The night had fallen and so did another snowfall of the winter, the fire slowly beginning to settle. At lasted for almost an hour, but for them who had lost everything, it felt longer. Now that it is safe enough for them to cross throughout the manor they didn't waste any more time and started looking for the girl.
Whatever was left of the manor they searched for her, every burnt cranny they lay their sights on but the task was even more difficult than they thought. How could they see her out of the darkness of the night? All they had was the quack's little lamp that he took for them. With everything burnt and black, for all they know they could be stepping on her lifeless body and they haven't noticed. But Almos knew otherwise, there was no hope for that, he composed himself and deeply sighed as he clutched unto the piece of paper the girl had left behind and took it out of his pocket.
Hearing the courtesans desperately trying to call her and hearing all of the things that has happened made him sick to his stomach knowing that it might've all been her doing. In the end, he realized that he never actually knew his little friend.
"It's no use, she's not here anymore", he announced to everyone as they stopped on their tracks and looked at him with confusion and building anger, specially Spi En. They were probably thinking that, 'He had spent the most time with her, how could he think like that'.
He couldn't help but sigh once more with a heavy chest and put out his hand.
"She already took her leave, all she left behind for you was this"
The courtesans looked even more confused but nonetheless gathered to him immediately, Spi En thought no further and snatched the letter from his hand. They all looked puzzled but waited no longer to reveal the contents of the letter. Another piece of paper fell from the made envelop, Spi En quickly got down and picked it up. When the folded paper was unraveled, it revealed to be a map, with a specific name of a town outlined in charcoal and a trail from the location of the manor. It was most likely stolen from one of the soldiers who were their last customers but it showed their manor, The Manor of Red Vines to the distant town of Salvatore. Then she moved to finally opening the letter itself.
Shock flushed through Spi En's expression as she grasp to cover her gaping mouth, with the others who were also reading along with her. Shivers ran down their spines from the first line alone. It was more of a confession than a greeting.
"I said I was going to lit a fire.". It read as they quietly tuned in for the rest of the Lupa's letter.
"I saved my chamber from the fire, most of your crap are there aren't they?
I also left a horse to carry your belongings. Though, it might be a little frightened since I tied it behind the pantry where the fire might reach. But I saved the chickens.
It will take two weeks of traveling but the trail is safe.You also won't starve (there are chickens).
There, you start anew.
It's far enough, no one will recognize you there.
Sell your crafts, sell your talents but not your lives.
And bury the old quack, he's gonna die soon".
-The Little Foreigner
Silence filled the group after the letter was read, the old quack could only chuckle hurtfully at her last request. The women looked at each other in disbelief and tried to comprise the situation until they started falling into tears instead.
But Spi En broke down the most, on her knees to the ground, crying while clutching unto the letter near to her chest. It was as expected, she loved the little girl most. They watched her fall into agony and relief at the loss of the child. She had formed an attachment to her as if she was her youngest sister and her own child. The little girl must not have known how much she meant to Spi En and to simply disappear like that, she was devastated. Although the girl is alive, she still felt like she had lost what was very precious to her.
The child was silent, barely even uttered a few words but just her presence alone was a tremendous help for the ladies. She provided temporary relief and distraction for the ladies, with her they get to turn their attention to something else entirely than their jobs. They grieved her loss but thanked for her safety. It took a while for Spi En to calm down but thanks to the letter everyone finally has some sense of peace in their mind over what happened.
After they pained enough, they finally found courage within themselves to be composed and took the little girl's advice. And so, they began to move. Collecting all that was left behind. And the girl bare to be truthful of her words, her chamber was indeed intact and so did the poor frightened horse and the chickens. They gathered all that they could use and had no choice but to make the journey. Reminiscing on what they took as kindness from the girl for somehow saving them.
They slept in the old quack's hut for the night and when the sunrise came is when they decided to depart for their long journey. The madame also thought it best, before their benefactor could be alerted of the situation. While everyone else was packing, Almos searched around the area to give the ladies some peace of mind over their missing male staffs. They thought that they had most probably ran off but it was still within the kindest of their hearts to make sure that no one was hurt in the incident. And there, it was moments later when he had stumbled upon something that smelt very foul. He was alarmed, it smelt like burnt pork meat but he knows that there were no pigs around here, and it couldn't have been a boar because of how it's formed. He poked around with his walking stick and found a number of them with the same stature, tied together sitting in a formed circle.
The old quack became morbidly curious and put out his hand and placed his palm on one of them, tracing its figure. And when he finally figured out what it was, his blind eyes widened in horror. There it was, right in front of him the missing male staff that they had been looking for, all 4 of them. Almos breathed heavily until he composed himself and washed his hand thoroughly in the snow before going back to where the ladies were.
"Did you find anything?", the madame greeted him. By the sound of her voice, he could tell that she worried but Almos simply bit his tongue and gave a reassuring smile.
"Nope, nothing you should be worrying about, all I found were dead possums.", he lied.
"We are good to go now", he added and sighed in relief albeit with a heavy burden on his shoulder now. After all, how could he tell these women that their precious little girl wasn't as kind as they thought? Knowing her, he wasn't surprised but he never expected it to not just be her presence alone that's menacing. Everything about her was. He didn't know whether to laugh or get upset over what she's done. He was only thankful she didn't end him herself.
"Thank you. Alright ladies, we should be going now", the madame smiled and went back to her work.
But as they were getting ready to leave, the ladies had found something else in the little girl's chamber tucked safely away in the corner of her room that she had also left behind for them, this time it didn't belong to any of them, it wasn't of anyone else' possession except the girl's and it was addressed to be given to a specific person.
"Doc!", one of the girls called and brought to Almos a wrapped up piece of a small log.
"She said it's for you", the girl smiled to the blind man with sadness.
"I carved this for her a while back but I never knew it was actually meant for you, her so called mentor", Juna laughed from the memory.
"Thank you", the old quack smiled back at her as he accepted the gift and unwrapped it.
As he couldn't see, he used his hands as his guide for vision. At the bottom, written in a language only he could understand were the words, 'To my dear friend, Almos'. Moving his fingers, tracing the piece along it's rough curves and slopes of the wooden sculpture but stopped when he realized what it was and released a gleeful laughter.
"I see, so this is what you look like…", he continued to bare the smile as he looked at the far distance.
"...Nicaise"