Awoken (Ilea, Book I) (COMPLETED)

Chapter 37

I woke up the next day and saw the sun rise over the horizon, the sky was the same colour as it had been the night before; as if nothing had changed while I had slept. I smiled to myself at the thought. Getting up I walked over to the tree where I had stored the bread rolls and the fruit, I sat in the lower branches and ate, with my feet dangling down in the morning air.

When I had finished I went for a look around in the part of the jungle around the pool. I had been walking in a direction for about fifteen minutes when I came across a broken and slightly covered path that wound its way through the trees. I followed it, curious to see where it went. It was flat for a while and then started to angel downhill, I walked along it, marking it in my mind the way I had done with every journey I had ever taken; if I needed it I knew it would be here and where to find it. The path stopped abruptly at a small rock face, it was not a large drop, even for a human, so I lightly lowered down it and continued on the path. It had taken me about twenty minutes to get to the rock face from the start of the path and I was starting to hear the sound of gurgling water.

I walked around a large tree and came to the edge of a small lake; it was like a larger version of my pool on the mountain. There was a huge waterfall that ran into the water and I could see that at the far end that this lake started the river which I had been following for the last few weeks. I walked around the edge of the lake and down a well worn path that led me to the end of the village. The whole journey from the pool on the mountain had taken me about forty five minute walking at human speed.

Rambling through the village I found the woman who I was buying the clothes from, she smiled when she saw me and gestured for me to come into the house. I went in and she pulled out the clothes that she had made. Just by looking at them I could tell that they were of fine quality, the woman might live in a wooden house but she could have been a seamstress for a grad lord or lady. I smiled at her and gave her another golden blob. Passing me the clothes she asked me to try them on, pointing towards a separate room where I could change.

I went into it with the clothes and put on the corset and long skirt first, they fitted my body perfectly the corset was bland at the front with, strips of fabric, but no strings, it was small, just coming down over the top of my rib bones while only had strings to tighten it at the back, it looked like a normal top. The small skirt was exactly how I had imagined it in my head; it came down half way between my hip and my knee and tied at one side, with a slit up the side so that my legs could move freely. Then I put on the tunic and tied the skirt over the top of that, the fittings were just as perfect, each strip of fabric seemed to fit my body like a sword in its sheath. I put the long skirt over the top, the material was perfect, slightly translucent but not completely, and there was a long slit up the side like the shorter skirt. The robe was perfect too; it could be tied or left open and was exactly what I had wanted.

I got changed and went back out to the woman, “Thank you.” She smiled at me and said nothing, putting them into a tan leather bag that had a long strap to hang over a shoulder, she passed me the bag and I paused for a moment. “Do you want me to bring this back to you tomorrow?”

“No, you keep it.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes, a girl like you should have a bag to put things in, I can tell you’ve been on the road a long time.” I looked at this woman carefully, whenever I had seen her she had seemed so quiet and almost shy, I took a second assessment and saw watchful eyes that seemed to take in every detail.

“You are a very watchful woman.” I said to her, the tone of my voice wary, she said nothing and I looked at her for a moment longer, “But I do not think you are bad.”

“How do you know.” She said almost confrontationally.

“It is in your eyes.” I told her quietly. She relaxed and smiled at me genuinely, her eyes softening for a moment.