Chapter 14- Onward
I don't know why I'm having so much problems with my HTML showing all of a sudden and all these glitches with my chapters. I usually update in the evening time and go straight to bed, so I don't notice it till the next day and may not be able to fix it till that day or then next, but thank you again for your reviews, your patience and suggestions.
"Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?-" Mathew 6:25
Chapter 14- Onward
Sudriel came to greet her good morning and offered another round of training before she had a heavy breakfast. To which Alicia did not decline. Sudriel pushed her to her limit, which was easily done for an elf, she had her practice defense first, dancing all over the place, then offense now running all over the place to keep up with the elf, and finally a mix of both. Even with the basics Alicia had trouble not tripping over her feet, since this was actual swordplay and not fighting zombies, the work was very different. She still had such a habit for aiming for the head, to which the elleth had to keep reminding her that there are other vitals besides the brain after all. But it's not like Alicia wasn't grateful for it, even when it wore her down to a sweat drenched and sluggish mess.
Even during brunch Sudriel tested her knowledge with questions on how to properly take care of your weapon, how to hold it or maneuver it in your hands so that you had limitless range. Only after food was finished and it was an hour to rest and digest, did the trainer give her a break.
Then in the afternoon (thankfully to a shaded area) they practiced again. Meira came by with refreshments and lunch, while Sudriel's brother had also been contentedly following them around.
Alicia took a bit extra time before calling it a day to check on her new papers that were drying and also to try and write down a cheat sheet of all the new tactics she learned this morning. The shop had seemed too quiet and lonely now with Ori gone.
On her way to the shop, she found the door ajar. "Hm.." She hummed as her and Sudryl approached. Her eyes smiled as she thought of Mizak or someone hiding in there. It would be funny to scare them.
Quietly as she could, she crept up to the door. Yes, she did hear some movement in there and it brought a devious smile to her lips. She positioned herself in front of the door and pushed it open as she popped inside. " Hey you!"
A boy with black hair nearly jumped out of his skin. He dropped the paper in his hands and knocked down another small stack as he tripped over a stool and tried to right himself before knocking anything else. Alicia felt like kicking herself now. This was definitely not one of the dwarves. This was a boy. A normal, human boy with eyes like a deer in headlights.
" I'm sorry! I'm terribly sorry miss. I didn't mean to make a mess!" He rambled a bit. " I was just curious when I heard Ada said a guest could make paper.."
The woman held up a hand palm out in a gesture of 'calm down'. "It's okay. No I'm sorry I thought you were another friend of mine and I thought it'd be funny to scare them is all. You okay?"
Sudryl peered inside and smiled at the boy. "Estel? What are you up to?"
The boy, Estel calmed down a bit at seeing the smiling scout. A small sheepish smile came to his own lips as he answered. "Just exploring is all. What is Okay?"
Alicia grinned. " Another word for Alright where I'm from."
The boy looked her up and down. " Are you an Easterling from Rhun'?
"No. I'm a bit further than that you could say." She responded idly, hoping he would change the subject.
"A bit further? Do you travel a lot?"
"Yes. I actually like to travel a lot."
"Like a nomad or like Mithrandir?" He asked again.
"Mmm… yes." Yeah, let's go with that.
"Indeed? Wandering into other guest's workshops is a normal exploring activity for you then?" The scout lightly teased.
The woman went to check on the latest paper rack to see if they were dried yet as the other two talked. Estel picked up his mess as well. " Ada is going to finish his lessons on the cities of Arda and what exported goods they're known for. The Shire folk is known to sell paper and he mentioned his guest, Lady All-ee-sea-ah, was remaking paper too."
"Ada? What is Ada?" The woman asked as she checked the next rack.
"It is elvish for father. Lord Elrond is Estel's Guardian." Sudryl explained.
This brought another gentle smile to her face. It was real nice to hear that. Not that Elrond ever gave any reason to doubt his kindness, but to be a parent of someone else's child for whatever reason was a big thing to do. She wondered how different it would be to be raised by a hobbit or a dwarf compared to an elf.
Estel's curiosity broke her thoughts. "You take old papers and make new pieces from it?"
"That's right." She responded. "I make recycled paper."
"What is recycled?"
Recycled means, to convert trash into usable material again. Or, to take something that's old and broken and turn it into something new and useable again." The woman answered.
Estel tilted his head as he soaked in the information, watching her work. " Can you do that with everything?"
"The possibilities of recycling are endless." She answered. " There was a man in my home wo-country, that could recreate musical instruments from trash people threw out. Many other people make statues or various art projects with unused things. A common saying there is, ' What's one man's trash is another man's treasure'." She chuckled a bit. " It's all about your imagination and innovation."
