The sun peeking through the cracks of the barn pulls me from my sleep. It’s chilly, but Anders is holding me tight to him, keeping me warm. I glance up at the man, the man who saved be, but took me from my home. Now that he’s sleeping and relaxed, I realize that he does look young. His long, blonde hair is loose, messy around him. Timidly, I reach up and push a strand back from his face. His hand is immediately on my arm, squeezing as his eyes shoot open, revealing the beautiful blue color. His grip on my wrist is so tight, punishing.
“I’m sorry,” I say to him softly. I didn’t mean to wake him or scare him, but I have no way to tell him that. His grip on my wrist relaxes as he gently brings my arm to his mouth, placing a kiss on it as he smiles at me. We can’t understand each other’s words, but we seem to be fine understanding each other’s actions, most of the time. He’s apologizing, I’m sure of it. He never meant to hurt me.
He brings my hand back to his hair, leaving it there, almost as if he’s telling me that it’s OK to touch. It feels wrong now, though, as he stares at me with an intensity I can’t place, and I slowly withdraw my hand. He brings his hand to my face, slowly running the backs of his fingers down my cheek carefully, a small smile on his own face as he does.
The way he smiles at me is so comforting, like I’m important to him. Almost like he cares. I look back at him with a smile of my own, hoping that he knows how thankful I am to him for saving me, that I know what he’s done for me.
His hand forms around my cheek so gently, cupping it as his deep blue eyes bore into me and he slowly moves towards me. His lips are just barely away from my own, like he’s waiting for me to close the space between us. I start to lean up towards him when a loud knock at the door to the barn followed by a voice startles me, causing me to jump.
Anders releases me, though reluctantly, as he climbs out of the hay and makes his way to the door. He cracks it, and I can see Jarl standing outside as the men speak. Eventually, Anders turns back to me, closing the door. He bends down and moves through my things before handing a dress to me. He reaches into his bag and pulls out some clothes for himself before moving behind a large pile of hay.
Quickly, I slide the dress I’m wearing off of my body, the cold air hitting my skin and causing goosebumps all over as my n*****s harden. I look back up, but Anders has not returned, so I dress quickly in the cleanest items I have, though at this point, nothing is what I’d consider to be clean. Once dressed, I sit and pull on warm socks and boots, waiting for Anders to return.
I wait, but realize that, perhaps, he’s trying to give me privacy to get dressed myself. “Anders…” I call out timidly to him. “Anders,” I say again, and he reappears with his hand over his eyes. I can’t help but smile at how kind he is as I stand and walk over to him. I gently reach up and pull his hand from his eyes, smiling up at him.
He smiles at me and I swear, my heart skips a beat as he does. He moves to put on his boots quickly and then places all our clothing into his bag and throws the blankets over his shoulder before coming back to me, frowning slightly. He takes my hand and kisses the back of it before grabbing my upper arm and pulling me out of the barn.
Jarl smiles at me, but Anders places himself between us as they talk. He leads us down a path, stopping at an empty piece of land. Anders looks upset, and their words become aggressive before Jarl walks off, leaving us standing there alone.
Once Jarl leaves us he releases my arm and gently rubs his hand where it was squeezing. He sighs deeply, looking around the area. The terrain is fairly rocky, but there’s a plot to the side with grass growing on it. He places our items on the ground and lifts a large ax that someone had left by a rock. I cross the land, the soothing sound of the waves crashing into the nearby shore but when I reach Anders, he gently takes my shoulders and pushes me to sit on a large rock.
I do as he wishes, watching him walk off towards the large trees behind us and he begins to chop at the base of one. He doesn’t seem to want my help, so I stay still trying to stay out of his way as he chops and chops until, finally, the tree gives way and comes crashing down to the earth.
Anders grabs the trunk of the tree and pulls at it, trying his best to move it, but it’s so heavy. I stand and walk over, placing my hands next to his and he looks up, shaking his head ever so slightly, but he makes no move to stop me as we pull together. It moves, but just slightly. With a deep sigh, he goes back to his bag, taking our clothes out and dumping out the items within on the ground.
There are many jewels inside, silver and gold items… and shining brightest among it all, my mother’s golden candlestick. He lifts it and pauses, looking at it, and then back to the contents on the ground. Finally, he takes one of my dresses and wraps it around the candlestick, handing it to me.
He places our clothes in the bag first, lifting a bit of food that’s wrapped up and placing it on top before putting the treasures on top as he takes my hand, intertwining his fingers with mine, and he leads me back to the village. We stop at a barn where it appears a blacksmith is working.
Anders releases my hand, indicating for me to stay outside as he steps under the awning and speaks with the man working. He reaches in his bag, showing the man the valuable items as they continue to speak. The stranger calls out and a man from the building next door joins them. After speaking the new man calls out, and yet another man joins.
I look around the village, taking in everything around me. There is a wagon loaded with straw that’s hooked to a horse across the path from me and a girl that looks around my age stands at it, unhooking it.
Timidly, I walk over, wanting to get a better look at the gorgeous white horse. She looks up at me and I hold my hand out, trying my best to ask if it’s ok.
I’m shocked as she smirks at me and says something that I can actually understand. “You can touch him. He’s friendly.”
Aksara