22. Sun Apple

Ane looked at me for a moment, and I saw a glint of sadness in her eyes. "My brother has gone, and my parents have, too."

"Not even one?" I asked to be sure.

"Em, I lived in a conflict area. The reason I came here was because there's nowhere else I could go" I knew it was tough, but judging by her expression as she spoke, it seemed like she was good enough to get through it all.

I looked at her, feeling pity. "How did you meet Azalea?"

Ane told me that she lived in a conflict area, and so many people had moved out to another safer place. The last time before she came here, she and her family had to live in a bunker for four years. They would go out clandestinely, every day, just to pick up the food that was left in the shops or to make ends meet. "I met lord Naar then. He was helping some people, so I asked him to help bury my dead brother, because neither my mother nor I could lift his heavy body."

"Then, what about Azalea?" This walk through the woods became lighter as we spent the whole time talking. Even the chubby seemed to be sleeping soundly in my back.

"At that time, Miss Azalea came and suddenly offered me to work at her place. My mother gave permission, then I left my parents. I was only nine years old at that time." She looked very sad when she told the story.

It seemed like a very long time ago, but the wounds from that incident still lingered until now. One seemed to be easier to heal physical wounds than mental wounds. Only time could heal it. Although I didn't know when exactly, Ane, Summer, Winter, and Mirai, I already knew a lot of people here. I was happy with them.

"You are in the right place already, don't ever regret your own decision" I didn't know why I said that. Was it a good choice to be maids in the prison of wizards and other odd creatures? But I wanted to make her happy so that she would not regret her choice. I hated it when in the end, she would say, 'If only.'

...

We arrived at the mixed-blood settlement which Antonie was referring to. I remembered well the way to the Winters' house, but that wasn't where we were going. We followed a path with green grass turning white because it was covered in snow. From a distance, I saw a huge building with a dome and colorful stained glass, including a huge arched luxury wooden door. I thought that was the building Antonie was referring to, but Ane asked me to keep going. We still had to pass through the plantation after this to get to where the intended merchant was.

We passed by apple orchards. The trees lost all their leaves, with the ripe frozen fruit hanging all over the branches. I saw Ane pick the fruits, then put them in the bag that seemed to have been prepared. "You are stealing it?" I was confused about what she was doing.

"No," She said, "they won't pick it. These apples will freeze in here if they aren't taken '' It seemed these were leftovers. I wondered why they didn't take them. This was still too much to be leftover, and I guessed it was still very good. These apples were red, with pale yellow flesh, and there was a star motif in the middle.

I took one and rubbed it with my sleeve, then took a bite. It was so sweet and cold. It was tough on the outside, due to the thin layer of ice that covered it, and the flesh was juicy. "What will be cooked for us?" I asked while chewing the apple.

"Yes, for the servants. It can reduce expenses." She hid a large sack near the tree, piled it with snow and fallen apple leaves. The garden was red, as far as the eye could see, ripe apples left to ripen on the tree without leaves and lying abandoned. Even it dangled down due to the density.

I saw some people also coming. They did the same. "Why don't they harvest it?" These fruits were still in very good condition, too bad to throw them away.

"To the Nymphs." She tied the ends of the second sack, then buried it with snow beside the first sack. "The forest nymphs will come here, then they will take and eat these apples. This is the sweetest one. We call it the sun apple because there is a sun motif in the middle," Ane explained.

To my knowledge the Sun Apple was the tastiest. In my place, it could be very expensive. And it turned out, this wasn't leftovers from the harvest, they had left it on purpose. Residents could also take it if they were lacking food in winter.

We continued our journey. Ane said she would lift it along with potatoes and some other groceries, which she would carry through the garden. Now, we arrived at a cabbage garden. Just like the apple orchard earlier, the round cabbages were left to freeze. "You're not going to take it?" I wondered if she would do it, too.

Ane laughed for a moment. "Take what we can take" She smacked my arm, probably annoyed by my question. "They haven't harvested the cabbage, so we can't take it," She said.

"Will that also be left for the nymphs?" Honestly, I was curious as to what they're doing. 'Is this nymph a herbivore or what? Her stomach must be huge from the sheer number of apples she put aside earlier,' I thought.

She shook her head. "They don't like cabbage. Do you think they're slugs?!" She asked with a teasing expression.

I just kept quiet because I really didn't know about it, while Mickey giggled from inside the bamboo basket I brought with me.

…

This place was like a warehouse, some carriages came with bags of groceries. There were corn, potatoes, carrots and many other vegetables. Ane gave a piece of paper to one of them. She talked to the person, then handed her some gold coins. After that, she called me to come closer.