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Chapter 20 -  Arranged marriage

Riin's POV

Asperd Isle - Winter, Flood Village - Wave Inn

The winter is slowly coming to an end, and with it my eighth year in this world. The snow was not as strong this year, but we did have a few people coming to get mother, as they cout a high fever. Currently a young pair is sitting in the common room with mother and father, they seems to be talking about a rather serious thing, as none of them have been laughing at all during the conviction. Time to get closer. I seems to catch the end of a sentence.

“- as we would really like to thank you, for the help you provided, that year.”

Mother and father are not saying anything, come on, speak up will you… a few minutes tick by without words, are they done?

“Are you sure? We are not a rich family, so we can't offer much.”

Huh? Are they blackmailing them, if so they are about to meet their end.

“Yes, we are sure, if not for you, we would not have a child at all and I no wife.”

Okay, I'm officially lost, just what are they talking about?

“If you are truly sure, than I see no reason to not accept, the proposal.”

Wait a fucking minute… why the hell does this sound as a interview for a - father's voice interrupts me from finishing that line of thought.

“Yes, if that being so, then we gladly accept your daughter into our family.”

Even my mother seems eger by the idea.

“I'm sure that, Ailith will be great for our son.”

Wait… our son, as in me? Words have been spoken, that can never be taken back.

“Shall we have them meet, tomorrow?”

That is the last I hear as I make my way towards the room mother has gotten prepared for me, tonight I will commit suicide!

The rays of the sun falls into the window of my room, not that I find it refreshing, no this means that I will be meeting my further bride-to-be. Fuck me and my fucking life… why do it always end like this, I know, I'm not a good person, but arranged marriage, really? Where is my chance at love or even sex with a few people who fits my taste? Do you really want to control me too, are you just like that man? If so our ways shall soon part… A knock sounds on the door to my current room, it is soon after followed by mother's voice.

“Sweetie, are you awake yet?”

“Yes.”

I in a bad mood, from a night of thinking over the proposal, that was made, a really bad and grumpy mood, I can't even be asked, to mind my tone.

“I'm coming in, okay sweetie?”

As the sound fades, mother slowly opens the door, she scans the room, until her eyes falls on me.

Elisa’s POV

“Yes”

His voice is strained, even from behind the door can I hear that something is not right, the reply lagging any kind of his normal politeness. What is wrong with my little boy? Even if we have been here for some time I have yet to see him express any form of dislike for the village or its people, I wonder if he had a bad night's sleep.

“I'm coming in, okay sweetie?”

I open the door, not finding him at the desk I look around, he's sitting on the bed leaning against the wall, but what stops me from stepping into the room, the thing that freezes me on the spot, are the look in his eyes … cold, my sweet little boy who is always showing me a smile, is now staring at me with emotionless eyes. A chill runs down my spine, is this what Raval talked about, - the moment they were being chased by forest spiders and he was more scared of our boy, then anything the spiders might do? I seems to be frozen, unable to step back or look away from the coldness of his eyes, only the sound of his voice breaks me out of it and even that seems cold and distant too.

“Does mother need something?”

Need something, did I? Ah, the proposal from last night! I swallow once, clearing my throat, wetting my lips, ‘you can do this, Elisa’.

“Sweetie, there is someone father and mother, would very much like you to meet.”

He stares at me for a while, the cold eyes never blinking, was his eyes always this emotionless?

“When?”

When, is he asking when, of course he is, stupid me!

“Today, we will be eating dinner at their house, okay sweetie?”

My throat feels dry, I can't help but to think that he is scary, unsettling to be near.

“I understand, I will come down later, so for now mother, leave me be.”

The words are spoken in a cold tone, uncaring, unfeeling, emotionless words. More than a request to be left alone it's like it's an order, and to speak the truth I am more than willing to leave the room, yes, I will give him some space for now.

“Ah, of course sweetie, take your time okay.”

He gives me a nod, but unlike normal times, its lagging the smile that is always with it. I close the door as I back out of the room, turning around I head into our own, I need to talk to Raval about this.

“Hmm, so it happened again, huh?”

“I'm telling you, his eyes… they were so very cold, what shall we do, love?”

“Hmm, I guess, he is at that phase, huh… the rumoured ‘rebellious phase’. Well, I will have to talk to him, can't have him going around with a scowl on his face all day, now can we.”

With that said, Raval stands and head for the door.

