Vera awoke in her own room not sure how she got there, the last thing she remembered was riding home with her new friend Dan. Did he meet her father? When would she get to see him again? At the thought, she jumped out of bed and ran downstairs.
Her father was looking over a large dagger, the one she'd been playing with the day before. But she had left that at the old castle. "How'd you get that?" she asked.
"Your friend left it for you."
"He stole it?" she asked in shocked horror. He'd promised he wasn't a thief.
"No, it was considered trash, and so belonged to no one, so it's not stolen. Consider it a parting gift, I'll even fix it up for you," he said as if that was a great thing.
"Parting? But he's coming back, right?" she asked pleading with her eyes.
"No." her father said simply.
"But he said he was going home not running away, he said he'd come to visit me, and play with me, and teach me to read," she said sadly.
"I'm sure he hoped he could, but he won't be able to leave again."
"Why?" She asked utterly confused.
"It's just the way of things. He's too young to be off on his own and his family won't want him down here." he said as if that should make the hurt go away and things would be fine.
"But we're friends. And we don't have any others here," she complained.
"You'll both make more," he said matter-of-factly.
"That's not fair." she whined.
"Life isn't fair, go get your things for school we leave shortly."
She ran back to her room crying but collected her things and wiped her face clean before going back downstairs. They walked to school in silence, and she took a fortifying breath as her father whispered in her ear to be strong and find a way to make a friend without words. To show kindness and patience.
She went back, head held high. "Look the mutes back." One boy said but she ignored him and sat down near the back of the girl's side. She did her best to do everything the teacher asked but she also paid attention to everyone else. And she noticed something, they all had small ways to communicate without speaking.
The teacher pointed and gave looks, the boys nudged each other, nodded at girls, and grinned. The girls often passed notes and seemed to have whole conversations with their eyes. They looked from a friend to a boy and back before rolling their eyes, one fluttered her eyes at a boy and then giggled making him blush but neither shared a word, yet they had shared something.
She found herself distracted at times studying the other kids and at lunch she sat near the girls her age and began attempting small communications like a wave and a smile. One girl smiled back and patted the ground beside her. She sat and ate while listening and watching the other girls. From where she sat, she could also hear some of the boys complaining, complaining about having to eat their vegetables.
Northerners didn't eat a lot of vegetables and her father always packed her meat and cheese. So getting an Idea after watching several of the girls trade food she went up to the boys with her lunch and pointed at their vegetables and then at her food and looked at them questioningly.
"You want our vegetables?" one asked.
She nodded and offered her hearty sandwich halves. The two boys looked at each other and then smiled. "Sure!" they said taking a sandwich half each and giving her their vegetables. She smiled and sat back down next to the friendly girl and ate her new lunch with interest.
Over the next few days she continued to watch others and learn more ways she could communicate without talking and people were beginning to talk to her more and treat her nicer. Not everyone of course, but some.
Then one afternoon a messenger in fancy robes knocked on the school door. "I have a message and a delivery for a student named Vera." The man said. Everyone stared in shock, looking between her and the strange man in fancy clothes.
She shrugged her shoulders in confusion to say she didn't know what was going on either but raised her hand. He handed her a fancy letter with a red wax seal. Instead of a stamped symbol, it had a crude tiny sketch of the old castle/wall where she had met Dan and she smiled. Careful not to break the seal so as not to ruin the sketch she peeled the paper back opening it.
The letters were not what she was expecting. They were written in perfect northern script and she could read them just fine. "Sorry, it took me so long to write to you but I realized you would probably have trouble reading my first letter and I don't know the northern script very well so It took a long time to write." She smiled at the thought. How did he know this language? They must have more in common than she had thought.
"I wanted to thank you for your help and your friendship, and also for the food. It's not much but I have sent a few books to help you learn to read and write Centrisian better. I'm sorry I have been unable to visit, I am working on a plan that will hopefully allow me to come to see you soon. Hang in there and good luck, I hope you are doing well. The messenger will wait for you to write a reply if you want. Thanks again, your Friend," and in Centrisian he wrote his name "Dan."
She looked up at the messenger who stood waiting "do you wish to send a reply?" He asked.
"She can't write." Someone said.
But she nodded and he handed her a piece of parchment far nicer than anything she had ever written on. And a fancy quill with ink. Everyone was staring at her and she carefully folded her letter and put it under her lunch.
Then leaning over her page to hide her northern script she wrote a reply in messy writing. "Thank you for the books. I hope I can see you soon. I am doing good. I hope you are good. Then she signed her name in centric too since she had learned it and was quite proud. She folded it up and handed it to the man who nodded and handed her the books.
"If there is nothing else, I will deliver this right away." He said with a small bow. She shook her head. He nodded and left.
Then the classroom erupted into noise. People asking questions and offering speculation. For once she was glad she wasn't allowed to talk she could get away with simply shrugging her shoulders or shaking her head.
Luckily the teacher recovered from her shock after briefly examining the books as if they were holy relics. They did seem in far better condition than the few they had in the classroom. but books weren't that rare were they? Her father had quite a few.
Either way, She was very happy, her friend hadn't forgotten about her and maybe they could play again soon.