An Axe in the Flames

Cat and mouse

For the better part of a year Anese had managed to keep Pela mostly away from prying eyes. Squirreling away food whenever she could and even pinching a few coins from her brothers to buy her food and newer clothes. In the beginning she had been able to keep Pela in her room for a few days but the maids eventually had started asking questions about the extra messes. After that, she had tried to hide her away in the house basement with all of the canned vegetables and smoked meat. That proved to be a huge mistake as Pela really liked to eat and Anese's father had thought a rodent had gotten into the basement. He hired men to find the supposed rodent but they had almost found a Pela instead.

With nowhere else to hide her within the house, she had been able to keep her for a few nights under their house's covered porch, but then the rains came and Pela had been soaked to the bone and covered in mud. Anese had woke early that morning and found her new friend on their back porch shivering from the wet and mud that covered her from head to toe. Her father, Rikart, had even walked right by the window while she was cleaning her up but hadn't been awake enough to see them.

So many close calls in such a short time had convinced Anese that she needed to find a nice peasant family to keep her. She just couldn't do it by herself. So, she had befriended the tanner's daughter who was of marrying age, but Gods she was just too ugly to find a suitor. Fortunately, Cara was able to live by herself in a small two room shanty beside the tannery. Anese paid two copper a week to have Pela live there and would come to see her everyday. Cara and her got along great and over time, they all had learned that Pela could spell and write in common tongue. Though, still she only spoke her name.

Anese had bought her as much parchment as possible and charcoal as well. That way, her and Cara could talk with her and have conversations where they knew what she was saying. Today was a day Cara had to leave for the night and help her father with tanner stuff, Anese didn't know what she was saying when she talked about those things. It was like a foreign language to her and it was best to just nod your head and smile in those instances.

The road leading to the tannery was pretty isolated, as the smell was terrible. Like a chamber pot that was left in the sun on a hot summer day. Luckily, the smell ended at the front door of Cara's. She had always kept pots of silver plume, an extremely fragrant flower that was native to the Salt Desert. Cara and Pela's house did not resemble a house in the least. It was more of a shed that jutted from the side of the tannery shop and had a slanted roof that kept the raining from running into the home and shop. It had a small fire place near the front door and contained two rooms. One with two beds that was obviously for sleeping and the other was a living quarters and kitchen. Anese had never seen such a small house until this. She knocked on the wooden door.

"Pela?" Came a small voice, that she immediately recognized.

"It's me, Pela. Anese!"

The door swung open and sunshine flooded into the doorway and made Pela's golden hair look like a fire, she smiled from ear to ear and held out both arms ready for a hug. Anese ran in and scooped her up in a sisterly embrace. Pela quickly ran over to the stack of parchment that was kept near her bed and grabbed a charcoal pencil, writing as fast as her hand and mind would let her. She slid the paper to Anese, "Are you stay with me tonight?" It had said.

Anese smiled and shook her head, "No, I'm going to bring you with me and just tell my mother and father that you're staying the night! I'm sure they won't mind."

Pela snatched the parchment back and wrote again, "I no hide?"

Again, Anese shook her head, "No, no hiding. We'll have dinner then we can brush each other's hair and try on dresses all night!"

Pela wrinkled her nose at the dress part. She never really seemed to enjoy looking like a proper lady. She had preferred the baggy clothes, that Cara gave her  but perhaps that would change as she got older.