Raval's POV

Knocking on his door, I enter without waiting for an answer, can't have the boy scaring Elisa. I find him sitting on the bed look really bored and just as Elisa said, his eyes are the same as on that day, yet, I feel no bloodlust from him, guess he just really is in a bad mood. He is the first to address me, his voice too seems cold.

“Father.”

As always his straight and simple when he speaks, as not to waste time on words. Dear me, I'm really having this conversation now? well, guess I am.

“Boy, what are you moping around for?”

A minute passes as he stares at me.

“Moping, me?”

Huh, hell… Is he even aware of the face he is making, right now?

“What do you mean, you, of course it's you, you scared your mother half to death, giving such a cold look to her. So I will ask again, what are you lying around and moping for, huh?”

Minutes pass, his eyes never moves from me. Than he, makes a face as if to say something, but closes his mouth again, by the gods, this boy…

“If you have something you want to say or ask, do it, boy.”

Ah, is he in a bad mood since he didn't get the gift from Elisa yet, for finding the herbs?

“Hey boy, are you mad at Elisa for not getting a gift for finding the herbs? is that it?”

One of his eyebrows goes up… guess not, hmm, what else can he be in a bad mood about? Hmm, this rebellious phase sure is a tough on you.

“The marriage proposal, I heard last night…”

“Ahh, I see.”

Huh? When? How? I soon get my answer, as he continues where he left of.

“Last night I went to get water, when I came back, a couple had arrived, you all seemed busy so I stayed in the kitchen.”

His eyes ever weaver from mine, those pale grey eyes, staring straight at me.

“I stayed out of hearing range, didn't want to disrupt your conversation, but then I heard about their daughter, and that you accepted the proposal, and that we are meeting them at dinner… guess, I just got in a bad mood thinking that I have to marriage this girl I never met before, that's all.”

While he talks, I can do nothing more than stare at my son, and then I start to laugh at the whole situation.

Riin’s POV

He is laughing at me… again…

Mother comes in thru the door behind him, look a bit confused, well she is not the only one, that is being confused at the moment, that is. I'm not really sure why it is that father is laughing at the moment, but first things first, father said mother got scared of me, even if they are arranging a marriage for me, I don't want her scared of me… something inside of me screams at me to try and fix it, so here goes. I push myself of the bed and go to stand in front of mother, I'm ignoring father at this point, I bow by the waist in front of her.

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“I seemed to have scared mother, with my bad mood. I ask for mother's forgiveness.”

I stay like this, not that it last long, no, I'm grabbed into a hug of death, by her.

“Oh, my sweet boy, of course I can forgive, you, silly!”

While I'm still getting hugged to death, she addresses father.

“Raval, why in the worlds are you laughing at my sweet boy, huh?”

Mama bear mode, I tell you.

“Sorry, it's just that-”

He is kind of crying a bit at this point… mother looks down at me, for help?

“Erm, last night I went to get water, when I came back, a couple had arrived, you all seemed busy so I stayed in the kitchen. I stayed out of hearing range, didn't want to disrupt your conversation, but then, their daughter came up, and that you accepted the proposal they made, and that we are meeting them at dinner… so I guess that I got in a bad mood, over having to marriage this girl, that I've never met before…”

Mother is staring at me for a while before a small sound passes her lips.

“Oh.”

We are now sitting around a small table in mother and father's room, guess a talk is on the way.

“Sweetie, do you know, that we don't have much money right?”

Can't say I find it a problem, but I guess, we don't. While we have been staying in the village, I have seen more and more people, that seems to look down on mother and father, while they respect mother for her knowledge on herbs and medicine, they don't seem to be as respecting as one would expect people show their doctor.

“Are we really poor?”

“Ah, yes I'm  that afraid we are, sweetie.”

Hmm, so we are low on the ‘food chain’, huh.

“You know, sweetie, since you are such a smart boy I'm sure that you have seen that a lot of the people living here, live with a pair of elders too.

Ah, sure did see it, but how the fuck is connected to being poor…

“You see, normally the woman marry into the man's family, but sometimes if the woman's family is better of or the man's family have an older brother, the man marries into the woman's, do you understand, sweetie?”

So, the family that is better of basically gets a free caretaker for when the parents gets old, and in case of more children, the eldest of them gets the house, so to speak.

“Yes, mother.”

“But, you see, father's family didn't like mother, so we ran off and came here, so we have no one to support us, and running of like that, you see, is looked down on.”

Hmm, I see now.

“So the reason mother and father only come to town is that no one wants to trade with you, or are they not willing to pay the real amount the product is worth?”

Both mother and father are looking surprised at me now, well, it can't be helped this time.

