Don't you worry 'bout a thing

Alyssa sighed as she checked the cabinets, only finding scraps of the meal they had yesterday. Well, you couldn’t even call it a meal. She turned the bread around in her hands, checking for signs of fungus. Luckily there were none, but she was fairly sure that they wouldn’t be able to eat properly from this tonight. Her parents were starting to get pretty sick, so they didn’t eat a lot of food these days, but Alyssa had given most of the meals she could arrange to them. She felt like they needed it more than she did. And then there was also the fact that her parents in law in the Upper Ring had given her some food when they last visited. They had also given her some clothes to hide how thin she was, but she knew better than to wear those in the Agrarian Ring. Not that she wanted to either. She didn’t like the feeling of being rich.

After she had counted the coins she had in her coin pouch and had concluded that she could at least buy a whole new bread for her family, Alyssa ventured out towards Port Silverstone. There were also some jewels she could sell from her fiancé, but if he would find out he would get pretty mad. And Alyssa had already discovered what he could do when he was mad at her. She didn’t understand why she didn’t stand up for herself. Was it because of fear? Fear of him or fear because what the lost of her marriage could mean for her parents? Alyssa wanted nothing more than to make them happy and she knew this arranged marriage would do exactly that, but she couldn’t help but feeling left behind.

Alyssa reached Port Silverstone fairly quickly. She ignored the whistles that were aimed at her; it was as if they couldn’t believe that a girl like her could wander around this damn place. She felt their eyes glued to her curves without even looking in their direction. It made her feel vulnerable, but mostly it made her feel angry. The world wasn’t fair and she was confronted with that fact every day. Alyssa didn’t even turn around to apologize when she bumped into someone. She was going to get some damn food and then she would be out of this stupid place.

Alyssa looked up when she heard someone cursing behind her. She didn’t need to be a genius to figure out that it was the same man who she had bumped into. She rolled her eyes, contemplating whether she should give him attention or just continue ahead. Nobody was concerned with her either, so why should she even bother? Alyssa let out a sigh. Well, that was a lie. There actually were people who were concerned with her. Her thoughts traveled to the man she had met a while ago and who had given her bread and water after she had passed out. Thiago. It reminded her of the gentle blue eyes which with he had looked at her. She blinked rapidly with her eyes and turned around, feeling the warmth already creeping towards her cheeks. If she would bother with this man, would her intruding thoughts go away?

”Sorry, my bad,” she told him, noticing how plain her voice sounded. Nowhere close to someone who was actually feeling bad for her mistake. When had she become like this? It was probably because of the lack of sleep and the stress with her fiancé and parents, but still… she wasn’t usually like this. She was more considerate of her surroundings. She stepped forward, looking at the wrench that was close to his foot. It had probably fallen down on top of it. She furrowed her brows with concern. Not because she was concerned about his wellbeing, but because she was pretty sure she couldn’t cover his medical bills if that were to be treated.

”That looks like it hurts. Are you alright?” she asked. She hoped it wouldn’t be too bad. That he would let her off with a grunt or be kind enough to not make any accusations. She wouldn’t be able to give or pay him anything if he wanted to have some kind of deal to make amends. So she would just have to hope that he wouldn’t cause problems. Otherwise she would be screwed, that was one thing that was for sure.

Alyssa caught the words he was saying and couldn’t barely suppress a smile, even though she didn’t feel like smiling at all. She thought he was going to be a rough person, but maybe he wasn’t so bad. As long as he wouldn’t ask for money, that is. She wouldn’t be able to give him something anyway. And if he were to make trouble, she would have to rely on her skills to fight him off. She was actually pretty decent when it came to wielding her daggers and close combat, so she was pretty sure she could fend him off if he were to make problems.

But it seemed like she was mistaken. He just told her that it would be a bruise later and asked her if she was alright. Maybe he wasn’t so bad, but Alyssa knew better than to trust any friendly face that passed by. I’m alright,” she reassured him. ”I don’t have a lot to drop anyway, so don’t be worried about that.” She couldn’t help herself that her voice sounded a bit bitter while she had spoken those words. She didn’t have a lot of money on her that she could drop. She only had the jewels her fiancé had given to her and which would hopefully carry her and her parents throughout the week.

”Why don’t you head to that alley a litter further ways?” She nodded in the direction she aimed for. ”There’s an alley that ventures out to the right, where the actual port is. The water is cold enough for you to ease the pain of your feet.” That was the least she could do for him if she weren’t able to give him something for his pain. She didn’t have ice and she didn’t have painkillers, so that was the best she could come up with.