"Thanks Cherry!" Daria picked up the clothes thrown on her face. She knew cherry is not being kind but only keeping them on their toes. Being Grover's wife, she can assert the same power as him, but women in this kingdom are barely considered as living beings and Cherry is more aware of Grover's wrath than her.
"I'm not running a charity, keep grover busy, and you can even get new clothes one day.." Daria can sense the meaning behind her words and can't stop herself from pitying a woman whose fate has been tied to such a cruel man. At least she has some freedom compared to Cherry.
Before she could turn to head her way, a sharp thud came from the ground as something dropped next to her.
"Take this as well. If you come alive, I won't have to condition someone else from scratch " it was a small black pouch..coins! She was stunned by the generosity Cherry had just shown, but when she turned to express her gratitude, Cherry had already gone inside.
Her heart was constantly on edge with all the surprising events thrown on her way since yesterday, her first real job of getting Dark Mountains mission, Cherry's generosity and her encounter with the stranger, which she still wants to keep aside just to be able to go through the day. A single mistake and she could go back to the cellar or worse, she would end up lying on the bed just like Ruby.
Still she needed a break to pull herself together. As the sun reached above the sky, It started to get hot, occasional wind still felt cooler. She stopped behind the cottage where they always come to pick dry fire woods. It's the edge of Troven Forrest. Vast, dense in places, full of wild lives, but here it's not dense enough to be dangerous. And useless enough to spare a piece of land which people would consider a barrier between them and dangerous animals. To be honest she preferred it that way. Those outside animals were much better than people inside a rotten kingdom.
She set down to check the content of the pouch, a few silver coins, a good looking dagger and a few medicinal herbs. She counted the coins. Holy shit! total 560, did cherry plan to run away? But where? right ! Where would she go? Where would they all go? This is the only place left for them.
Leaning on to the tree, she closed her eyes for a moment and immediately those furious eyes came back, demanding her attention. This time...she let it come. Her trembling lips whispered, "who are you?" her hand reached the hooded face but she only felt soft wind against her warm hands, the distance was crushing her, as a result tears slid from her eyes. How did this happen? What is she going to do if she won't find him? Or...would she ever find him?, and even if she did, then what? A royal knight and a lowly errand girl. A deep sadness settled within her.
"Come to me" Her eyes flew wide open as she heard those words...loud, husky, yet clear.
What was that? Did she just..?
"Who are you?" this time she shouted out loud.
"Where are you?.." No reply. Is she going mad? Was that only in her mind?
"Please..." she almost begged.
"Please? For what?" She turned to find Erich.
"You're crying.." she touched her cheeks to find them wet. He moved forward but stopped at a close distance.
"You said it yourself, nothing can be done. Is there anyone you're going to miss?" Erich's words made no sense but then neither were her tears.
"Guess we have to pity ourselves time to time as no one else would"
"Is that what you want? A pity?" Erich asked simply, looking straight in her eyes, trying to figure her out when she couldn't understand herself.
"What can I do, That's the only emotion left to give, rest I'll take into my grave" her words stopped him from asking any more questions, they stayed like that for some more time. While once again, mercilessly she had to push those feelings away.
"You've got to do some preparations for your trip. Let's get in" He turned. She grabbed the pouch and clothes before following him inside.