“That's right boy, while they will need new bows and they like what we have for sale, they do not like the way we live. Even if some treat us nicely, many dislikes the fact that we are without elders.”

Hmm, that's mother's family, but what about father's side?

“Does, father's family not like us, as well?”

Father looks at me and gives me a smile, guess not.

“Ah, you see boy. Father, has an older brother, who is holding ownership over my family's shop, in [Rey].”

Oh, so in this chase mother's family was the one that should have been living with us, but why are they against father's family?

“Why do mother's family hate father's family?”

“Ah, haha well you see mother is from a small village southwest of [Rey] called [Stritken] and the believe in [Rey] has always been that it's a poor man's village, so marrying into or from that has always been very much looked down on.”

Ah, I see so mother's family, being from a place where they are looked down on by the neighboring town, might not take kindly to a boy from the ‘rich man's town’ coming and taking their child away. And the so called ‘rich town’ would probably not look kindly on a girl from the ‘poor man's village’ marrying into their town. Okay, with all that down and away, comes the question of the day.

“Why, are you agreeing to a marriage proposal for me then, if you both married out of love?”

Or at least hope they did. For a short while they just sit there and look at me, then father rub his beard.

“Well, I guess we just wanted to make sure that you had a place, if we are not here I mean.”

Not… here… as in gone, death, never to return again. That a dark place I just went, let's take a deep breath, shall we.

“Huh, but you are not old yet.”

Okay, that came out sounding extremely childlike. What I meant was that they are both really young and have like no grey hairs and all that old people shit.

“Well, you know sweetie, no one lives forever, even we will get old someday.”

“I know.”

“Well, boy, why not join us for dinner and see the girl, no one is saying you have to marry her. Actually, thinking about it, that would be a crime, since both she and you are too young to be marry.”

Okay… when is not too young than?

“When, can one marry than?”

“When you turn fifteen, you are considered an adult, at least in our kingdom.”

Nine, ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen, fifteen. Seven years before I can marry… I see, so I got seven years to spent on adventuring around, huh. Not that I have told them, anything about my plan for seeing the island that we are currently on. For tonight I will have dinner with my bride-to-be, and see if she fit my taste at all, if not, well then there is no way in hell that I'm marrying her in seven years.

Father, knocks on the door to a rather big two stories house, it seems to be build of what looks to be bricks, not that I'm sure at all, a moment after, a elderly man opens the front door, he greet us with a smile.

“Ah, welcome, welcome, come inside, come.”

His voice shakes a bit as he speaks, like the elders voice tend to do, he steps aside and we enter into a lit hallway.

“Good evening, elder.”

Father, is respectful as he greet the old man, guess it's a thing here - respect your elders. We follow him to what seems to be the dinner room, here we are greeted by an elder lady and a young man, I recognise him from the common room at the inn, last night.

“Good evening, sir, ma'am”

He is polite towards father and mother, I will still be keeping an eye on them. The old lady speaks up.

“My daughter has made dinner, it is ready in a moment.”

She smiles, her voice to shakes a bit. She turn and look at me, huh, did I do something?

“Ah, so you are the lucky boy, who will be the husband of my little angel, what's your name, boy.”

Hey, hey now, don't go and decide shit on your own lady… manners, manners. Remember they are old people, just take a deep breath, they will be dead soon, anyway.

“My name is Riin, elder.”

I make a small bow as I greet her like father greeted the man at the door. She smiles at me, and reach out for my hand, I let her take it, still have my knife on me, what… never met an old crazy person?

“Oh, so polite you are boy. Come and meet Ailith, I'm sure she will like you.”

With that said she gets up from her seat and more or less drags me with her, well… as much as a old person walk zero miles an hour can drag a person. We reach a room down the hallway from the dinner room, she opens the door and inside I find a… wait… is that a freaking baby?? What the…

“Elder, mind if I ask her age?”

“Ohh, she just turned two.”

Okay, two… Fifteen to marry able age, she is two… seven years for me to be of marriageable age and then add another seven year… Twenty two when she is fifteen, what the fuck are these people thinking? The dinner went by slowly some formal talk and a lot of smile and nodding… feels like I'm watching politicians talk. As we walk back to the inn I just have to ask mother and father of that age different is normal.

“Mother, I'm twenty two when she is fifteen, is that normal?”

Both mother and father looks at me, smiles and nods.

“There is ten years between your father and me, sweetie.”

Okay, I guess ten years age difference is also normal, seeing that both of them don't find it a problem. Well, this is another world I guess… the rest of our walk back is quite.