"All we need to do, Eva, is find a treasure map!" Elias said, excitedly.
"No, Elias, we need to collect the eggs for the day and sell them. That is how we are going to make money and eat today," Eva replied. Her mum always told her that girls mature quicker than boys.
Eva thought her mum was the most beautiful woman in the world. Even her name, Seraphine, was beautiful. Looking after the family meant everything to her mum. At the moment 'the family' consisted of Eva, Seraphine and Eva's father Kirk, but Eva was old enough to know that her mum and dad occasionally played a game that can make a baby, after all, they all shared the bedroom. Her parents were very much in love.
Sometimes too much in love. Eva didn't always want to see all the kissing!
It was quite rare, Eva thought, for adults to be in love. She knew the noble families arranged marriages for their noble children, love didn't come into it. The royal family, well, they liked to keep their marriages and love within their own family, which Eva thought was pretty horrible. If she ever had a sibling, she certainly didn't want to have to marry them!
Poor people were luckier. How strange, Eva thought, that she would consider her people lucky. Yet they were in terms of marrying for love. Her people still arranged marriages too, but it wasn't uncommon for a true marriage of love to happen. It certainly wasn't frowned upon, as it was with the royals and nobles.
Eva's mum sometimes joked that Eva would grow up to marry Elias. Looking at him just now, mooning over his imaginary dragons and treasure, Eva wasn't so sure about that. Sure, she was going to look after him when they were old people, but it was her job. Women looked after the men and children. She had pretty much been looking after Elias since the day they met.
Yep, Eva just couldn't imagine being married to Elias, was it really any wonder why?!
Pulling herself from her thoughts, Eva walked over to the smelly, noisy chickens and began to gather the eggs. Every day, her father went out foraging for anything he could sell and Eva went down to the farms to compete with the other children over collecting and selling the eggs. She didn't make much money, a large portion of the sales were put aside to pay the nobles who owned the land. Still, it made Eva feel like she was doing her bit to help her family. Elias didn't know it, but Eva was even trying to put a little bit away, to buy him a birthday present. His parents never did.
Elias knew his father, Luke, didn't really like him. He was always shooing Elias outside or into the bedroom out of the main living area. Elias didn't understand why his father felt this way, but although it hurt, Elias accepted it and tried to stay out of his fathers way.
Elias rarely say his mother. She was very beautiful with her long blonde hair, slim figure and blue eyes. Elias believed his mother felt she had been dealt a bad hand in life, that she should have been a noble or even a royal. She always went out to the taverns in town and Elias's father was left to look after the home and try to do his job as a butcher. Perhaps that way why his father disliked Elias so much, another burden from his wife?
Some nights, by the time Elias went to bed, his mother still wasn't home. On those nights, Elias put himself to bed, rather than run the risk of upsetting his father. Elias often wished he could have Seraphine for his mother. He knew that was bad, that he should honour his parents, like the bible says to, but he couldn't help thinking how nice it would be to be tucked up into bed with a kiss goodnight. Eva was really lucky.
Eva noticed how down Elias suddenly looked. She knew him well enough to know that he must have been thinking about his parents again. Sometimes Eva felt guilty when she moaned to Elias about her parents. Okay, sometimes her dad could be really grumpy, but he worked hard and overall, he was a good man. Eva sometimes deliberately took Elias home when her dad was out so her mum could make a fuss of him. Seraphine really loved Elias, she treated him like one of her own. Her father, however, never really took to Elias and didn't seem to like Eva hanging around with Elias so much.
Eva knew exactly how to cheer Elias back up.
A little bit of playing with the chicks later and Elias was smiling again.
And thinking about his non existent treasure map!
That night, Eva dreamed about weddings. Usually she dreamed a lot about her father or keeping house, dreaming about weddings was new. In the morning she wondered where it had come from. It was very strange.
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