Sanctuary

Chapter 1

Eben sat in front of the still burning fire and poured himself a cup of coffee. The smell of fresh coffee filled the air and his lungs. He grabbed a pack of cigarettes and without even realizing it, he started to smoke. The buzzing sound of insects was soon covered by distant voices, which he choose to ignore for now and enjoy his beverage, his smoke and not lastly, the fresh and somewhat humid morning air of a beautiful fall morning. He loved the fall, the way nature changed in color preparing for the winter to come. The suns was starting to show itself above the canopy and it's warmth caressed his skin, also generating a not very dense mist cover above the still humid grass.He managed to stretch and let off a content sigh before some of the group members started taking places around the fire place.

Everyone ready for our first morning session? Please get a cup of coffee and feel free to snatch a sandwich out of the basket, to keep you going before we manage to get a decent meal" Eben said. One by one the guests – soon to be his employees – took a cup of coffee and found a comfortable place to sit, not before snatching something to eat. This gave Eben enough time to watch everyone closely and to remember the information the recruiting agency included in their briefing – which was not much to be honest - but enough for him to pick THEM out of a handful of people applying for a position.

First to his left there was Nina. A tall – about 1,78m tall - , slender woman, in her early 30th, long dark brown hair falling beneath her shoulders, small dark eyes, sharp as a knife, and a somewhat pointy nose. He recollected her working for a bank previously, before some events in her life forced her to move in with her parents and her younger sister again. That is when she decided to leave the bank and search for a smaller business with a more relaxed working schedule. At a first glance, she did not strike Eben as the "team-player" kind of women, but he was hopeful that would change, considering past events in her life.

Next to her there sat Tim. He was also somewhat tall for a man, also in his early 30th. He held his dark brown hair cut short. His eyes reflected a calmness Eben had rarely seen before. The perfect balance for the fiery Nina. And for himself, from time to time. He also did seem to enjoy being out in the wild as much as Eben did. With his marketing and web knowledge from previous places he worked in, he was the one Eben chose to build a homepage for the small business and take care of the online ordering system.

In front of Eben, sat Laura. She was not taller than 1,60 m, long dark-brown hair, robust body and most of the time posing a cheery face that brought a smile on Eben's face as he was looking at her. She could be the one cheering them up in difficult times. Eben shook his smile off, trying to recollect what little knowledge was known to him about her. She worked for a big company with subsidiaries across Europe, being the managing assistant of the CEO. After some years of working on a tight and strict schedule, she decided to take a more relaxed approach to life and work, get over the loss of her husband and take care of her aging parents. So here she was.

Eben turned his head to the right, where Jan was happily munching at a third sandwich. He was in his early 40th, around 1,70 m high, somewhat plump, with short brown hair and wearing glasses. He had his own small business in the home improvement, but it did not go as planned. So he decided to let it be and join Eben, which he had known about 2 years previous to this.

Once everyone sat around the fireplace, Eben took a last sip of coffee and addressed the others: "First, let me officially welcome you to both my family's business and also to this site. Second, I'm glad you all could join and agreed to a first meeting outdoors, away from the life we all lived before, away from the city stress and turmoil. Speaking of which: hopefully everyone followed instructions and turned their cellphones off. This two weeks should be spent in communion with the surrounding nature, focusing on planning further steps and getting to know each other.