We sat there for a few minutes, as the table was a bit silent. I was not all that hungry, but I ate a bunch either way, just simply because I had remembered when food was scarce to come across, and we always had to eat some nasty shit every single day.
My sister had heated the food up on the stove, once she had taken it out of the ice box. The food was now ready to be eaten, as I watched her, as she slowly, and steadily began to walk over to the table, carrying as much as the could in her hands.
I rolled my eyes at her, I would tell her that it was going to slow her down carrying so much at once, so it would take just as much time carrying the food one by one, but I just still did not feel comfortable, being at the table with Zoe.
I could tell that she had noticed the look on my face as well, as she had her head lowered to the ground, as though she had thought that she had done something that was bad. It was not her fault, as I was the one that had made the mistake.
I still could not help but feel a bit guilty and embarrassed about it however, as I nodded to my sister, trying to not think about it, and to just go on with a some what normal breakfast. I nodded to my sister, and smiled at her, thankfully taking out all of the thoughts, all at once.
My sister nodded back to me with a smile right back on her face. She then turned her head over to Zoe, and she smiled at her as well. Zoe did not smile back at her, and I felt a bit bad for my sister. She was still so innocent, and she did not understand certain things.
I shook my head however, as I heard footsteps as they began to walk down the stairs, in which it had to have been Julia I would assume. I turned my head over to the other side of the room, as I smiled at her, seeing her face once again.
She smiled back at me, which made me feel a lot better, as I remembered that all of this was in fact real. I was so glad that her, and my sister were safe. I saw the large buckets in her hand, as I could tell they had not been filled up just yet.
Zoe seemed to notice that Julia had walked in to the room as well, as I saw her squint her eyes at Julia. Either Julia did not notice it, or she just did not care, and she was not going to let it bother her. I began to relax myself, as I told myself that everything was going to be okay.
I had gotten this far, though it had been a long a tormented path to get here, I was here, and I was alive. So were they, and that was all that really mattered in the end. Zoe would have to get over it at some point, surely right? I shook my head as I tried to get my focus off of all of that.
Julia put the buckets on the doorway to the kitchen, and then she just nodded at Zoe, though she did not lock eyes with her. I could tell that it made Zoe a bit angry as well, as it seemed as though Zoe was trying to play mind games with her.
I once again shook my head at myself, as I knew that I did not need to worry about any of that. I in fact grinned a bit, knowing that she was not going to be staying in the house with the rest of us. I did not let Zoe see it though, as I turned my head over to my sister, hearing her speak up.
"Julia, you want to come over with us, and pray for our meal?" Mariah said to her. Julia then turned her head over to her, as it seemed as though she had her eyes out through the window. I looked over at the window, to see what it was that she might be looking at, but I did not see a thing.
I shook my head, as I knew that she too must be lost in a bit of some thought like me. Julia looked at my sister for a few moments, as she began to take in what it was that my sister had just said to her. She then nodded, as she began to walk over to the table with us, speaking back at the same time.
"Yes... And Zoe, I have got the buckets for you, the well is out on the back side of the house." She said over to Zoe. Zoe sat there for a short period of time, as she kept her eyes squinted at Julia. Julia this time seemed to notice it, though it was clear that she was not going to let it bother her.
I saw her roll her eyes at Zoe, as she sat on the other chair beside me, opposite side of Zoe, and then she lowered her hands down, getting ready for the blessing. I did the same, as I then closed my eyes, though I was not sure who it was that was going to do the blessing.
We all sat there for a few seconds, as I opened my eyes, waiting for someone to say something, I saw the others doing to same, besides Zoe, who I could just see her tapping her fingers on the table lightly. She looked at all of for a few moments, and then she looked over at Julia, and then she rolled her eyes back at her as she began to speak, as it was clear that she had been thinking of something to say back to Julia.
"Yes... Adrian is my brother, I know where things are around this place... I grew up with him..." Zoe said back to Julia, as if Julia should have known that. I had in fact seen the resemblance in the both of them, though I had not thought it through, that they might in fact be related.
It actually surprised me quite a bit, that Adrian was not in fact going to let her stay in the house. If she had lived here at some point, than surely he would have let her, right? Maybe they had some sort of falling out at some point in the past.
