Amentia

Chapter 26 - Wonderstruck

Nina woke up to the smell of pumpkin soup and fresh wood. The air was also dry and warm. Before she opened her eyes, she had a strange sensation of feeling at home. She didn't know why, since home was Liverpool and dry air was an unusual occurrence, but something about the smell of this room made her feel cozy and at ease.

When she opened her eyes, she found herself lying on a cushy sofa and was covered with a light and colorful blanket up to her chest. She turned her head to the right and saw there was a fireplace made of light-gray stone. There was a steaming pot hanging over the fire, and it was clear the smell of pumpkin soup came from there.

Nina sat up and found Meiko by her side right away, followed by the rest of the girls, who showed her big smiles and said hello. Nina told them she still felt a little weak, but less than earlier. And then she looked around the room.

It looked like a house, but it felt like a tent for some reason; maybe because there were no windows and the soft yellow light came from lamps that hung on the ceiling. Or maybe it was because the wooden walls were covered with tapestries, some with pleasant patterns on them and others with beautiful drawings, which reminded her of the tents she used to build in her room when she was little.

Behind the back of the sofa, in the middle of the room, there was a big wooden table with seven chairs spread around it. Further back, on the wall opposite the fireplace, there was a wooden door. Near that door, to Nina's right, there was a crockery cabinet with glass doors; Nina couldn't quite see the dishes from where she was, but she saw the carvings on the wood of the cabinet. All pieces of furniture were of different tones of brown but still combined perfectly, and they all had beautiful carvings on them; they were lustrous, not a single scratch on them, and they were obviously the work of a talented carpenter. The sofa as well: there were carvings all along the edge of the backrest. Whoever lived here took furniture very seriously.

Next to the cabinet, there was a corridor, but Nina couldn't see where it led to from where she was sitting. And next to that corridor, parallel to the sofa, there was a door frame which led to a staircase that went upwards. The spaces between each step of the stairs were decorated with carvings as well.

Opposite that wall, there was an open kitchen that ran almost as long as the room. It looked rather similar to the kitchen in the dining hall in the human village. There were two stone ovens by the far wall, two incredibly large pots sitting on top of the grills. No fire under the grills for the moment. On the other end of the kitchen there was a wide stone box with foreign letters on its edges: the same refrigerator they had seen in the human village, except this one was much bigger. The rest of the kitchen was just counter top and a sink, almost three walls of counter tops; four different people could prepare their own meal at the same time in a place that wide. There were two cupboards above the counters. Even in the kitchen there were no windows, but Nina could see ventilation grates above the ovens. Overall, this was a simple yet very fancy dining room. Nina wondered how the girls had convinced the owner to let them in, considering the treatment they had got in the town.

The door in the far wall opened suddenly, all heads turning towards it, and a young man walked in. He was human, which was a big surprise to Nina, but it also explained why she suddenly found herself with a roof over her head. Only another human would've helped them in that place.

"So she's up, then," he said as he walked in. His voice was low and soft, but somehow still resonated around the room and sounded perfectly clear.

He went over directly to the cabinet to grab a bowl and then to the fireplace to pour some soup in it. As he delivered the bowl to Nina, he smiled a genuine, bright smile and she couldn't help but stare at him. He had brown eyes with long eyelashes, and his wavy hair was just a few tones away from blonde. His nose was thin and springy, his lips fleshy, and his cheeks just slightly chubby. To put it plainly, Nina thought he was beautiful. It took her a moment to react and grab the bowl from his hands. He had particularly long fingers, some nails were shorter than others, and his skin was calloused, rough to the touch.