The sound of birds chirping fill my ears as I slowly wake up, I sit up and take in my surroundings confused on where I am I think, then I remember the events of yesterday. I stretch my arms and yawn. deciding if I should go into the village today to find food. I stand up and look at my dress only to see it's covered in dirt and grass stains. I sigh and brush myself off.
"Now let's try to find my way back," I whisper to myself.
I walk right into the woods and try to find any sign of the village. As I walk around all I see are trees, some bare, some full with coloured leaves. I get frustrated I sigh and sit down on a tree stump. I hear rustling from afar,
"Come on Niklaus, father won't like us to be late again." I heard a faint male voice yell.
"I'm coming to Elliot, I thought I heard something," another male voice says.
I can hear them take off running into another direction, I take this as my chance to ask someone for help.
"Hello!!," I yell trying to get someone's attention "Can someone help me!!" I sit back down on the tree stump hoping someone heard me.
"See Elliot I know I heard someone, let's go check it out." I hear footsteps coming closer.
"Nik if father gets mad it's all on you," another set of footsteps are heard.
Soon two male figures emerge from the brush, one looking older than the other, by a lot. Both have long brown hair the younger child's lighter than the older ones, both going down to their shoulders.
"Excuse me, miss are you lost?" The younger looking one asked me.
"I am, my family left me in the meadow not wanting me anymore. I'm trying to find a village." I quickly make up a lie.
"Our village is right through the trees we will be happy to take you." The older one told me.
I smiled in response.
"I'm Niklaus," The younger one introduces himself. "And this is my older brother Elliot." he points to his brother.
"I'm Katerina. Pleasure," I curtsy slightly.
"Well, Katerina follow us." Elliot walks forward leaving me and Niklaus behind him.
"How old are you Katharina?" Klaus asks me. I go to answer but Elliot cuts me off
"Never polite to ask a lady her age Nik." I giggle
"It's all right Elliot, I do not mind. I am 15." I answer to the boy.
"I'm always the youngest." He pouts. I chuckle at him
"Need to remind you Niklaus you have two younger siblings," Elliot tells Niklaus
"Elliot here is the oldest, he's 20," Niklaus starts "Then my other brother Elijah is 18, my only sister Erika is your age. Then my other brother Maverick is 10. My youngest sibling is 2 his name is Zayden."
"You seem like you have a lovely family Niklaus," I tell the younger brother.
"We are here," Elliot says "Welcome to Kalda."
"Thank you for bringing me Elliot," I smile to him "it seems like a lovely place to live. Now I know where people are ill find a place around the woods to stay." I turn to walk away
"Wait," Elliot grabs my arm "you can to find a place here." he smiles.
"Okay then." I smile back
"Come on, I have to introduce you to my family." Niklaus grabs my hand dragging me to a little hut.
"Mother!" He shouts entering the little home
"Yes, Niklaus?" A kind voice says as a woman emerges from behind the wall.
"This is Katerina, Elliot, and I found her sitting on a tree stump looking for a village as her family left her at the nearby meadow." The boy says all in one breath.
"Slow down Niklaus." The woman laughs
"This is Katerina, Elliot and I found her sitting on a tree stump, her family left her in the nearby meadow." He says it slower. The woman looks at me with concern
"Why would your family do such a thing?"
"My father didn't like the fact I wouldn't get married to a man I didn't know, "I make up another lie. "He said I was a disgrace, he took me on a wagon and dropped me in the first place he saw fit."
"I'm so sorry dear," The woman tells me "I'm Gia, Niklaus and Elliot's mother. If you don't mind me asking How Old Are You?" I open my mouth to answer but Niklaus cuts me off.
"She is 15 mother." The young boy smiles.
"Why you're still a child," Gia exclaims "Your welcome to stay with us." she offers
"I couldn't possibly intrude." I start
"Nonsense you are to stay here and that's final." She tells me sternly. Niklaus grabs my hand and pulls me to the door.
"Come on, I have to introduce you to everyone,"
"Slow down Niklaus." I laugh at the young boy
"Eerika!" He yells at his sister
"What do you want Niklaus?" The girl asks
"This is Katerina," He introduces "Mother is having her stay with us. She doesn't have her family anymore."
He turns "Katerina this is Eerika she is your age," I smile at the girl. She has hair just like mine, bright blond, she has icy blue eyes and pale skin.
