Chatpter 8, Who Is It?

Darkness filled her dream not knowing if she should call out someone's name or not she just watched it turn pitch black, before she knew it she was on the floor with her head hanging low. There was a lady screaming at her, she was pretty, very pretty even. She looked like someone you could only find in a painting drawn by one of the best artists of the century. As Amara slowly started to understand her situation she noticed that she was being scolded for something. "How many times do I have to tell you to not make a commotion wherever you go outside." The angry lady yelled at her, Amara's body started to move on its own and started to open her mouth. "I am terribly sorry…" A kid-like voice came from her mouth which worried her. "Only displeasure and unluckiness gets unleashed whenever you are around people!" She had finally recognized the voice and who the woman was, it was her mother who was angry about an accident that happened outside. Amara started to shiver in fear of what was happening, confused why she was dreaming about these past events. She was trying her best to take control of her body again. She hated these past experiences not only of the embarrassment and bruises she had gotten from it but also because of the way she treated herself after these moments. Hate, sorrow and anger started to climb up from the depths of her, keeping herself calm was not easy at all. Every single slap, every single time they would collide with skin touch Amara got more and more furious at her mother. She wants to yell out: "Why are you doing this to me!" Or. "You should not be treating your daughter like this at all!" But the words are not able to come from her mouth at all just like they also would, angry at herself she cursed under her breath which her mother heard. "Are YOU now cursing at ME?" Imani sternly asked of her, Amara quickly shook her head and looked mortified. Did she truly only cared about if she said something bad about her but not if she broke any bones by the amount of hits she now took? "Do not worry, I have something to discipline you." Imani said with a manicing voice. Amara froze in fear, her mother slowly showed her a wip and tested it in front of her eyes on a table. It gave a loud slash, tears started foaming from her eyes and backed away from her mother. She could not let herself go through all of that again at least, while Imani got closer Amara started asking for forgiveness and got on her knees. "I really won't do it again!" She yelled and screamed at the top of her lungs and closed her eyes because of the tears turning into waterfalls. "Good night." Imani told her with a grin on her face. Amara opened her eyes and found herself in a room that was not hers nor the one she was with her mother. All that she could think about is how she was now safe and far away from her. She slowly started to rise from her bed and looked around where she was, the inn, safe and sound from any danger that would be possible to come for her. Kayden was sleeping on a chair next to the bed, he was probably concerned about if she was hurting or aching from the pain she got. The wounds had already healed because she was sleeping, her wounds tended to heal quicker than a normal Celestial would. Amara softly shook Kaydens shoulder to wake him up, shocked, he looked around confused at first but then calmed down. "Did you sleep well?" He asked her in a soft low voice. Amara nodded at his question. "Do you want to get ready first or should I?" Amara looked at him with a slight happy expression. "No, you should go first." He replied to her, she did not hesitate to freshen herself up when she heard that. "I promise to not take that long!" She said with a pleased voice. Kayden then closed his eyes again and went to a deep slumber. Amara looked through her bag she brought along with her and looked at which outfit she should wear today. The same as before or something more comfortable? She looked at both of them back and forth not knowing which one to choose. She decided to use a picking game. She would wear the same clothes as yesterday if she took the long paper straw and the more comfortable one if she took the shorter paper straw. She dramatically took her time to choose one of them and she ended up with the long straw so she decided to pick the opposite one anyways just because it would be more comfortable for her to walk around in those clothes. Picking clothes is not her strong suit since she was used to others picking them for her. When she finally got the clothes on she decided to put on a small amount of make up and go to Kayden and tell him that it's his turn. She thought she looked quite cute and looked at herself in the mirror and made a couple poses before feeling completely confident again. She is now ready to go back to the three little musketeers that were waiting on her return. She finally was done freshening up and went fetch Kayden but when she got to the other room, no one was there. Maybe he had gotten himself food before wanting to do his stuff she thought. This time she will not go into a panic mode like last night. As she was making her way to the bed again she saw a note which said: "I will eat first then I will be back, so give me some time." She looked at the paper with less worry in her face and decided to go downstairs to get something to eat. As she was making her way to the cafeteria she noticed that the place where the small paintings would normally hang had nothing there, quite upset because she was fascinated by them she decided to first find the butler to ask him what had happened to them. She was looking around more carefully and noticed a lot more stuff hanging around the Inn than before, she had ignored them because everything had looked too expensive and if she might break a vase she would never be able to pay for it back. The shiny golden floors and deep black walls reminded her of the man who saved her from before, the touch and scenery. It all fitted so well she was mad at herself for not being able to capture the face of the man now that she is curious about who had saved her from a "death" experience. She quickly stopped her thoughts before entering the cafeteria and decided to order something small and nothing too overpriced since everything would go onto Kaydens name. She had ordered small bowls of food which were around 4443 silver Marks, which. was still expensive but it was also a reasonable price after she saw the luxurious table setting and after they had arrived with her food. The taste was undeniably delicious and hard to describe, one dish would be sour but sweet while the other was spicy and sweet. Mixing the dishes together made the meal taste even more better, she was happy she did not choose anything bad. The drinks that they