Chapter 42: Ch 42 – Dust

I waved and offered a few pleasantries to a few others that were out and about as I walked to the end of the road. The old church was just as Jenny had explained. It was at the edge of the town, and it definitely felt old. It was a mostly stone building, built from cut large blocks of stone. I supposed these were bricks of a sort. They weren't exactly regular, rather it was like each one was a different size and they had just been fit together as best they could. The roof was intended to be clay tiles, but some of it had been replaced with wooden planks. The doors were still in place, though as I pulled open the right door, it slipped down and snapped free from the frame with a surprising thunk.

“Shit…” I said as the door crashed onto the ground and into the old building sending a wave of dust inside into the air.

How long had it been since someone visited this place? Probably at least a year, maybe more. I squinted into the darkness and stepped over the door on the ground. Sneezing a few times and shielding my face from the dust I pressed onwards. It wasn’t just the darkness that limited visibility, the dust was circulating inside and there didn’t seem to be any windows. Didn’t churches usually have glass? Big fancy stained things? I followed the outside of the room as my eyes adjusted until I found something inset into the wall.

I pressed my fingers to it and it cracked. Then crumbled a bit by bit, was this dirt? Clay? I poked and broke through a bit more and slowly I opened what was a large vertical space between bricks. Was this a window? It wasn’t quite what I’d expected. It was thin maybe my hand's width across with nothing inside now that I'd poked whatever had been in there out.

The extra light was helping as the dust slowly cleared inside. I turned to inspect what I could see. There were a few benches askew, one had simply collapsed into itself. Thick cobwebs here and there indicated what I hoped was the work of spiders. It wasn’t like I wanted spiders, but spiders sounded better than something entirely alien to my mind. Plus they ate other bugs, right?

The floor had likely once been wood, but as it was it looked like something had rotted or eaten a good bit of it. The church itself was really just the one level, but it had a steeple above the entrance, I could see part of it was sectioned off inside. There was no obvious way up. On the other side, I saw two doors, one barely hanging on.

I walked to the back inspecting the room from a different angle. From this angle I could now see that the steeple had what looked like a small platform to the side, it looked like there had once been a ladder to climb. I couldn't help but wonder if there was a bell up there.

I decided to check the two doors before anything else. Starting with the one that looked like it had a bit of life left in it I pulled it open with a bit of effort. Inside was a room brighter than I expected. This was because the back door into the room had fallen off its hinges and a good bit of morning light was shining in.

There were cabinets some in good repair, some that looked like an ax murderer had practiced on them. The floor back here was stone slabs. There was a table that had a healthy coating of dust but was still otherwise fairly useable.

What am I even doing? Am I house shopping? I mused to myself. How silly was that? I needed to focus on finding a place to sleep and pass a few nights. That was what I was doing. I decided to check the last space, pulling the broken door forward, and shifting it to the side. Beyond the door frame was a small storage area, and staircase.

Down the stairs was far darker than I’d preferred. But I stepped into the room and immediately felt the cooler air touch my skin. The storage space was occupied by a few shelves and some boxes, nothing really remained on either because it had long ago been looted, or because what had been stored had been eaten away by bugs or something else. The space smelled dusty and cool. Nothing particularly foul. After a few more minutes of poking around in the darkness, my eyes adjusted a bit better and I ventured carefully down the stairs into the darkness.

At the base of the stairs was a simple stone wall, this one was the natural stone the whole building was probably built on. No bricks or slabs here. The path took me to the right, the only option, if memories served that meant the small hall led towards the town wall. So this might go under it. I used the wall to help guide myself forward, but my eyes just kept adjusting. Come to think of it, I’d always had good night vision. Back in the cave, in the elvish prison. Was this because of my tiger kin eyes? I hadn’t changed them when I took on my human persona.

There were several doors down here that looked to be in good shape. I pushed one open to find a small room beyond. The vague outlines I could make out said maybe there was a bed frame? Good night vision or not this was stretching it. If only I had a bit of the mushroom ink this would be easy.

Maybe we could stay down here after all. It was better than nothing. But we’d need to clean it. Maybe I could get more pelts from the goblins? That would work for a temporary bed. Hell, the goblins could probably fit down here too.

I wonder about the other doors? More bedrooms? More storage? I could at least peak…

“Anna?” Came a muffled voice from up the stairs.

“Yeah?” I called back causing some of the dust settled on the surfaces around me to drift free from its resting place. I couldn’t help but sneeze after a moment.

“Let's eat!” Came back.

Oh right! I climbed up the stairs less carefully on the way up and found Devin standing near the entrance. “What were you doing?” he asked.

“Finding us someplace to sleep.” I noted.

He squinted at me, “What? Aren't we leaving?”

“We need to stick around for my clothing to get made.” I replied as I reached him.

He reached out and brushed my head, then my cheek off. “You covered in dust.”

“Whoops?” I offered.

He sighed, “You need a good washing.”

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“You want to help?” I asked, a bit of a grin sliding onto my lips.

He considered, “Actually I wouldn’t mind if you’d help me too. Getting my back is a pain and it always feels dirty.”

I chuckled, “Not quite what I had in mind but now that you mention it, that would be good.”

“Since you were looking for somewhere to stay I assume you got a stern talking too about last night?” Devin asked.

“I wouldn’t say it was stern, but it was enlightening.” I pointed out.

“Either way, let's go get some water to rinse your face off and eat, I’m starving.” Devin said wrapping his arm around me and pulling me out of the church.

“You’re in an awfully good mood today.” I observed.

“Yeah? It’s nice to be appreciated for your work you know? Plus Jenny’s soup smells amazing.” He noted.

“Oh… soup, the fastest way to a man’s heart.” I mused.

“Doesn't hurt. Too bad she's taken.” He chuckled.

Before I could think better of it, I lightly elbowed him in the side.

“Ow…” he grunted. “What was that for?”

“I’m a jealous woman.” I noted.

“Jealous? Of what?” He asked.

It was hard to say honestly. I stood there considering it. I really did have a double standard for this type of thing. I wanted to do whatever I wanted, while Devin was mine. But it's what I wanted, what was I supposed to do about that? Ideally, I supposed I could live in my dungeon and just be waited on like a queen. That was probably a bit much though wasn’t it? I was anything but a queen. But the dungeon had said something about us being something like a country. So maybe it wasn’t so crazy?

Devin who had been watching me while I thought spoke up, “I like the weird faces you make sometimes.”

“Weird faces?” I asked a touch mortified.

He nodded, “You scrunch up your lips, and your nose twitches. It's really cute, like a weird rodent.”

“That's incredibly rude!” I said hitting his arm with a fist, I really had no strength so it was mostly a love tap.

“You asked. I’m just answering. Besides you’re the one that woke me up in the middle of the night to play. A man needs his rest.”

I sniffed, “You’re not gonna get much rest if I have my way with you.”

He just smiled at me with a goofy grin. “You’re making one of those faces again.”

I couldn’t help but laugh.

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