๐๐/๐๐/๐๐๐ ๐ค๐ซ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐๐ก๐๐ง ๐๐๐ฅ๐๐ง๐๐๐ซ.
After I made a promise to myself I left home and went to the house of Mr Esberg, a nice old man who liver near home. The man who read Vasily's Condolence letter for me a few years before. He would never talk about his past so I didn't know a lot about him, other than, he was from another country and came some years ago with a lot of money, he knew how to read, write and do math, and had a small shop under his house where he, his wife, which he married locally, son and daughter worked.
๐'๐ท๐ฆ ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ถ๐จ๐ฉ๐ต ๐ข๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด, ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ต ๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ด ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฃ๐ข๐ฃ๐ญ๐บ ๐ญ๐บ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฏ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ด๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ฉ๐ข๐ฅ๐บ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ด๐ฐ๐ฏ, ๐ช๐ต ๐ง๐ช๐ต๐ด ๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ง๐ช๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฆ๐น๐ฑ๐ญ๐ข๐ช๐ฏ๐ด ๐ข ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ๐ด, ๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ข๐บ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ข ๐ค๐ณ๐ช๐ฎ๐ช๐ฏ๐ข๐ญ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ต๐ณ๐บ ๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ด๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ด๐ช๐ฎ๐ช๐ญ๐ข๐ณ, ๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ด๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฌ ๐ข๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฎ๐ฆ, ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ด๐ด ๐ ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ต๐ณ๐ถ๐ด๐ต, ๐ช๐ต ๐ค๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ต๐ฉ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ช๐ญ๐ฆ ๐จ๐ฆ๐ต๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ช๐ต ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐จ๐ข๐ช๐ฏ ๐ข ๐ถ๐ด๐ฆ๐ง๐ถ๐ญ ๐ฑ๐ข๐ธ๐ฏโฆ
In his store his son, Klaus, was on the counter. He was thirteen years old and had black hair.
"Hi, Klaus is your father here?"
"Hello, Mikhail, he is upstairs, need something to be read? I can do that already you know?
"Actually I need to speak to him about something important, can you call him, please?"
"Sorry, I can't leave the counter, can you wait until Bertha or mother come down?"
"No problem"
I went to the corner of the store and just waited for a time, clients entered and clients left, until Bertha, a ten years old girl with black hair, came down.
"Sis, Is father awake?"
"Yes bro, want me to call him?
"Yes, say that Mikhail wants to speak with him"
"Okay"
She left and in some minutes an old man in his sixties with grey hair came down the stairs.
"Mikhail it's being a long time, you grow old while I wasn't looking, I hope the circumstances this time are better," said the man on the stair, he was referring to the last time I came to see him when Vasily died. since his children take care of the store most of the time I wouldn't see him much.
"You can relax Mr Esberg, I just came here with a request."
"I've already told you to stop calling me Mr Esberg this makes me sound elder than I already am, call me Peter, and came here, go up with me."
I went with him, and we seated at a table upstairs, his wife brought us some tea. she was blonde, beautiful, and way younger than him, I didn't stop thinking that she is only with him because he was rich in the slums, like that saying "In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king".
"what do you want Mikhail?"
"Mr Esberg, I want you to teach me how to read and write!" I said decided.
Mr Esberg sounded surprised but didn't say anything, I Waited for almost one minute without any answer.
"Mr. Esberg?"
"I don't know any Mr Esberg..." he said blatantly
"PETER!" I said a bit riled up, I was just trying to be polite.
"I can teach you, but don't you have to work?"
"I was fired, but I have a bit of money saved, so while I search for another job I can learn how to read and write"
"you are the first one who ever asked me to teach you, people usually don't see the importance of reading and writing."
"It's not their fault, they need food on their tables and a job for that purpose is more important than studying."
"Hmm I see, wait here for a moment." Peter went to one of the rooms and brought a bit of paper and a pencil with him.
" It's Time for our first lesson"
We seated and he told me, every letter of the alphabet, how it sounded, how it was written. and I had to copy it several times. The alphabet had 31 characters with 7 Vowels and 24 consonants, and it had upper and lesser cases like the Latin alphabet at Earth, but they were applied only on the last letter of a name.
