Limits-Chapter 18: Why are you Here?

I stayed in my bed, laying there not interested. I was curious what type of arrangements will they do but I decided not to care and just wait it out. Laying like this on my bed I head Rand saying "Boy, this is your new roommate from now on"

I just stayed on my bed and did nothing. I simply ignored them. I could hear the old man snorting and saying "I don't care if you like each other or not. Both or you are slaves and if you try to fight, both will be punished!"

I then heard him leave the house, closing the door behind him. I was still laying on my bed not moving. I then heard a woman's voice "Where should I sleep?" I furrowed my brows and opened my eyes. When I looked at the woman standing next to the door waiting for my answer, I must admit I was confused. I asked "What do you mean?"

She then answered me "There is only one bed" I was even more confused and asked "They will not provide a bed for you?" to which she said "No". This really was a problem. The bed was small enough for one person to sleep on and two people would never fit on it. Even if we were intimate, sleeping on top of one another would be tiring.

I asked her "What do you propose?" When I saw her expression of confusion and anger I was dumbfounded as well. 'Did she expect me to give her my bed just like that? Why would I do that, because she is a woman? BAH! No way!'

After a while of awkward silence she finally answered "How about we take turns sleeping on it. One day you and one day me?" It was a logical proposal and fair. But this world wasn't fair, so I said "This seems fair but I don't agree to that"

She was angered even more and shouted "Why? Because I'm ugly?" I looked at her in confusion again and thought 'I never said you were though'. Although she had not a very pleasing face as the scar looked terrible and made her face look bad, on the other hand the rest of her body was in very good shape.

I said to her "No, it's because I need to be properly rested every day" She seemed to be angry but also relieved? Maybe because I didn't judge her looks and angry because I didn't want to share the bed with her.

She then stated as a matter of fact "So you want me to sleep on the floor?" I simply answered "You can sleep wherever you want" then I added "How about this, for now I will let you sleep two times a week on bed" I can see her not being satisfied but I couldn't be heartless to her either. She didn't have it nice here so two nights out of seven in my opinion was a good deal.

She said with anger "Fine!" and just sat in the corner. I laid down on the bed and said "This is temporary, when I get some stuff, I will make something for you to sleep on" and then went to sleep. I didn't care if she believed me but that was all I could do for her.

Creating a bed from some vines, branches and what not would not be difficult. I would have to collect that first and as far as I stayed here, when I brought branches etc into my house the villagers said nothing about it.

The night went by uneventfully. When I woke up in the morning, I saw my roommate sleeping in the same corner she went to last night. I went outside to start my tasks. I don't know what she was assigned to do but my tasks didn't change. After the usual routine of carrying the water and splitting some wood, I went for breakfast. The food was on the table as usual and she was not around. I guess she went off to do her own tasks.

After my breakfast, I went to the blacksmith's workshop. It was time to implement my plan. In the workshop I could create any sound I wanted because it was noisy environment. As an added bonus, I couldn't be monitored inside. Another point was that there was always some waste material from forging so I could use that to make some real daggers. The problem was I never forged daggers, so what I thought of doing was to make some very thin curved plates. No, not the plates used for eating but metal plates that was very thin.

With this I could then sharpen them on the grindstone I saw in the workshop and use them as my weapon. One hour of training was not a lot but If i had those blades then I would already have a weapon and if I learned even for one hour daily to throw with them… I would be able to learn with proper weapons instead of wood.

I wouldn't even have to carry them back home. I would just need to hide them in the workshop somewhere. I also hoped there will be some change in my task situation which would allow me to be alone in a place that no one can see. This would allow me for more time to practice.

Winter would be upon us soon and so some tasks may change. That was my plan, to forge a real weapon and train with it in the workshop. Then either I will be assigned to a task were no one can see me like in the workshop or I would have to fish more and eat more to return to my top condition sooner. The more strength I had the faster I could finish with the ingots therefore the more time I would have to practice. In 2.5 hours of my allocated time at the workshop, if I could create two ingots in 30 minutes that would be perfect.

Of course I would probably have to be at the top of my strength for that. So probably 1.5 hour would be much more possible in short run. I started to collect the waste material from the steel ingots and stored them in a safe place in the workshop. I couldn't execute my plan yet but I would be able to soon.

Just before 12pm the blacksmith came over to check my ingots and told me I can leave. I went back to my house and when I entered I noticed that my new roommate was eating dinner. I guessed that we get breakfasts and dinners at different times. She was sitting at my bed but I said nothing about that. I wasn't going to chase her away just because she sits on it while she eats. I sat down on the floor and leaned my back against the wall to get some rest.

I laid like this for couple of minutes then I heard her saying "Why are you here?" I opened my eyes in confusion and thought 'Because I live here?' then I said "Because I have a break." She then followed up with another question and clarification "No, I mean what did you do to be enslaved?"

To which I answered "Nothing". She started thinking and said "Sorry I shouldn't ask". 'This idiot thinks I don't want to tell her!' I answered again "I did nothing" to which she furrowed her brows and asked "What do you mean? Then are you slave because you were sold?" to which I answer "No" she then asked again "So if you did nothing and you were not sold why are you a slave?"

I closed my eyes and the past couple of months went past my mind. When I opened my eyes I said "Because life is such" I didn't want to explain to her everything from the beginning. I was already very detached from social interactions. Anyone would be after that type of treatment for so long.

She then said quietly "I don't understand" as if expecting an answer from me but I already closed my eyes to rest.