'Tis The Season: A Wattpad Christmas Countdown

Hot Chocolate

Day 12
{written by the elegant kura_skymning }

It was a strange feeling.

Being completely surrounded by the sense of security that he gave her with his mere presence, almost taking her breath away, sometimes. Since they had met that night in the woods, George had been her mentor in her reintegration into Manoaka's society. Manoaka was a huge city, twice as large as the polder of her former Master, but George had said it was very little if compared to Oldnon, the capital city of a small islad across the High Waters of whom Manoaka was a colony. She, having spent her whole life going from one villa to another, had never known she had always lived in a colonial territory of unknown men and of a king of whom she didn't even know the name.
And George had immediately remedied that.

He had shown her the shor of the Sea, he had her climb on one of those gigantic Ships with strange clouds attached to the masters, which were higher than a pine tree, had made her visit the Mountains with his — what was the word? — Sleigh, and had taught her how to read and write. And now, he had taken her in his home town, a small village not too far from Manoaka called Cowslipfield.
And that morning, he had told her he would have introduced her to his family.

Ladle was very agitated.

She had recently learned to wear those strange shoes with their back raised by a small piece of wood and leather, and still didn't totally know the etiquette of Manoaka, which was based on Oldnon's.

And what could she tell George's parents?

He and his family had traveled the world. She, on the other hand, had been nowhere but in that villa far from everything and everyone, and not even as a normsl girl, but as a slave.
It had been so sad to realize that the inhabitants of Manoaka considered her a savage for this reason.

The only one who didn't care of her previous life was George.

He had never complained about her silly questions, he never acted like she was invisible, he always tried to make her feel at ease and he pampered her in any way he could think of, never asking her to shut up.
Unless she started to ramble, of course.
She had this awful attitude, yet she had tried to improve, even when George had told her he liked listening to her voice as she talked.

«It lets me know you feel at ease with me.» he had said once.

She got up from the soft and cool summer grass in the  garden of George's house, slowly heading to the barn.
It seemed so strange to her to be free to move from one side of the estate to the other without being scolded by anyone.

«Hi, Giddap,» she gently greeted as she peered her head inside the stable, smiling. The huge yak barely lifted his head, grunting to greet the girl as his breath condensed into the air. Ladle caressed his fur, she sat next to him on the ground, worried.

«Oh, Giddap, how am I supposed to do it ... ?» she murmured, a heavy sigh left her lips.

«Don't worry.»

Ladle lifted her head suddenly, startled. There stood George, leaning against the half-open door of the stable. He wore a rich suit on the shades of red and gold, and his black curls were tied in a small ponytail that gracefully leaned on his sturdy neck; he was perfectly dressed up, and if it hadn't been for the voice, Ladle would have had trouble recognizing him. She had seen him dressed like that many times before, but there was something different about him that night. Something that suddenly took her breath away.

«What are you doing here?» the young man continued as he walked briskly into the stable, paying careful attention to where he put his feet, tight in elegant black shoes with golden buckle. The girl stood up again, and gave a shrug.