C13 A New Settlement

The entry to the camp was not very revealing about the situation of it. This camp had a gloomy look from the outside. There were long wooden fence wall around it with sharp edges on the top. There were long trees covering the inner view. There were two guards with long pikes; their body was adored in iron armor it looked a bit faded for not being polished enough. Their eyes were the only visible part of the body. Kuon told Rosa to make sure that she is not visible too much. Se squeezed herself towards the corner so that they could only see Eugene and Felix. She held her breath covering her mouth and squeezed in. Finally they let them in the camp. Kuon, “Keep your head down till I say so.” He pulled the cart close to the medic tent but kept it at the end of the line. He quickly jumped down and ran to the back before the others could. They quickly moved Eugene with a stretcher in the tent. One of the nurses took Felix in his arms and left. Rosa could see them moving away and fought the urge to follow them. It went a bit silent for a while; she did not make a move or sound at all.

A shadow came close to the carriage which made her squeeze closer to the wall. The cover was moved and she could see Kuon’s face. He motioned her to come out and grabbed her hand to pull her to a tent quickly avoiding the eyes of the surrounding people. He took her inside and gave some of his clothes and pointed to the covered water bucket on the corner. “Wash yourself and wear the clothes.” He pointed at her already worn clothes “Discard them in the corner. I will take care of it later. Remember do not come out of the tent until I come back to get you.” She nodded at his instruction and waited till he left the tent. She walked towards the bucket and removed the lid. She folded her sleeves and took a handful of water and put it on her face. The water felt cold and relieving on her face. She could see black ash lined liquid drop down on the floor. There was a slight line of brown color on the water. ‘It must be from the hall.’ She thought and quickly took a wash cloth and rubbed it all off from her hand and face. He quickly took off her dress and changed into the new clothes provided for her. It was all brown in color. She felt the clothes were loose for her body and tore up some clothes from her old dress she found the non dusty part and used them as strings to tie up the clothes to fit enough around her body.

She finally took a look at her shoulder length hair and tied it up to a pony tail. She took a last look on her reflection in the left over water. It looked a little murky she decided to discard it. She looked over to her ruined dress it looked all torn and thread came out at spaces. There were spots of dirt on what is left over of her dress. ‘Aunt Olivia would kill her if she saw this.’ A bit of smile formed on her lips but it quickly disappeared to sorrow and trembling lips. ‘I guess she would not be angry anymore from where she is now.’ Scenes came to her head again but this time it did not give her the tremor. She quickly took the clothes and curled into the tiniest ball she could make and hid it at the corner of the tent. She slowly walked close and looked at the boots in front of her. Luckily she found one that fit her. She pulled on the strings on the black boots kneeling on the floor and tied them tight.

Rosa finally looked around the tent. It was big and rounded with poles in the corner and a long thick one in the center. The cloth covering the poles is dark green in color. There was a small window created by the cutting off a small square. It had had a wrap tied on top to be used as curtains. There was a small cabinet of bottles with clear and transparent color liquids and a few boxes in them. She thought of it as a medicine cabinet. There were two desks with books and on top a small lamp. There were some papers scattered with small stones on top of them to act as paper weights. Some of the paper had writings the other had diagrams with scaled lines and labels. Rosa could recognize some of the drawings. They were familiar flowers and leaves drawn in details. ‘These must be for the medicine researches.’ She looked away from the drawing to the tent again. Two leathered bags were kept beside the low height wooden bed under the window. The pillow was neatly kept in one corner. The bed cover was stretched without any wrinkles. The blanket was light brown and folded neatly on the opposite side of the pillow. The tent seemed really clean and big. ‘Kuon must be an important person in here.’ She thought looking at the whole place. There was a ruffling noise coming from out of the tent. She turned around to take a look. Kuon came in. He stopped in his steps for a bit and looked at her for a bit registering her new look. He motioned her to follow him out. “Come with me someone is waiting to meet you.” Rosa did not question him and quietly followed. There were tents set up by stands around the large space. Some small tents were set up on rows in one corner. There was a single building stood in far corner which is barely seen from where she is. It had a large eagle insignia on it. She got curious on what is that building is for. They passed some soldiers on the way to their destination. They greeted and moved away some curious eyes looked at her but did not ask any questions about her. This made her feel relieved but a bit odd as well. The men around her were either half armored or just in their casual cloth. Some were polishing their weapons. Rosa noticed that the number of weapon visible is increasing in her view as they move forward.

Kuon lead her to a big workspace. It was another large workshop scraps and wooden carts were kept in the something which looked close to a front yard. Black smoke is coming out of the chimney with strong hitting sound of the hammers. She carefully listened to the beating of the hammer on the steel. There were only two hammers being used. She could smell the strong metal coming from the workshop. They slowly walked in the workshop with Kuon leading her. Rosa became broad eyed with the figure standing in front of the large table. “Well kid it took you long enough to get here.” Babak had a grin on his face. Rosa got rooted on her spot again she forgot all about Babak going to the front. He had a large leather apron in front of him and a hammer in one hand. He put the sword on his left hand in the water bath to cool it down. He put the hammer on the table and took an already soot filled cloth to clean his hands. He had ash and dark marks on his forehead and face. Rosa felt a sense of relief to find someone familiar. Babak pulled her into a big hug. “It must have been tough for you.” He patted the back of her head. She let some tears fall from her eyes.

