Chapter 25
1858 Words
CHAPTER 25
“Here is the soup that I cooked,” Zonia said. She was holding a wooden tray with six bowls of soup made from carrots, tomatoes, and potatoes. Its smell was ghosting around the house, making each other’s cold tummy hungrier.
“It smells delicious,” Yosef said and she rushed to be 0ne to get his soup. “It’s been three days since the winter had started. It’s dangerous for us to leave the hut. It is freezing outside. Even though we use expensive blankets that we bought from the market, I can’t help but to still feel cold.”
“Am I the only one who’s not feeling cold throughout the winter?” Azrael proudly asked.
“Of course, you won’t feel cold. You’ve been hugging me every night.” They all laughed at Hideo’s confession. “You even told me while you were sleeping that I am your mother.”
“Did it happen? I don’t remember when that happened!”
“I also saw it. Hideo was in trouble falling asleep because you’re hugging him and touching parts of his body. Your voice is so loud when you were sleeping.”
Azrael’s face turned red. He didn’t know he does that every night. What does he look like when he’s hugging Hideo.
Aragorn thought of Sphyra and Burn. He wished they were okay. He brought them blankets and food throughout the winter. There were only a few more days till the winter ends. He grabbed a group from Zonia’s tray. He didn’t enjoy the taste. He was too focused on thinking about Sphyra, Burn, and his parents. He hoped they were fine and they were doing good.
“Would you mind if I ask you how old are all of you? I would like to know if I’m older or younger than any of you,” Zonia said, breaking the laugh and embarrassment that Azrael was feeling after Hideo’s confession.
One by one they answered her question. Leo was the oldest and he aged thirty. Azrael and Aragorn were the same at twenty-three. Zonia is twenty-two and she’s a year older than Hideo. The youngest of them is the sixteen-year-old, Yosef.
“Winters is boring. We are stuck in this hut for one week. We should play a game or tell scary stories to kill our boredom,” Azrael suggested. “Do you know about the story of the woman in a white dress?”
It caught their attention. They hadn’t heard that story. That wasn’t familiar to them, but for Azrael, he knew it pretty well. He remembered how the story haunted him when he was a young boy. They all shook their heads, wanting Azrael to tell the tale.
“Older folks said that there was a woman living in the Garden of Pleas that she wears a long white dress. She is alone and crazy after her husband died in a war that happened. They said she sings creepy and demonic songs which the folks don’t know. One day, she died. They said her soul is traveling around the villages and she’ll sing you creepy songs while you are staring on her petrifying face.”
“Is it true? I don’t want to hear another woman singing,” Yosef said. He’s the only one who got scared with the story. He can face any rebel in the world except for ghosts.
Hideo calmed Yosef by caressing his back. “No, it isn’t true, Yosef. Azrael is just scaring us and it didn’t work on us.”
“Hideo’s right. It is not true. I’ve been living here in the garden for most of my life and there was no woman in white dress.”
“It’s up to you if you believe my great grandmother told me that it is true!”
“Enough with unrealistic stories. Take care of yourself and take a lot of rest. After the winter we should continue our training. Each of your were stronger than that you are in the first place. After a week of practicing, I will let you take a break for a week. You must be missing your family.”
Their faces celebrated into smiles. They thought it will be a long time before they face their family again. In the training ground, they weren’t allowed to see their family for five years of training. They must be lucky that the king had chosen them to become the companion of the prince.
“How about me? I don’t have a family. I don’t want to go back,” Zonia said.
“You can join me back to the palace and stay there while others are having a vacation.”
“Okay, Your Highness.”
They continued on narrating stories that happened to them when they were a child. They talked about their family and the friends that they had back then when the door slammed open. Freezing air covered the whole hut along with two black wild boars ready to attack the six of them.
“Are you okay, Your Highness?” Lolita asked Queen Amira the moment she arrived in her room. The queen was cold and was covered with thick blankets. The king wasn’t by her side because of the duties he had to do for the palace. Usually, the queen was having difficulty every time the weather was cold. She can’t stand very long frosty weather and spends most of her day in the room.
“I’m fine. Don’t worry about me, Lolita. How about you? Are you not cold? You’re even not wearing thick clothes for winter.”
“I’m used to cold weathers, Your Highness. When I was a child, we suffer from chilling weather without expensive blankets in our home. I don’t feel cold at all, Your Highness. All that I care about is you. Do you want me to cook soup for you, Queen Amira?”
“Yes, bring me a soup. Also, please check on Dina. She wasn’t getting out of her room since the start of winter. She’s weak when it comes to winter and easily gets flu.”
“I will do it, Queen Amira. Take a rest for now while you are waiting for me and the soup.”
She nodded and she left the room. She headed to the kitchen and prepared two soups made of mostly pork. She placed it on a tray and headed on her way to the queen’s room. The queen was already sleeping so she left the soup on the side table beside her. She walked to Dina’s room. She brings her food in the past few days but it looked like she wasn’t accepting it.
Without knocking, she entered the room while she’s holding the tray with a bowl of soup. Dina was lying on her bed while cuddling herself. She’s freezing because of the weather. She even had a difficulty in eating. What a pity to her!
“Who are you?” she asked in a shivering voice. She moved her head to where she saw Lolita holding a tray with a bowl of soup on it. “Why are you here?”
Lolita didn’t answer. She knelt beside Dina’s bed and touched her neck. It’s hot as a phoenix’s breath. “You’ve been covered with a lot of blankets yet you still have a fever. Such a weak woman.” She said and added a blanket to cover her. She saw a piece of clothing besides the bed. She dipped it on a pail of cool water and placed it on her forehead.
“What is this? Why are you doing this?” Dina said annoyed, but she didn’t move. What Lolita did to her made her at least better.
“I cooked a soup for you. If you can’t sit up, I’ll be the one to feed you.”
“No, I can!” Immediately, she stood up. Still covered in blankets, she reached for the bowl of soup and its spoon. “You shouldn’t be doing this. You should let me die.”
“Yes, I’m killing you and there’s a poison in that soup.”
Dina was startled after tasting one spoon of the soup. It was great and she can’t put it down.
“Just kidding. I don’t do poison anyone.” She grasped both of Dina’s arms. “Listen, even though you’re a wicked daughter of someone, I don’t kill people and animals like you.”
“What? Do I look like an animal?” Using her right hand, Dina touched her face as she grew hair in her face.
“Fool.” Lolita laughed hard.
“Helping me doesn’t mean that we are friends. I know you’re pulling a competition on me and you wanted to be the queen’s favorite. Now that I’m worthless to her, there’s a high chance that she’ll remove my position as her personal servant. It is all because of you!”
“Why does it became my fault? I’m just helping you, Dina. If you think I’m making friends with you, don’t be delusional. I don’t care if we’re not friends, but I care if you die with fever. Don’t say that the queen doesn’t like you anym0re because she asked me to also bring soup for you.” Lolita stood up, leaving Dina with her soup. “I have to go. I’ll come back later for the bowl and spoon. Sleep if you have to but don’t wait for me.”
She walked to the door with the tray.
“Wait!”
“Why?”
“Did the queen really said and mean it?”
“Yes.”
A smile formed on her face. She thought the queen doesn’t look at her after Lolita became her personal servant. Now that she knew she still needs her, she somehow felt better. “Lolita,” she called again before Lolita leaves the room. Lolita faces her with an expressionless face. “Thank you.”
She smiled back at Dina and left the room. She managed to make that wicked servant say that magical ‘thank you. People change for the better, she believed.
- Writer
