Chapter Six
The next morning Nya woke up to Jasper pawing at her arm wanting to be fed. Nya looked outside and saw the sun beginning to rise and decided she better move. "Alright Jasper I'm moving, give me a minute" she says as she slowly rolls out of bed. Nya feeds Jasper and refills his water bowl with fresh water before she heads downstairs.
"Morning Mum", she says as she walks in the kitchen. Her Mum is stirring a massive pot of porridge and as she scoops some into a bowl for Nya she replies "Morning darling, how did you sleep?" "Not bad thanks" Nya replies as she pours honey on top of her porridge.
All of a sudden there is a lot of commotion outside the kitchen door "Here come the troops" Odette says as she serves up more bowls of porridge. In walks Evelyn, Nicholas and Sebastien who had just finished night patrol. "Good morning lovely ladies aren't you a sight to see after a long night" Seb says as he wraps his arms around Nya in a massive bear hug. Nya pats his arm as she eats quickly. "How was patrol?" Odette asks as the three newcomers sit down and start rapidly eating the porridge. "Nothing out of the ordinary" Evelyn replies. "the nights are just getting longer the bandits that had free run of the countryside why the war was on are rebelling. Nothing major as yet but we have to keep on top of it so it doesn't escalate." Nya's ears pricked up why she finished her bowl of porridge and started sipping the freshly squeezed juice her mother had placed in front of her.
Odette looks concerned at the mention of the bandits as she remembers first hand the horrible things they did to the farms why the Duke had no men to spare for patrol during the War. "Well it is great work you are doing. I know that everyone appreciates it more than you know." Odette turns and looks at Nya. "Shouldn't you be getting ready. You don't want to be late on your first day." Nya quickly drinks the last of her juice, everyone wishes het good luck on her first day, gives Seb a quick hug and her Mum a kiss on the cheek and begins running upstairs.
She quickly pulls her hair up into a tight bun except for one lock that falls down the side of her face and pulls her uniform on. Nya kisses a sleeping Jasper on the head and races to Elijah's quarters and makes it there just in time for Elijah to greet Nya and Kiara who is on the same rotation as Nya.
"Good morning ladies" a disheveled but somewhat put together Elijah says to them. I don't have much to ask of you other than to keep the fire going and general chores for today. I do need assistance later this week though with some bookwork that needs processing after the war for the library's records. Kiara shyly puts her hand up and offers to help with that. Elijah happily agrees before wishing them both a good day and he will see them soon.
As Elijah walks away Nya can't help but call out "excuse me sir can we have a word?" Elijah turns around and nods his head and jestures to his side study. "I'll be back in just a second" she says to Kiara as she walks into the study.
Elijah is standing looking out the window when Nya walks in " I'm sorry to bother your busy day sir but I just wanted to say I'm sorry for my actions and I believe we have gotten off on the wrong foot and I know you don't know me and I don't really know ..." Elijah turns around and holds up his hand to stop her talking. "Look Nya, I know that we come from completely different backgrounds. And you are right you don't know me just like I don't know you. But I can tell you this I'm pretty sure if we got the chance we could learn to work alongside each other amicably and maybe even one day become friends". Nya looks down at her feet as she feels his eyes looking at her. He made her usually confident self feel so unsure and like she is walking on air. Elijah continues "I accept your apology and willing to forget about all past interactions we have had". Nya looks up and locks eyes with him she slowly replies "Thankyou sir I appreciate that, I better go help Kiara". As she turns around Elijah asks "night or day?". " Sorry sir?" Elijah looks at her and says "do you prefer nighttime or daytime?". Nya replies "Night sir, the world is most peaceful". Elijah smiles and says "see we have something in common already. Also enough with the sir call me Eli".
Nya smiles at Elijah and replies "I guess we aren't too different after all" before she walks out of the room with a sense of warmth all over. She finishes her first morning working for Elijah with a biggest smile on her face keen to see him again hopefully tomorrow.