Chapter 19 - Can you swim miss Kitty?

It didn't took long and we all had finished our meal. Even Lizbeth plate was completely empty despite her late start. Suha smiled and looked to me. "Well we are done here for today. If you don't mind, I would like to chat with you Marisa." I bowed slightly to her with a soft smirk. "Of course." Everybody got up and left in all direction. Gabrielle took the two little ones with her while Lizbeth had her nose in her book again even before she was out of the door.

Suha steeped close to me and sighed. "Well then, part of what I want to talk about is Lizbeth. You already have noticed how thin she is right?" I looked at her before confirming silently. "Well she had basically starved at that school that she went to for almost half a year. When she did came back she was so thin that It broke my heart. But please do not pitty her. Do not treat her like a deliciated flower or anything like that." She brushed over her neck before looking directly into my eyes.

"She has no problem with eating and her habit with the book earlier is actually a good sign. She always used to have books with her whenever you spotted her before that school. But she stopped that when she returned. Thankfully that seem to change the last week slowly, and today she seemed to found a bit more strength for some reason. Anyway dont pressure or judge her for either of it. She knows that she is way to thin, bright kid that she is, but healing from that will simply take time." I smiled and nodded then thought for a moment.

"My little sister" I started then hesitated before getting a short nod of a approval from her. "My sister she had being out as a helper with a hunting party one winter and they managed to get trapped in a valley by a sudden snowstorm. The valley had barely enough food that they wouldnt completely starve but she was so thin when we finally where able to get to them." I smirked when I remember that time. Mom wanted to just fill her up with food every waking moment, but Momma put her foot down and stopped her from doing anything stupid. "It took a long year bevor she would get normal again. So she might be able to help or give us some tips how to deal with it."

She pondered about that. "How long would she take to get here. And would she even be willing to help?" I chuckled. "Well my whole family should be on their way here. At least according to aunty." I raised my hand to quell any worry. "Don't worry not to live here or anything like that, but they had feared that I had died all those years ago so of course now they want to celebrate my return with me. And well they originally where on their way to rip the old duke apart and get me out of the prison if I wasnt freed yet, but that isnt a problem anymore. Anyway once they arrived I could talk to her and my parents about it. Additionally, with them should be a skilled healer. She is a close friend of my momma and she most definitely would not stay behind. And of course they would be willing to help. After all you are family now. And we always help family if we can."

Suha looked me up and down. "Why do you care about us?" I just shrugged a bit. "I had basically two options. I could have created living space for you that is worthwhile, or I could accept you guys as my responsibility. Every other option was not acceptable with how mom did raise me." I smiled a bit. "And well especially with what my aunt told me, I decided it would be worth to at least try and get you guys to like me. If it doesnt work out I will fall back to the other option but I do believe we will find a decent way of living together." She hesitated then nodded once. "Well I think you can visit the harem freely now ... forgive me for restricting you in your home but well you saw how the two little ones were. They were so worried that they hardly did eat. Although if I had known that they would react like this I would have invited you yesterday." I chuckled a bit.

"Please follow me." She opened a door that guided to the harem. I was a bit disappointed that after all the mystery it was just another corridor with firehearts illuminating it and at a T crossing guiding towards a large row of open windows. We walked towards that windowed corridor and I could see yet another courtyard garden outside. This one was a bit different trough. The first two where definitely more geared towards looking pretty. They had firm ridged walkways and you simple could see that they were not intent for people to rest on the grass or take a swim in the water. This one however had exactly that. The pathway trough it went over a little hill. It moved in long gentle slopes with some low benches on its side and a large stone table with benches in the center of the hill. The river that did run trough the whole garden was in long twists and turns, however at one spot It opened up to a lovely pond and there was a beach clearly meant to be able to go for a relaxing swim.

It was most likely the same river that was used in the other two gardens as well, but here it looked a lot more welcoming. There was the obligatory pavilion near the center, and it was larger then the others. It could be reached through a roofed walkway from the side of the building. Suha cleared her throat next to me getting my attention. Apparently I had stared at it for quite some time now. "Sorry I just looks really beautiful." She smiled and nodded. "There were many things that made this home uncomfortable, but the garden here were always something to brighten up this place. Generally, you will find that the one constructing the palace took great care to plan for the inhabitant." She guided me to the right. "On the left side there are some unused rooms and well lots of working stuff. Like the Laundry room or the small kitchen for when the harem wants to cook without using the main kitchen."

We steeped trough a curtain and suddenly the mood changed. There were warm tapestry hanging on the wall apparently each one telling a small story. Where there was no tapestry there where rich paintings on the wall. Lounging pillows were all over the place and small highly ornamented tables next to them. Even though we were still in a corridor it was so wide that it had the feeling of a living room. "Behind these tapestries are some active used storage. The others had asked to make this place nicer and well I love how it worked out. It creates a bit more laundry of course but it makes walking or working here way more comfortable." The large corridor opened into a large room that had staircases up and down at the side as well as a few doors on either side. In the center of the room was a table that obliviously had seen a lot of use and love. It was extremely expansive looking but over the years you could see small nicks and cuts on its dark wooden surface.

