"So what are you going to do next? I’m sure they don’t have anywhere else to go." Owen said.
"Probably take them to Willows Haven. They won’t survive if we leave them to roam the streets," Aristia said, thinking. "Two girls moving in the streets alone with no family. They could be hard by bad people. Let’s give them so privacy."
The two left the room, standing outside the door.
By this ti of afternoon, there weren’t many guests in the inn and most of the guests didn’t leave their rooms.
Heidi and Penelope were done with their baths at this mont.
They wrapped towels around their bodies, opened the door only a bit, and poked their heads out, glancing inside the room.
Forget about the little girl, there was a boy there too! They couldn’t go out in a towel!
Seeing that the room was empty, they exhaled with relief and opened the door fully before stepping out.
"Our clothes aren’t good anymore." Penelope said this after taking just a look at the clothes they had taken off.
It had large patches sewn in different places, so holes and tear, and now it was stained with blood.
Heidi suddenly rembered sothing. Her eyes widened in a panic.
"Where are our bags?" She asked, her head whipping around.
"It’s on the floor, beside the bed." Penelope pointed at the side of the bed.
Heidi sighed in relief. She wouldn’t feel good if anything happened to their bags.
She went forward to pick the bag when her eyes landed on the bed.
She turned to Penelope.
"Aren’t these the clothes the woman gave to that boy?"
"Owen?" Penelope asked.
"Who?" Heidi’s face turned confused.
"That boy with the little girl, Aris."
"Oh..." Heidi nodded. "But he can’t wear these clothes. He’s a boy. And these clothes are too big for the little girl. So...these dresses are for us?"
"I guess so," Penelope shrugged.
They picked us the dresses. It looked like their size.
Penelope took out their own clothes from their bags and put the new clothes into the bag.
Then they quickly got dressed.
"They should be outside," Heidi said, picking up her bag. "Let’s go."
When they opened the door, they found Owen and Aristia standing outside.
"Thank you for the dressed," Heidi said.
"Yes, thank you." Penelope nodded along.
Aristia only nodded. She saw that they hadn’t put on the dresses, but she didn’t say anything.
She led the way through the corridor the rooms were on and down the stairs, finally arriving at the inn’s lobby.
In the inn’s lobby, they t the woman from earlier.
"The innkeeper asked to inform you that the al is ready. Please follow to the dining room."
She led them to a side corridor.
There was a dining room behind one of the doors.
"I cook will be back with your al." The woman said and left.
They took their seats around the dining room.
Not even five minutes later, the woman and o other inn worker walked in carrying trays.
They set them on the table and left.
The food was just a simple al.
Aristia took a bite. It didn’t taste bad and was quite decent, but she had tasted way better. Owen also felt that way, judging from the way he ate like it was a chore.
Heidi and Penelope stared at the food in their plate, then at each other, skeptical.
"What’s the matter? Is sothing wrong with the food?" Aristia asked, pausing her action of putting the food in her mouth, making Owen look at the girls.
The girls shook their head.
"Or aren’t you hungry? You probably haven’t eaten since you left." Aristia said.
Brrrr.
Right on cue, their stomachs grumbled. Their faces turned a light shade of red. It was true. They had only been given a bun that morning before they ran away.
Aristia chuckled, "Then eat up." She said and resud her al.
Heidi and Penelope slowly picked up their spoons and began eating.
After everyone finished eating, the twins got up and bowed.
"Thank you for bringing us to the inn and giving us food."
"After leaving here, where do you plan to go? Do you have anywhere to go?"
The twins exchanged gazes, then shook their heads hesitantly.
"We don’t." They said at the sa ti. Their faces turned red with embarrassnt.
[...Twins connection?] Aristia wondered.
They had planned to run away, but they hadn’t thought about where they would go after.
[Just as I expected. They’re underage and can’t take care of themselves.]
"We’re leaving the inn. I’ll take you to Willows Haven." She said to the both of them.
"Willows Haven?" The sisters repeated.
***
"Wow!" The sisters covered their mouths, awed as they stared at the building that was the orphanage. It was like a mansion.
They had heard of Willows Haven built by the Kingdom’s third princess— everyone had, but they had never seen it. It had never even occured to them to go there when they planned to run away.
"Co in," Aristia said. Owen pushed open the gate and they entered.
They could see the children outside the building. The number of children had increased from their original number.
The children turned towards the gate when it was pushed open. Most of them recognized Aristia and Owen, but none of them knew who the two girls were.
"Hello, Aris."
"Aris, you’re here."
The children greeted.
"Aris!" At the shout, Aristia and those with her stopped.
She looked to the side to see Sarah running towards them with tears in her eyes.
"Sarah?"
"Aris." Sarah stopped in front of her. "Leila and Leif have both gone missing. They’ve been missing for months. I hope nothing bad happened to them." She cried, almost bawling her eyes out.
"Oh, Sarah, Sarah." Aristia said. "I know. I heard about it from Dahlia and Dorothy."
Aristia hadn’t been here for about six months, and it had been three months since Leilani and her brother went missing.
Sarah cried even more. "I miss her so much..."
"Sarah."
Sarah turned behind her to see Dorothy.
Dorothy walked five steps and bent down to hug her. "It’s okay. Leilani and Leif will be fine. We’ll go to the temple to pray for their safety again."
Sarah sniffed and nodded.
Dorothy sent her away after consoling her, telling her to go and play with the other kids.
Once Sarah was gone, she turned to Aristia. Her eyes stopped on the two girls briefly before she looked back at Aristia.
"You’re here. Please co inside." She said, guiding them inside.
Heidi and Penelope looked around with wide eyes. Never had they seen a place like this before.
They stopped in a room that looked like an office.
They each took their seats before Aristia said. "These are Heidi and Penelope. They will stay in Willows Haven from now on."
Dorothy nodded in understanding.
"Okay. I will handle their registration and assign them a room."
All the children living in Willows Haven were all registered in the Orphanage’s registry. It contained information like their nas and ages, even records of the date they began living at Willows Haven.
Dorothy wrote down their nas.
"Your nas are Heidi and Penelope....?" She asked for their last na.
The two girls exchanged glances. They didn’t want to be called by the surna of the people they had lived with knowing that they were not related to them.
They turned to Dorothy. "Just Heidi and Penelope."
"Okay," Dorothy nodded.
Most of the children living in the orphanage didn’t have nas or even surnas as most of them had grown up in the streets, probably thrown away by parents who didn’t want them.
So children who had been given nas or surnas and who lived in Willows Haven because of so unfortunate event that happened to their family, leaving them with no family, rembered their nas and surnas.
So others didn’t rember their surna, and only rembered their nas. So couldn’t rember any at all. But sotis they found out what their nas or surnas were by personal items that had been left with them.
For those who had no nas, once they joined Willows Haven, they would be asked to choose a na or they would be given a na by the sisters.
Dorothy road her eyes over the two girls and asked. "Do you have sothing like a pendant or necklace?"
The girls nodded hesitantly. "... Yes."
"Can I see it?" Dorothy asked.
The girls nodded, each taking out a pendant from their necks and placing it on the desk in front of Dorothy.
Dorothy picked up the pendants and examined the both of them.
The pendants looked simple with just a smooth, clear stone in its front, but it obviously held special aning.
"Hmm..." Dorothy nodded. Engraved into the back of each person’s pendant was their own na. She read the both nas. "Heidi and Penelope. But there’s the letter C in each."
Aristia got up and glanced at the pendant. It was true. Both pendants had the letter C engraved boldly with each person’s na inside the letter.
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