went down to cover a little bit of her hands, and the bottom went down past her knees, but it would work for the day or so it would take to get to another town. She still wore the black boots from her armor.

"Are you sure it is ok for me to wear this?" She asked, examining the clothing. It hung loosely from her thin body.

I nodded," We'll find you some better clothes when we reach another town, so I hope that's ok for right now."

Marylyn nodded silently.

"Well then, we should get back now."

When the two of us returned to where we had made camp, we found that Haren and August had already gotten a fire going. They were sitting near it while they talked. I walked over and sat next to Haren. Marylyn sat facing us on the other side of the fire. Her incredibly blue eyes stared fixedly at the orange flames dancing in front of them, hardly making a sound. She seemed completely mesmerized by the flames.

"She's quiet," I muttered, leaning my head on Harens' shoulder.

"I don't blame her," he replied." She's probably been through a lot, and today was likely something she wasn't used to."

"Well, hopefully she gets some rest tonight then. You should too."

"Yeah."