I looked around for just a few moments, as I tried my best to not try to focus too much on that, as I then looked over to my sister, and listened to her once again, as I heard her begin to speak, after there had once again been a short period of silence.
"Well Zoe... Since you are the guest here, would you like to go ahead and say the prayer." My sister said to her. Zoe sat there for a few moments longer, as she then rolled her eyes at my sister. I looked at Zoe, as I was a bit confused as to why she was rolling her eyes once again.
I saw the look on Julia's face from the corner of my eyes, I could tell that she was not a big fan of Zoe, from the first impression that she had on her. I did not blame her for it though, as I knew that Zoe could be a bit of an asshole at times.
I also knew that she was also kind and friendly most of the time. It was why I felt a bit bad for her as well, as I knew that had already assumed that Julia was in fact my long lost girlfriend. I knew that she would be a bit hurt, seeing me with her.
I knew that Zoe had really liked me, and she had done her best to show it to me, and get me to like her back in the short time we had been together. I felt a bit bad for her, as I looked away from her. Zoe finally nodded to my sister however, as she then began to speak to her.
"Oh no... I do not believe in a God... You guys can pray, but its a bit hard for me to do so, if I do not believe in what it is that I am praying to." She said to my sister. I looked at her a bit surprised for a few moments, but I nodded to her, understanding a bit.
I sometimes felt like that at times as well, though my mother I knew was heavily into God, though we never really went to church. I shook my head, as I did not want to think about my dead mother any more. I then looked back over to my sister.
My sister looked quite a bit surprised for some time, as far as she knew, every person that she had met had believed in God. She then took in what she had said after a bit longer, and then she nodded to her. She understood what she had been getting at.
Zoe had a fair point as well, and I did not blame her for what she had said. You could not really pray for something if you did not believe in it. That would do no good for the rest of us. My sister then turned her head over to Julia, as she then spoke to her.
"Julia... Would you like to say the prayer then?" She said over to Julia. Julia had her eyes fixed back on Zoe, as I could see them staring each other down. I wondered if Julia understood why Zoe was doing that, or if she just thought it was because Zoe had decided not to like her.
That was not the case at all, Zoe was just jealous of the fact that I was back with her. I closed my eyes for a bit, as I just wanted to get this all over with, and then go ahead and eat. I could not bare sitting in this silent room for much more time.
After a bit longer, I then opened my eyes, turning my head over to Julia, as it seemed she had finally heard, and understood what it was that my sister had said to her a few moments ago, as she began to start the prayer off.
"Dear, Our father above, we thank the for a safe place to save, a roof, and food over our head. We pray that the world will get better, and some day we can get back to living in peace. We say this in the name of Jesus, amen..." She spoke the prayer out to all of us.
I looked at Julia with a bit of a smile on my face, as I then held on to her hand. I knew that Zoe had seen in as well, as it had not been my intent, but it was such a great prayer, I was not going to lie. We all ended it off with each of our own amen.
Zoe I could tell was a bit surprised at the prayer as well, as it seemed as though she had gotten some sort of respect from Julia from the prayer that she had just made, as she no longer had her eyes squinted at her. I relaxed, as the tension the seemed to clear.
Everyone then, as far as I could see had a smile on their face, as we all grabbed our silverware, and then we began to bite in to the left overs of the food that we had eaten last night.
About a week had gone past us now, as things seemed to be somewhat normal. It seemed as though life was back to the way it was before the dragons had attacked us. There were a fair amount of people around us at all times, and I also had to love of my life by my side as well.
There was not much that I could really complain about at all. John had been training me how to shoot arrows at moving targets as well, I was not the most accurate shooter. I also knew that the way that he was teaching me, to kill a dragon was a slight bit different.
I bit harder as well, but it was a start, and I could tell that for once, he had been in fact been proud of me. He had a smile for the first time that I had seen from him. It seemed as though he enjoyed this place, just as much as the rest of us did.
He had been pushing me a bit hard, as I knew that he didn't want me to get too embarrassed by all of the others that were in the legion. I also knew as well, that there were going to be over a thousand new faces in the legion as well.
It just would not look good, if the leader of the legion, was not the best of the best. I knew that for sure, and I knew that I had to get better. I knew that there were going to be about 50 people there from the original legion, and I knew that they were going to show me up.
