Sea Bound Soul

CHAPTER 2

    

CHAPTER 2

AN OLD FRIEND

I walk down the street holding my new book I my hands, thinking deeply about what the woman had said. I pass other women and men who don't look twice at my face. I enjoy walking through the city more than taking a carriage.

I am pulled from my thoughts as two small children pass me, playing tag I believe. I smile as I watch them laugh and run. But I continue walking, looking up at the sun that has disappeared and is hiding behind the clouds.

The cool breeze blows back my hair as I walk back to my home, stepping lightly on the cobblestone streets.

I hear a smithy's hammer in the distance and I keep myself from smiling thoughtfully. I decide to walk through the more poor part of town. And as I do the sound gets louder.

My feet walk on the stone that turns to dirt as I keep my eyes on the ground. Until I look up to see a young man, bent over and observing the blade he had been hammering, just a thin layer of sweat on his forehead, his black-brown hair pulled back into a tiny stub of a ponytail. Wearing what he always does when he works, a loose, off white shirt with cuffed wrists over black trousers and boots.

He looks deep in thought as he works outside the Brown blacksmith shop.

I smile and look at the two swords he just finished hanging on the wooden pillar that reflect the light from the clouds. My fingers touch the one with a golden handle. "How much for this one, sir?" I ask, trying not to smirk.

My best friend turns around, almost startled. "Miss Swann." His innocent brown eyes wonder what I am doing here probably.

"Thought you worked inside, William."

"It was nice weather out his morning, my lady."

"Will how many times must I ask you to call me Elizabeth?"

"I suppose once more." He looks down.

I smile. "Then what would I have to call you? Mister Turner?"

"No, Will is jus fine, Mis--... Elizabeth." He looks up into my eyes with a charming, yet nervous, smile on his lips, showing his subtle dimples.

I look down and bite my lip out of habit.

"What are you doing all the way out here in the slums?"

"Oh," I look down at my book. "I was at the library. I suppose I just decided to take this way back to my home."

He nods and then looks down at his sword in hand, remembering all of a sudden that it needs to be dipped in the bucket.

I smile as he fumbles around. But my eyes go to the sky when I feel a cold trickle on my thumb.

A drop of water lay on my skin. Soon more begin to fall.

Will looks up and then at me. He pulls out his sword and uses the bucket to dowse the outdoor forge.

He puts away his sword as more rain begins to fall. I cover my head with my book and back up against the shop.

"I should be getting back," I say.