Asthenosthene

"Asthenosthene!"

A young girl opened her eyes as the voices of her name grew louder. She slowly listened to the moans of cows and rubbed her tired eyes from the sunlight peeking from her window. Slowly getting up, she stretched her limbs sloppily. 

"Asthenosthene! Wake up!"

The young girl gets up, and sighed. "I am awake now, Mother."

"Asthenosthene!"

"I'm awake!" she yelled back and chuckled. "I am coming down now!"

"Alright, hurry up darling!"

The young woman called Asthenosthene stands up and made her way down to the first floor of their cabin. The floor creaked as her small feet make contact with the wooden floorboards.

"Mother?"

A beautiful woman with brown hair looked turned around to Asty's direction and chuckled. "There you are."

"I'm sorry, I slept late last night." Asty apologized. 

Her mother smiled at her and showed her the baskets from her arms. "Let's have breakfast, shall we?"

The young girl nodded. She walked near her and took the baskets from her arms. She placed them above the wooden table and took the utensils from the cupboards near their sink. 

"Oh, I will do this dear." her mother told her in a gentle voice. 

"It is alright. I want to help."

The elderly woman smiled. She was lucky to have such a sweet and kind daughter. She was her only pride and joy. 

She settled near the table and takes the knife from Asty's palm. She intends to cut the roots of the yam and let her dice the vegetables instead.

"Mother?"

"I will cut these. You are not good in handling sharp objects, dear."

"I can do it," she started. "I know your hands are tired."

"Oh no," she gives her daughter a side hug. "This is only what I can do. You do all the working in this house, I do not want to burden you further."

"Mother..." Asty replied in disagreement and continued. "I am alright."

"The reason why you were up last night was because of the deliveries, weren't you?" the mother heaved a sigh. "I told you not to overwork yourself."

"I am okay." Asty smiled brightly. "Besides, Farmer Roonie paid me extra for those."

"What exactly were you doing with the deliveries? Were you delivering them? You do not know how to ride a horse, dear."

"I wasn't." Asty continued to chop the onions. "I was making a letter to Farmer Roonie's customer. The crops came late and he wanted to relay a message, but he could not really write a good sentence, so I did it for him."

Her mother sighed but then smiled afterwards.

Asthenosthene was raised in a small village near the mountains. The Village of Erana. Along with her mother, they resided in a small, rickety cabin near the riverside among the borders of the woods. 

Asty was raised alone by her mother. They had went through thick and thin and have suffered and endured through times together. But despite being penniless, both are rich in something else.

They were rich with love and generosity. 

Asty grew up to be an amazing and wonderful person. 

"Lady Rosellia's doctor, Mr. Curtis and I bumped each other at the market today. Turned out that Lady Rosellia is ill today and would like you to come and see her."

The young girl's eyes widened. "That's unfortunate. Lady Rosellia had told me that she was looking forward to the Ball today at the city."

"Lady Rosellia was invited to the King's ball?"

"Indeed she was, Mother!" the young girl then assisted her mother with the cooking. "She had told me that she wanted to talk with the Duke of Illum."

"She must be interested in him."

"Lady Rosellia is a noble. She would get invited even if it was a celebratory banquet."

"Asty, darling. I will finish these. Lady Rosellia needs you in her premises now. Go and clean up."

Asty sighed as she dropped the last of the vegetables in the pot. "Alright, Mother."

Her mother kissed her forehead and smiled. "Lady Rosellia helped us a lot during our hard times. We were fortunate to receive such graces from a noble. So make sure you would be there for her like how she was there for us before."

Asty nodded. "Yes, Mother."

The beautiful elderly woman smiled at her only daughter. Asty smiled gleefully at her mother and walked upstairs to get a piece of towel and a new set of clothes.

She walked back downstairs and then waved at her mother goodbye. She was to bathe at the nearby river. They had no pumps of water in the mountains. If there were, they could only be seen on the nobles' houses. Their cabin was rickety and damaged.

Asty walked slowly into the nearest river she used to bathe. Before taking off her clothes, she looked at her surroundings to see if anybody was there.

There was not a single person.

She took off her clothing and submerged herself into the cold streaming waters. She felt the heat of her body wash away as the chill soaked into her skin. She closed her eyes as she feels the cold breeze tickle her soft, pale skin.

When she was done, she slowly opened her eyes and covered herself with a cotton towel. Suddenly, out from the corner of her eyes, she sees a slight movement somewhere in the woods behind her. Thinking it was only an animal, she continued drying herself.

She glanced again in the same direction where the sound came from. She saw two gleaming eyes from the trees, staring at her. She looked away and grabbed her clothes and wore them.

She grabbed her boots and slipped her feet in them, and then made her way towards the woods to look for those gleaming eyes.

She was not scared, but she was worried.

"It could be an animal." she mumbled softly and then made her way to leave.

She glanced back, and saw nothing. She continued walking away.

Little did she know that something was watching her from above the trees.

There was not a single person in there.