Damsel In Distress (Ongoing + Editing)

Chapter 14

As I got ready to go to bed, there was a knock on the door. "Come in," I said, rubbing my eyes.

"How are ya?" the visitor said as he opened the door.

I looked up to see Agueda's dad. He looked no older than my father. "I'm fine," I responded with a weak smile.

He gave me a look. One that read Why are you lying to me? "Tell me the truth," he said with a playful smile.

"I guess I'm a little shocked at what you told us at dinner,"  I said before sitting on the bed, "I had no idea that he even did that and I trusted him. Granted he is branded so that might of not been a good idea on my part."

He let out a chuckle.  "That's not all," I continued, "The burn on your face isn't the only reason why I was staring earlier."

"Really? What was the other reason?" he asked coming over to sit on the bed.

"You look a lot like my father," I said, "I mean he doesn't have an eyepatch or a burn on his face , but other than that you look almost exactly like him. The thing is that you seem to be his opposite."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, for most of my childhood, the last ten years at least, he's been cruel to me. He lets my mother abuse me and call me names. Neither of them think I'll succeed in taking over for them once its time for me to do so. You on the other hand seem kind and loving. I saw how you addressed your children and your wife after dinner. I wish my father was like that."

I swallowed back my tears and let out a sigh. He put his hand on mine and squeezed tight. I looked over at him and smiled. "I think it's time for you to get to bed mister," he said with a laugh as he jokingly flicked me in the shoulder.

I rolled my eyes and laughed. He stood up and went to the door, but before he left, he turned around and looked at me. "Remember," he began, "Nothing is more important than the relationships you form. Not money. Not revenge. Not even magic."

With that he turned back around and left, closing the door behind him. I unbinded my chest and laid down. As I laid on the bed I thought about what he said. It was very out of context in the moment, but it was true nevertheless. Who is this man? I asked myself, And what does he know?

On that lovely little thought, I fell into a dreamless sleep. 

The next morning I woke up feeling refreshed and better than ever. Agueda's father's words still rang in my mind. Nothing is more important than the relationships you form.

Was he talking about my father? Was he maybe hinting about Carwyn and me?  As I binded my chest, I realized how much I loved having the binder on even if it was a makeshift one. Why haven't I felt this type of happiness before? I asked myself as I finished up.

Shrugging off the feeling, I grabbed myself and went to the living area that we were in when we first entered last night.  Carwyn was already up and talking with Agueda and her siblings when I got down there.  "Hey you guys," I said, trying to seem like I was fine.

Carwyn smiled at me and waved. Two of the younger kids, who were clearly twins, both came running up to me. "Are you really going to go save someone?" one of them asked.

"Is it dangerous?"  the other one asked.

I laughed. "Yeah we're going to go save someone. It's a super dangerous task we have." I said smiling down at them.

They squealed making Carwyn giggle. "Okay you two, they have to get going so they can save the day," Agueda said grabbing their hands.

As she led them into the other room with the rest of their siblings, their mother came in. "You're leaving so early?" she asked, "Come on and eat before you leave!"

She turned around immediately and went into the dining area. Carwyn and I looked at each other and laughed before following her. We were presented with a typical Portuguese breakfast. Different forms of bread with jam, sliced cheese, and sliced ham.  "What would you like to drink?" Agueda asked as Carwyn and I sat down, "We prepared Meia de Leite"

"I'll have some if it's not too much of a problem," I said with a smile.

Agueda smiled and got me brought me a cup. "What is it?" Carwyn asked, his eyes wide as he stared at my cup.

"It's like a  latte, but a little different," I said.

Before anything else could happen, the twins were screaming. Carwyn cringed as everyone started to freak out. He covered his ear and squeezed his eyes shut. "Everyone calm down," I said standing up.

The screams only got louder. I looked over Agueda's head and that's when I saw the problem. A garden snake slithering on the floor. I snuck past everyone and bent over the scaly creature and picked it up in my hands. Not a single person was trying to be near me as I brought the snake to the door and let it out. When I got back to the dining room, the twins had stopped screaming and everyone was starting to calm down a little bit more. Carwyn, though, still had his eyes closed and ears covered, but now he was curled up.  I washed my hands and sat down next to him. "Carwyn," I said putting my hand on his shoulder, "It's okay, it's over."

He slowly opened his eyes and looked up at me. He uncovered his hands and gave me a small smile. As soon as he was completely calm, he looked over at Agueda. "Do you have orange juice?" 

She nodded and poured him a cup. Once we finished eating, we got our things and Agueda brought us to the edge of the woods. "Be careful," she said, eyeing the bow and arrows slung over my back.

"We will be," I replied before putting a hand on her shoulder, causing her eyes to snap back towards my face, "Thank you for helping us."

She nodded and smiled nervously at us. "You better get going if you want to make it to that camping spot I mentioned."

I motioned for Carwyn to follow me before turning and walking into the woods. I thought about how nice Agueda and her family were. How angry her father seemed when talking about Similini. The way his eyes darkened and how he tightened his fists. His anger, though, wasn't undeserving, and I could only imagine the betrayal he felt even if it wasn't intentional. Not only that, but how much the man looked like my father. I shuddered and forced myself to keep walking. You can't think about that now, I thought to myself, You have to keep going.

As we walked down the trail, I thought about when we first were confronted by Valerio. How I couldn't beat him with all my training, but Carwyn only had to do a cartwheel at the right timing. "Carwyn," I started, "When we were fighting Valerio, and you did the cartwheel, what made you think it would work? I mean it did and I'm grateful for it, but how did you know what to do?"

"I don't know," he said with a shrug, "I just did what came naturally and it just happened to be a cartwheel. I have no idea how I timed that right."

Through the time he talked, he didn't look at me. He just stared straight ahead, as if he were trying to forget the memory of Valerio. I couldn't blame him. Valerio was already intimidating even if he wasn't doing or saying anything. His eyes stared into your soul and at this point, his hair reminded me of one of those girls from horror movies that had their hair over their face except that you could obviously see his face. I don't even want to get started on when he smiles. The day went on and we got to the camping spot Agueda was speaking about before it was dark. We had enough daylight left to be able to find dry wood and kindling to start a fire and to set up our tents. Once we finished dinner we went right to sleep without changing or unpacking.

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