Chapter 4 : Transition

Laitza never saw this many clothes in her whole life. Maybe she saw them in the life she has forgotten. Nevertheless the red gown which had little trinkets at the border, puffy off-shoulder sleeves makes her mouth quiver and she manages a thought in her mind that after all this, will she be able to carry it right? Or it must cost a fortune, how can she buy it? But as soon as Raiya sees her watching that dress in amusement she walks up to the merchant slides that asked fortune, takes up the dress and gives it to Laitza who until now was thinking that she was buying this for her own self.

“I can’t take this, it’s too much.”

“It’s a gift, for occasions, you have to pay me back for all the clothes I bought you except this one, this is truly a gift.” Laitza looked from Raiya to her brother Shrey who was now watching the dessert stall, as soon as he looked back to both of them he muttered something and ran off in the dessert stall’s direction.

“Thank you.” as soon as Shrey got back with a chunk of jalebies in his hand Raiya and Laitza jumped onto them, as Shrey muttered obscenities at them with his mouth full.

“You can buy yours, these are mine!”

“What is yours is mine!” Raiya muttered and Laitza just smiled as Shrey looked at her with a stop-eating look on his face and Laitza did stop eating, not because Shrey said so, because when she looked back there was only one left and she wanted Raiya to have the last bite.

When Raiya finished eating she said she wanted water and she went to get water in one of the most colorful markets in the city, Shrey turned to her.

“I didn’t expect you to be this shameless.”

“I didn’t expect you to be this stupid”

“You know, sarcasm is the lowest form of wit”

“I wasn’t being sarcastic” she looked up at his brown eyes, they had something inside them, like a depth of mischief, and she smiled as soon as she saw it, despite the argument, he smiled with her.

Laitza looked over her shoulder, just like Raiya, Shrey was tall, they were talking, more specifically, bickering. Laitza wonders if she has a sibling, brother or sister, it is good to have someone your age with you, all the time. Raiya looked ahead staring at the horizon; laitza looked at Shrey who was walking beside her.

“So how did you end up in this hell?”

“I don’t know”

“How can someone not know?”

“Shut up Shrey,” Raiya said.

Of course, she never imagined Raiya’s brother would be like this. Like obviously, she doesn’t have any experience in the case of opposite sex but for someone so closely related to Raiya be so unlike her, she was just so sensitive, exquisite and just nice. And on the other hand Shrey was this nasty, sneering, with a I-don’t-care swagger kind of guy, of course, he was involved with a lot of women, because the only thing he got right from his sister were her features and limbs, long hands and particularly long feet, with a satisfactory built, as he was not yet a soldier, he wasn’t professionally built, but one can never call him unfit, he was the perfect definition for a lean body, being that the only thing which Laitza admired in him.

“Why are you staring at me like that?” Laitza quickly adjusted her gaze on the horizon.

“You know, I am seriously not in the mood for something romantic at this point” he said with a smirk, Laitza kept gazing at the horizon as he took in the lines of her face, there weren’t many lines, she was kind of full, but not chubby, she had cheekbones but they only came in show when she smiles, which she often doesn’t.

“Neither am I.” queered Laitza with much annoyance in her voice.

“And why is that?”

“Why do you care?”

“Believe me, I don’t” with that Laitza looked at him, straight in his eyes, and that sneer vanished but not completely.

“I don’t want you to.”

“I am sure I am quite lost about what we were talking about in the first place.”

“That just shows your excellent presence of mind.” she looked at the horizon again and lost a breath, what beautiful city this is. She thinks about tomorrow and where she has to go, maybe Raiya is also thinking the same thing from the stone she has perched on looking at the stars, she looks at Shrey who is looking at the stars, and then she too looks at the stars.

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