It's a Girl!

The afternoon was wearing its end now but evening had not come fully. The earthy growing smell of the spring day hadn't left the air yet when Xhemin strolled pass the vast grassland.

"Summer!" She called, her voice echoed to the vast meadow. A long day had passed, and Summer had not been found. The laborers went to the fields to look for signs of the Little Missus horse and she went with them.

"Summer!" She called again and went further into the greenery. Half an hour later, she found herself alone under the thick shades of trees. She could still hear the voices of the laborers shouting and clattering everywhere calling Summer's name, but they were not somewhere visible to her. The thickness of the trees separated her from the flock that was looking for Summer.

"Little Miss!" the call for Summer's name turned into a call for Xhemin's name. The laborers might have found out that the girl who was with them, suddenly disappeared from their sight.

"I'm right here!" She shouted back to confirm that she was nearby, but no one came to fetch her where she was.

"Hey I'm right here!" She shouted again but to her terror, no one answered back. The voices of the laborers shouting now and then—calling for either Summer or her name were gone. Did she lose track of everyone?

She observed the place where she was, the sky was covered by the thick branches of trees and everywhere she turned to—she saw nothing but all shades of green and brown. She realized she was lost and it gave her some sense of worry; not for herself but for her companions knowing that they will definitely be reprimanded by the professor for losing her.

She strolled over the forest for a couple of minutes to look for a way out but after a while, she realized that it was hopeless, so she gave up.

She pulled the sleeve of her sweatshirt on to her shoulder and looked up—studying the trees that were towering around her. After few minutes, she started clambering one of the trees until she reached one of its branches. She moved further up ahead until she saw the orange sky peeking through the tree's branches. Only did she find out the sun was ready to set off.

From that viewpoint, she searched every direction to look for an exit, but she didn't find one. She realized she must be in the middle of a thick woodland in a hill and the chances of getting out before dark was little.

She closed her eyes and felt the surroundings. She didn't hear any signs of men roaming around nearby, but she noticed different creatures cluttering below in different directions.

"It's safe to stay up here for the night than down there" She thought.

She looked for a big branch up above where she could settle. As soon as she found one, she sat in there waiting for the night to succumb completely. She sat there motionless as she closed her eyes and continued to hear out the surroundings.

Xhemin, being a Rivendell student was well trained on survival techniques. These skills were something they were schooled to learn even before they were taught language and math. As she was the only girl in Rivendell, everyone treated her as a weakling at first and she hated it. So, growing up with that kind of discrimination, she made sure to be number one in all survival and physical tutelage under the academy.

Xhemin sat at the branch for few minutes with eyes closed.

"I hope it wouldn't rain, else I'm doomed" She mused to herself. She embraced her knees and let go of her hair that was on bun. Her thick long hair fell to her shoulders and covered her body. Somehow it gave her a little warmth.

"I'll just sleep through the night" She decided. However, before her consciousness tear off she heard something unusual. She heard a faint snap successively as if some switch had been flipped through.

"Switch? I'm not mistaken, I heard some switched being turned!" She immediately stood and looked for any lighted area in the middle of the forest.

"There!" Some distance far enough from where she was, she saw some light glimmering. She decided to check on to it, so she hopped from tree to tree. It was unwise for her to mount down the trees and walked in the ground for there were a lot of crawling live things down there. Also, the trees were not that far from each other and the branches were thick enough to carry her through. Besides, the light from the moon was clearer up above than down below.

It took Xhemin almost an hour or so to reach the place. She pushed the thick branches of the trees to clear the view and a glamourous sight welcomed her. There was a valley in the middle of the woodland and a big mansion loomed proudly in the middle of it. It was surrounded by bed of shrubs lined perfectly in the lawn and at its threshold stood the delicate marble fountain shooting streams of water into the air.

"Wew, its huge!" She said as she dazed at the beauty of the gem she found in the middle of the night.

Xhemin mounted down carefully from the last tree and found herself a little later in a courtyard. It was so vast and beautiful but more of labyrinth like. She walked into it slowly admiring the bushes, flowers and statues as she passed by. The view was mesmerizing!

"Barf! Barf! barf!" An aggressive bark distraught Xhemin from the view. Xhemin turned in an instant and saw a dog off-leash ready to attack her. As soon as she noticed it, it began to ran race toward her.

She ran instinctively when she heard the dog, but it caught her. Xhemin stumbled when the dog jumped out to her. She grappled through it and protected herself from a bite. She was about to use force to sway the dog away, but she noticed that it became friendly and licked her.

"Don't shot it's a girl!" A man shouted. Xhemin lifted her head and saw few men in black with guns approaching her.