Elizaveta And Heidi

(And One Important Other)

Her brother had been gone for some time. Heidi tried not to worry. Vash could take care of himself. She just wished she had offered to go with. They would be less suspicious if they stayed together, would they not?

Elizaveta quelled her fears. "They're just suspicious. Since your brother did not do it, there is no evidence he did, and they will let it go soon enough."

"I'm not worried about that," Heidi assured her. No, what she was worried about was how her brother liked to deal with things. Would it be allowed for in such a small town as this? Or perhaps since this town was small it would be fine. Heidi was not sure. Her brother was very strict when it came to certain things. She hoped it was going all right.

"Tell me about yourself," Elizaveta asked as she started to sweep.

"Oh, let me help!"

Elizaveta smiled. "The counter needs some wiping..."

Heidi went to look for a rag and cleaner. Elizaveta supplied her with some and the both of them got to work.

"My brother and I have moved around quite a bit over the last few years," she told Elizaveta. "He just got a transfer to the City we mentioned, which is why we're trying to get there."

"What about your parents?" Elizaveta asked. "Neither of you look that old."

"Vash is twenty two!" Heidi informed her. "He's taken care of me since daddy died in an auto mobile accident."

Elizaveta stopped in her sweeping. "I'm sorry."

"Thank you," Heidi replied, a little quiet. "But Vash takes good care of me. He's even saved enough so that when I am done with my basic education I can go to college to learn photography!"

"So you like taking pictures? Do you have any I can see?"

Heidi did, so she went back up the stairs and to her bag to pull out her camera. Going back to the stairs, she bumped into someone while she was bringing up past pictures on her camera. "Oh! I'm sorry!"

She looked up to see someone she did not expect. "Mr. Edelstein?"

Roderich stared back at her, in shock and then warmth. "Heidi Zwingli. What a surprise! I did not expect to see you here."

"I never expected you either," Heidi replied, leaving out the fact she had never thought she would see him again the way Vash went on about things. Actually, he would not be happy about this, she reckoned. Not that Heidi understood why. She thought Roderich was very sweet and polite and he was such a good pianist! "How are you?"

"...very well, thank you," he replied, though belatedly, to her question. "What brings you to Hearth, Heidi?"

"We meant to go to the nearby City," she explained. "And now people think my brother has stolen many household items last night!"

Roderich began to laugh, something of which Heidi did not think was all that sweet or polite, but understood that she was missing something to help her know why Roderich reacted like that.

The rest of their conversation was nice enough, short, and rather uninformative. She asked that Vash not see him and he asked that she not tell Vash he was here, so with that agreed upon she returned downstairs to see Elizaveta and one other person at the bar, sipping at their drink with hair covering all parts of the face other than the mouth and nose.

So Vash would not find out about Roderich, Heidi did not mention the fact she had met the other inhabitant of this inn or that she knew him.

Because it would upset Vash and Heidi could not have that.

Notes:

Unfortunately, Erin has not been found anywhere in the chapter title. In the notes, however, Erin is doing well.