"You help me." she said while observing the bandages, room and the smell of medicinal herbs. "Why?"
"You must feel hungry." Amy said. "Your stomach wouldn't stop growling while you were unconscious." she says with a smirk.
The girl scoffed in response.
"I asked for food to be brought over. I hope it is to your taste."
Then a servant brought a tray to a nearby floor table.
After treating her, Amy had the room renovated to where her surroundings would look similar to her home. There are cushions made of feathers, furry textured rugs, a floor table and even her bed is lowered down. Luckily it is quite cheap to set up. The one inaccurate thing is the wooden flooring but they can't do anything about it.
She then ate with her bare hands much to the amazement of everyone. That girl isn't just hungry. She's starving.
"Miss, that meat almost looks raw. Are you sure it is okay for her to eat that." a nearby servant said with a look of doubt.
"It's fine. She won't suffer through that."
According to the fan book written by the author, Barbarians in this world have a functional appendix and can eat their meat raw if they want however, they prefer to slightly roast their meat for a bit for the delicious texture and flavor. In addition, they prefer to eat their other foods while it is fresh and ripe, and they don't eat things with too much seasoning, cooked foods and wheat because they are slightly gluten intolerant.
Amy also read somewhere that barbarians starved to death or suffered from illnesses because they cannot get used to the food that the slave traders and their owners feed them.
"Why have you helped me?" she asked while wiping her mouth before grabbing a napkin to clean herself.
"I wanted to help you because you are strong."
"What?" she says with an expression of pure doubt.
Amy can't help but blush heavily much to the confusion of everyone in the room.
I know it's stupid but that is Rufus's line in her flashback when he began winning her trust. She thinks pity is for the weak and if I say along the lines of "I feel bad for you" or "Because you are hurt" she will definitely reject it even if she is just a kid.
The girl laughed in response. "You think I am strong? Look at me. I am pathetic. You saw me at my weakest."
"Even beautiful flowers can grow from unsightly places."
The girl stopped to look at Amaryllis, small but regal, young but mature.
"I see." she says.
Alina is much smarter than she gave credit for at her age.
"As a member of the White wolf, I—"
"Stop! How do you know I am from White Wolf?" she has an intimidating glare in her eyes which got the guard to grab on to his sword.
Amy stopped them. "You can leave. I wish to talk to her alone."
"But miss-"
"She is nervous. If anything happens, I can easily cry for help."
The servants relented and walked out the door but left it slightly open. The girl is completely terrified. The sweat forming on her forehead shows that she is now scared of her position. Her eyes remind her of a hostile cub that is wary of humans.
"Your beads." Amy said and pulled them out from her pocket to give to her. "They symbolize your rank and the carvings has your name; Alina."
"Wha" she noticed her hair has been cleaned too.
"I'm sorry. We have to wash your entire body to prevent any fleas and other parasites. Please understand."
"How you know so much?" she warily asks after snatching the beads and reapply them to her hair.
"Not much, honestly. I try to learn as much as I could."
The barbarian tribes are wary but prideful and they do not wish to accept help from outsiders and if they are in a position in which they pay them back, they would do it under any circumstance.
"I know you refuse help because you feel indebted so here is what I would do for you and what you can do for me in return." Amy then pulled out a graphite pencil and a notebook and began writing.
"Naturally, you wish to go back home but even if I let you go, you wouldn't leave until you pay back your debt and make a full recovery. In addition, you wouldn't want to be taken away just to be enslaved again."
The girl was quiet but it looks like she understands.
"My father bought you from the auction because he knows you are a high-ranking member of your tribe and wishes to prevent an international crisis. He could probably send you to the King but if he does then it will result in some political complications in which the kingdom might benefit from but your people would not appreciate thinking it might be ransom."
Still silent.
"It might be better if you stay here for a full recovery and go back but like I said, you might be captured by slave traders again so it would be best to stay here until further notice."
"What can you do?" she asked.
"This is Solin where slavery is completely illegal and generally looked down upon. But that doesn't stop people from coming here to sell or buy them. It may be out of my family's jurisdiction but we do have some information on the slave trade but currently have trouble finding someone who is upstanding as well as powerful enough to help deal with this without getting the monarchy involved." Amy said. "But it will not be for long. You also wish to free your people who are also captured by slave traders, right?"
She then nodded absentmindedly. "I see."
Amy admits her adult side is showing in her vocabulary and could see that Alina is slightly confused. She is probably just going along with what she is saying.
Alina in the story has proven to be exceptionally skilled and intelligent, not just as a warrior but as a leader. Her only flaw is her poor judgement of character. After escaping slavery, she began planning carefully and freeing her people as well as other barbarians from other tribes, one by one, they form a coalition until they became a small army then a nation. Alina memorized all the slave routes, understood the fighting styles and strategies of her enemies and ambushed slave traders this way. She has proven extremely popular among her people and no one object when she overthrew Getel to form her own monarchy. If only she had rooted herself in her newfound country than trying to follow Rufus then she would have had time to shine.
"I think we wait for a couple months to a few years til we can let you go home safely. You will learn our write and read in our tongue. In exchange, you will be my maid for the time and I wish to know your tongue as well."
"You wish to learn my tongue?"
"Yes, and how to fight." she finished.
That got Alina fairly surprised.
"From what I had heard, women in your countries do not usually fight."
"That isn't entirely true. We do have female warriors in our lands but they are smaller in numbers compared to the men."
"You want to be fighter?" Alina asked.
"I want to learn how to fight. You are strong and I also want to be strong."
Violet in the original story grew up too sheltered and unaware of a lot of things. She is defenseless and was taken advantage of because of it. She needs to learn as much as she could so she could grow strong and stand up for herself.
"I can teach you to fight. Even children in my tribe know how to fight since infancy."
Of course they do.
"Do you accept?"
"Of course" she said.
"I will let you rest for now. You are still injured. We can talk about this when you get better." Amy said after seeing the girl go straight to sleep. It seems she is at ease now.
Amy heads to the mansion where she found her father waiting for her along with her mother. They looked extremely worried.
She smiled to her parents like the sweet five-year-old that she is. "Mother, father, I made a new friend."