The knocking continued ...
Knock, knock ....
"HELLO are you alive in there". said the voice beyond the door.
"Yes, we will be with you in a moment!"
Rullia called out.
We approached the door, in my mind I was trying to figure out who it was?
The voice is one I am familiar with, but I could not recall the name.
Rullia reached for the door and as she turned the door handle, the door opened with a creak.
Once we had opened the door, the person who was calling was standing just before the entrance.
In his hand was a leather pouch, with its dark brown colour it stood out against his light beige coat that almost touched the ground.
Looking up from the lower half of the coat I concentrated on the face of the visitor, with a gasp I stood back in shock!
"Governor Melt" I asked after regaining my composure.
"Who" asked Rullia .
"Ah yes it is I, the Governor."
"I am Gallen Melt, are you the new resident of our town ? " Gallen asked as he gestured with the pouch .
"Yes that is correct, I'm Rullia Lavender it's nice to meet you Governor Melt."
Rullia replied.
"Ah I see, well in that case, please accept that it is the will of the village, please read it .
If the terms are agreeable to you, please come to town hall and register." He calmly said as he handed Rullia the document from the pouch.
He continued, "The Villagers had a meeting two nights ago. It was decided that you are not a threat and we would like you to live with us as a member of Burr."
He seemed happy based on his smile.
His face was wrinkled and his eyes looked small, but their sky blue colour made his face stand out with his white beard tied in four braids.
"Well, I must go, welcome to Burr Village Rullia Lavender and may your days be happy." With that he turned and started to walk away.
"Thank you!" Rullia said.
Just before he was out of sight he raised a hand and waved and disappeared into the forest .
"Well that was unexpected?"
"Indeed, I never thought you would get a visit from the Governor, considering it's a welcome and the handing of a letter."
I replied.
"Well at least I can stay here and I don't need to pack up!" Rullia said brightly.
She moved to the table, when opening the letter I watched as she read the contents, her face was expressionless until the last word.
She turned to me with a smile.
"It's all good here."
"Well that's a relief now I can move back home. Oh wait, my home is gone!"
I said in my most bitter voice.
"This is your home.
I have no idea what you're talking about."
Rullia said matter of factly.
I turned to her, then turned away and walked out of the room.
"Hey what's with that reaction?"
I yelled back. "I'm simply simply showing you how I feel by walking out, I'm not fond of being made fun of!"
Silence followed.
Perhaps I was too harsh?
It bothered me after I got no response.
I decided to go back and apologise, but when I went in I saw her still sitting with her head down.
Rullia seemed deep in thought, since she didn't notice my entry.
"Rullia I'm sorry, I guess the whole house thing is still a sensitive subject."
She turned to me and said, "I'm sorry too, it was a bit drastic to go about it this way but you were never in danger not once!"
Her face looked a little panicked which for some reason made me smile.
"Well I'm here so I guess it's all okay for now but perhaps in the near future you'll give me your reason for doing so?"
After a short pause she looked troubled.
Then said "I guess we will have a long talk about it in the near future."
I looked at her as she fumbled with her thumbs and smiled and said," When you're ready I'll listen."
Rullia finally turned toward me, and she nodded her head but turned her eyes away.
When I thought that was my queue to give her some time to think, Rullia said.
"My old village was just like this once, a place where being a witch was not an issue but one day that changed I'll tell you about it sometime."
Her voice trailed off towards the end and sounded sad, this must be a tough subject to speak about. I decided to leave it there for now.
"I'm heading out, I need to see about some work. As a fletcher I must check with the butchers to see if hunters need new arrows, although I make everything but the head so I suppose I'll need to visit the smith."
"Perhaps you can help me gather feathers and bleach and dye them for the hat makers?"
I turned to see if she heard me and she said. "That's fine, I'd like to take a walk with you."
With that she seemed better and her smile returned.
We both went to our rooms to get coats, boots and any other necessary items and with that we left.
The day was windy, as we walked we had to cover our faces to keep our eyes open.
We arrived at the entrance of Burr.
The town beyond was busy as usual with all the street vendor's, selling goods, some to use, some to eat.
Thanks to the wind we could smell the food being prepared, causing our bellies to rumble. I was the first to have the embarrassing sound rumble out.
The incident caused Rullia to laugh, unfortunately soon after her belly rumbled causing the witch to blush, her cheeks and ears turned crimson from light pink and she turned away!
"Sorry!"
"It's all fine after all I got to see your blushing face Rullia."
I called out with confidence.
"Shall we eat?" Asked Rullia.
"Let's get bread and meat. That place with the boar's head has fine meat and ale!"
I replied.
The old wooden building was tatty and dark with a black roof tiles and five chimneys and a large wooden boar's head.
The door was open so we went in.