"Pleasure." Niklaus grabs my hand again and drags me elsewhere.
"Maverick," He calls to his younger brother
"Niki!" The younger brother runs and gives Niklaus a hug.
"Mave, this is Katerina." I crouch down to his meet his height.
"It's nice to meet you," I tell the young boy. He hides behind Niklaus.
"You're pretty," Maverick tells me. I smile at the boy
"Well, aren't you adorable," I tell the small boy. I smile at Niklaus.
"Anyone else?" I ask him
"Yes," he looks at Maverick "Where is Elijah?" he asks his younger brother. The small boy just shrugs and runs back to where he was playing. Niklaus and I just walk around he shows me where everyone is. He finds a log, him and I sit down.
"What was your life like before everything?" He asks, I sigh
"My life was normal," I start " I had three siblings. Tatia was the oldest, she was the prettiest girl in my village. My older brother Talbot was superb at hunting so my parents always praised him. My younger brother Aaric would've been six, you remind me of him a lot." I smile sadly.
"Tell me about Alaric." Klaus looks at me.
"When he was born I was so happy to not be the youngest anymore. As he grew up, he became outgoing and smart. Me and him where close, I mostly took care of him while my mom was away."
"What happened to him?" The curious boy asked
"Last year during the flu out brake he contracted it badly, and he ended up passing." I look at Niklaus sadly.
"I'm sorry Katerina."
"It's in the past, Now Niklaus tell me about you." I smile at the boy.
"My name is Niklaus Thornhall, my friends and family call Nik, you can too," he smiles at me. "I love archery but my father tells me I'm not good at it." he goes to say something else but someone cut us off.
"Come on Niklaus our brothers are fighting again." Eerika grabs Nicklaus's hand and pulls him along.
"You too Katerina come on," She grabs my hand and pulls me along.
We stop at a crowd of people gathering around.
Clink
We hear the clash of metal. We push along the crowd, I see to young men fighting with swords. I get a glimpse at a face, I recognise one as Elliot. I look at Eerika,
"What's going on?"
"Elliot and Elijah are fighting," she looks at her brothers and cheers
"I can see that. But Why?"
"They do this for fun." This time Niklaus answers he points to one man.
"That's Elijah the one I haven't introduced you too yet." I nod understanding.
We hear another loud crash of metal.
"Ready to give up brother?" One of them asks
"Never." The other one replies laughing.
Clash,
One brother cuts of the others belt.
"Elijah won!." Eerika cheers. Both brothers laugh and hug.
" Elijah!!" Niklaus runs and gives his brother a hug, Elijah picks him ups and hugs him.
"Hey, little man." The older brother laughed. Niklaus Jumped down and ran over. He grabbed my hand and ran back to his brother.
"Elijah," he panted out of breath "this is Katerina," he intercedes. I curtsy at the handsome young man, his dark brown hair going down to his shoulders, part of it braided to get it out of his face. He looked fairly strong, he was almost as tall as Elliot but not quite.
"Pleasure." I smile. He takes my hand and kisses it.
"The Pleasure is all mine." he smiles a bright smile.
"Katerina will stay with us for the night, as she has no family," Niklaus told his older brother, he skips away probably looking for his younger brother.
"That was very impressive," I tell the young man as I look back at where the fight happened.
"Thank you, my father has been training me since I was a little kid, just in case the neighbouring village would attack." He explains. We walk back to his house.
"Mother, I'm back," Elijah calls when we walk back into the small house.
"Oh, Elijah could you watch your brother while I finish supper," Gia walks in from behind the wall, with a small child attached to her hip.
"Yes, Mother." Elijah takes the small boy, Gia walks away.
"Zayden, this is Katerina." He looks at his baby brother. The young boy looks at me then puts his head back into his older brother's neck.
"It's okay Zayden, she's a friend." Elijah runs his youngest brothers' back.
"Friend." The young toddler says.
"Yes, buddy. Friend," Elijah laughs. An older man walks into the room.
"Hello Father," Elijah smiles
"You must be Katerina I'm Erik," He introduces himself
"Pleasure, Mr Thornhall." I curtsy at the man.
"Supper is almost ready," He told us and walks away.
"Follow me," Elijah says.
"Katerina," Eerika says waving me over.
"Hello Eerika," I smile at her.
"You can sit next to me." She pats the place next to her. I sit down.
