Windfall

Chapter 6

Vanished. Just like thin air, he disappeared so quickly. Was it all just an illusion..? It could've been... Should've been.

A small feeling of disappointment hit me as I realized I was alone again. His presence although unknown was a strange comfort. Well not anymore though, I looked around again at my surrounding's to check if he was actually still here.

He was not.

I heard the footsteps of someone approaching. So I quickly turned my head in their direction. Although to my disappointment, it was just Aphenza. She was walking at a fast pace with a look of irritation on her face. Straight towards me, and with a distance of only a few feet between us she let out a huff of breath.

"Your Duties?" She looked at me pointedly.

"Completed." I told her.

"They are not." she said exasperatedly.

"What do you mean?" I asked her, they were done. I'm sure of it.

"There's more to be done. The gathering tonight is approaching quickly. We must hurry." As she told this to me, she'd already grabbed my hand and started leading me in the direction of the castle.

"The gathering..?" I Inquired towards her as we stepped in through the back door I'd come out of before.

"The banquet. For the Royals to visit once a year. Did nobody tell you?" She looked at me slightly concerned with my non-informed self. Almost like she understood the situation although she didn't wish too. I realized the situation myself at this moment as well.

"Nobody had mentioned it." I said quietly, realizing they had all been avoiding me since my arrival. Everyone except Aphenza had avoided me.

"Don't worry. They're just nervous, we don't get... Visitors from far away. Well, not often at least." she told me, reassuring it was only going to take some time for me to fit in.

We decided the topic itself to be a mood depressant, so we changed the conversation to the tasks I would need to complete before the guests were to arrive. I was told to re-sweep the servant corridor, as well as the banquet hall. I would have to set out the tableware as well, in the correct order. Which in itself was unknown to me, so Aphenza said it'd be best to ask one of the other servants to show me once beforehand.

"Don't forget. 100 percent or not at all, alright?" She said looking me dead in the eyes as we arrived at the storeroom closet where the cleaning supplies were.

"100 percent. Got it." I told the young woman looking at me skeptically. She stayed there, standing in front of me for a good moment. Almost like a mother bird getting ready to push her baby out of the nest. Hopeful yet scared. Then she must've decided I would be fine on my own because she smiled slightly then walked off in the direction of her own duties.

A small sigh escaped me as I opened the storeroom door. Peeking in to check if anyone was in there, seeing there was not, I stepped inside. Scanning the brooms of straw and the dirty buckets with what I hoped to be soapy water. I walked over to a small bench in the corner of the room and sat down.

"Where am i..?" Those words escaping my mouth almost felt forbidden and foreign. Like they were not to be spoken, even if there wasn't anyone around. Homesickness was definitely starting to take hold of me. It'd only been 2 days, and I already couldn't stand being away from my home. How was I going to be able to keep this up for any longer.

Did I really have a home to go back to though..? Was I really abandoned?

No.

I wouldn't dwell on this. No matter how many times it comes into my head. Ignore it.