I set the next box up on the back of the cart as I remember when Nelly introduced herself to everyone. Right as I walked back into the room from telling Josephine about us being late, Nelly stood in the middle of the room and spoke loudly. She told us about her name and age then a little bit about herself. Her name was Nelly and her age was 13 which is different from the ages of 19-20 for everyone else.
Josephine walks up and notices me finishing up with the stocks she bought "Thanks Leon, it's pretty helpful to have someone work for free. Plus then I can get this cart going faster." I look over at her as I put the last one in "So are we all going to be riding in this one? It can only fit 2 people at best" Josephine smiles and continues talking "This cart should leave as early as possible so that's why I hired this man."
A short burly-looking fellow walks out from behind her and approaches me "Hello sir! You can call be Igor, Ill be meeting you all at the next town over!" He shakes my hand excessively and hops up on the cart, he then looks over and smiles "Igor will drive our good cart as we will drive the carriage cart again."
I sigh and just nod as Josephine laughs and Igor starts driving down the street "Let's just go back to the others." Josephine nods and we both head back, she stops laughing but continues to eyeball me for another hour. It felt unsettling and weird, but I pretended to not see it.
Once we get back and the carriage is packed, I help everyone get in the back as Naomi hops in the front and prepares the horses "Why isn't she going in the back big brother?" I sigh and shrug my shoulders "Maybe she just wants to drive? Anyway, let me help you up these stairs." I hold her hand as she walks up the stairs and she loads into the carriage being the last one.
I nod at Naomi and hop in myself, sitting across from Selina and Violet on one side with Nelly on my other. Selina looked at Nelly as we started driving off "Do you like the view, Nelly?" Nelly makes no reaction to what Selina says as Violet looks over "You shouldn't ignore your friends, its mean." I look at Nelly as she remains completely still "Nelly are you ok?"
Nelly looks over at me when I speak and smiles "Yes big brother! I am fine." I look at her confused and think for a moment "Then you should address Violet and Selina when they speak to you." Nelly flinches and looks down "I would but I don't know how to talk to them, and I'm too scared." I smile as Violet and Selina both sigh in relief, thinking they did something to Nelly.
Nelly pauses for a moment then hides behind my arm and speaks quietly while looking over my arm "H-hello. I am Nelly, and I enjoy this view, and I didn't mean to ignore you." Selina and Violet let out a giggle and Nelly holds my arm tighter "Don't worry Nelly, we are here for you just like your big brother is."
Nelly relaxes a little bit as she smiles at them and she points out the window and starts talking about the lovely view with Selina "That didn't take long." I look over at Violet and laugh "You are just too good at making friends, it must be a trait of yours." She giggles and looks at me bashfully "Your good at it too! You got her to feel comfortable talking to you which is the first step."
Nelly soon fell fast asleep and Selina was drifting off, Violet was quietly watching out the window at the night pasting by. I was looking at Josephine who was reading another book she brought for the trip, every time Selina started falling to sleep, she would fall onto Josephine and tell her sorry. I stopped her when she fell again and laid her down the other way so she could sleep peacefully "That's a very kind thing to do Leon."
I nod and stroke Nelly's long black hair as she rests her head on my lap "I want her to sleep peacefully so I helped her. I help all of them as much as I can since it must be hard to follow someone you met after claiming that you forgot them." Josephine nods and goes back to reading her books as Violet starts drifting off to sleep too. She leans back on the seat and closes her eyes, her head slowly moves over to my shoulder and she remains peaceful afterward.
"That's the last one, now I should get some sleep too so goodnight." Josephine nods me off and I lay my head back as I drift off to sleep too. I dream about having a lot of cute little kids like Nelly and how I would get to see them every day. Then I feel someone poke my cheek and someone whisper "What's he thinking about?"
I open my eyes and see Selina and Violet looking down at me "He's awake!" I sit up and see Nelly look at me too "Good morning you all." Violet smiles and continues as if nothing happened "Oh good morning Leon, I see your awake now." Selina giggles as Nelly smiles too "What's wrong with you guys?"
Nelly explains for them "When we woke up, Josephine explained how you let us rest calmly, so we wanted to say thank you." I nod and smile back "Your all welcome, but I would do that just fine without a thank you." Nelly thinks for a moment then shakes her head, and Josephine pops her head into the carriage "Leon, its time for breakfast, I made something this time."
I head out as the three follow me and I stop Nelly "You need a winter coat for when we get back, for now, wear mine, ok?" Nelly nods and Selina pouts, Violet passes by her and whispers something then they break out into a fight "They are fighting again big brother!" I smile and get out of the carriage to help Nelly and the two when they finish their fight.
Nelly seemed to be adjusting well to the group but the captain who originally kidnapped Nelly was already coming up with his plan to sway the duke. So he set out to meet the duke as he had no way of knowing the duke was being overthrown by a certain someone with a lot of aptitudes. Nelly was always wary of her surroundings and constantly watched the woods for anyone as I knew that she didn't want to be captured anymore.
I got a bit of her story that morning after breakfast, she was a slave most of her life due to her unique color of white on her tail and ear. She told me that they usually are black or a different color but white was uniquely rare. She also told me that even though animal people are the minority, they can easily take over if they wanted to.
She also said her family didn't like her tail color and how she hated herself for having a unique color, but I told her I quite like the color. She blushed and stopped talking after that, so we all loaded back into the carriage and headed back off as Josephine informed me that snowfall might occur in the next week or so.
I look out the window and watch the scenery as it passes by. Animals and critters are all along with the trials and the path and the cold air have made the last of the leaves fall off of the trees and now it looked like a forest set for winter with all the animals getting ready for winter this year. I notice some small critters that were gathering all of their food for the winter and trapping themselves inside with it.
I felt cold after watching so many different critters prepare for hibernation so I put half the jacket on me and a half on Nelly as she huddled for warmth as she was also watching out the window. She looked up and spoke to me quietly "Big brother, why do all those animals hide in holes?" I look down at her and smile "Its called hibernation, they do it to keep themselves warm and they stay in those holes until it gets a lot warmer."
I realize that since Nelly was a slave most of her young life that she might be lacking in education, so I will end up teaching her most things "Hey Nelly if you ever want to know about something just ask one of us ok? We all can help you find the answer."