would serve for free and tell her it was on the house were even greater! They had given her only her favourite drink, they knew it before she even told them. It was quite weird and sketchy at first but Amara quickly forgot her worries after taking a couple sips from it. She saw the butler walking past her and quickly tried to get his attention. "Mr. Butler!" She said with her mouth full and quickly covered it. The butler had turned around to look who it was and quickly walked over to Amara. "What can I help you with today?" He asked in a softer way than she was used to. "I was wondering what happened to the paintings near my room." She told him with no hesitation, the butler looked quite stunned back at this question. "My lady, what paintings are you talking about?" Amara looked at him with a slightly confused face. "The two paintings of man in black of course!" The butler was thinking about it for a moment and shook his head. "We do not own paintings of a man in black." Amara's heart began to sink. "No small painting at all?" The butler shook his head once again. "I am terribly sorry to disappoint you but we do not have any small ones especially the one you are speaking of at the moment." Has she been seeing things? No that can't be right because those paintings looked too real. "Well I am sorry to interrupt you, please continue your work." She told him and he took his leave. Amara now only started to feel more uncomfortable around this place because not only did a random forest fire start, now she is also imagining things that are not even real. Before she could continue her thoughts Kayden was tapping on her shoulder. "Do you like the food they gave you?" He asked. "Yes I am enjoying the food better than expected." She replied to him. She decided to stop thinking about the paintings for now and focus on what is now in front of her, a humongous frog! "You can sit with me if you would like." She welcomed him with a warm smile. "Oh wow! I never thought you would ask that." He said in an exaggerated happy voice, which annoyed Amara immediately and she rolled her eyes while he made his way to sit on the other side. "You know," Amara began to say. "I have decided on going back to my house." Kayden started to pout when he heard that, he now looked like a frog with huge eyes and big lips. "I thought we were getting along pretty well." "Cute how you think that about us but I do have a home with people who are probably worried when I am coming back home." She fired at him, he had nothing to call back at her. "I suppose I also should be heading home before they will start a search for me. But I am leaving tomorrow instead of today, I am probably going to walk around the town today and look around the forest to see what is left of it." A small laugh came from Amara when he said that the runaway marquee finally is going home after many days. "I guess this might be the last time we'll see each other." She told him. "What if we see each other again by pure luck." He hesitantly asked her. "I hope we don't." Kayden started to feel offended by that and dramatically began to roll his eyes and scoff. "You are such a hater for absolutely no reason." "…Riiiiggghht." Their talk was enough to fill the entire morning, when they were back at the room they were staying at Amara was finishing up packing her belongings so she can have a safe trip back without forgetting anything. She started double checking, then triple checking and then even quadruple checking her bag if she really had everything in it. "I am pretty sure you have everything." Kayden tried to reassure her while he saw everything going down. "I think you WILL forget something if you keep looking at your bag like that." He honestly told her. "UGHHH." Was the only sound coming from Amara's mouth after hearing that and put her head in her hands, she is a perfectionist if she loses something she might as well craft a new one because she has no money to pay anything. Kayden patted her back to show his sympathy for her. "If you leave now you might find a carriage that will bring you home before evening." He whispered in her ear, home sounds like a great place to be at the moment. "I will get up." She groaned and stood up while picking up her bag. "I assume this is the time we will say our goodbyes to each other?" "Yes, this is also the part where I pay you for protecting myself." Amara's eyes had lit up when she heard the sound of marks coming from his pocket. "I think this should do it, 10 222 golden Marks!" He gave her a signed cheque with his and her name's on it. Amara started to feel suspicious of him when she looked at it because she had never told him her name, and this is now the second time he had used her name. The first time being that he yelled her name out last name as well. But when she wanted to look up at him, the man himself was gone. She started to look for his mana spirit to see if he still was near here but nothing could be found. "So he probably did start the forest fire." She muttered to herself before taking her leave from the Inn, it is not her problem if the room is paid or not since the reservation was not on her name. But she had left some Marks on the reception table before she had left just to be nice. When she was able to find a trustable closed carriage she decided to take a nap and wake up when she had arrived at her destination. On her way to the house she was staying at for the time being, a strong vanilla-like aroma started to fill up the carriage. When she had opened her eyes she saw a bouquet of white roses, her favourite, wondering about who could have left these for her, maybe Aire had left them before she opened her eyes? Who else could it have been, no one else knows about her freedom right? She didn't pick up flowers to see if there were any clues left behind for her, she just stared at them. Not wanting to accept any gifts from someone who is trying to act so mysterious for her, it is cute but terrifying. A small smile did appear on her face after thinking about the possibilities of who was able to send these flowers but quickly stopped herself from grinning too much. But after being treated with kindness not once but more than three times in a span of three days she couldn't help but think of a secret admirer and started to dilute herself with more imaginations if the person who sent these might have been the man who had saved herself from the night before. But now that she thinks about him, has she met him before somewhere? No… That can't be. She quickly scrapped that thought and looked at flowers once more and picked them up. "There is no harm with bringing them home." She whispered to herself and put them on her lap and decided to look out of the window and sighed and tried to wonder who it could have been.