"There's a beauty to it." The scout threw in his two cents about it.
Estel nodded his head. His wavy black swaying a bit from the motion. " Yes. I was told many people of the less fortunate don't ever throw away their tools unless it's broken beyond repair, and even then they try to use it if it's still works properly. Can I help?"
"You sure can." Alicia answered as she began to slowly instruct him on what to do.
"Is this your trade? You sell paper for your income?" He asked as he gently pressed the excess water from the tray.
"I have a few decent trades, but this one seems to be the money maker around here, so it's the one I stick to for now." Alicia replied.
"What else can you do?"
"I can farm and raise farm animals. I'm a decent handy lady when it comes to building smaller buildings like sheds, gates, repairing wagons and I really enjoy fishing." Alicia put his finished works to dry. "What about you? Have any favorite pass-times or idea of what you want to do when you're older?"
Estel grew a bit quiet at her questions, but slowly, as if choosing his words carefully, answered. "I like to hunt a bit, and ride horses and read stories. Sometimes training can be tough, but fun at the same time. I really like to go swimming too with Ada's twin sons."
"That is a lot of fun. Any ideas on what you want to be when you grow up?"
Estel pursed his lips. "Lord Elrond will help me on making the right choices I must take for my future."
Alicia smiled encouragingly at him. He was clearly taught that that was what me must say whenever someone were to ask a question like that. So she dropped the subject.
However, when she asked more general questions, like what he liked to learn about, read bout, hunt, he was quite the chatter box, and Alicia was happy to hear him prattle on during the time she worked in her shop. Once it was time to close up for a while, she bid farewell, welcoming him to come next time she came back if he wanted to. "And say hello to Lord Elrond for me will ya?"
"Yes miss I shall. Thank you for teaching me a bit of your trade." He waved good bye and left.
Sudryl yawned from his seat by the small window. " I believe we should return to our rooms for the night as well."
"Yeah, good idea."
Alicia cleaned up the shop for the night and closed it back. A nice hot bath before bed sounded wonderful too.
The next couple of days fell into this routine, practicing, learning the lifestyle (not to mention fashion style) exploring, training a bit more, papermaking, then off to bed. Estel came for short visits where he introduced another elf maid by the name of Arwen. Lady Arwen was also quite friendly.
"How about for dessert after dinner, I can make a specialty dessert of mine? Sweet potato pie with sunflower and hazelnut spread?" Arwen offered with a knowing smile as she watched Estel's eyes light up with delight.
And what an amazing dessert it was! Alicia practically begged for the recipe after eating two slices.
Arwen also took her to the library to find books on herbs and plants for healing with illustrations drawn in it. Alicia also asked for a copy of it, offering to pay for it too. Arwen simply smiled and said that they had many more copies, as that was a book that was often distributed to the other elven healers of the house. There was a place that sold books too that Arwen introduced her too. None of the authors obviously, but she did find a book written by a Lady Aimee that caught her intrigue, as well as books of another traveling band of mix-matched heroes with a lot of comedy and warm friendship moments as they ventured. Alicia bought both of them along with the sequels.
'How ironic. Fantasy books written by fantasy artists in a fanciful world!'
Smiling gleefully at her new items, she and Arwen joked happily in a general girl talk. Arwen talked about how her father would be in his studies for hours at a time, and would have multiple chairs set about for when he was by the books, the windows, his desk or the extra seating area.
"What about a rolly chair?" Alicia offered.
"I am afraid I know not what that is." Arwen's fair features regarded her with intrigue. This encouraged her to explain and draw out the schematics of one. Estel thought it was such a neat idea, he wanted to take it to the builders immediately to get started on it.
The elves there looked at the parchment with various faces of confusion and skepticism, but with a shrug they went about trying to find the tools, raw material, and workshops they needed to get the job done. When it was time to say good night, the four of them bade each other farewell and restful sleeps before turning in.
The survivor was excited to try this new herbal cleanser that helped banish body blemishes, she had terrible back acne and heat bumps on her arms that she had been trying to get rid of for the past year.
Sorry that my chapters haven't had a lot of action recently but don't worry, that will change if everything and all my wacky and farfetched ideas work out for the better that is. I also want to say a special thank you to you Binge readers out there. It is very hard for people like me to fall asleep, so when it comes, I VALUE IT! so it makes me both honored and guilty to hear that my story has caused you to lose your sleep, but at the same time, I am very happy you loved it so much! Thank you thank you!
Sincerely,
Adeleidhis (^_^)