Death Frost | Deathsworn #2

Chapter 9 ❆ On Leave

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When I got back to the camp, Mistress Kora and Veronika were waiting with a bowl of soup and a plate of roasted meat. I went back pretty late though, having gone to take a bath first and change into a fresh set of clothes. Unlike before, I didn't have the luxury of my own bathing pools, something which I very dearly missed. The bathing grounds were almost always occupied too, and one could only have it to themselves up to a certain amount of time in consideration to all the others who lived in the temple.

Good thing fresh water was not hard to come by.

Upon arriving, I could hear Mistress Kora loudly thanking our neighbors. They were getting along really well with the refugees, it seemed. The same could be said for Maun and Erenol, though the latter seemed vaguely uncomfortable still. She probably was not used to being around so many strangers—and she had been complaining ever since about how she wasn't used to our living conditions.

I, on the other hand, was like my usual self—silent, mildly tolerant, introverted, and the occasional bully. It didn't really matter to me where we lived so long as we were alive.

Nonetheless, I was very worried about the family I had grown up in for the past decade. Though my grieving and sadness had been overwhelmed by my wanting to earn my right to redemption, the feelings I have been suppressing for some time now still burst forward like steam rising to the surface of the water.

I sincerely wanted to ask more about how my mistresses were doing—Mistresses Lili, Marga, Liane, Marian, and Neilly. I knew Mistress Lamia stayed back in Venerya to somehow meddle in the affairs of the country—I heard her swear at least. The rest of my family, I had absolutely no clue about.

I didn't even get to say goodbye to them before we all went our separate ways. It was a good thing we still had Mistresses Kora and Veronika, otherwise I'd have really lost my mind.

"Evy! Tin lopen du?" Erenol unconsciously asked in Veneryali.

"For the hundredth time, Eren, in Lovardi please," Mistress Kora lightly elbowed the girl.

"Ah," Erenol muttered in realization and stuck out her bottom lip upon realizing she had to struggle with a language she wasn't very fluent in. "H-how it go...uh...whatever." She threw in the towel, frustrated. Instead, she kept silent.

That should deter her from talking too much for a while—until she gained decent fluency in the local lingua franca at least.

"I heard you didn't find your name on the list," Mistress Veronika said, her Lovardi as smooth as flowing water save for the occasional trip in the accent, giving light to her Ovanolish background. She gazed at me, shredding the meat with her fingers and popping pieces into her mouth.

"It's alright. I cleared things up. I already took the next test. I only have to return for the final elimination." I joined their circle, squatting before their mini bonfire.

Maun gazed at me questioningly, not understanding a word I said. I gave him a small smile and signed, "Everything is good."

He imitated me, confirming he understood. "Everything is good." He then added, "You got in?"