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Zoe in a land of daydreams (which my teachers say I visit too often) |
"Are you awake yet, laddess?"
"For crying out loud, Ted. You call males lads, but you do not call females laddesses!"
"Yes I do."
"Well, you aren't supposed to! That's what I meant! And no, she ain't awake. I think she's dead, or sometin."
Azara blinked. Where the heck was she? What was going on? She could here the male voices above her, and when her eyes fluttered she could tell they were both middle-aged men with scraggly beards. One had red hair, though, the other brown. The brown-haired one had spoken first. So he was Ted? Azara really didn't care. She just wanted to know where she was.
Her eyes had trouble staying open. She was tired. Her body didn't want her to wake up just yet. But her mind did. So she tried to make sense of her surroundings.
She was in a room, next to a fireplace. The walls were wooden. Stools were set up against the wall on the far side of the room. A deer's head was on a plauge on the wall above the fireplace. Gray fur sat on the ground, a carpet made from wolf fur. Odd. Where was she?
"She's not dead, she's stirring! See Rob, I told ya so!"
Azara blinked again. She was almost fully awake. And only then did she realize she was burning up, her skin felt as if she had been thrown into an inferno.
She jolted up in the cot where she slept, throwing off the blanket. She looked down at herself. Oh. Great. She wasn't wearing her cloak. Just a shirt that covered her until halfway down her thighs. Still, it would do. But all the same. . .
"Where is my cloak?" Azara demanded of the two men.
"Oh, uh, hanging up. In the other room."
"You took it off me?"
Azara was horrified as she demanded that of them, and they blushed. She was about to yell when Ted said,
"Don't worry. Our Mam-ma did. We were only here to keep watch over you to see if you woke up."
"Where am I?"
"Our cottage. Kind of in the middle of nowhere, I hope ye don't mind."
"So you live with your mom?"
"Err, you could say that. We live with her to look after her though. Ain't that right, Robby?"
"Yes. Right," he said before turning to Azara and saying, "We found you in the forest. I think. It was real foggy, quite a sight, though it might 'ave been some other thing. Some lady was carrying you. We couldn't see her real clear. But she was glowing. Then she dropped you, these horrible winds that had been going stopped, and pretty much no one spoke. That was when our Mam-ma came in. You can 'spose the rest?"
Azara nodded curtly. These men were odd, but they seemed kind enough. All men were odd, really. She took in a breath of the thick heated air and said,
"So you live in the middle of nowhere? In the forest, near the mountains?"
"Yup," Ted said cheerfully, "Somethin' like that. The sights are pretty different here, somethin' to see. It can be cold, but we have a pretty powerful fire."
Azara looked behind her, eyes narrowed.
"I noticed."
She was about to ask about the figure who she had seen before passing out, if that had been the one who had dropped her off, but the door at the far side of the room swung open.
An elderly woman stood there. Her hair was silvery, and glinting. Her face was wrinkled badly, and she leaned on a beautifully carved cane. Her smile was so broad Azara didn't know what to do with it, and she wore a dress embroidered by flowers. She saw Azara and came to her.
"Darling. You're finally awake! I had worried about you, I must say!"
The woman's voice was woven with age, but it also flowed and sounded wise. Azara bowed her head.
"Yes. I'm awake. Feeling fine. Warm, though."
"Yes," she chuckled, "My boys like it warm. I've always lived here, but when the came to take care of me-though I don't need it mind you- they had lived in warm parts for most of their lives. Not together, of course, but you know. When I raised them we lived on a farm, but when Ted moved out I decided to find a nice place where I could watch the wilderness. This area is more beautiful than anywhere in the kingdom, or so it seems to me."
Azara nodded.
"I hadn't seen many mountains before I ended up here."
"Where do you come from?"
"You don't need to know that."
"Come now, missy, can't you tell us-"
The old lady held up her hand to silence Ted, shaking her head. Ted looked downcast and tried to protest, but the lady cut him off yet again. Azara felt too thankful for words. It felt strangly good to have someone respect her like this.
"It's okay," the woman said, "I am Adeline. What may I call you by?"
"Azara. Pleased to meet you, Adeline."
For once, Azara was not lying as she said so.
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