UNGLOVED

Chapter Eleven - Part One - Discovery

Liriel opened her eyes with a start, her vision darting about her surroundings. It wasn't the room she had envisioned. Instead of the sumptuous furnishings of a wealthy family home, she saw painted canvases stretched on frames leaning against a wall, a table full of brushes and jars, and a bed with an old, worn quilt.

The scent of turpentine and linseed oil reminded her of a time when she had sat for a portrait.

Worrying if she might be in danger, she scanned the room to locate the nearest window. Several panes of glass let in a cool blue light. Outside she could see forest...trees as far as the eye could see.

Concerned for her safety, she moved towards the windowed wall. En route, she tripped and knocked over a wooden chair. She cringed as the sound echoed through the room. Her mind was furiously calculating the information her eyes were taking in, trying to make sense of what she saw. Above the bed hung a large portrait. The sitter, a young Hilliri woman bore a striking resemblance as if she were a member of Liriel's family. She wondered if she had travelled to a home she knew, of a relative, somewhere in Kalad, but nothing around her felt familiar.

A shuffling behind the door alerted her that someone else was in the house. The knob squeaked as it turned. She swung around and began to open the window. The home owner could be either friend or foe, but she couldn't wait around to find out. Tugging at the window sash she tried to lift the pane on its channel, but it wouldn't budge. A creak of hinges informed her that someone had entered.

She flung around to face the intruder. A Hilliri woman stepped in and straightened in surprise. Dressed in brightly coloured homemade clothing, she struck Liriel as being very unusual, and oddest of all, her hands were bare.

"Oh my! How did you get in here?" The woman took a step back. She spoke well, in the Hilliri language, without regional accent to help Liriel guess where she had arrived.

"I didn't mean to intrude. I'm sorry. I must admit I'm completely lost!" The woman didn't appear to be a threat. Liriel needed answers, though, and of course, to find Lorenzo. "Where am I?"

"We're in the village of Alterra. I am Adina, the local Marulan." Her gray eyes were bright in the filtered light. Her smooth, weathered face was a sign of great age among the long-lived Hilliri.

Relieved to be in the presence of another Marulan, Liriel relaxed a little. Healers were not the sort to harm others. "I am Nia." She chose the name of a girl she had once befriended. She felt it wise to avoid revealing her real name just yet. "I don't know that village. Which of the Kingdoms are we in?" The woman would wonder how she didn't know this information, but perhaps she would answer anyway.

Adina looked puzzled, but she smiled. "We're in Castillon, though not too far from the border of Kalad."

Liriel's mouth dropped open. "But you're Hilliri. What are you doing living here?"

Adina kept her face calm, though a twitch appeared at the corner of her mouth. "We established Alterra to live in exile of our own choice. We seek to build a new society here."

"But Castillon belongs to the Trillas."

Adina smile widened. She cleared her throat. "It does, but we occupy only a small part here, and we have kept to ourselves."

According to Liriel's father, the reason they were at war was because of these people. Kalad sought to claim Castillon, or at least a part of it, in their name, yet Adina's people had come here to get away from Kalad.

"What kind of society?" she asked, thinking the answer held promise.

"A free and open one, where we can be ourselves, express our hearts as it pleases us."