As Jahrra scanned the scene before her she caught sight of Jaax talking to Aydehn. She took a deep breath and started walking in that direction, half afraid she would get mobbed again. Phrym followed behind her like a loyal dog as she made her way down the center of town.
More than half of the Resai stopped what they were doing to watch her but to her profound relief, no one stood up to follow. She took this chance to study them. They all had hair in one shade of brown or another and the pointed ears she had grown so familiar with back home. The one thing she noticed about these people was their height. On the whole, they were shorter than the Resai elves in the southern part of Oescienne and their features were softer, not as angled. She wondered why but didn’t think too long on it because her very next step brought her before Jaax and Aydehn.
“Well good morning to you, Jahrra!” Aydehn proclaimed. “Sleep well?”
“Yes, I did,” she replied.
“I’m very pleased to hear it. You must be hungry. Would you like to join me and my wife for breakfast?”
Jahrra glanced at Jaax and he nodded. “I won’t need to eat for a few more days and I think it would be a very good idea for Jahrra to get to know you better.”
Gulping down her nerves, Jahrra said, “Alright. But Phrym needs breakfast too.”
“Of course!” Aydehn said. “Emrel! Could you come here for a moment?”
A young Resai man, perhaps ten years older than Jahrra, stepped out of the hut just on the other side of Aydehn’s.
“Yes, Uncle?” he asked.
“Have Thera and Romm take Jahrra’s semequin to the mid-pastures so that he may graze.”
Emrel glanced at Jahrra, then his eyes widened.
“Of course,” he murmured as he ducked back into his home.
“My dear nephew,” Aydehn said with a little sadness. “His wife died almost six years ago while giving birth to their third child. Little Phaea survived but Emrel has never quite got over it.”
Jahrra frowned in sympathy. She knew what it was like to lose a loved one.
The door of Emrel’s hut flew open and two children, Thera and Romm Jahrra presumed, came bustling out, pulling on boots and coats. Thera, who looked to be around the age of twelve, had tied her long brown hair back into two ponytails while Romm, a few years older, was rubbing his hands together to fight the chill. Both of them looked at Aydehn.
“Papa says there’s a semequin out here. Is it true?” Thera’s eyes lit up with delight.
“See for yourself,” Aydehn said with a grin, gesturing towards Jahrra. “You weren’t here yesterday during the grand arrival of Jahrraneh Drisihn.”
That statement seemed to surprise both siblings and they gawked at Jahrra as if she had turned a brilliant shade of magenta.
Romm cleared his throat and lowered his eyes. “It’s an honor to meet you.”
Thera seemed unable to speak.
“I’m glad to meet you as well. But you don’t have to take Phrym for me, if you just show me where to go.”
“Nonsense!” Aydehn said. “Come now children, don’t be shy!”
Casting a wary glance at Jaax, Thera stepped forward and took Phrym’s lead rope. Jahrra was worried he might not like someone else taking him away but all he did was ruffle Thera’s hair with his nose. The girl laughed and Jahrra smiled.
“We’ll bring him in at the end of the day with the other horses,” Romm said, giving Jahrra one more reverent glance.
She fought the urge to squirm.
Aydehn nodded and turned to Jaax. “We have a nice stable near the river where we keep our horses at night. Several stalls are empty at the moment, for some of our young men have gone on a long hunting venture and probably won’t return until after you’ve left.”
He sighed. “They’ll be well put out when they learn you were here.”
He shrugged and looked at Jahrra. “So, how does scrambled eggs and fresh trout sound, young lady?”
In response, Jahrra’s stomach growled and she felt her cheeks grow pink. Aydehn only laughed and waved her in.
“I think I’ll stretch my wings for a while. Besides, it wouldn’t hurt for me to scout the forest,” Jaax said as he turned to leave.
Jahrra felt uncomfortable with the idea of Jaax being out of reach for more than an hour but she fought down her unease and only nodded before disappearing into the hut. The interior was rather spacious compared to the outside and consisted of one great room with bunks built into the wall just below the roof. The floor consisted of flat slate stones pieced together carefully with a stone fireplace resting inside one of the walls. A frying pan sat perched atop a flat rock while several trout hung spitted above the flames. A tea kettle was steaming off to the side and beside the fireplace Jahrra spotted a crevice in the wall that acted as an oven. The smell of dust, roasting fish and leather mingled nicely together and for a while she was reminded of the tiny cottage she lived in when she was a small child back in Oescienne.
“It isn’t much, I know, but we don’t require much so we are content,” Aydehn said, clasping his hands behind his back as he surveyed his home.
Jahrra glanced around once again, noting the plaster walls and the few windows that let in just enough light. She was impressed with the glass panes and wondered if they’d fashioned them themselves.
“It’s wonderful,” she murmured.
“Thenya is just out collecting eggs but the tea should be ready and the fish is nearly done.”
He gestured to a small table with four wooden chairs and Jahrra sat at his invitation. A few moments later Thenya stepped in, her apron turned into a pouch that held several brown eggs. When she spotted Jahrra sitting at the table with her hands wrapped around a steaming mug of tea, she nearly dropped her bundle in surprise.
“Oh, Aydehn! Why didn’t you warn me she was here?”
The woman was short, like all the others in Crie, but moved about briskly as if she were constantly on a mission to round up a group of misbehaving toddlers. Her russet hair, streaked with white, was tucked under a scarlet scarf and her hazel eyes sparked with vigor. She cast her husband an exasperated look as she bustled over to a great stone basin acting as a sink.
“She has just awoken my dear and you were out tending the chickens,” Aydehn answered matter-of-factly.
His wife muttered something unintelligible as she unloaded the eggs carefully into the sink. When she finished, she wiped her hands and turned to face Jahrra.
“Oh, I still cannot believe you are here! The way Raejaax carried you off last time I was sure I would never see you again.”
Jahrra thought she saw tears in the woman’s eyes but figured she had too much self control to let them spill free.
“We were very sorry to hear about Hroombramantu,” she murmured as she returned to her eggs, cracking them one at a time in a clay bowl. “He was a good friend to us.”
Jahrra ducked her head in acknowledgment.
“Thank you,” she said, trying to keep the emotion out of her own voice. She felt slightly awkward sitting here among strangers, strangers who had worried after her since birth.
Eventually Aydehn cleared his throat then leaned forward on the table and said, “So, why don’t you tell us about your life? It will help us to get to know the person we let go of so long ago.”
He grinned, a twinkle in his eye. Jaax had explained why he’d taken her to Hroombra but Jahrra was wondering if Aydehn and Thenya knew the reason.
Shrugging slightly and pushing those thoughts from her mind, Jahrra began her tale, doing her best to relay the past seventeen years of her life to her hosts. She didn’t focus on the sad memories but she did mention her parents’ deaths, then gave them a quick summary of her time at school and her summers spent making mischief with her two best friends.