๐๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ญ๐ข๐ฏ๐จ๐ถ๐ข๐จ๐ฆ ๐ ๐ข๐ฎ ๐ด๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฌ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฌ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ณ๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ต ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ธ, ๐ช๐ด ๐ช๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ ๐ด๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐๐ข๐ณ๐ต๐ฉ? ๐๐ด ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ฃ๐ณ๐ข๐ช๐ฏ ๐ต๐ณ๐ข๐ฏ๐ด๐ญ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ข๐ถ๐ต๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ค๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐บ, ๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ช๐ฆ๐ด ๐ง๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐๐ข๐ณ๐ต๐ฉ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ฃ๐ณ๐ข๐ช๐ฏ ๐ต๐ณ๐ข๐ฏ๐ด๐ญ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ? ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฌ ๐ข๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ด๐ต๐ณ๐ถ๐ค๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ข ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฅ ๐ช๐ต ๐ด๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ด ๐ฆ๐น๐ข๐ค๐ต๐ญ๐บ ๐ญ๐ช๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ต ๐๐ข๐ณ๐ต๐ฉ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฎ๐ฆ, ๐ด๐ฐ ๐ ๐ซ๐ถ๐ด๐ต ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ช๐ป๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ญ๐ฑ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ต ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฎ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฅ๐ด ๐ฑ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ต๐ช๐ค๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐บ.
"Peter, can you read this?" I asked and showed him something I wrote on the paper, it was just my name.
He then asked me to write other words, I took a time to write every single word since in my mind I was spelling them, and had to sometimes look to the paper to see the respective letter.
"Are you sure you never learned this before?" he asked me.
"Never" Well, I never learned this alphabet, or how to read and write in this world.
"You must be a prodigy! If you could have learned this many years before you could be a scholar by now." Said an excited Mr Esberg.
"Calm down, Mr Esberg, calm down!" I said to him, he looked a little displeased, but he calmed down.
"But you should keep writing, your handwriting is very badโฆ what I mean is the way you write is ugly, you must keep writing those letters until they are more fluent, let's end for today.
" can I keep the paper and pencil you gave me?"
"I wouldn't want any other way."
When I left Mr Esberg house/shop the skies were beginning to darken, I went home to translate whatever was written on the dagger, I hid it under a loose floor at home. I took both daggers and the paper Mr Esberg gave me to a table. it had different inscriptions on both sides of the blade.
R-u-r-i-k-o d-i-v-i-n-e d-u-c-h-y
G-o-l-d-e-n h-e-a-v-e-n-s
๐๐ถ๐ณ๐ช๐ฌ๐ฐ ๐ฅ๐ช๐ท๐ช๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ฅ๐ถ๐ค๐ฉ๐บ, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐จ๐ฐ๐ญ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐๐ฆ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ด. ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ข๐ณ๐ช๐ด๐ต๐ฐ๐ค๐ณ๐ข๐ต? ๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ซ๐ถ๐ด๐ต ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ญ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฅ๐ข๐จ๐จ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ข๐ณ๐ช๐ด๐ต๐ฐ๐ค๐ณ๐ข๐ต ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ด๐ฐ๐ฏ? ๐ ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฅ๐ฏ'๐ต ๐ฌ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ค๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ต๐ณ๐บ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฅ ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ข๐ณ๐ช๐ด๐ต๐ฐ๐ค๐ณ๐ข๐ค๐บ, ๐ ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ฏ๐บ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ข๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ฃ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ฐ๐ฅ๐ฌ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ญ๐ฅ. ๐ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐จ๐ฐ ๐ด๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ๐ค๐ฉ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฎ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ข๐ต ๐ข ๐ญ๐ช๐ฃ๐ณ๐ข๐ณ๐บ, ๐'๐ฎ ๐ค๐ฆ๐ณ๐ต๐ข๐ช๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ธ๐ฐ ๐ฃ๐ช๐จ ๐ญ๐ช๐ฃ๐ณ๐ข๐ณ๐ช๐ฆ๐ด ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ค๐ช๐ต๐บ, ๐ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ด๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ข๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต, ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ช๐จ๐จ๐ฆ๐ด๐ต ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ฉ๐ถ๐ณ๐ค๐ฉ'๐ด ๐ญ๐ช๐ฃ๐ณ๐ข๐ณ๐บ, ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ต ๐ช๐ต ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ซ๐ถ๐ด๐ต ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ญ๐ฆ๐ณ๐จ๐บ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ฐ๐ฅ๐ฌ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ, ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ข ๐๐ข๐ช๐ฏ๐ต ๐๐ฆ๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ'๐ด ๐ญ๐ช๐ฃ๐ณ๐ข๐ณ๐บ, ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ช๐ค๐ฉ ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ข ๐ญ๐ช๐ฃ๐ณ๐ข๐ณ๐บ ๐ซ๐ถ๐ด๐ต ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ข๐ญ๐ต๐ฉ๐บ, ๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฉ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ ๐ค๐ข๐ฏ'๐ต ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ข๐ค๐ค๐ฆ๐ด๐ด, ๐ด๐ฐ ๐ ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ฏ'๐ต ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฏ๐บ ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ต ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ธ๐ข๐ช๐ต ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ธ.
