Walking down the elven road

Chapter 2

  A little while later a servant brings up the stew. "This one is the best," Arion states and charges into the stew with his spoon. The elven woman looks at the mess in her bowl. She grabs her spoon, takes a deep breath and tries a bite. It doesn't taste al repulsive as it looks, but it's a far cry from what her mother used to cook. She's very hungry though, and she eventually manages to eat two bowls of it.

Afterwards, she takes a good look around. There's only one bed in the room. Arion looks at her and blushes a bit. "I could sleep on the ground, if you don't want to share the bed," he says. The elven woman is conflicted. She was taught as a little girl not to lie in one bed with a unfamiliar man, or a human for that matter. But Arion did help her out and he doesn't seem to be up to something. Besides, she can never go home again. "No, it's okay, you don't have to sleep on the floor," she says, "The bed is enough for the two of us."

The next morning the elven woman wakes up, and notices Arion already got out of bed. He is dragging buckets of hot water into the room. "Just so you could wash yourselves," he explains, "You look like you could use it." The elven woman smiles, she sure smells like she needs a bath too. Arion walks off, and says: "I'm going to take a look at the, you go clean yourselves up." She gets into the tub, and enjoys the feeling of the hot water surrounding her unclean body. After she had washed herself, she finds a rough towel hanging over the bed's footboard. She wraps the towel around her, and Arion enters the room, like he had been waiting on the other side of the door. "Shall we go to the market?" he asks, "We could look out for a couple of new clothes for you. Nobody can see your clothes are elvish, but they can see you're not from this place. If you would wear common clothes we would get asked a lot less questions."

Shortly after they walk towards the crowded market place. The elven woman is surprised by the yelling and the general noise, and the stench spread by the not-always-that-great foods. At home things like this would never happen, she thinks, the markets are way calmer there.

"First, we're going to find you some clothes, if we buy the food first we would have to drag it around all the time," Arion announces. He walks towards a corner of the market, where it's a lot quieter, and stops at a stall where a plump woman is commending her wares.

"Good morning, my friend is looking for a new dress," he says to her, "Do you have anything that would fit her?"

"Yes, I do," she answers, "Come here, girl. Do you like this one?" She holds up an ordinary, light brown dress.

"Sure," the elven woman says, "Do you have a scarf to go with it?" The woman grabs a moss-green of an unstable pile.

"Like this one?"

"Yes, that one!" The elven woman takes the dress and scarf to try them on behind a screen. After a lot of fiddling she manages to wriggle herself into the dress, which has to be put together with an insane number of laces and cords. She wraps the scarf around her head, and steps out of the cover of the screen.

"Oh, girl, you have to put the scarf around your, not around your head!" the woman exclaims. Arion is smiling whilst watching the woman getting all worked up about the incorrectly used scarf. "No, it's all right like this," he eventually says, "What does it cost?" The woman names a price, which Arion pays immediately. They also buy a pair of good boots, and then they go shopping for the Crown prince.

"Why are you here, actually?" Arion asks curiously, while inspecting a couple of apples, "It's unusual for elves, and especially for their women, to leave the elven lands." The elven woman stares at the ground next to her feet.

"I was banished"
"Why would they do that?" he says, astonished.

"Not agreeing with Her Royal Highness the Queen of elves," she says with a sad smile, "We had a different opinion on an important matter."

"And what about your name? I can't imagine elves not having names."

"If your banished, you are also become an outcast of the culture. An elven name is a part of the culture, so you lose it as well."

"What was your name, before you were... banished?"

"Fatýla."

"Well, I can't keep calling you 'you'. You need a name. Do you know a name you like?" Arion pays for the apples and walks on to the next stand, where he apparently wants to buy a pair of deer steaks.

"Just elven names. I obviously can't use those. A human name seems appropriate."

"Hmm. Does Melya sound nice to you?" he suggests, "No, I really won't that much. Thirty Cithen, final offer," he snarls at the man selling deer steaks. He continues his bargain. In the end, he buys the deer steaks and four chicken legs for forty-three Cithen. "Well, what do you think?" he insists.

"It sounds like a great name," the elven woman says.

Silently they continue their shopping. In the end they return to the inn with a pile of apples, the steaks and chicken legs, a basket overflowing with vegetables and three bottles of wine. The sun only just reached her highest point, so Arion and Melya get their horse and cart and leave Corntown.

"Where are we going?" Melya asks

"The Royal court, in Dumès," Arion says, "I'm serving the Crown prince, Kithan."

"Why are you taking me with you?" Melya continues her, "I mean, I really appreciate you helping me like this, but what do you think I could do there I can't do here?"

"I was considering to ask the people if they need another servant," he answers, "Which is almost always the case. Especially in the kitchens there are never enough people. Do you have any skills you could use around there?"

"Not much, I've been pampered since I was a little girl. I was being schooled to be a healer though."

"That could be useful later. Well, it doesn't matter now, you'll learn!"

At sundown they reach the city of Dumès. And a city it is! Enormous walls surround the immense city, and even though the hour is late they can hear the noise of people living there. Above the walls they can see the Royal palace, standing on top of a hill. The palace is made of simple grey stone, and has lots of towers.

But before they can go to the castle, they have to pass the guards. Those greet Arion, don't even ask why there's an unknown girl next to him. It isn't until they reach the Royal castle a guard makes a remark. "Have you pulled one of the streets yet again, Arion," he says, "It's the first time you bring someone home."

"This is Melya," Arion answers, "She's a friend of mine. She would like to work at the court."

"It's not my responsibility to agree to that." The guard smiles, and gestures them to go on their way.

After Arion has delivered the groceries to the personal servants of the Crown prince, he beckons the elven woman to follow him. "We're going to the person who takes care of the staff and all that stuff," Arion explains, "I'm going to ask her if there's work for you to do."

"Okay," Melya answers, "But I want to know one more thing. Why do the people here hate elves?"

Arion gives her a hard look.

"That's a long story," he says eventually, "I'll tell you another time. Just make sure no-one notices you're elvish." He waves at an older woman crossing the hallway. "Hanna, wait for a second!" he calls. The woman turns around, and Arion and Melya hurry to get to her.

"This is Melya, a friend of mine. I was wondering, do you have any work for her?" Hanna looks at Melya, obviously judging her.

"We still need girls for serving... She looks nice enough, with that hair and those grey eyes... she's a bit too tall though..."

"Please, Hanna!"

"It's all right, Arion. But don't think you can slack off, girl!" Hanna warns her. She gestures Melya to follow her. "Thank you so much, Arion," she says, "We will probably meet again soon." The only thing he does, is nod.

Hanna takes Melya to her new room. "At the moment this room is yours alone," she says, "But when another girl arrives you'll have to share." The room isn't luxuriously furnished, to the contrary. It has a bed, a small closet and a little table at the head of the bed, on which a smelly candle stands.

"Tomorrow morning you'll start working," Hanna tells her, "I'll wake you this one time, all the other times you should be awake in time by yourselves. I'll give you your uniform tomorrow. You are obliged to wear it at all times when you are working." Hanna leaves the room, and Melya with her thoughts. I'm on my own now, she thinks, Arion helped me, but he isn't here anymore. From tomorrow on, I'll be alone again. And apparently these people hate elves. I'll have to make sure I always wear my scarf. I'm wondering what the work's like... I have never done anything useful. Father's maid always did the housekeeping. I'll see, it's going to be fine.