Chapter 4

Arba kicked at a small rock in her way as she walked the eleven dogs they had on the farm, a mix of German shepherd, sheep dogs, huskies and hybrids. All the other members of her family were getting prepared for the Neverland Royal ball tonight, the one night where the royal family of the kingdom visits their whimsy little town. An important night, one quite so that no one dares to miss it. But alas, she will.

After she had walked the dogs for a while they came up to a small lake that was a few yards from their backyard, she stopped to let the dogs drink from the lake and rest her legs a bit, glumly she plumped her behind on the soft grass by the lake drawing her knees up. Arba looked skyward, her face sad as her mind was deep in thought. Her entire mood has been down ever since the conversation regarding her attending the ball at breakfast. Which was hours ago. She would love to leave this house someday, see the world or at least just her town, or maybe just attend the Royal ball tonight. Although she knew why her family thought it best to keep her hidden, yet it still stung. It stung that she couldn't mix with her townspeople, nor have people come to her house, because they will most likely harm her because of some supernatural powers they believe she may have due to the unusual coloration of her pupil. Powers that she very much didn't have as she has never exhibited any such neither does she feel anything supernatural coursing through her veins. Sometimes she wished she had plain brown eyes like her mother's, then they would know she truly is no threat to them, plainly powerless.

Arba lay on the grass still looking upward, lost in her thought as she twiddled a strand of grass between her fingers. The dogs by the lake still. The entire environment calm and serene, calming her spirit and helping return her countenance to a jolly pleasant one. Just then the serenity she enjoyed was disturbed as the dogs began barking at the direction of the woods. Wondering what they were barking at, she stood up from her comfortable position on the grass and then she heard a sound like the crack of a twig, it seems someone else is here.

"Who is there?" Arba asked as she began advancing towards the forest, behind her were her dogs, then she stopped realizing this could be anybody from town and they don't know of her existence or her eyes and it would be wise to keep it that way. She was turning, hoping the person meant no harm to her family and was probably just lost and would find their way soon, or better still it could be just some random forest animal. Then she heard a sharp cry of pain made by a voice that definitely didn't belong to some forest animal. She stopped in her tracks.

"Ow!" the voice cried again.

Arba was of two minds now, to go see what the problem was and help in hope that they won't notice her eyes or ask questions about her existence; or to just head on back home, ignoring the person; and maybe call her brothers or Pa to help, if she must help the stranger.

"Please don't go" the voice, now clearly male said, "I need your help. Please."

She really was torn now, the voice was filled with pain, she should help but this is still a total stranger who could harm her and her family. After about a minute of indecision, she turned and headed into the woods.

"Where are you?" she called out.

"I'm right here" the stranger replied using his voice to make known his location to her. "Right here on the ground, resting up against this ...uh... big tree"

When she was close she could almost see the stranger, she turned around, "Close your eyes" she instructed him.

"Why?" the stranger asked. "You have nothing to worry about if you are no fair damsel. Trust me, I am in no condition right now to make fun of someone's unattractiveness. You may look like an old hag or a horse even and I would see you as my damsel in shining armor. You are practically my savior at the moment"

Arba was confused at what he was talking about, she only meant for him to close his eyes in order not to see her or her eyes.

"What?" she asked.

"It's okay to come out, love, some of us are not so blessed by luck to be beautiful outwardly but we have beauty on the inside." The stranger said "I think you do sound beautiful, though"

"Close your eyes" she said again with a more serious tone, "If you want any help"

"Alright" he replied speedily as it occurred to him that she might actually leave, "They are closed"

As she came out from where she hid behind trees to the clearing in which he sat against a big birch tree, she noticed something a bit odd about this stranger. His clothing was different from the type Pa and her brothers wore, as a matter of fact she had never seen anyone dressed in this fashion. Then she remembered that her view on the matter was totally blindsided as she hasn't seen any other person but her family, perhaps this is actually how the other men of the town dressed.

She got closer to him and knelt by his side to see to his ankle which had been sprained quite badly, it was turning purple. Then she noticed even his footwear was different, but she gave no comment on this, maybe truly it is how other men in town dressed but her brothers didn't follow the trend or he is from another town altogether and stumbled upon their property somehow. Nobody from town ever comes here anyway.

"You sprained your ankle" she said to the weirdly dressed stranger.

"I guess" he replied eyes still closed, "Do you happen to have ice at home"

"I don't think we have this 'Ice' you speak of at home, but I am sure Mama would know what to do when she sees it. My brothers always got different kind of injuries while playing when they were younger" she was saying rather rapidly, eyes surveying the place before landing on her dogs who were watching a little way off. They must consider him not a threat to have stopped barking at him.

She continued, "Even now they are all grown they still manage to show up with some new injury once in a while" she chuckled remembering the last time Renart came home with an injury, just last week, with no sound explanation of how it was obtained when Mama asked.

At the sound of her melodious laugh, the stranger decided to sneak a peek at his 'damsel in shining armor.' He opened his eyes to find her eyes cast downward looking at his ankle, a faint smile still on her lips, and she looked beautiful. He is not one to usually exaggerate, so he means it when he thinks her the most beautiful woman he had ever laid his eyes upon. What could she have been hiding?

"So can you walk?" Arba asked even as she lifted up her eyes and found the stranger already looking at her, his expression a bit odd. As their eyes met, his widened and for a split second, she couldn't understand why, before she remembered her eyes were bright purple orbs. Immediately, she covered her eyes with her hands and turned around.

"I thought I said to cover your eyes!"

"I... I… just wanted to… um... see what you looked like" he replied stutteringly as though he was yet to fully regain himself.

"Why else do you think I told you to close your eyes?!" Arba's voice increased a few octaves as the fear of being discovered by the town and what they could possibly do to her began creeping in.

"Take care of your ankle yourself!" she let out through gritted teeth as she began speedily walking away, nearly in a sprint, back to the lake. Not once did she turn to face him again.

The stranger was still confused and until he saw her running away, his only ticket to help, did he spring into action and rushed to his feet, groaning in pain as he stood fully and rested his weight on his injured ankle. He shifted his weight to his good left ankle as he tried to catch up with her, the right ankle still felt some weight in his limping and protested against it, thus every step was punctuated with an 'Ow'

"Please wait!" he loudly called to her, when he found it harder to catch up with her while limping he decided to call out to her instead. "I am sorry I opened my eyes. I promise to keep it closed henceforth. See, it's closed now" he said closing his eyes for a few seconds before opening to check if she was coming back. She wasn't, she was nearly out of sight now.

"Please come back!" he said, out rightly begging at this point. "Your eyes are beautiful, if that's what making you sad, that I saw them. I see no reason to hide them, they are gorgeous"

Arba who was already at the lake stopped walking. She didn't fully understand what his last word meant, but she knows from his first line that he did compliment her eyes. She had never fully imagined people seeing her eyes or that the first encounter she would have with someone other than her family would be like this. She would have expected to be mocked, called a witch or anything else really, but not a compliment.

She turned back to him, to see him struggling towards her as he tried to put all his weight on one leg and limp. She took pity on him and decided to go help him, he doesn't seem all bad anyway. If he could compliment her strange eyes and not immediately run from her, and her dogs aren't barking his head off, he couldn't be all bad.