๐๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ ๐ฅ๐ฐ ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ฅ๐ข๐จ๐จ๐ฆ๐ณ? ๐๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ฅ๐บ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ, ๐ฎ๐ข๐บ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ด๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ฅ๐ข๐จ๐จ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ด๐ฐ ๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฑ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ช๐ต ๐ฎ๐ข๐บ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ฅ๐ข๐ฏ๐จ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ด. ๐ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐จ๐ข๐ช๐ฏ ๐ข ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐บ ๐ช๐ง ๐ ๐ด๐ฐ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ช๐ต, ๐ข๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ญ๐บ, ๐ช๐ต'๐ด ๐ฐ๐ง ๐จ๐ฐ๐ญ๐ฅ, ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ต ๐ช๐ต ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ค๐ฆ๐ณ๐ต๐ข๐ช๐ฏ๐ญ๐บ ๐ณ๐ข๐ช๐ด๐ฆ ๐ข ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ด๐ถ๐ด๐ฑ๐ช๐ค๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ด, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ช๐ด ๐ซ๐ถ๐ด๐ต ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ช๐ต ๐ข๐ธ๐ข๐บ, ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ณ๐ช๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ, ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ณ๐ข๐ด๐ฉ, ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ณ๐บ ๐ช๐ต ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐จ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ฅโฆ ๐ด๐ฉ๐ช๐ต ๐ ๐ฌ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ต๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ต๐ฐ ๐จ๐ฆ๐ต ๐ณ๐ช๐ฅ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด, ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ต ๐'๐ฎ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ถ๐ค๐ต๐ข๐ฏ๐ต ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ด๐ฐ ๐ฎ๐ถ๐ค๐ฉ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐บ ๐ข๐ธ๐ข๐บ... ๐ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ถ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐บ ๐ข๐ด ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ท๐ฆ๐ด๐ต๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ง๐ถ๐ต๐ถ๐ณ๐ฆ, ๐บ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ ๐ธ๐ช๐ญ๐ญ ๐ด๐ฆ๐ญ๐ญ ๐ช๐ต.
At night I went to Raz's house to return his coat but who opened the door was Anya his younger and only sister, she had long curled black hair.
"Mika!" she said before jumping at me and hugging me, she was sixteen years old and worked as a seamstress. Normally people had a lot of siblings like me, but Raz lost their parents at a young age, and because of that he became overprotective of his sister, at her age, it was normal to be already engaged, but he would let her go that easily. and Raz didn't have time to search for a partner, or had any family member for search for him, so he kept single like me.
๐๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ฉ๐ถ๐จ๐ด ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ต๐ธ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ง๐ณ๐ช๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ด ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ถ๐ญ๐ต๐ถ๐ณ๐ข๐ญ, ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ค๐ข๐ฏ ๐ฉ๐ถ๐จ ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ๐บ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ด ๐ข ๐ธ๐ข๐บ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐จ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐จ, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ญ๐บ ๐จ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ต ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ญ๐ช๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต, ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ต ๐ช๐ต ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ข ๐ฃ๐ช๐ต ๐ข๐ธ๐ฌ๐ธ๐ข๐ณ๐ฅ ๐ด๐ช๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ด ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ๐บ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ข๐ถ๐ต๐ช๐ง๐ถ๐ญ, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐'๐ฎ ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ถ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ค๐ถ๐ด๐ต๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ธ.
"Any, you are so tall! it seems it was yesterday that you were half of me."
"And you Mika, you look so old!"
