23 Reunion

"Umm.. Hi." A girl stepped out of the house the coughing sound came from earlier. "Oh right. I haven't introduced everyone yet! This is Kiyoshi, but we call her Kiyo and this is Lyla, she was the one who faked the coughing earlier." "It's nice to meet you, I'm Cecilia, Cecilia Cross." Miya stared at me for a bit "You have a last name!" She exclaimed. "Yes. Is there anything wrong with that?" "You didn't know? Only nobles or people with important parents have last names." I should have just said my first name! Why do I have to be so stupid sometimes! "This is kind of awkward to say but, I don't know who my parents are. They could be dead or maybe the're off somewhere doing something important enough for them to abandon their daughter." It's not exactly a lie, just that I know what happened to my parents, but to make it more convincing it's better to sound unsure. "Oh... I'm sorry for making you answer. Let's not talk about sad things! I'll show you around the village!" Miya grabbed onto my arm and started running towards the town centre.

(Next bit is mostly repeated so I stuffed it all in one chapter. Feel free to skim through it if you can still remember the first few chapters)

Miya started showing me around town. Maybe I was just pitying her but, I felt bad for Miya. Her parents worked at the capital, so she barely ever saw them and unless she could prove herself to worthy to work (since it was difficult for women to get jobs) , she'd probably have to stay in this small village for the rest of her life. "Have you ever considered leaving this town?" I accidentally let that question slip out, without thinking about how Miya would feel. "Eh? Leaving? Hmm, I've never considered it. This village is the place my parents first met, so I've never wanted to leave." I could tell by the tone of her voice, she was lying. Kiyoshi seemed to have overheard my question. She pulled Miya aside talk.

Later that night I headed over to Kiyo's house. Kiyo had to go buy diner so she left me at her house alone so I could go see my room. On my way there, I heard a voice. I guess I look shocked beacause she immediately started apologizing for scaring me. "Who are you?" I asked since it was dark and I couldn't see clearly. "Umm... hi.." It was Lyla. Seems like she's a bit socially awkward. Suddenly the front door opened, Kiyo was back. "Lyla! I didn't know you were coming over! May I ask who let you in?" Kiyo said sarcastically. "I didn't think you would mind! After all, I'm just getting the book I 'forgot'," Lyla answered coping Kiyo's sarcastic tone.

Huh? I guess Lyla is only socially awkward around people she didn't know. The two of them continued to argue. Even though their words weren't directed at me, ouch, these words must have burned more for them if even I could feel it. This is a good example of why you shouldn't judge a book by it's cover. I excused myself from the pair who were quarrelling like a married couple.

I found the room I would be staying for the night. It was small and a bit dark, but was very tidy and well cleaned. I had no belongings to unpack so I just took off my shoes and crashed onto the bed... "Hello? Miss Cecilia, are you in there?" Someone was knocking on my door. I forced myself up and walked over to open the door. "Were you sleeping? Sorry for waking you up, we're eating dinner, would you like to join us?" "Thanks Kiyo, I'll be down in a bit. I was slightly worried about eating food I have never seen or tasted before. I saw the farm earlier when Miya was showing me around, I recognized a few of the plants so I wasn't panicking. I headed downstairs. "Sorry for making you guys wait for me. What's for dinner?" Miya, Lyla and Kiyo were all sitting at the dinner table. Miya got a mat for me to sit on. "We're having chicken soup with various vegetables and some wheat cakes," Kiyo replied. The chicken had a more brownish color and the wheat cake was more like whole wheat bread, also soup here was cooked by heating the water with a red hot stone, other than that, everything tasted like you'd expect it. "Thanks for dinner, it was delicious." When I was about to head back to my room, Miya stopped me...

-Repeat (part 2/3) End-