Difficult Times | part 2

Layla had finally moved in with someone, this would have made her happy, if she was oblivious to the real world that is.

She had learnt in multiple occasions that the world isn't a safe place, people don't give others something without collecting something in return.

For this reason she had to be cautious of who she had just accepted the helping hand from, especially when she didn't know who or what the mysterious figure was.

While Layla was trying as much as possible to study her benefactor, the figure was making a meal.

She smelt the aroma coming from the kitchen which made her stomach rumble, since she had not eaten any food or drank any water for days.

Most of the time she had been staying on the streets she never begged anyone for anything, because of her pride as a princess.

Some would see her, pitying the condition of the poor girl, they would drop some money next to her so she wouldn't starve.

A lot of times people stole the money she was given, this made her develop a strong survival instinct so she wouldn't be taken advantage of.

Layla would always try to remain strong, but she couldn't hold herself sometimes, she hadn't ever gone through this, she didn't even know how the world worked, she was just pushed into it to fend for herself and learn the hard way.

She was tired but couldn't bring herself to take her own life when remembering the words her mother always said.

"Never give up hope, be positive, and you will always find a way.

So she held onto those words tightly because it was one of the parting gifts her mother left her before dying.

There were Difficult Times indeed

Back to the present, some minutes had passed and the mysterious figure had finished preparing the meal, it had bought two bowls of rice one for it and one for Layla.

During this whole ordeal Layla had never heard the voice of that mysterious figure which made her wonder if her benefactor was mute.

The figure passed a bowl to Layla and also sat down to eat it's own share of the food.

Layla didn't just dig in as hungry as she was, she had to check if there was anything wrong with the food.

Seeing and understanding what was going on the individual took a spoonful of rice out of Layla's bowl and ate it.

Signalling to her that the food was okay and nothing had happened to it even though it had ate out of her food.

Layla would have waited a little bit longer but she was just too hungry.

Taking a spoonful of rice herself, she put it in her mouth and swallowed, waited for some minutes and saw nothing had happened to her.

She rushed the whole food and stretched the plate out asking for seconds.

She was about to retract it seeing she just acted inconsiderate but the mysterious figure took the plate from her, went to the kitchen and came out with another big bowl of rice, dropping it in front of her.

This time she just dug in, not wasting any time at all, but under the mask of the mysterious figure there was a big smile on it's face.

They had finally finished the meal and Layla was filled up, the figure had signalled Layla to follow behind.

She was taken to a room where she could sleep, seeing this Layla got teary all of a sudden.

She had been sleeping on the streets for a long time, the cold pavement of the Street and nothing to cover herself with, even though this wasn't her first time seeing a bed she was so happy and grateful she was able to have an encounter with her benefactor.

It was late at night, she was also in the room and was about to sleep, when she heard a knock on the door.

The door was opened and it was her benefactor, who had bought a towel and some nice clothes for Layla to change into.

She had totally forgotten, she hadn't been able to take a bath since she had reached here.

So she took the towel and clothes and bowed to the figure, she hurriedly entered the bathroom after that to clean herself up.

After that was over, she went back to the room to take a good night's sleep.

Early in the morning she woke up, she thought all that had happened was just a dream, but she would have liked for it to be true.

She stood up ready to start her daily routine of walking on the streets but saw a change of scenery.

It was the room she had dreamt of, was it actually real?, what was going on?.

She pinched herself to wake up but only felt a tingling sensation of pain but still in the room.

This made her smile genuinely for the first time in a long time, she hadn't smiled after the deaths of her mother and brother always wearing an expressionless face.

She went downstairs after some minutes of reminiscing about the past, upon getting downstairs she saw food on the table which was already prepared for her, with a small note next to it which read "I'll be back soon".

It didn't take her time to know who would have left the note on the table, sitting down she ate her meal and was filled up.

That was over, but there was nothing she could do so she headed outside.

The house was located inside the forest so it was easy for her to take note of many things, especially how nature was nurtured itself.

She saw squirrels, rabbits and other animals while watching the scenery.

Layla continued to watch the scenery with awe, when she spotted someone in the distance, she ran to the place only to see the mysterious figure in an open area.

The figure was training, using the sword to train, it was a beautiful sight to behold as the sword felt like an extension of it's arm.

The figure trained with elegance and poise, she hadn't seen this style of fighting in a long time.

This made her question the background of this mysterious figure even more, since there were only a handful of people who knew this type of sword art.

She watched as the figure trained and trained and watched in awe, this was beautiful.

Some few hours passed, but she didn't even notice, she was so engrossed in the moves of the sword wielder that she wanted to learn it at all cost.

Time continued to move and after some time the sword wielder put it's blade back into it's sheath.

The figure finally noticed Layla who was hiding behind a tree, she came out seeing she had been noticed and bowed to the figure.

"Please teach me the sword"

The figure was dumbfounded, this were the first words she had ever said to the figure but that wasn't what caused the confusion.

What caused the confusion was why she would want to learn how to use a sword?, wouldn't she have liked to have a peaceful life instead.

Layla noticed the figure hadn't answered, so she continued.

"I know I am unfit to learn, but I promise I will work hard until you deem me worthy"

She looked up showing the burning passion in her eyes.

Any warrior who saw this kind of passion burning in someone's eyes won't be able to refuse.

The figure had finally nodded after some minutes of pondering, which made Layla happy, but one thing she knew was that from there henceforth she wouldn't have it easy anymore, most would have cared for the sweet life but not Layla.

They headed back into the house to eat their lunch and converse.

Layla was the only one doing the conversing though since the mysterious figure had said nothing since the time it met her.

This continued until it was evening where they ate their dinner and went to bed.

She slept early so she would be able to wake up in time for the training as she didn't want to be late on her first day.