I didn't know how to answer that so I just laughed a bit
"May I enter, I need to give Raz his coat back, and talk with him a bit"
"Raz still didn't show up, but he soon will arrive, wait here, I will make dinner for us"
๐๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ญ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฅ๐บ ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ง๐ต ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฌ, ๐ช๐ด ๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฃ๐ข๐ค๐ฌ ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ข๐จ๐ข๐ช๐ฏ?
"There is no need, I can come back later" I was turning back but she holds my hand.
"No please, wait, stay here, you are a close friend, it's the least I can do"
"So let's cook together then, what were you going to make I will at least help with the ingredients?"
" Normally I would cook a porridge, but what do you want?
๐๐ต'๐ด ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ฏ'๐ต ๐ญ๐ช๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ณ๐ช๐ฅ๐จ๐ฆ, ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ต ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฐ ๐ช๐ด ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ถ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฅ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐๐ข๐ณ๐ต๐ฉ, ๐ข ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ณ๐ช๐ฅ๐จ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ด ๐ด๐ฐ...
"Let's make something new, I can teach you? do you have wheat flour, eggs, milk, water, onions, and garlic?"
"Do you know how to cook? Raz said you are a terrible cook"
๐๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐บ๐ฆ๐ด, ๐ ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฅ๐ฏ'๐ต ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ช๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ๐ฏ ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฌ.
"He probably was just joking"
"Okay, I have flour and milk, the water there is a little. Eggs I used all of them this morning, onions are too expensive to buy, and what is garlic?
๐'๐ท๐ฆ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ๐จ๐ฐ๐ต๐ต๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ด ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ข๐บ ๐ฎ๐ถ๐ค๐ฉ ๐ฆ๐น๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ด๐ช๐ท๐ฆ, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ ๐ต๐ฐ๐ฐ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐จ๐ข๐ณ๐ญ๐ช๐ค ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ. ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฃ๐ข๐ฃ๐ญ๐บ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ง๐ช๐ณ๐ด๐ต ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ด ๐ช๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ญ๐ข๐ต๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ... ๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ช๐ต' ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ฆ๐ด๐ฏ'๐ต ๐ฆ๐น๐ช๐ด๐ต ๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ช๐ต'๐ด ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ช๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ.
"I have some eggs at home, I have to use them before they spoil, I will go home take them, and bring more water"
I went home took the eggs and a bit of salt and return shortly with a bucket of water I took from a well. we started cooking by cleaning our hands with a small wet towel, this world hadn't the custom of cleaning hands with water before cooking or eating because it was needed to go to a river or a well to bring water home, but the towel at least served its purpose.
We mixed the flour with eggs and a bit of salt and make pasta with it, she would occasionally touch me with the hand dirty with the dough in the face and I would answer the same way, later we made bechamel sauce with flour, milk and salt as we put the pasta to cook. we were together alone just having fun, it was way more fun cooking here than on Earth alone.
"Any, I'm home!" said Raz when he arrived he didn't know I was here but soon he realised that I was in the kitchen with her.
"Mika... Any, what were you doing?" he asked us puzzled, not knowing how to react seeing his dear sister and best friend so close to each other, both with their faces dirty of dough.
"We were just cooking together... Mika wanted to deliver your coat and talk to you, and I invited him to stay here until you arrive, and one thing led to another and ended with us cooking together. " Said a reddish Anya quickly
"Here prove it," she said taking a spoon and putting it at Raz's mouth.
"You have really outdone yourself, this is hella good"
"It's Mika's recipe!" she said with a smile.
"Mika'sโฆ" he looked even more puzzled since he knew I didn't know how to cook a few days ago.
We ate together and talked about many trivial things, untilโฆ
" I am going to sleep, I need to wake up early tomorrow, don't go to sleep very late." Anya said to us before leaving to her room.
"Now we can talk more privately... what happened to you Mika, your missing day, you cooking, your hair?" he said speaking lower after Anya closed her room's door.
"My hair?" I asked, then tried to see it by holding a bit in front of my eyes, but I couldn't see much difference like that.
"Wait a minute" I went to the bucket we used the water in the kitchen, it still had some water on it which settled and I could see my reflection on it. I've always had a strong blond hair, which seemed like gold, but now it was way more whitish than yellow. It was not completely white, was more like a blond so light it looked like white.
