Chapter 26 - The Beginning

When ‘Azriel Esthera’ opened her eyes for the first time after receiving her name, what she saw was a perfectly peaceful scenery. In the middle of a wide space in the inner forest, there was a petite two-story house built of wooden frames and bricks. Small flowering vines were intertwined with the low fence surrounding the yard. Over the fence was a winter with frozen bare branches but only inside the fence was a warm spring. Chickens and chicks were roaming around the grassy yard. On one side of the roof which was sticking out, a colorful bird had nested. On the railing of the terrace, a black cat and a white cat were enjoying a nap back to back. The white cat yawned big. In the yard, a huge, yellow dog with shaggy fur was running along a butterfly. It soon laid down on its back as if it was tired and enjoyed the sunshine.

In that peaceful scenery, Azriel was wrapped in a soft blanket, buried in a rocking chair. The beige blanket smelled like sunshine. She was dying in a freezing cold, filthy water just a little while ago. Was she dreaming?

“You are awake.”

A low voice was heard from behind. It was faster for him to come in front of Azriel than her turning around. The train of his white robe softly swayed. A big cup was held out in front of her. The cup was filled with sticky, green liquid. “Drink it.”

Azriel vacantly looked down at the cup for a while and lifted her head to look at him. The man with long, flowy silver hair was standing in front of her in the same image she saw before she passed out. As she was just watching him, Rhema tilted his head. “I cured almost all injuries, your body is too weak now. This is a medicine that will replenish nutrition and detoxify your body.”

“Is this not a dream?” Azriel asked out of the blue.

Awakened by their conversation, two cats that were at the railing jumped down. The black cat sat down around Azriel’s feet and examined her with its narrowly opened green eyes. The white cat snuggled into Rhema’s robe skirt and rubbed its body against his leg. Ignoring the cat, Rhema gazed at Azriel and answered her. “This is not a dream, Azriel.” He was still holding the cup steadily. Azriel wriggled her hands under the blanket to receive it. It took a long while until she could hold her hand out of the blanket as he wrapped her hands too tightly. When she barely took the cup, a black cat lightly climbed up the rocking chair.

“Ah…!” Surprised, Azriel’s body was stiffened. Because of that, some of the liquid was spilled on the blanket. She turned pale, thinking that she would get beaten for staining the blanket. “S, s, sorry! I’m sorry!” She trembled and wrapped her head. There was no change in Rhema’s expression. He asked as he picked up the black cat to separate it from her. “Do you dislike cats?”

“No, it’s, it’s just, that I was surprised,” replied Azriel.

“This is Noir. The white one is Blanchet. Noir, come down.” As if it understood his words, the black cat cried long and jumped down the rocking chair. Noir looked back at Azriel for once and went away haughtily with its tail raised up. The white cat that was rolling under the chair also disappeared after it. All cats Azriel knew were thin, stray cats with rough fur and fierce claws. In the back alley, she had to fight against cats over food. She even had a scar from a cat’s claw. Those creatures were too different from the cats she knew. She stared at the graceful and soft-looking cats.

“It’s getting cold. This medicine is the most effective when you drink it warm.” When Rhema pointed out in a low voice, Azriel looked down at the cup only then. The liquid did not look so appetizing, but she drank it at once. It tasted like a rotten egg mixed with ixeris. She frowned reflexively. Rhema tilted his head again. Looking at Azriel, who bit her tongue as she lowered the empty cup, he said as if he realized something. “Is it bitter?”

“It’s, it’s al… right.” Azriel nervously replied. At her obviously horrified look, Rhema asked no more but just took the cup. When he disappeared, she let out a deep sigh at last. Then she slowly examined her body. A white and soft-textured tunic was put on her. Since it was quite big, it seemed to belong to Rhema. Its shoulder slipped down and was hung on one side, and the short sleeves came down below her forearms.

Her dirty body was washed clean and any broken bones or scratches were neatly healed. The black dirt underneath her fingernails were gone as well. Her black greasy hair entangled with filth smelled nice, too. If it were not for her body that looked like thin tree branches due to malnutrition or infected fingernails and toenails, it would be hard to believe that she was rescued from a filthy moat.