For a few hours I sat listening to the different stories of food Elyn had the other day while sat at the large table having people serve her while she attempted to see the top of the table and was given a few cushions to give her more height. She talked about the flavours of the different foods and which she preferred which also gives me a few ideas for dishes I might be able to make her once things have settled down. Every other sentence littered with words about how she doesn't like spicy food no matter how much I used to try and make her some
I take a moment to myself however, this title I was just granted by a maid who seems happy to execute most tasks I'd ask for or the dark and dank jail cell I was kept in with the eerie silence broken only by some howls and wails coming from deeper within and the people in heavy armour who were guarding the place waiting for an excuse to break into a cell to shut you up. It all seems so surreal compared to the world I'm used to.
A poke to my face by the little devil sitting next to me breaks my thoughts for a second as Elyn finishes her most recent story on food before starting to talk about the room she stayed in and how it was like a hotel while trying to get my input and attention.
This drags my thoughts back to where we used to live, some run down cheap apartment on the edge of the poor side of the town we lived in that I could barely afford by being some nameless grunt in a large gang who would happily get you killed instead of paying you if given a reason.
I laugh slightly and hug Elyn a bit as she continues talking about how the bed was as fluffy as marshmallows and how she turned the blanket into a small den using some of the pillows as supports.
I wasn't able to provide for her well in our first world, we were born too late to find our own way, but too early to have a chance. A world filled with smoke, war and torn apart by people holding the idea that their scrap of land meant more than another.
There was nothing for us there but pain, to be left alone with only each other. No way to be free, trapped by a society that sought to hunt us down and make us the next expendable parts. Something I'd have given my life to stop Elyn needing to face.
Before I realised it I had started laughing. Elyn started to push my face as she became surprised at me and wanted to flee the hug.
I turn and address her casually after laughing for a minute.
"Ellie, do you like the food here, the people? What about the magic, its pretty cool right?"
"I wanna see more and always have fun foods if they aren't hot spicy." She exclaims as if trying to preach, only getting another chuckle from me.
"Well, we might not know this new place and I know you didn't like our old one much, but do you trust me to find us a new home here? A place where we can have the best food and never need to leave. A safe place where we can rest and friends to be with."
After a moment of silence, one of her rare moments where she is seriously considering an option she nods before going back to hugging me.
"Only if it isn't hot spicy food." She replies as she buries her head in my chest.
After our talk, we sit there enjoying the birds and the sunlight, the cool wind rushing through the courtyard as we are shielded by the tree in the middle of it. The faint smell of flowers adding a unique touch to the silence left behind by the lack of cars and traffic.
After a while of relaxing, watching the trees wave at the passing clouds, I notice our little maid has returned leading a shirtless buff guy around who places a box down probably containing a bunch of the things we had before leaving.