๐'๐ท๐ฆ ๐ข๐ญ๐ธ๐ข๐บ๐ด ๐ธ๐ข๐ฏ๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฌ ๐ฐ๐ญ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ฏ ๐๐ข๐ป, ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ต ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ญ๐ช๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต. ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ช๐ต ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐บ ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ข๐ช๐ฅ ๐ ๐จ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ธ ๐ฐ๐ญ๐ฅ, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ๐ด ๐ญ๐ช๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต.
"I didn't realize my hair changed"
"What happened to you, Mika?"
I could trust Raz, he was like a brother to me.
"You won't believe in what I am about to say, but trust me."
I told him almost everything, the man who killed himself in my hands, my life in another world, my theories about myself, the dagger, everything except for my promise. He stood there seated just hearing everything, and when I finished he kept quiet.
"You think I'm crazy, don't you?
"Iโฆ I don't know, what you told me is a lot of craziness, but it explains some things, you missing for a day, the blood on your clothes the other day, your hair, and your cooking which was shitty, but it may be just craziness, you may have killed some guy and painted your hair, and lied to me all those years about cooking" he answered
I took the dagger hiding inside my pants legs and put it on the table. He looked a bit surprised and scared.
๐๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ต, ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฌ ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ญ๐ช๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ข ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฏ๐ช๐ข๐ค ๐ฃ๐ณ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ข ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ญ๐ช๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด. ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ต ๐ ๐ฌ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ธ ๐ช๐ต ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ถ๐ด๐ฆ๐ง๐ถ๐ญ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฃ๐ณ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ช๐ต.
"This is the dagger I told you about, if this isn't proof enough, I ask you if you believe I could kill someone and do everything you told?"
"Noโฆ I believe you, more than belief, I trust you, as you said, I don't think you would lie to me something like that"
We then started to talk about Earth about everything, how it was there, the differences between here and there, technology and politics, he looked interested in many things.
"You said your old world was more advanced, can't you use this knowledge to make money?"
"It's not easy like that, this world is not that behind in technology, It's like two hundred years more or less, and I wasn't formed in the field of enginery."
"I didn't get this last part"
"I didn't study how to make things, I may know the principle behind things but don't know how to create it"
"So what the fuck you studied?"
"Politics, economics, sociology"
"what?"
"I studied about people!"
"COULDN'T YOU STUDIED ANYTHING MORE USEFUL!!!" said him shouting in a low voice
" I WASN'T EXPECTING TO COME TO THIS WORLD!!" I answered the same way
"Shhh, you will wake up Anya!"
"you were the one who started shouting!"
"But what about the food you made can't you sell it? that food you made was something else?" said Raz changing the direction of the talk.
"It would be possible, but no one would buy, people like us normally wouldn't have the money or time to buy it, so we would have to sell it to the wealthy, but we don't have the money to start a business like that, and even so they would buy food of some guys of the slums, and this food I've made it's possible it already exists in this world."
"Why do you think this? I never saw this food before."
" This world has cultures on its own, but they share similar patterns with some cultures at Earth, for instance, the people's names of Kruschev sounds like the people's names of Eastern Europe at Earth, and the food is also similar, so it's possible the pasta I've made is already a normal dish in another country, and the sauce used in another, but it's not guaranteed.
"Do you have any idea to make money?"
"It's not like to make money, but I was thinking of organizing a strike"
"A strike?"
"If all employees of one factory stop working, the factory doesn't make anything, and as such it makes a great loss to the owner, we can use this fact to bargain better work conditions or increase payment.
"If the point is to make a loss to the owner wouldn't be easier just to break the machines?"
"No, the owner would just substitute the machine for ones newer and even better, the power of the strike is in the union of workers to achieve a common goal.
"So let's make one at work"
"it's not that simple, even if we were to organize one it wouldn't work, the unemployment is so on the rise, that they would probably fire everyone and hire the people in front of the factory, they would have a loss since they were using inexperienced people, but they would break the strike, and in some weeks it would normalize."
"So why you had the idea of a strike?"
"What we gonna do is a Total strike, if every worker of Kraven stops working, there aren't people enough to fulfil the empty spaces of the factories, and our bargain chip grows larger, probably, the Godking himself will have to intervein."
And we talked a lot more that evening.