"How are you liking it so far?" Elliot asks me taking a seat on the ground across the table.
"It's nice, it's a lot better than where I'm from." I smile at him.
"I'm happy you like it here." Gia smiles when she walks inside, with a pot. She places it on the table.
"It smells delicious mother," Eerika smiles
"Thank you, dear." The kind older woman smiles. Niklaus runs into the room.
"Katerina sit near me." The giggly boy smiles.
"I'm sitting next to Eerika sit next to me." I couldn't help but smile at the young kid thinking of my brother.
He plops down next to me and smiles with his toothy smile. The rest of the family comes in and sit around the table before Gia passes the pot around I speak up.
" I just want to say thank you for letting me stay here tonight I will be out of your hair tomorrow." I kindly smile at the family.
"No need to worry dear, you can stay for as long as you will like," Gia looks at me " I could always use an extra pair of hands around the house." she looks at her husband
"You're more than welcome to stay Katerina." The older man looks down at me.
"Thank you." I smile
"I have another sister!!!" Niklaus cheers. I look at the young boy and laugh.
"Finally another girl!" Eerika laughs.
"What about me?" Gia looks at her daughter mocking hurt
"I mean a girl I can talk about boys with." Eerika smiles at me
"Oh please, Eerika your boy crazy." Niklaus says sticking his tongue out at his older sister. She does it back.
"Of course she is young Niklaus, she is almost at the age where she will marry and have a family of her own," Erik says to his second youngest son.
"What about Elliot and Elijah? They are older than Eerika" The young boy asks confused.
"It's different for them." Their father said simply.
"Okay, who's ready to eat." Gia smiles.
She passes the pot around and we all scoop some into our bowls. Once we all have some The kind older woman put the pot down and sits with the rest of us.
"You may eat." She kindly smiles at us.
Looking at the soup I see that it has potatoes and some type of meat in it. I take my spoon and take a scoop making sure to get everything on it. I blow on it as it is hot, I put it in my mouth and smile. I swallow it and smile at the woman.
"This is really good," I tell her. She smiles and says a small thank you.
"So Katerina, tell us about yourself." Erik the oldest member of the family says.
"Well my name is Katerina Rose, I am 15 and I love to make clothes for my friends and family," I start off "I have or well had three siblings, my older sister Tatia, older brother Talbott and my younger brother Alaric." I sigh
"What do you mean had?" Elliot asks, his mother shoots him a glare.
"My younger brother he died when he was 5, the plague took him." I look at the floor and let out a sigh. "My family hasn't been the same since." I finish.
"I'm so sorry," Elijah speaks up.
"It's fine, it's in the past." I give him a small smile.
The rest of supper is silent which I don't mind, once we finish up I collect all the dishes and bring them to the well.
"You don't have to do that Dear," Gia walks over to me taking the bowls out of my hand.
"If I'm staying here I am going to help out," I tell the kind woman.
"Yes you will, but you've had a long night it's time to get some sleep," she tells me I nod and walk back into the little house.
"Eerika," I call
"Up here." She responds I look up to see her on a loft. " Come on it's time for bed."
"I'm coming." I laugh.
I climb up the stairs and laugh at Eerika, from the corner of my eyes I can see her dancing around like a crazy person. I start to lose my balance from laughing too much and I fall off the ladder. I close my eyes i'm bracing for impact but nothing come. I open my eyes to see Elijah's face staring at me.
"Are you okay?" he asked, I nod
"Thank you." he smiles in return and puts me down. I go to climb the ladder up again but this time I make it.
"Elijah please leave us girls need to get changed," Eerika shoos her big brother.
"I'm going sister." He laughs walking away.
Eerika grabs something from her bed and hands it to me.
"Here you can wear this," she says handing me a night dress.
"Thank you.'' I smile at her. I stip my clothes that I've been wearing for two days and put on the clean night dress.
"Us children all sleep up here," Eerika starts "We have an extra cot for emergencies but it's next to Elijah, you don't mind do you?" She asks I shake my head
"Of course not." I yawn out "I'm just ready for sleep."
She laughs, "The Cot is right here," she walks over to it, I smile and nod.
"Goodnight Eerika, "I smile at the girl.
laying down into the bed pulling the blanket over my body, I close my eyes and calm myself with deep breaths.
"Goodnight Katerina," Was the last thing I heard before I fell into a deep sleep.