Sometimes It's Even Darker

Chapter 4 - The Great Mystery

Finally, after almost twenty-four hours Tobi sees Aethernia's face and the whole mien. She is rather a tall woman in her middle twenties, with long black hair and piercing blue eyes. Her nose is small, but perky and her cheeks are a little bit ruddy but still very nice. He realises he likes her appearance, but there's something in her that makes him feel a little uncomfortable. She seems to have no feelings, but he's sure she has some. He heard her crying. He feels like she was a great mystery he has to solve.
He tries to be kind, but she responds with the same cold, impassive voice and he slowly loses his confidence. Aethernia doesn't smile, her muscles are tense as if she wanted to attack him in the most unexpected moment. When she gives him a plate with meat he is full of doubt. 
„That's a nonsense. If she wanted to kill me, she wouldn't bring me here”, he thinks and takes a bite.
-It's very good. What it is?- he asks
-It's a deer – she answers without any emotions. That was a way she talked with him – just with monosyllabes.
-How did you get a deer's meat?
-I went hunting – she says, chewing apathetically. Tobi rises his eyebrows to express his disbelief.
-Really? - he asks, but Aethernia just looks at him listlessly. After a minute he can hear a question:
-Do you feel better?
-Oh, yes, thank you – he smiles warmly, but she doesn't react at all – I can even walk a few steps myself. I think in a few days I will feel like I was reborn.
Aethernia snorts with something scorn-like. 
-Your ankle was twisted, your back is still covered with a web of scratches and you have a big hole in your temple. I thought you wouldn't wake up at all. A few days. Good joke.
Tobi bites his lower lip, but he doesn't say anything. He doesn't like the way she speaks to him, but he knows he is fully dependent on her in this moment and maybe he's even a bit afraid of her. 
They end their meal in silence, then Aethernia puts her cutlery off. She doesn't look in his eyes while speaking:
-Do you wanna see something?
Tobi doesn't say anything, but he nods silently. Aethernia stands up and turns her head to him.
-Come in – she whispers and disappears in the next, mysterious room. Tobi stands up too and follows her, thou he still limps visibly afret the accident and he has to hold on to the wall for a while. 
When he reaches his destination he sighs in awe. The view is absolutely jaw-dropping. 
This is probably the longest room Tobi has ever seen. One wall is full of hanging instruments: banjos, ukuleles, guitars, mandolines, harmonicas, flutes, pipes, violins of all kinds. The opposite wall is almost invisible, because is all covered with psychedelic dark paintings which look like they weren't even painted by human. At the end of the room there is a big computer with an equipment he knows perfectly well – a big studio equipment. Above this machinery hangs the big shelf which holds the immense, impressive CD collection. He notices a ladder so he looks up and he sees a huge bookshelf overloaded with old books, mainly horrors above the door.
-Yeah – Aethernia says quietly and calmly. This time her voice is warmer and even a little friendly – This is my kingdom. Maybe you wanna take a seat?
This is the first time Tobi sees Aethernia smiling.