The next day, Edmund went back into a full swing of work. Things weren't easy within the kingdom, and his responsibilities were endless.
He left before Nalsy woke up, but he brought her a few new books on his way back, leaving them on the table for Nalsy to find in the morning.
Dinner was, once again, waiting for him.
He ate and cleaned and then rushed to get some rest, passing by Nalsy's bedroom, which was engulfed in silence.
The next evening, Edmund returned to yet another dinner and a pile of books that Nalsy finished on the table.
It became their thing, they weren't getting in each other's way, and they were both happy with how things were going.
Over the following week, Nalsy felt very guilty for not being much of a use, but she tried to compensate by cooking and cleaning. And she read and studied about Lumen every chance she had. Lumenian script was very different to the Latin alphabet, which posed a challenge, but at least spoken language was similar enough. It was interesting for her to learn that Lumenian somehow had more letters in their script to express the varied sounds of the words that would otherwise be spelt the same in English. For example, read or lead were very different to read and lead.
Edmund disappeared for several hours each day, never mentioning a word of what he was up to. Sometimes he would come back covered in dirt, and some days he came back as clean as he left.
Nalsy knew better than to ask any questions. She was happy to live in the bliss of her ignorance, and it made staying out of his way a lot easier.
As Nalsy's condition improved, and as she learnt how to move without catching on her brace or cast, she felt more comfortable tackling the more demanding chores.
One day, Nalsy braved to come out into the garden, and after the deep self-motivating talk, she tackled the weeds that were overgrowing throughout where the lawn should be.
As the autumn set and temperatures decreased even further, the cold ground became rigid, and weeds were even harder to pull out. But Nalsy was too stubborn to give in, pulling at them with her whole body weight.
She knew that she couldn't just leave them as ever since she came here, they were an absolute eyesore, and they bugged her too much for her to live next to them peacefully.
As she fell to the ground as a thick stem broke, at last, she noticed from the corner of her eyes that someone had come up to the fence.
"Hello," the woman said with a smile.
"Hello", Nalsy replied cautiously, standing up and facing the woman. The woman was at least a couple of years older than her. She had her brown hair, which had few grey strands, tidily put in a bun. She wore a plain dark grey dress with a brown cardigan over it. There was some simplicity to her and her dress.
"I don't think I've seen you here before." the woman continued.
"I'm new here" Nalsy started to feel a little nervous at a stranger approaching her. She never was good with people, and now she spent nearly two weeks in seclusion, besides Edmund, who would be happy to live in complete silence. Since the events from that fateful day, Nalsy's anxiety seemed to be getting worse.
"You're from Earth, aren't you?"
"Yes?"
"Sorry, it's an odd way to start a conversation", the woman giggled. "I'm Anita. My husband is from Earth, hence I can tell. You have a funny way of dressing." Anita looked down at Nalsy's clothes which were a white blouse tucked into a black pair of trousers, a plain black jacket and her grey boots.
"Oh..." Nalsy was taken aback by the woman's remark. "hi Anita," she decided to ignore it as she was now well aware that wearing trousers wasn't considered normal for women in Lumen. She chose not to get upset over it.
"I was wondering. I live just in that green cottage, which makes us neighbours. Also, I know how lonely and homesick you might be, so I thought that it'd be nice if you came over for a tea some time." Anita seemed a little flustered as she babbled.
"That sounds very nice" Nalsy's nervousness vanished within a second, and now she tried to contain her excitement. Anita was right, Nalsy grew to feel increasingly lonely over the past few days, and an offer to meet her for a tea was like a blessing.
"I'm afraid that I do have two rowdy kids."
"That's fantastic" Nalsy smiled at Anita.
"I don't think I caught your name."
"It's Nalsy."
"That's great. Would you like to come over for tea this afternoon?"
"That'll be great."
"What would you say about 14:00? Just give us a knock."
"Sure, I'll be there" Nalsy couldn't stop smiling.
"Don't worry about any odd looks here. People are scared of new things, especially during those dark times." Anita tried to be encouraging.
"I'm not too worried," Nalsy said quickly.
"You are making this house look so much more loved," Anita said while looking around the garden.
"Thank you"
"Sir Gray needed a woman's touch to spruce it up. What is he like in person?" Anita couldn't stop her curiosity.
"You mean Edmund?" Nalsy suddenly realised that she didn't even remember his surname "he's quite alright."
"Ahh... if you ever need help, my house is always open," the woman said mysteriously before saying her goodbyes and walking down towards her home. Nalsy stood there, watching behind her and musing over their conversation. She contemplated whether going for that tea was a good idea, but she concluded that there was no chance someone like Anita would want to hurt her.