Despite everything, the Blackthorns and Woodses had gotten through another new year, and they had been busy working for months, trying to make up for the bad weather.
It was only in April that Benedict finally found some time away from his usual work in the fields, deciding it would be good to try and catch some fish for dinner, knowing it was better to keep their stored foods with more shelf-life for a time when they really didn’t have anything else to eat.
Benedict expected there might be some other people there fishing, it was no secret that many were worried about the possibility of famine, but he didn’t expect to see a girl, around his age, just sitting by the water.
He introduced himself, and the girl said her name was Elyanore. Benedict asked if she was alright, seeing that she seemed to look at the water with sadness.
“Well, it’s just that it didn’t snow this year, well it did once, but only a little. The ponds never froze over…” she sighed, “I must sound quite silly to be sad over something like that…but I just love the cold, and especially skating… we used to do it every winter up in Svearike.”
Benedict noticed she had a bit of a strange voice, at least compared to most common people he encountered.
“Svearike?” He had not heard of this place before.
“It is North, past the North Sea, it’s where I was born and where my mother is from, my father is from here though, that’s why we live here now.”
“I don’t think I have ever met someone from so far away…until now of course.”
The two young teenagers seemed to find comfort in each other's presence, soon relaxing their postures and enjoying the nice day by the water together. For a moment, Benedict forgot about all the stresses of life, about feeding his family, about working every day from dawn to dusk, sometimes well past dusk, to keep their lord happy and willing to continue letting them live on his land, about making sure his younger siblings were happy and healthy and cared for and didn't worry too much about things.
It was a lot for a 12 year old to handle, but Benedict felt it was his duty, as the oldest living male in his bloodline, to provide for his loved ones at whatever cost.
Benedict did forget about all of that for a moment, but it's hard to talk about yourself without your life's troubles coming up pretty quickly.
“Somehow...I hadn’t noticed how the cold didn’t come this year, and I love winter too…I’ve just been so busy with work, some days my stepfather can’t even get out of bed, I’ve kind of had to step up as the man of the house…”
“Is your stepfather crippled?” The girl inquired.
“No….he’s just sad…very sad…” Benedict sighed, “My mother is gone, and he only has one child left, one that is his own blood I mean. My siblings and I take care of her more than he does now, he just can’t be motivated to do anything…”
“That sounds quite terrible…for everyone. I do not understand The Watcher sometimes, why he kills so many good people, makes their families suffer…” Elyanore trailed off.
"He truly works in mysterious ways..." Was all Benedict could say to that. While his younger brother had more of a hatred towards The Watcher, Benedict truly believed what the church had told him, that The Watcher loved every one of his followers and that he knew what was best for humanity, any criticism towards him was blasphemy!
Benedict realised what he had originally come down here to do, and he thought he would ask his new friend to join him.
“Have you ever tried fishing?” He inquired.
"No, I'm usually busy helping my mother keep house whenever my father takes my brother to fish." Benedict could sense that the girl wished she could spend more time outdoors.
"Well, you should try it, it's something you can do at the pond when it's too warm to skate...which is most of the year, I guess." Benedict chuckled.
Elyanore agreed to give it a go, at first she was impatient, not being able to wait for a bite, but Benedict told her the point is that it's relaxing, and they could just talk about whatever while they waited.
So the two got to know each other, and though they had been born in quite far apart places (relative to medieval peasants), they found that they had a lot in common!
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A/N: 'Svearike' is what Sweden was called in the 14th century. When I was making love interests for the twins in CAS, I ended up making a really pretty Scandinavian looking girl, and I really wanted to have her as Benedict's wife, and it ends up working well because a lot of the medieval names I've found online that I liked are Swedish and this gives a story reason why they would use those names!
