Settling In.

Settling In.

The light was bright even as Havillah's eyes cracked open to reveal the plush looking front parlor around. Ecen with furniture covered that marks of luxury remained what with the gilded wall panels, crystal chandeliers and high carvenous ceilings that made her feel quite small in her superfluous surroundings.

All apart from the coach she had taken to sleep on was covered by white sheets. A white silky fabric of a glossy nature that shimmered and shined, appearing spotless even after the many years that the mansion had remained inhabited. It bothered her quite much that the last inhabitants of this place had taken so much time to prepare for their departure, so much that it made her wonder if the move was meant temporary and wether they had been planning on coming back one day to reoccupy these rooms.

From what she had gleaned from the few stories thatKillion had told her about the priests, Havillah had always assumed that their move had been sudden. A rushed thing, but now, as she looked at it from the inside, she could see that the evidence was pointing differently.

'Why did they leave?' she spoke out aloud, at last and for the very first time since the previous evening when she had left Gabriel stranded at her doorstep. She had felt a little remorseful for leaving him behind but on another note, she hardly knew what she was walking into and her anger at that point had not allowed her the luxury of reason beyond the point of giving him a choice on the matter as if he truly had one. Gabriel was a soldier and first and foremost, it meant that he would follow his orders before anything. She had placed him at a crossroads. Forced him to make a choice that soldiers didn't usually need to make. Go with her or wait for his Captain.

"Fear for most of the part is a great driving force" the voice told her, once again creeping in on her and surprising her in the most unexpected of fashions.

"I am beginning to suspect that you are not who you say you are?" she complained.

"And who do I say I am Havillah?" the voice chuckled.

"The light?" she asked doubtfully not sure if it was just her doubts or the fear of retribution clouding her voice.

"I never said that I was..." it replied. "You just assumed that I was... "

" and yet you did not see it fit to correct me?" she accused it rather angrily.

" The point being?"

At that, Havillah's jaw dropped.

" Are you even being serious right now? "she glared looking at nothing in particular even as her hands fell to her waist as she sought out to reprimand the owner of that voice.

" Fine." the voice chuckled. " I am a Great warrior. A guide and a messenger of the light. "

" And you are made from air?"

" No. Not really but your natural eyes can not possibly hope to see me , but never mind that, you will find out more in due time."

"My natural eyes?" Havillah was getting more and more frustrated by the minute.

"It is a complicated matter,but one that you will get with time. Right now let us focus on the present and that is getting you fed. As it is, your stomach is rather noisy." at which her stomach rumbled and Havillah looked around in embarrassment.

"No need to worry. Believe me I have seen and heard more worrying and disturbing things in my very long years of existence."

"and that is supposed to be reassuring?"

"There is no shame in hunger. You people have just put too much importance in the things that hardly matter while those that do matter suffer your neglect."

A slight sigh escaped Havillah's mouth even as she moved from the couch to stand up and to survey the rest of her surroundings.

" I have no idea what you are going on about there. It is very possible that I could have an idea but my glucose starved brain cells cannot process that at the moment."

"Yay! You remember your lessons..."

"Oh shut up! I am not sure that I need another Gabriel in my life right now." with that she fumbled for her slippers and continued to walk surveying the room as she moved along. For the remainder of the time, the voice remained blessedly quiet even as she surveyed the corridors and the rest of the rooms that covered the entire ground floor. A total of thirteen rooms in all that consisted of two front parlors differing in size. A much smaller back parlor, a ballroom, two dining halls, a massive lounge, three bathrooms at different ends of the flour, a courtyard and indoor garden and at last the Kitchen, which Eventually was a rather huge and wide space with a golden wallpaper and an attached dining room. The white marble kitchen island in the middle of it stood majestic and very empty as cast iron pots and steel containers hung high above it, on a rack next to an equally massive oven. On one corner she surveyed another door and like she had suspected it led into a pantry that looked more empty than the bare counters of the kitchen she had left behind. If she had had any doubts before, this spotlessly clean and clear pantry was evidence that the last inhabitants of this house

had planned their exit all along. At least long enough to clean things up and leave behind an immaculately clean house.

Havillah was not sure if a journey through the other houses would yield the same result but even then, she doubted that she would be able to gain clearance of into the others as none of them seemed to be in anyway related to her.

Havillah left the pantry, her hunger momentarily forgotten. She embraced her curiosity even as she surveyed the rest of the rooms floor by floor with the same result. Spotlessly clean rooms with sheet covered furniture. The closets were also mostly empty, apart from a few garments here and there that closely resembled those that worn by the people in this world.

She would have to make do, she decided as she picked one room with gold and purple accents and several coloured dresses hunging from its closets. Mauve curtains flowed down from its ceilings covering the entirety of the windows with the heavy fabric that matched the purple beddings that she had just found hidden within a closet drawer. The rest of the furniture was golden including the bed's headboard, the vanity and the chaise that lay at the foot of the bed. Purple and golden, even with a velvet like material that made up their upholstery.

'This will do.' she said as she set to work, spreading out the white silken bed sheets and laying out the pillows that had been covered beneath a protective covering of white sheets. She then brought out a rug, this too was purple before moving to the adjoining bathroom to cover that too.

'I need soap and supplies for the kitchen.' she mused, satisfied that everything else was now in order. 'but how when they all hate me...Maybe Gabriel, but how can I put him in danger from Calla?"

"You know, there is a garden in courtyard you missed. It may be a little overgrown but I am sure there is something there." the voice told her.

"I missed?"

"Yea. The glass window - door you missed through the pantry?"

"That was not a window?"

"I do not know. It could be, right now I cannot really tell neither do I have any use for those."

"Right." Havillah rolled her eyes at empty air. "Okay. Lead the way!"

"and you will follow?" it chuckled.

"Quit being problematic and do as you are told."