"This is where you usually will find one of us. Reading a book or sewing or playing a instrument. As well as the spot where we have our breakfast. My and Suhas room as well as the rooms for Madi und Sabi are upstairs. On the level below us are the rooms from Neile, Viola and Lizbeth. Trough this door is where Gabrielle is teaching the little ones and well the other door is what we use as a study and well an office. You will not find many servants here, since we were only allowed to request their help for cleaning. I know that you lifted many of the rules but I think I would like to keep this one enforced if you dont mind because it gives us something to do and well keeps us grounded." I smiled and nodded while she guided us into her office. It was really different from the office of the Duke. While there were a lot of ornaments all over the place there were none that looked out of place. There were small sculptures that where definitely done from a child or a beginner, others which had been crafted with way more skill. Some paintings that ranged from beginner to master as well. And a lot of books of all kind. It had a large desk as well as a private seating area with large extremely comfortable looking chairs.

Suha guided me to the private seating area and sat us both down. "Do you want some juice or water?" I noticed that she appear to be thinking about something stareing onto the ornamented glas water jug. "Water will be fine thank you." She nodded and filled two cups with water before sitting down. "Ok ... I think if we want to get along for the next year we should try and talk about it a bit more. Like what obligations we will have to each other and such. First how should we address each other. You said earlier wifes to us ... we are not officially married well legally we might be hmm." I nodded carefully blushing slightly. "Yes umm ... I wanted to talk to you all about it earlier but well I got distracted. I did not mean to offend you or the other or pressure you all into accepting it. That was me just trying to explain to eva whom they are going to escort. And what status you have for me."

She nodded. She didnt looked angry but I had the feeling that there still might be some anger brewing deep within her. "Yes to he outside world we will be your wifes hmm." She was pondering about this. Her lips smashed together while she looked into the air before nodding once. "Ok you may refer to us as wifes. However if Neile or someone has a problem with that we will talk about this again. I think we will refere to you as husband ... everything else will cause even more confusion." She chuckled a bit. "Anyway to the second point. Every Saturday we used to visit the local church of the Circle, the church of our husband. Are we still obliged to do so from your side? I shook my head. I dont share his believes oblivious. If you have a reason to stick around by all means please do so but you dont have to do that from my side. This brought a big smile on her face. Is there any ceremony or mass from your culture that we as your wifes should visit?"

I hesitated a moment. I never was the most of all religious being. While believing in something while crossing the desert certainly helped once the dangerous areas were behind me I basically would stop offering my prayers. It didnt mean that I doubted the existence of the spirits it just felt wrong to pray to them when there was nothing wrong in my life. During the prison sentence I prayed that the spirits would help me to get out there but they definitely took their time.

"My family believes in the great spirits of the world but it is less organized more like many different ideas forming around some central story. There are shrines one can visit and some of the Shamans or wise once to create a ceremony for the spitits for those around them. And there is of course the family altar to pray Infront if one feels obliged to have it. And of courses there are the festivals like celebrating the spring. So yeah no big church hmm Instead I would suggest that each of you if they want invite those that have time to their religion so that we as family can understand each other a bit better. If you want that of course."

She hesitated before nodding slightly. "Mabye later. You mentioned that your family is on the way. Is there anything we should prepare? Or know in advance?" I smiled and shook my head. "No I mean there will be a lot strange about them but there is nothing you can do to prepare for that. I however will have to find a way to explain to them what had happened to me during the last 8 years. And why I did not at least send a message of some kind." She looked at me then raised her eyebrow. "8 Years? He did hold you prisoner for 8 years?" I nodded. "And a few more months yes. According to the tally marks on my wall and Johanna."

She looked me up and down looking a bit confused. "You look remarkably healthy for someone being in there for so long." I nodded. "I know I had luck I was " We heard a loud bang from the outside like someone flipped the table. We both rose and sprinted outside to find Gabrielle taking care of a crying Sabiha while at the same time glaring daggers at a worried looking Madiha. Next to them where two chairs flat on the ground. Suha steeped forward and like the well-tuned team they were, without a word spoken she took over to care for the crying child from Gabrielle, who now could turn her attention fully to Sabiha. She did not jell to my surprise, instead in a caring strick tone she asked what Sabiha had been thinking and then explained in detail with questions of understanding why this was a really bad idea. And that it would be a good idea to apologize to her sister.

I meanwhile had kneeled next to Sabi as well and gave her soft gently strokes over her back and together with her mother we managed to calm her down. Apparently she had got a real shook when the two chairs suddenly had fallen down backwards, dropping her own the ground. Thankfully she was not hurt beyond that and we managed to convince her that her sister really did not wanted to do that. It helped especially that the worried sibling was not far away repeating again and again how sorry she was. After both of them had made up and things had calmed down Gabrielle looked towards us. "We wanted to go in the garden to go for a bit of a swim. Do you want to join us?" Suha looked to me then shrugged her shoulders. "I wouldn't mi " suddenly a cute voice from below asked me. "Can you swim miss kitty?"

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Its to warm, i can't sleep so instead i finished this chapter a bit earlier then usual ^^ I hope you all can enjoy it ;) Its a bit shorter then those before but i liked its style ^^.

Hope you all stay safe and healthy! Till next one