Several weeks went by while I helped her learn to speak my language. It’d been very interesting. She didn’t seem to ask me to learn hers. Was she afraid I’ll find out where she’s from? Or did she not expect to go back? I let that go, for the most part, happy that she was pushing to learn more than she knew before.

Her legs had gotten strong enough she didn’t need to lean on me to walk anymore so I couldn’t make the excuse to carry her. She was fiercely independent, trying very hard to not let me dote much on her. I hoped that didn’t mean she wanted to run away from me, not that I’d force her to stay, but I liked having her here. She would often spend half her day following me around the house saying the words for things while we worked on preparing pelts for the market. She was excited every time she got one right on the first try, and her mastery was now that of a small child’s. Rather quickly she learned the basics of structure and lilt. Her voice is lovely, yet she’s still quiet. I tend to ramble on and on and she just sits there smiling softly at me.

Every so often she would start braiding a garna pelt. She had completely braided it into a spiraling pattern that went across a wide patch. Another day, she braided one that looked like it was a scene. It had a tree where some of the braids ended up making flowing ‘leaves’ over a riverbed. Once she’d completed it she undid it, to my dismay. I had thought to hang it on the wall, it was beautiful. She smiled as she undid the braids, gently stroking out the hairs. She said there was no ‘jel’. I have no idea what ‘jel’ is. I need to find out. I wanted to keep one of her creations.  

I looked at her and smiled, offering my hand. She wore my clothes, and since they were too large for her, she looked smaller and more delicate. I keep forgetting this is not a fragile woman. She’s strong and beautiful. Powerful in her movements yet she doesn’t force anything. Though I did get thwacked the other day when she was braiding the garna hair because I touched the braid. She was adorable glaring at me, but damn that hurt! 

I made makeshift slippers for her feet. I planned to head into town to get clothing for her. She needed to have more for herself. And what good is dritin sitting in a bag? I had plenty to live on. I could afford to spoil her. 

Doren wasn’t far away, I just had no reason to walk that far with her until she was comfortable walking on her own. I couldn’t bring her on drookback, she would have thrown a fit if I carried her the whole way. 

Tonal’s shop was rather empty other than all the fabric bolts he carried. There was an entire wall of woven fabrics dyed in a variety of colors. Some of them had painted dyes giving patterns:  geometrics, curving spirals, delicate florals. All ridiculously overpriced, but lovely. I wondered what she’d pick to wear. 

“Oi, Tonal, you have a customer!” I spoke to the room. A head of blonde hair popped up from behind a stack of leather and Tonal came up quickly to us. He smiled that simpering smile he often wore for customers, I hated that face. I preferred when he was not trying to sell me something. 

“Grone, welcome! Who’s this?” His blue eyes looked to Adelheide and I could see a future problem but held my tongue. 

“This is Adelheide. She needs clothing and shoes. She’s had to borrow mine since waking.”

“This is the one you’ve been taking care of? She’s lovely.”

“Yes, this is her. She woke up a few weeks ago. I couldn’t bring her because she’d not been walking and I didn’t want to make her feel uncomfortable by carrying her,” I grumbled at him.

Adelheide smiled up at me and looked at Tonal, dipping her head when she heard her name. “Hello, sehr,” she said with a smile. Tonal looked a little confused at her second word but overlooked it. 

“Do you know what kind of clothes she’ll want to wear? Skirts or pants?” Tonal asked, looking at me. I shrugged, not having any idea what she’d want. It was her body to clothe, she could wear what she wanted.

She held up a hand looking like she was holding a quill and seemed to scribble in the air.  I figured out what she meant and told Tonal to get a scroll, ink, and quill. He quickly ran to get them and returned, which she nodded to, and started drawing a figure on the scroll, her sketching was rough but Tonal could get the gist of what she wanted. Basic homespun shirts but her size, pants, and a skirt that had a split in the front with what looked like shingles going down the front. I didn’t know what I was looking at but Tonal seemed to get it. His eyes sparkled with the idea of creating what she’d asked for.  

"Marry me, Adelheide, we’ll be rich,” Tonal practically drooled. I growled at him and he woke up from the stupid thought of taking her from me. Luckily for me, she hadn’t understood him. He was prettier than me and I didn’t know if she’d take him up on it. She looked at him, then at me questioningly. I shrugged and stroked her back. 

“We’ll return in three days for the clothes,” I thrust a bag of dritin at him. He nodded and waved from the door as we walked out. 

She seemed like she was in a good mood so I walked her to the Inn to get a meal before we went home. The inn’s meal was garna flank seasoned with simple herbs and it was delicious. The innkeeper was a bad cook but his servant girl was great. This was the day the servant was cooking. I wouldn’t have come if it weren’t so. 

After eating we went back to the cabin. It was a nice walk and I thought we’d take baths when we got there so I started preparing it as soon as we arrived. The water basin was filled all the time, so all I had to do was light the fire beneath it. I had seen some houses that barely had a tub you could fit a child in, that made me shiver. I needed a basin I could fit in. I didn’t like being cold so I’d built a house around it and kept it filled all the time so it would be easier to have baths often. She had smiled broadly when she discovered the bath after waking all those weeks ago. She looked like she liked the idea a lot. 

I got the water heated to a good temperature and indicated to her she could take her bath first. She took a large towel and fresh clothes to the bathhouse and I busied myself with checking on the drooks in the stable, giving their scales a good oiling and refilling their food troughs. Boondo, my best war drook, looked like he was itching to go out for a good ride. I promised him a good ride on the morrow as I oiled him. He was a good boy, rising 25 hands high at the shoulder. He was my best companion on the battlefield. I checked his horns and made sure to cap them for the night, then left the stable.

I walked by the bathhouse and heard her humming to herself inside. I smiled and continued on to the cabin and prepared the bed for her. When she came in a few minutes later I left to take my own bath and then joined her at the table to read a little before it got too dark. She was toying with a garna pelt again and I surreptitiously watched her while pretending to read.

We went to bed shortly thereafter and as I placed my ponderoh beside the bed as usual, she tilted her head, and said “Why?” 

“Protect, defend..” I looked at her and smiled. “To keep you safe.” She frowned at me, then said something I didn’t understand, turned her back to me, and unbraided her hair. She pulled out the brush and brushed her dark blonde hair, then rebraided it quickly, her deft fingers making light work of her long hair. I wanted to run my hands through it again, but I have held back since she woke so she wouldn’t feel uncomfortable. She laid the brush on the bed for me to follow suit with braiding my hair for sleeping and curled up to sleep under the pelts. She smiled at me before closing her eyes. I brushed and braided my hair, taking out the metal rings that signified my knighthood. I brushed my beard and put those rings on the nightstand with the brush. I lay beside her, watching her sleep for a while, then closed my eyes and went to sleep.

We woke up the next morning and got ourselves ready for the day. She doesn’t mind working around the house or outside, either way, she’s apparently content, strengthening herself and improving her language skills. It’s been fantastic having a response to my rambling. So when I went to chop wood for the firepit, she came to help me, and asked to learn herself. When I hesitated she put her hands on her hips and her look told me in no uncertain terms that she was not going to take no for an answer. I didn’t know how to respond other than to comply. I thought I’d fallen for her before, but now…