"Finished…" The doctor said after wrapping a roll bandage on Altair. He then helped Maria to dress him back. "The curatives are daily… here is the healing remedy… you can pass it on the cuts…"
Both Maria and Altair nodded.
"Now, you'll have to take easy for a while…" The doctor finished.
"For how long?" Altair asked, settling himself in bed.
"For at least two weeks…" The doctor said, then turned to Maria. "Now, let me see your wounds…"
She looked at the doctor.
"I don't think I have many…" She said. "Just this one in my head…"
The doctor looked at her left forehead.
"Did you pass out?" He asked her.
"Yes…" Altair said. "But I don't know for how long…"
The doctor nodded and said:
"I guess a small bandage will resolve…"
Maria nodded. The doctor cleaned the wound and made a small curative.
"And we're finished…" The doctor said, guarding his supplies on his case. "Rest now… I'll order something for you to eat…"
Altair and Maria nodded and thanked the doctor before he left the room.
"Now what?" Maria asked when they were alone.
"We have to discover where we are…" Altair said. "And how we'll return home…"
Maria nodded.
At the moment, a voice interrupted them. It was Connor.
"I brought you some clothes… it was donated to you by the people here…" He said. "Unfortunately, we couldn't find a dress for you, Mary…"
"It's okay… I don't wear dresses…" Maria said.
Connor nodded and changed the subject.
"Achilles want to talk to you afterward…"
"Achilles?" Altair asked.
"The black man…" Connor answered.
"Oh, yeah…" Maria said and turned to Altair. "I'll explain later…"
With this, Connor left the room, leaving them alone.
"Who is Achilles?" Altair asked again.
Maria sat beside him on the bed and explained how she met Achilles and thought he was a moor. Altair nodded.
"Now, we have to change clothes…" Maria said after a few seconds while picking up a male shirt.
"I'll have to wear this?" Altair asked, making a face when he saw the ruffle on the front of the shirt. "This is ridiculous… I can't wear this…"
Maria laughed at his expression.
"Look for the bright side, habib…" She said. "Except me, no one knows us here… so nobody will judge you… besides, it can't be worse than mine…"
Reluctantly, Altair only nodded.
X ~ X ~ X
Maria finished adjusting Altair's shirt.
"Let me see…" She said. "You're handsome."
Altair didn't say anything, he just kept his face closed.
"Cheer up, Altair…" Maria said. "Shall we go?"
Altair just nodded.
They walked to the other side of the corridor and entered the kitchen, where they found Achilles and Connor waiting for them.
"Achilles, I presume…" said Altair.
Achilles nodded slowly.
"Are you alright?" Achilles asked them after Maria helped Altair sit on the chair.
"Just broken ribs and a few cuts…" Altair said.
Achilles nodded.
"You must be hungry." Connor said. "Ann…"
Ann came and put two plates in front of them. Maria and Altair thanked them and looked at the plates before starting eating eagerly.
"This is good…" Maria said. Altair, beside her nodded. She asked: "What's it?"
"Moose meat and bread we normally do in the village…" Connor said.
Maria and Altair nodded. Usually, they didn't eat meat they knew nothing about, but they were starving…
Minutes later, they finished eating.
"So…" Connor said. "Where are you from?"
Maria looked at Altair. He knew a questioning was about to start.
"Mary is English…" He said finally.
"From where?" Achilles asked.
"A city near London…" Maria said.
"And how about you, John?" Connor asked. "You don't have a British accent…"
Altair nodded.
"My family is from Syria, but I'm English too…" He lied. "My parents were taken by force to England before I was born… my accent is because I learned to speak their language before I learned English…"
"Fair enough…" Achilles said.
Maria looked from him to Connor, who had his arms crossed on his chest.
"Ok, do you know how you came here?" Achilles asked again.
Both of them denied, but then Maria said:
"I only remember that John and I had run away from England by ship because our parents didn't want us together…"
Altair nodded.
"Ok…" Achilles said, getting up.
"Wait, we too have some questions…" Altair asked. "Where are we?"
"On my parents' estate…" Achilles answered. "If you mean the region we are is on Massachusetts province…'
"Mass what?" Altair asked.
"Massachusetts…" Connor said.
Maria turned to Altair.
"Honey, do you remember that when we entered the ship, we were told the name of the region we were coming?" She asked
Altair shook his head, denying it.
"Sorry, I think I was beaten hard…"
"It's ok…" Connor said. "Sorry too about our questioning, but we have to be careful about what we are facing now…"
Altair and Maria nodded.
"We are going to let you rest now… Tomorrow Connor will show you the estate and his village…" Achilles said.
"Ok…" Maria said.
With this Achilles and Connor left the room, letting Altair and Maria alone.
X ~ X ~ X
As they arrived on the corridor, Achilles turned to Connor and asked, lowering his voice:
"What did you think about their story?
"They are hiding something… we need to know what…" Connor said.
"I agree…" Achilles said, turning away. "See if you discover something, Connor…"
Connor nodded.
X ~ X ~ X
At the same time, in the kitchen, Maria breathed alleviated, then turned to Altair.
"Do you think they bought our story?"
"I'm sure they didn't…" He said. "I saw their expressions…"
Maria nodded.
"But we have to keep it until we discover what's going on…" He finished.
She nodded again.
"Let's go to the room…" She said instead. 'We can't do much more now… besides, I'm tired and I want to rest a little…"
Altair nodded.