I was doing a fairly good job, a lot better than the others did when the first started off. He had told me that it had taken a while for him to get to the way that he was. It was a bit of a surprise to me, because for one, he was not usually one to give me much of a compliment.
The other reason it surprised me, was that he hardly ever talked about his past. I only knew about a little of it, because of the stories that some of the members of the legion had told me. But even those were not much of a story at all.
All I really knew was that he was a big brother to my cousin, and my uncle had adopted him just after my cousin had been born. Apparently his wife had passed away from unknown causes. I wonder if those unknown causes had happened to be dragons.
I knew that the death of my cousin, as he had been apparently murdered by a dragon, had been the main reason why my Uncle had founded the legion. He had sworn himself to hunt down evil dragons, and to kill them. I wonder if the reason he had been killed had been because he had found out about the black dragons plans.
I shook my head, as I got back to sharpened up the blade, as I tried my best not to think about all of that stuff. It was in the past now, and I had to keep my mind on right now. I knew that John was right, he had told me that my Uncle had been the same.
My uncle had a bit more of a better excuse than I had however. I then heard footsteps from near me, as I knew that John had taught me a bit about learning how to hear things like that as well. I looked over to where it was coming from, and I squinted my eyes at it.
I thought I might have seen something a bit strange for a few seconds, but then I blinked a few times. I saw something walk through the crops, as I knew it was not a dragon, but I began to reach toward my bow, just in case anyways.
I then realized that it was just my sister, as I had completely forgotten that she had told me a while ago that she had gone to get some crops to make help make us some food for tonight. She was turning into quite a good cook, just as my mother had been.
That had a lot to do with Adrian's wife however, as I knew that they spent a lot of time in the kitchen together during the day. I was not going to complain, though I did in fact know that if I did die, then the legion would now be hers, and it would be up to her.
I kept that in mind, as I saw her walking over to me with a grin on her face. I did my best to clear those thoughts from out of my head, as I then nodded to her, and then I smiled right back at her. I then decided to speak to her after a little bit longer.
"Mariah! Are you just about ready for me to teach you how to use a bow?" I asked her. She looked at me for just a few moments. As I saw her look at the bow for quite some time. I could tell that sadly, she did not look all that excited, but she did in fact nod to me, as she knew that she must learn at some point.
I had already been teaching Julia a fair amount about how to shoot one, and she was a lot more excited about it than my sister was. I shook my head, as I tried my best not to worry about it all that much. I then got up from the rocking chair in the porch, and then I began to walk over to her.
I grabbed the other bow that was on the far side of the front porch, and began to walk over to her. I knew it was not nearly as nice as the bow that John had given me, but it was good enough to at least learn how to shoot one... It did not have to look pretty.
Mariah looked at me for a few moments, as she then began to follow me over to the shooting range, that was not too far from us, on the right side of the house. I still found it a bit crazy to this day, that my Uncle had learned magic, and he had cast a spell to protect this place.
I knew that religious people were not too fond on magic. Making it even more surprised that my mother had been in fact so religious. I shook my head, as I tried my best not to think about my mother any more. She had been gone for nearly 18 months now.
I looked at my sister, and put a bit of a smile on my face, as we kept on walking through the tight narrow path of Potatoes, to get over to shooting range. I looked at it for quite some time, as I hesitated. Something did not quite seem right in the air at the moment.
I was not sure what it was, but it left me a bit stuck in place. Mariah looked over to me, a bit confused as to what it was that had stopped me. I had my eyes closed however, as I left my eyes open to hear the environment that was around us, hoping that it might in fact tell me something.
It was all silent for a few moments. I then realized what I had been worried about a bit earlier. I had not seen John or Adrian at all today, had something happened to them? Surely that could not be true right? There was a spell on our place.
I gulped though, as I then opened my eyes. I then randomly spun around, as it seemed as though I heard something coming, before it had even come to my ears. I spun around as I saw John and Adrian running over to us, as they were about a hundred meters away from us right now.
I squinted my eyes at them, as I could tell that they had been running over to us, as it was clear that they must have seen something, or heard something. I stayed still, as I nodded for them to speak, as I was just thankful that they were okay. Adrian did his best to regain his breath, as he then began to quickly speak.
"We had to come back! We saw them, lots of them in fact! Dragons!"