Two months had passed since Ravynne was first brought to Evania. Winter had set in and laid a thick layer of snow across the land. Most of the residents didn't leave the comfort of their warm homes except for necessities. Shop keepers cut their business hours and did their best to keep snow from piling up around their shops. Serin's office was no exception.
Thanks to the cut hours, Ravynne had more time to practice with Verlian. Neither of them had any issues with one another since he kicked her out those two months ago. Ravynne had learned not to rearrange the furniture, cooking was best left to Verlian, and light cleaning was her best route to stay on Verlian's good side. Now that their relationship was improving, Ravynne found herself enjoying his company and looking forward to their lessons more and more. Verlian was feeling the same way.
Ravynne's combat skills had improved immensely and she was mostly learning attack tactics now. Verlian had even gifted her a small dagger to use. The two of them sparred often now, although Ravynne was nowhere near skilled enough to overtake Verlian. The only tricky thing about their lessons taking place in the freezing cold was the danger caused by their sweat.
Verlian always made sure to cut their lessons short if Ravynne began to sweat too much. After some time, Ravynne picked up what he was doing and wondered why Verlian was never concerned for his own wellbeing. Whenever she would try to bring this up, he would casually change the conversation or just state, "It doesn't matter."
Today though, Verlian felt Ravynne deserved to know how well she was doing lately. After their training session, he stopped her before they parted ways. "Shadow, I think you've finally found your talent. You're doing very well and I can see how dedicated you are to this. Good work." Tears welled up in Ravynne's eyes and a smile stretched across her face from ear to ear.
"Thank you!" She jumped up to him and wrapped her arms around his neck, hugging him tightly, "If you're saying it, then it must really be true. I've never had a talent before! It must be because you're such a wonderful teacher!"
Verlian's heart pounded against his chest as he felt the warmth of her body pressing against his. He cleared his throat, "Release me Shadow." Ravynne let go and a light hue of pink spread across her cheeks. She stood with her hands behind her back, smiling sheepishly, "Sorry."
He shook his head, indicating that she didn't need to apologize. He placed his hand on the small of her back and gently guided her back to the village before leaving to survey the area.
Since Verlian's job was cooking, the two of them agreed that Ravynne's job would be to buy ingredients. However, today she was so happy from his compliment that she wanted to show her thanks. Thankfully, she's already learned from her past mistakes and wouldn't be making it herself.
Just as she had finished purchasing ingredients she felt a tug on her sleeve. It was Dino, who had a huge grin plastered on his face. "Oh, Dino! Are you headed home?" Dino nodded, "Yeah, Ashke and I just finished our patrol of the village!"
"Perfect, I was on my way to your house. Shall we walk there together?" Dino linked arms with her and began to pull her in the direction of his home. "Yeah! I'd love to go with you!"
Ravynne giggled and stumbled a bit, not expecting to be pulled so hard. "Vivi, I'm so happy that you get to stay here. I really wish that you could stay forever!" Dino exclaimed excitedly like a child who just arrived at their favorite theme park.
She thought for a moment. Up until now she hadn't thought about what she was going to do after she achieved her revenge. Would she be welcome to stay in Evania? It would be nice if she could… Just then it hit her, "Vivi?" she asked.
"Yeah! Ravynne is too long, Vivi is cute so I'll call you Vivi." Dino explained. She nodded, she actually quite liked the nickname and it made her feel more at home and more welcome.
Finally, they arrived at Dino and Serin's house. Dino was kind enough to open the door for her and allow her to enter first. Serin was there preparing dinner and she smiled at the sight of them. "Hey Ravynne! Welcome, I wish I had known you were coming, I would have made you some."
"That's alright, I actually just came to ask for a favor, but I see that you're already busy."
"Well, what's the favor? I can still help, this isn't like blacksmithing." Serin motioned to the vegetables and let out a laugh at her own joke. Ravynne smiled awkward since to her….it most definitely was the same thing.
"Today, Verlian gave me a really big compliment. He doesn't want me cooking, and we're getting along so well that I think it would be a really big mistake if I tried to do it. Still, I want to thank him for everything that he's been doing for me so I wanted him to be able to come home to a nice meal. Can you help me make it? I can do the chopping, I wouldn't leave you to do everything."
Serin nodded and smiled but for some reason, it didn't seem genuine. It almost looked as if she'd eaten something rotten and was trying to be polite. "Of course, that's not a problem Ravynne. I'm already chopping anyways so it's not too much more work."
The two of them got to work. Ravynne helped Serin chop the vegetables and scale the fish while Dino watched and cheered for them on the sidelines. The atmosphere was odd, however, with Serin being very short in her responses and seemed to be very cold and upset. Ravynne wondered if she had possibly burdened her by asking and cursed herself for not just turning around and going home once she saw Serin was already busy.
It didn't take too long for them to finish, but they did so with a beautiful looking fish stew. It smelled just as good as it looked too. "Thank you so much Serin. I really owe you one, this is goi-" Serin slammed the door in Ravynne's face before she could finish. Ravynne stood there shocked, not knowing what to do. Dino quickly opened the door, "Sorry Ravynne, the wind must've closed it but she said you're welcome! We'll see you tomorrow, have a good night!"
Dino turned to Serin after seeing Ravynne off. "Why did you do that? She was thanking you."
"You're too trusting of people, Dino. You can't see what a snake she is. She's trying to take everything away from us and you're practically letting her." Serin began to set the table and serve them their meal. "Vivi isn't like that Serin. Why do you say she's trying to take everything away from us? She's been helpful and kind to us." Serin ignored him and sat down to eat, "Hurry up and eat, you don't want this getting cold."
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Ravynne arrived back at the house and began setting up their dinner. While she's happy with how well it turned out, she can't stop thinking about Serin's behavior. "I should really apologize to her tomorrow, I should've have imposed like that." She thought. As she was finishing up, Verlian walked in.
"Verlian! Please, sit, sit!" Ravynne pulled out a chair for him and motioned for him to sit down. He followed her directions and stared at the bowl in front of him. It looked and smell delicious and he could feel his stomach growling as if it was demanding to have the food sent down to it. Ravynne sat down across from him and mistook his staring for nerves. "Don't worry! I had help and guidance! No houses were set on fire, and no pelts were ruined. I promise!" She smiled and held her pinky up, waiting to pinky promise him. He stared at her for a moment and ignored her pinky by immediately picking up his spoon and taking a taste of it.
Almost as soon as the serving hit his mouth he covered his mouth and began coughing. Ravynne stood up and ran over to pat his back, thinking he had choked. He waved his hand, motioning to her that he was fine and she returned to her seat. "Are you okay?"
"This is not edible, it's way too salty." He said, tears forming in his eyes as he did his best to suppress additional coughing. Ravynne looked shocked and quickly tasted it for herself. Her reaction was the same as his. Her shoulders slumped and a frown appeared on her face. Verlian did something he hadn't done before, "You've made an improvement though. It looks and smells good and you didn't destroy anything but my taste buds." Ravynne expected him to be upset with her, but his kind (if you can call them that) words didn't bring her any comfort.
She realized now, that Serin had sabotaged her. Ravynne wasn't the one that added any seasonings, it was Serin that did. That was the most painful thing about it. Not, that the meal turned out bad, that Verlian's resources were wasted again, or that they would go without dinner….it was that Serin betrayed her…..