Linus Toria

Chapter 8

Lina didn't know what to do with herself. Everybody but her had their place in the group she just agreed to accept as travel companions. She felt like an intruder. A needless one as she stood in the middle of the room next to the fire. And why would they even want her in their group? They seemed pretty tight-knit and going around asking random people to join didn't seem like their day-to-day work.

Earlier she had verbally agreed to their proposal because she was too lazy to argue with them. But she still had her reservations about the whole thing. And who in their right mind would trust a group that had followed them for 3 months without a single greeting or no-aggression-statement just because they asked them to? She, for sure, wouldn't.

Looking around, the leader had assumed his post by the door and the other two, a girl and a boy, sat next to him while leaning on the wall. According to Manon's introduction she identified them as Mathieu, Elodie and Etienne. She stumbled a little over the correct pronounciation as languages had never been one of her strong suits. In preparation for her duty she had learned all languages she deemed important enough but she really hadn't enjoyed it. To her it had felt more like torture than anything.

The black haired girl who was quite tall compared to Lina seemed to pick up on her distress and called her over to her side. Lina happily trotted over thinking she might now receive a task but she was disappointed: „Come sit with us. We all don't have anything to do until Gaspard and Manon return. We might as well get to know each other better"

The girl patted the free space to her left as her right was already occupied by the boy who resembled her strongly. Lina reluctantly took a seat next to her and left enough space between them so that they weren't touching. She wasn't too keen on chatting with them as she didn't want them to ask any personal questions. Lina sighed and regretted giving in earlier due to her laziness. The situation had turned even more bothersome now.

„I'm not sure if the others already told you but we figured we could start by introducing ourselves. My name is Elodie, the one sitting next to me is Etienne", the girl began and the boy nodded towards her in greeting, „and the one by the door is Mathieu. He's our leader and has the last say in all decisions" Lina had a bad habit of belittling others. While their age might qualify them as adults here they would barely be considered as kids at her home and she had a hard time at seeing them as anything but.

„So there's this one question that's been bothering me as we've been following you since Johannesburg", the girl continued carefully.

Lina immediately got wary and interrupted her: „I won't answer every question. Just the ones I feel comfortable with"

„That's perfectely fine", Elodie remained undisturbed, „so... is that your real hair colour? Because it looks really pretty and I would love to know where you got it done if it isn't natural"

Lina was a little perplexed and took a strand of her light blonde hair between her index finger and her thumb. Studying it she replied: „It is my natural colour. I didn't think it to be that noticeable. Doesn't Gaspard have almost the same colour?"

„He does, but he doesn't", came the mysterious reply from Etienne while he was sharpening two twin daggers.

„What's that supposed to mean?", asked Lina bewildered.

„What Etienne wanted to say", explained Elodie, „was that Gaspard's hair is closer to blonde while yours is closer to white. And there are many blonde people but we've never seen somebody with your shade. Besides, he is a man and doesn't know how to talk about colours or hair for that matter. He simply lacks the vocabulary"

Watching Elodie tease Etienne, Lina wanted to know: „Are you siblings?"

Instead of a simple „yes" or „no" she received a shocked silence from Elodie and a frosty glare from Etienne. Lina didn't understand how the question had offended them and didn't know how to restore the more relaxed atmosphere from before. A coughing from outside the door reminded them that Mathieu was also listening to their conversation and Elodie hurried to mumble an unhappy „something like that".

„I see", Lina replied after a pregnant silence.

„Nevermind that", Elodie tried to hide her akwardness about what just happened, „Do you have any siblings?"

Lina thought that information wouldn't hurt her even if they knew it. It was not like they would ever meet Viktoria. So she confided: „Yes, I have a sister, but I don't know where she is at the moment"

„Is that why you are travelling?", implored Etienne in a soft voice. He seemed to have forgotten that he was just upset with her.

Lina shook her head first yes then no and explained: „That's part of the reason. I'm also searching for two friends of mine who went missing at the beginning of the war"

„But that was 44 years ago!", exclaimed a shocked Elodie, „Do you believe you will ever find them?"

„It's not like I've been searching the whole time", defended Lina, „I only started looking for them 15 years ago after something came up. And if they are still on this earth, then I will find them. I wouldn't put it beyond them to actively avoid me just for the sake of it. So I can't just stop looking"

„You do know that the Great War claimed a lot of lives, don't you?", Elodie stated gently. She was about to offer up the statistics of casualties and survivors and that a lot of remains were lost but Etienne deflected the topic: „We're also travelling to search for somebody. His name is Ciel and he's very ugly. Have you seen him?"

„I don't exactly go around and ask the people I encounter for their names. In fact, I mostly avoid people for as long as it can be done", Lina declared as gravely as she could without laughing, „and the description of 'very ugly' is kind of vague. Depending on who you ask, there either are no ugly people at all or the world is full of them. Still, I don't think I've met the person you're searching for"

„That's a pity", Etienne concluded seriously earning him a glare from Elodie.

„Eti", she began chiding, „Ciel isn't ugly. It's just very visible that life hasn't been kind to him!"

„You make it sound like he has a lot of wrinkles because of old age! But that's not the case at all. He's only 42 years old. But like us he looks younger. His face is simply deformed by all his scars. If that isn't the picture book description of being ugly then I don't know what is!", he argued heatedly, „besides I heard it when he called himself ugly. So why can't I?"

Lina watched with interest as Elodie made a face at Etienne like she was at the end of the rope with him. Elodie took a deep calming breath and started explaining the difference between self-depreciating humor and insults to an Etienne who looked like he wanted to stomp his foot and call her a liar.

Just as Lina thought he would stop Elodie's tirade in favour of his own, Gaspard and Manon returned from scouting effectively ending their conversation.