The man started walking around the house, and she breathed a sigh of relief. He had compassion on her. She followed him as he led his horse with him. As they came to the front door, he held out the reigns to his horse. "Please hold these a moment. I will return."
He walked into the home and left her alone a moment. He reappeared with a man Yunara assumed to be his butler. He seemed disgruntled, and even more so when he laid eyes upon her.
The man explained something to the butler in spanish, the butler grunting out a, "Si, señor." He reached his hand out for the reigns that she held, pointing at the reigns then his hand for emphasis. She handed him the reigns. The butler glared at her as he walked by.
"Follow me. Does it still hurt you?" The man asked as he led her into his home.
"Yes."
They stepped into a beautiful foyer surrounded by stone walls and terracotta floors. There were archways standing as the entrances to the other rooms in the house. Where they stood, there were three, one in front of them, behind which was a staircase, and two to either side.
"Maria!" the man called out.
"Kind sir, I never got your name."
The man turned to her. "Ah yes, it is true. I am Barón Manuel Suarez de la Costa." Seeing the confusion on her face from how fast he pronounced the name, he chuckled. "You may call me Manuel."
She chuckled, but from embarrassment. "Thank you, sir Manuel."
Just then a maid came out and started talking to Manuel in Spanish. They spoke for a while, Yunara feeling awkward as they continued on, not understanding a word.
After they had finished, Manuel turned to her and said, "follow Señora Maria. She will take care of you." This maid was much more pleasant than the butler was, a plump little woman with a beautiful mess of brown curls on her head. She nodded for Yunara to follow her.
Maria took good care of her as promised. Yunara supposed Manuel went to bed, because she didn't see him again for the rest of that night. Maria cleaned and wrapped the wound, which stung like hell when she did. When she was done, she led her to a bedroom where Yunara could get some rest. At first she was afraid that the difference in language would be a problem, but it didn't seem to bother Maria at all. Whatever she needed to express she did so with hand gestures and was patient with Yunara in her slowness to understand.
Finally, Maria left her alone to rest. Yunara's mind was swarmed with thoughts that troubled her about where to go from here. She couldn't get the image of the King and Queen out of her head. Eventually between thoughts she drifted to sleep and slept hard.
The next morning, she woke up to Maria greeting her as she brought a tray full of food. It felt strange, Yunara having spent her entire life on the other side of this situation, serving food to others all the time. It felt wrong. She tried to express as well as she could to Maria to allow her to wash her own face and prepare her own tea as she laid out the hot water and leaves for making it. Maria made a face and slapped her hands away, pointing at Yunara's bed, instructing her to return to it.
She was left with no option but to obey as Maria set her food before her, toasted bread, eggs, muffins, and tea. There was butter for the bread, as well as jam, and a little jar with sugar and a little spoon in it for the tea.
Maria called Yunara's attention to a little piece of paper under the plate of food. It was a note left by Manuel for her, apparently.
"Gracias," Yunara said, trying to remember as much Spanish as she could.
Maria smiled at the effort. "Buen provecho."
She began to read the note.
Yunara,
I am sorry that I cannot be with you this morning, but I have important business in the city. I will come back from Valencia city later this evening. In the meantime, please ask Maria for anything you need. She will show you the places you may and may not enter in the masia. Feel free to explore when you are feeling able. We will talk when I return.
Manuel
She couldn't believe his kindness. So she could explore his grounds.
She took a deep breath and looked out her window at the rolling green fields and mountains in the background. It was beautiful, but it wasn't Ecencia, and it wasn't Caorfi. So it seemed she was in Valencia. She wasn't sure where parallel points in Valencia led to. She should see if Manuel had a library. She could find a map to see how close Valencia was to Málaga.
Yunara thought again. Did she really want to return to Ecencia? It was now under the reign of who knows who? Renen? His uncle? Both of them? It really didn't matter which because she knew from experience that with the Aracs involved, it was they that truly reigned. Was there even an Ecencia left to return to?
But Ecencia was all she knew. She fled from the dangerous streets of Crila, her home country, at the young age of 13. Ever since then, she'd lived in Ecencia working as a maid for Lords and Ladies until she started working for Cadri. Crila had nothing to offer, and Ecencia was in shambles.
On that depressing thought, Yunara started eating.
After her meal, Yunara wasn't feeling as much pain in her back as before, and she felt that just sitting around in one place too long would drive her insane, so Maria took Yunara walking around the masia, as she called it. It was huge, with a left and right wing and a separate living space for the servants. She wasn't allowed to enter the left wing, as that was where the Baron usually hosted guests when he had them. Nor was she allowed to enter Manuel's office. But the rest of the area she could walk freely.
As they walked down a hall, they walked past a painting so beautiful it made her stop. It was a portrait of a man, someone Spanish, with expressive green eyes and a lot of brown hair. He had a beard that came down to his chest and was dressed in a blue tailcoat and vest. "Who is this?" she asked.
Maria looked at her with a look of confusion.
Yunara tried to remember her Spanish. "Quien es?" She asked.
Maria went on to speak Spanish too quickly for her to understand. Maria slowed down. "Es el padre," she said, pointing to the painting. "De señor Manuel."
Yunara nodded to show that she understood. This was Manuel's father. So he was white.
"Él," Maria continued. "Es muerto." Yunara didn't understand until Maria put out her thumb and slid it across her neck. "La madre," she made a curvy body with her hands and pointed at the father, which made Yunara giggle. "Es muerto tambien." She made the gesture of death again.
How sad, Yunara thought. So Manuel's all alone. He too, has suffered a lot of loss.
Just then she remembered that she wanted to visit the library. Thanking Maria for the explanation, she made her way for it.
The library was a huge room full of tomes and the smell of aged paper. A peaceful silence hugged the room, a solemn tranquility that permeated the aisles, the kind of ambiance in which one whispered as not to disturb it. She started looking for a map, but without understanding Spanish found herself lost. She passed by aisles of books hoping something might catch her eye.
"Yunara..."
Gasping, she stopped. She saw Cadri, half transparent, standing in the middle of the aisle, smirking as she leaned down to pick up a book.
"You know I could never stay interested in books," she said. She put down the book she was looking at. "But I think you'll enjoy this one."
With that, she disappeared.
Yunara stood stunned. Was it a ghost? Was Cadri dead?
She came near, trembling as she came near as though the shelf itself could have been possessed. The book Cadri was talking about was near the bottom. Her shaking hands picked it up and the first thing about the cover that caught her eye was the author's name. Barón Manuel Suarez de la Costa IV. Manuel wrote this? She opened the book and picked a random page.
She could hardly believe what she saw. Inside were drawings. It was a book full of illustrations. But they were all Caorfians. There were fairies, elves, naiads, and even a few Dark Ones. They were all depicted with great detail. One couldn't have just imagined these drawings, they had to have seen them. This made no sense. Humans couldn't see Caorfians. Not for who they really were. Manuel couldn't see Yunara, could he?
Tears started to sting her eyes as she was forced to remember the absence of her friend. Was she being haunted for some misdeed she commited? Why was this happening to her? What did this mean? And where did Cadri come in to all of this?