CHAPTER 7 - HER FIRST POT OF GOLD IN CLEAR SIGHT

The very next day at dawn before the sun had even risen an inch above the horizon, little Kazu woke up Carmen as she had instructed him to do from the night before. They had both chosen to go to bed early in an attempt to avoid the feeling of hunger rumbling through their stomachs and had managed to awkwardly squeeze together on the bed to sleep for the night as they had always done every night before.

"Please! Just five more minutes!" She mumbled as she rolled over on her other side and covered her face with her skinny arms in the hopes of stopping him from interrupting her precious sleep. But Kazu continued shaking her shoulders to wake her up.

Begrudgingly, she soon snapped out of her sleepy haze and remembered the goal she had made for the day. She had planned from the day before to pay a visit to the servants' kitchen outside the cold palace herself. As she wanted to see the situation with her eyes to further formulate a plan to solve their current desperate need for resources such as food and proper drinking water, some wearable clothing fitting their ages as well as money to save up for their big escape. Even though she trusted that Kazu would do as she asked, and it would be less risky for him to go in and out of the area alone he wasn't as knowledgeable of what would be useful to them in their present situation and since she wasn't aware of what items would be there she wouldn't be able to tell him what to bring back for their use. 

Carmen got up out of bed and let out a yawn and let out a stretch that could break the back on her small and quite fragile frame. She stalked towards the door in the dark little room with the help of what could be described as her mind's eye, even though she could not see in through the thick darkness blanketing the room she could imagine where the door would be from her memories. As soon as she cracked open the door a strong, frosty night breeze slapped her in the face making her wish she had never made such plans from the day before as she wished she could've stayed in bed at least until the sun came out and it was little bit warmer.

But after recalling that this little trip was very important for their survival, she toughened up and stepped outside. Under the lead of little Kazu, she soon left the courtyard she had been confined to since her rebirth unfortunately she couldn't admire the ancient sights around her as they quickly made their way to a wall after weaving through and around a number of houses, with a majority of the ones around where they lived being abandoned by humans and overrun by hordes of rats and roaches. The wall they came to an abrupt stop in front of was covered in moss and had numerous cracks but still stood quite tall. 

Carmen remained silent as she saw little Kazu kneel on the ground before the far end of the wall reaching out his hand to grab hold of a bunch of weeds that had overgrown and lifted them up. Below it was an inconspicuous little dog hole, it was small and could only fit them if they went through one at a time even with their current bodies of skin and bones.

Little Kazu pointed to the hole and nodded his head. He went on all fours before crawling through, to not waste time Carmen also went and knelt in the same spot and went on all fours before crawling through the little hole behind him. Poking her head out first, she saw him stooped down looking at the hole, presumably waiting for her to come. After she stood up and lightly brushed herself off, she saw him nodding his head in a direction and knew he meant for her to follow him. She walked as silently as she could with him as her guide under the dim light of the fading moon. After weaving past a number of courtyards that were, in contrast to the cold palace, were all occupied with even maid servants sleepily watching guard for the night, she soon came to a stop behind the small frame of the nimble boy in front of her.

They had arrived in a courtyard that was a little bigger than theirs with a majority of the space outside filled with large clay containers like the two they had only these were in much better physical conditions, so she assumed that they held water.

He looked around carefully, though he knew that no maid would be standing guard for the kitchen as they were either sleeping or on the night watch duty for the any of the many masters within the palace, before he quickly raced across the small yard and through the door.

Carmen followed closely behind and with the light provided from the approaching dawn she was able to see the inside. On one side stood the stove made from bricks with small, covered pots and the other side with raw foods like parboiled rice and flour. She went directly to the supplies and grabbed a handful of the peas of different varieties after whispering to Kazu to find a small container she could put things in. he quickly came back after rummaging around and placed a weaved basket with three layers that could be an "exotic" dining table decor from her original time on the ground beside her kneeling figure. She drew it closer and started packing all that she had gathered in it. On the first layer she placed a couple handful of all kinds of peas and beans as well as corn kernels, on the second she filled with rice and topped it off with some of the buns that she had asked Kazu to bring to her after seeing them covered with a cloth on the small table in the middle of the room surrounded with chairs, and finally on the top and final layer she placed vegetables and some fruits.

After finally filling it to her satisfaction, she stood up and handed the basket to Kazu who looked at it in stunned silence then looked around to find anything else that could be useful to them and her eyes landed on a few pouches in the corner beside the stove and she quickly went to grab them. She picked up four in total and felt that they were all empty. Her eyes soon caught the large clay container in the other corner beside the brick stove, and she ran over to it trying to stay as quiet as possible. After pushing aside its wooden cover, her excitement and blood rush from her sneaky little adventure rose three levels when she saw that inside the container was water. From its position she assumed it was the water they used for cooking their meals, so she knew it was clean enough to drink; much cleaner than what they had back in their little courtyard.

Without much thought she opened the pouches and dipped them one at a time into the container and made sure they were filled to their brims. Once they were full and she could hear the chickens making noises on the outside, she quickly closed them tightly and gestured to Kazu that it was time for them to go.

After stepping outside they saw the breaking of dawn. Once again, she followed the lead of little Kazu as she knew he was most knowledgeable about the affairs outside the cold palace and also because he had managed to sneak in before during the day, she was certain he was their best bet to get back safely.

He carried the basket in his tiny but long arms, and she carried the water filled pouches with the grin of the cheshire cat from Alice in Wonderland. She was surprised at the strength within their bodies, but soon came to understood it after briefly recalling how the boy and the original owner of her body had spent their days before.

Little Kazu abruptly came to stop at a corner and directly her to follow him in hiding behind a group of potted plants. Though confused, she didn't question him and followed him to hide her small frame behind the group of pots housing beautiful blooms that smelled really good. She quickly came to the conclusion that they were in the garden.

She turned her head to Kazu, however she was interrupted by the clanging of metal before she could question him. Seeing him place the basket flat on the floor and cover his mouth, she understood he meant for her to be silent, and she followed his actions. Soon, from her hiding place she could see a group of men fully covered in metal armor and boasting swords. Cold sweats broke out from her back. 

She understood that they were the reason Kazu had stopped and hid. They must be patrolling guards. They time they waited for the armored patrolling party to pass by their hiding spot was tumultuously long. Carmen felt very afraid, she couldn't imagine what they would've done with her, a little stray from the cold palace, if they had found her.

It was only after they had passed and the sound of clanging armor could no longer be heard by them; did she finally wipe the sweat from her forehead. Kazu had waited patiently for her to calm down before gesturing that they needed to leave, she couldn't have agreed more. They both took up their loot in hand and continued on their way to the wall with the inconspicuous dog hole. Luckily, there was no more stops made. 

Carmen crawled through the hole in the wall as she pushed the water pouches before her, after Kazu went through first with the basket. They made sure to carefully cover back the wall and she used the soles of her feet to try and cover up their tracks, which Kazu saw and made note of. Soon they reached back to their own little courtyard and could finally relax somewhat. They brought all the things inside the house and made an effort in hiding them first, as she took out two of the buns she had swiped to share between her and Kazu.

Together they sat on the bed all sweaty from all their early morning work and ate buns, as she split the water pouches between them equally. She had a big mouthful from one of her own after eating, savoring the taste of proper drinking water.

Looking at the rays of the morning sun peeking through the open door of the little hut she declared, "We still have work to do!"

Kazu looked at her for a moment then simply nodded his head once.