Take the time and breathe

After opening her eyes, she touched her pendant, the chain was in gold but was the chain in gold before? At the moment, she was not able to tell. This pendant was around her neck for so long that she didn't notice how the chain was. However, she realized it was pointless to think of it as if it was just a dream. A dream where she was someone important again, where someone cared for her, and that was a beautiful dream to her.

She didn't want to stand up immediately before she heard that Typhon was outside waiting for her. She finally decided to join him.

They went together to the office. The man that took her out of her cell was there. She understood that he was "The general". He gave a map to Typhon and the mission orders in an envelope.

"Typhon, I give you a little mission with not much payment as it is her first mission. Please, take care of her on this one and we will see later if I can give you something better."

Typhon nodded and they left immediately. On the way, Typhon opened the letter.

"We have to kill a farmer, he is suspected to be affiliated with the plague army. We may have some cadavers to fight on the place. Nothing serious, don't worry."

She heard the word: cadaver and her face became livid. A few years ago, nobody ever heard of moving dead and now it was like a normal thing to talk about. He noticed her expression and explained to her with a gentle voice.

"Of course, we have to be discreet. No witness. Nobody should know they exist"

The warmth of her thought from her dream dissipated brutally in her mind and led to sorrow. They reached the village after two days of travel. Typhon watched her seriously. Even though she trained very hard on her body in her cell, she was not in good physical condition.

"Aren't you tired after walking so much? It's your first mission, we could use a bit of rest."

She remained silent, following him. They took place in an inn. Typhon was concerned about her, he was a deeply nice man. He ordered two beers and brought one to her. Arja had never drunk alcohol before. She was only fourteen when she left the palace and had no opportunity to drink beer before as Ulrich was always there with her during the parties. She took the glass and tasted it apprehensively. That was a true surprise for her as she enjoyed the taste of the liquid. She finished her glass in one go. Typhon laughed to see her doing this.

"You never drank beer before? That's rare."

Arja didn't say anything to him before. She didn't feel comfortable talking. She felt a bit ashamed of her hoarse voice and preferred to keep silent. For some unknown reason, she felt more relaxed this evening. She thought that maybe the alcohol helped her. She wanted to ask him for a while why such a nice man was there with her but she was usually terribly scared of him asking her the same thing in return. This evening, she decided to not care.

"Why are you doing all this?"

Typhon was surprised to finally hear her voice, after so long. He simply thought she couldn't talk at all.

"So you can talk! I am glad to hear your voice."

Then his face became more serious.

"I joined the elite services to stop the plague. My young sister was contaminated by a partisan. I killed him and an agent came to me to propose I join them. Of course, I accepted, if I can help just one person to avoid tragedy, then I am happy. You will see, we are doing great and important things."

Arja listened to him carefully. She understood that she joined a kind of organization that fights the invader. The same invaders that destroyed her kingdom. After all, maybe this place was a good one for her.

Without realizing it, she was smiling. He stared at her for a while, she knew he wanted to ask her the same question. She decided to break the silence before he could do it.

"I am glad to be with you."

Then she stood up and went to her bedroom. He stayed there for a while. She climbed the stairs of the inn to the rooms, she felt dizzy. She placed her hand on the wall to guide her to her place. Once inside, she closed the door and slid down the wood to sit on the floor. A torrent of emotions suddenly broke her.

She cried with all the tears she could have in her watching the little star in the sky.

"Little star, what did I become?"