Lara and Sandoz ran barefoot on the ground, their hearts pounding as they followed Reya's frantic shouts. Upon rounding the corner of the house, they found her staring wide-eyed at the coarse, dark skin of a boar hanging from a rope beneath the eaves. The boar's rough hide fluttered slightly in the breeze, but strangely, the smell of blood was no longer apparent, as it had been the day before.
"Reya, I thought there was a thief. Why did you shout? Isn't that the skin of the boar that I killed yesterday? It does not even have a smell now. Looks like Grandpa washed it thoroughly before letting it dry."
"Sorry, Miss. I just wanted to throw the used water away, and when I looked up, I saw that hanging up there. Who wouldn't be scared of that?"
"I'm feeling pretty hungry, Reya," Lara said softly, glancing at her unsettled maid. "Do you think we could grab something to eat now?" She tried to steer the conversation in a different direction, hoping to help Reya calm her nerves.
"Yes. The sweet potato is already cooked. Where is Grandpa?" Reya asked while dumping a water basin on the big tree's roots.
Lara watched her and silently studied the basin. It was made from clay. A little carelessness and it would break.
"I don't know. He said he has something to do."
They went inside the house, and Reya took out a wooden plate from the bangerra. The old man had only two pieces of plates. She peeled three medium-sized sweet potatoes and placed them on one plate.
"Miss, I'll get the spoon for you. Just wait a bit." Reya stood to get the spoon.
"Don't bother. I can eat with my hands," Lara said hurriedly. Reya sat back reluctantly.
Lara's stomach growled with hunger as she gazed at the steaming potato on the table. She grabbed a piece and took a bite, savoring the soft, buttery flesh as it melted in her mouth. She imagined that it was her favorite pancake.
Sandoz, sitting nearby, observed her with keen interest. His eyes were wide as he mimicked her actions, eagerly grabbing a sweet potato of his own and sinking his teeth into the yellow flesh. Then he frowned. He wondered how Lara could seem to relish it. The potato was so sticky that it stuck to his throat, and he needed to drink water to push it down to his stomach.
Reya sighed. Her Madam Isabella Kromwel would definitely flare up the moment she learned that her Miss Lara had forgotten the etiquette lessons she had learned since she was young. She didn't understand why her young miss had suddenly lost grace and refined movement. Perhaps it was just because the situation called for it. Was it because her miss was very resilient?
Reya also used her hand to eat the sweet potato. Like Sandoz, she found the food hard to swallow. Although a servant, she was treated well in the general's mansion, just like her mother.
After breakfast, Lara went to the loft and approached the shelf. She checked the garments she had placed there last night. The garments looked decent, but she could not bear to wear anybody's clothes. What if they had body odor or a kind of skin disease?
She wanted to take a bath but did not have a change of clothes. She pondered for a while before she took the piece of cloth that she used as a blanket. It was Reya's outer garment. She had two layers. She forgot to ask why her skirt had just one layer while Reya had two.
She descended the ladder quickly.
"Reya, I am heading to the waterfalls. I am going to take a bath."
When Sandoz heard her, his eyes brightened, and he wanted to come along. However, he remembered that he was no longer disguised as a girl, and his big sister would surely not agree to let him. When Lara saved him, he already considered her his big sister.
Lara noticed his hesitation. "Go get the bamboo tubes. You fetch water from the waterfalls as only a little is left in the jar. You can take your bath after I am done."
"Follow me after you count to a hundred. Do you understand?"
"Yes, I understand, Sister, " he said, nodding. He understood that Lara wanted her privacy.
Lara hurried to the waterfalls. She noticed a small canal lined with big stones had been built from the plunge pool and channeled water to a smaller pond by the bush. The water level was just above her thigh.
'What could be the purpose of this pond?' She asked herself.
Lara removed her outer garment, feeling the cool breeze against her skin, and made her way to the pathway leading from the plunge pool to where the water tumbled over the jagged edge of the plateau, forming yet another cascade.
Kneeling by the water's edge, Lara began to scrub her clothes with her hands, working diligently to remove the dirt and grime. The absence of soap made the task harder, yet she was determined as she focused on her labor.
She left her clothes to dry on a bush and then jumped into the plunge pool. Gasping as the coldness of the water seeped into her bones, she forgot that her current body was weak and not used to taking a cold bath.
She swam around the plunge pool, which was irregularly shaped—partly circular and partly rectangular. She only stayed a few minutes because her body was shivering.
Her mind might be able to withstand being submerged in the water at such a temperature, but her body could not.
'I need to develop this body's physique. The water is not that cold, but the body can no longer tolerate it.'
She took note a mental note of what to train next. This was nothing compared to what her Dad made her do. He asked her to fish out a treasure he had hidden at the bottom of the lake on a chilly night when Azurverda registered its lowest temperature in a decade.
After thirty minutes, she succeeded in retrieving it, though her body trembled violently from the aftereffects of hypothermia. The treasure she was sent to recover was unexpected: a simple photograph of the general's family—his wife, two sons, and a daughter.
She stared at it in silence. Was she only eight years old then? That was the first time she saw the faces of the family she had been tasked to destroy in the name of revenge. But the emotions swirling inside her were unrecognizable, impossible to name. Was it reluctance? Guilt? Confusion?
In the photo, the family of four looked so happy, their laughter frozen in time, their joy radiating in a way her own family never had.
Her fingers trembled as she traced the edges of the photograph, her heart filled with longing.
Then she heard it—a faint whisper of movement behind her. Her instincts screamed. She whirled around, but it was too late. A shadow loomed over her, and she knew her mistake had been discovered.