Kuon and Babak mentioned the rules of the place. For the time being Rosa will be introduced as the new assistant of the workshop. She will be running errands around the camp. She will be sleeping in the workshop for the time being, “We cannot let your identity be revealed now. You need to stay low until we find a way for you to get back at the capital.” This made her a bit uncomfortable she was not fine with staying in an unknown place again. Her head reminded her that she is already in an unknown place right now. Rosa nodded in all the rules allowing them to sink in. They grilled information about the Captain, Lieutenant and squad leaders into her. ‘I better stay far away from these mentioned people.’ She thought deciding it was best to stay away from the spot light. “Take this map you will need it to deliver and repair materials.” Kuon gave her a paper. “Do not lose it and I will find some clothes for you and bring it here.” He brushed of the dirt from his pants as he got up. “Well I better leave now I am needed at the med tent.” “How are those two doing?” Babak had a serious look in his eyes along with worry. Kuon just shook his head, “It seemed like Felix would make a full recovery but Eugene’s situation is too soon to tell.” Rosa wanted to visit them as soon as she changed. She was hoping to stay with them when they arrive if not for the rules and fear of her identity leak. Kuon noticed her frigidness she was rubbing her fingers and looking at the floor. He slowly reached out and patted her head, “Do not worry you stay safe for now I will call for you when they get better the first thing. I promise.”

Rosa finally raised her head and nodded. She watched as Kuon left the door. Babak got up and threw some leathered clothes towards her.” You need to wear this to work over here kid and get these cleaned up.” He dumped some tools in her hand. “You can use the well at the back for this go and wash it up.” Her thoughts quickly left for the moment and she got up quickly and ran for the back door. The back door opened a small place with a well and two wooden buckets. She quickly walked close to the well and dumped the tools beside it. She could them all blackened with dirt and rust. Rosa tied up the leather apron around her and poured a bucket of water on top of them she took the small piece of cloth she bought with her and started rubbing them to remove the stain. ‘I need some oil to make them get better.’ She quickly finished the cleaning and took one of the empty buckets to carry the tools with her. ‘I better ask for one of the carts outside.’ She made a mental note to herself. Her sleeves were giving her a hard time. She stopped to put down the bucket and pulled the end of the sleeves to a knot. Finally she was able to pull bucket without any difficulty. The bucket felt heavier than the time she carried the tools in her hand. She checked to see the bucket was not fully made of wood. Rosa put the bucket down to check what was the difference. She saw there was a steel plate on the bottom of the bucket. It was molded well as and pinned with the bucket. She sighed ‘It must be Babak’s idea why would someone do this?’ She shook her head and slowly half dragged and half pulled the bucket inside. Babak was standing in the front door talking to someone with a golden and red cape. She could not see the whole feature properly due to the morning light blinding the spot. The rest of the spot was covered by Babak’s huge body she could only make out the color of the clothes he is wearing. She could see a dark grey uniform on his body. ‘The person must be very important.’ She thought and kept dragging the bucket and put the tools in front of the small table in front of her. She searched for something to shine the tools. Rosa went from one corner to another; finally she got the small can of oil close to the fire place. She quickly took it away. The can so hot she dropped it as soon as she picked it up. She looked around and found the leather gloves. ‘Babak can be so irresponsible at times.’ She shook her head and picked up the can.

Rosa took some time to slowly rub the tool and make them shinny. It took a while for she got totally immersed in the work and forgot about everything around her. “Well they look better. You see Merlin I told you my apprentice from the village is a great one.” Rosa raised her head to Babak and another man beside him. He was shorter than Babak with a red hair which was half covered with an almost dirty white cloth. He wore a brown tunic on his black pants with a leather apron on top. ‘Wait a minute did he say the name was Merlin?’ she thought of the stories from the library ‘Arthur and the Excalibur’ she smiled at the thought. She did not expect anyone to be named similar to the great wizard in the story. “It is a pleasure to meet you.” He smiled towards her and put his hand forward as a form of greeting. Merlin was taller than her Rosa quickly got up from the bench she was sitting on and quickly shook his hand. She was still looking how to answer. “Hello everyone calls me Rosa.” She quickly figured out her mistake and looked down to think of how to cover it. Babak came to her rescue. “Yeah it is short for Rozan you can call him that.” She removed her hand and started scratching her head. It was an awkward and confusing moment for her. Babak winked at her quickly to play along. “Yes that you can call me Rozan too.” Her voice sounded silent and shook in the middle.

Merlin laughed at the situation he seemed kind. Rosa thought this might be a good opportunity to ask. “Excuse me um…. Your name it is …… well Merlin... Was there a reason you were given that name?” She felt really guilty to ask the question. Her face went all red and she quickly looked away from the rooms occupants. She tried to hide her eyes from the people around her. She felt shy to the edge. ‘Maybe I should run out of this place quickly that was such a stupid question to ask.’ Babak started laughing loud he laughed so hard that it took some time for him to stop. Rosa looked at him with shock. She became confused at the situation. Merlin looked as if he is stuck in an unwanted situation. ‘Am I missing something here?’ she thought biting her lips ‘This might not have been a good idea to ask like this.’ She was thinking how to escape from this situation. “He is named Merlin cause he is a wizard behind the fire.” Babak finally stopped laughing. “Sorry wizard behind the fire?” Rosa felt more confused. ‘Does he control the fire or something? Does he know magic?’ she raised her head to look at the person standing beside her. Merlin chuckled at the statement. “Do not listen to him he is the reason I am called that around here.” “Ha-ha well you are a like a wizard around the fire Merlin.” He patted Merlin’s shoulder a little hard. “Rosa you will be working more under him. Make sure to learn as much as you can.” He continued to give more instructions to her. She listened to the words carefully nodding at them. ‘Well this arrangement is good for now.’