While we were by the fire, we all started chatting together.
"I found you on the gravel road covered in blood. If I'm thinking right, you come from far away. Tell me, son, who are you? Where do you come from?" said Daneel.
After hearing what the old woman said, she said the following in a slightly angry tone.
"Daneel, the young man doesn't look well. Let him rest for a bit. We'll ask him later. Are you trying to hide something from the fire? I didn't expect you to be in such a hurry," said Arwa.
After listening to what the old couple said, I said the following.
"Arwa, thank you for your kindness. I feel very well. I don't remember much about myself since I hit my head. I will try to tell you about myself anyway. My name is Aleksandu but I use the shortened form Alek. I lost my family and my job because of the war in the city of Parha and now I am both penniless and an orphan. According to what I heard from those around me, I heard that the opportunities were better in the city of Apsa and I decided to emigrate.
While I was on my way from Parha to the city of Apsa, I got exhausted and fainted. You already know what happened next. I survived thanks to kind-hearted people like you." I quickly told my life story without taking a breath. Of course, I didn't say that I was a traveler from another world. Although it was surprising to encounter people who looked exactly like people on a planet other than my own, I am sure that it would make it easier for me to adapt.
The old couple who heard my life story couldn't help but feel sad.
"Parha is a very far place from here. When I was young, I went there by ship and was there as a soldier. It was a beautiful place where many different peoples lived together. It is surprising that you traveled so far by land. The gods really wanted you to live. Your journey was full of many dangers. Wild animals, choking rivers, steep rocky mountains, cruel raiders who would do anything for money, despite hunger and thirst, you held on well. It is truly a miracle that I did not die," the old man said to the young man in surprise.
Hearing this, Arwa felt alarmed and sad at times as if she had experienced the journey herself. The woman said the following with tears in her eyes after listening to her husband's story.
"Oh my poor child, what a miserable life you have had. Fortunately, your journey is over, you are only 2-3 hours away on foot from the city of Apsa. War, you are such a big greedy monster that you swallow everything that is good." Tears like pearls started to flow from the woman's eyes. Daneel, who saw his wife in this state, hugged her for a while.
My heart ached when I saw this state of the woman. People really do become overly emotional when they get old. When they were young, the bad memories of the past were covered in fog, but in old age, this fog would disappear. We were coming face to face with the past. I wondered if I would be like them when I got old.While I was lost in my thoughts, Daneel made me focus on him again.
"I'm sorry young man, my wife's past memories came back. When she saw you, she thought of our dead son. We couldn't have a child, we had a son in our last year. I remember that day, it was the happiest day of my life. Anyway, our son was your age. He wanted to follow in my footsteps and become a soldier. He did his military service, but he left us at a young age. Our son's death made me, who was usually a cheerful person, quiet and secretive when necessary. We have been alone since then. Oh son, don't be sad, my wife has been very happy since you came, she only remembered the past. Sorry, we old people sometimes get stuck in the past."
The old man said these in a sad tone, as if he had gotten even older.
"I didn't take offense at all. Thank you very much for allowing me to enjoy Arwa's delicious food, your fire, and your water. If I had been outside in this cold, I would have definitely died. You are my angel of mercy." I said wholeheartedly, feeling grateful.
My words calmed the old woman down a bit.
"Did you like my cooking very much? I will prepare the best food I can for you. My dear, I haven't known you very long, but you are a very friendly person. You make me feel as if I have known you for a long time. You have an effect on people that I cannot understand." Arwa said.
Although her husband was silent next to her
, he agreed with what his wife said.
We chatted together by the fire until it got dark. The chat would be so sweet that we didn't even notice that time was passing by like water. In this world, people went to bed early or our old couple preferred to go to bed early, I wasn't sure. Since not everyone had their own bedroom, the places that the fireplace could heat were limited, so we all had to sleep in certain parts of the same room. Although sharing a room with someone else seemed uncomfortable, it wasn't that uncomfortable. I learned that people prayed to the gods before going to sleep. Gods were everywhere in this world. Compared to my old world, the people of this world were more religious.
I took as an example the saying, "Do as the Romans doin rome do as the romans." In order to gain behaved like they do, I prayed together and slept.