55 Adventuring Alone?

The deeper Arnacia went into the forest, the denser it grew. To the point that brown stood in her path and green eclipsed the sky. Luckily, the faint mud trail wasn't run over by grasses on either side.

Cries of birds sounded like warnings in the air. She strode through the way but with careful and calculated steps. After a tense amount of time, she heard the sound of water cutting through the forest.

The path continued alongside the river that was half the width now. She felt the mud stick to her shoes and long blades of grass touch her pants. The reeds swayed with the wind that brought in earthy smell to her nose. This place felt less suffocating because she could see the water flow under an open sky.

Roughly five minutes passed before she saw a lean figure in the distance. This person seemed to be floating in the water by the riverside. She stopped for a while and observed if it was safe to approach them.

Raffaella was half submerged in the water. Her feet firmly rested on the rock in this shallow corner of the river. She took a deep breath and bent her knees to get into the water. A thick rope with a noose on one end laid near her feet. She picked it up with ease and hung it on a metal hook on the riverbank.

A straw backpack kept on the grass by the river. Raffaella took out a towel and put it over her black hair, which barely touched her shoulder. She was lean like the cuboid heating rod from yesterday. Thus, giving the impression of being taller than she appeared from far.

Arnacia approached while running her hand through the reeds. She wanted the girl to speak first, but the girl didn't show any interest. To strike a conversation with a complete stranger was difficult, especially so because her mood was like cold tea. But waiting there while the girl dried her hair seemed even weirder.

"Excuse me, do you know in which direction I can find the doctor who lives around here?" Arnacia cleared her throat and said.

"There's only one path here. Where do you think it leads?" Raffaella pulled her wet sleeves down. Her dark clothes still had water seeping through them, but her thin legs were tightly covered by leather boots.

She picked up the straw bag and hung it on her back. Busy in her own thoughts, she resumed drying her hair with the towel and started walking ahead.

Arnacia looked at the spot in the river where she first saw the girl. A rope extended from this corner of the river to the other end. She could vaguely see a net swaying inside the water. And indeed there was only one path here, so she decided to follow the girl for the time.

'She might be a hunter or from a tribe.' Arnacia had seen tribal people on TV but never been to a jungle in real life before. This experience made her feel like she was really at the bottom of a deep well with huge walls surrounding her.

It didn't take much time to see a house built of stone in the woods. The slanting roofs even had a chimney, but when she got close the house looked taller than the ones she was used to seeing. It was built on a raised platform that was mostly covered in grass that didn't reach up to the base of the house. The corners were curved downwards so that reptiles couldn't climb up.

"Is this where the doctor lives?" Arnacia couldn't help but ask when the girl pulled the small wooden stairs from the veranda and climbed up to the front door.

"He is not here at the moment." The girl opened the door and added before entering the house. "Pull the stairs up before you enter."

Arnacia carefully climbed the stairs. She grabbed the handles on either side of the stair steps and pull them up. They were lighter than she expected. She rechecked the position of the wood and entered the house.

The first room was only the size of the beds that were on one side. A wooden bench was kept on the other end and a chair was in the middle of the room. The girl from earlier entered the door in the middle, whereas another door was beside the bench.

Arnacia went closer to the bench and took the chance to peek inside the open door. This room was a little bigger and had shelves packed with glass containers that contained plants, mushroom, dirt and other odd stuff. She felt relieved that this was indeed the doctor's house and decided to sit and wait.

"Here, have some tea." The lean girl from before returned and offered a glass.

"No thanks, I don't drink tea." Arnacia refused since there was no way she was going to drink something given by this girl. She wanted to be a better judge of character, but couldn't take the first step to trust a person she didn't even know the name of.

'I wish someone was with me right now.' Arnacia thought about how her dad in previous life was always worried while taking her to a doctor. Somewhere in her heart, she wished to return. The last few months had been awful to her. She didn't get much sleep or food, her dad barely visited home, she was losing connection with Hazel.

'No, don't think about it. Think about something else.' Arnacia unintentional ignored the other girl in the room who started to drink the tea herself.

After twenty minutes, someone knocked on the door. Arnacia didn't hear it, but the girl sitting on the chair did. Raffaella stood up and went to open the already unlocked door. Her eyes squinted a little when she saw the guest. It was the same person who wanted medicine to be a guy. Although that was long ago, her memory of it was clear as day.

"What do you want?" Raffaella asked in her unamused voice, but she was indeed expecting a new ruckus.

"Just let me take a quick peek inside." The person tried to enter the room but Rafaella held them back.

Arnacia looked up at the unexpected event. She could only see the girl's hands were locked into another pair of hands. Somehow these new pairs of fingers felt extremely familiar.

"I am going easy on you because you tried to help me before." The familiar voice was louder and smug. "Thank you for letting me in, Raffaella." The person easily pushed Raffaella and invaded the room.