„A little girl? They must be kidding.”
“You worry about her age? Just look at the skin. And her hair! Looking like an old woman, I tell you!”
“And those eyes. Have you seen those eyes?”
“She doesn’t belong to this world, that’s for sure. Not to this or any other.”

I turned away from the window, attempting to blink away the tears creeping up on me again. They had told me a better life would be awaiting but it still was the exact same, just now there were more people whispering and more eyes glaring at me, ranging from curious interest to hateful stares that made my stomach twist and some part of my head yell ‘no’ at me.

The guard that had left hours ago to sit next to the other one, who was steering the vehicle, climbed back in through the window and gave me one of these looks that I couldn’t quite tell what they were. My face reflected in the shiny bit of metal on the side of his hip and so I stared into my own frightened eyes instead of his.
“We’ll reach The East Camp in a bit. Gather everything up, we’ll have to get off the carriage quickly, no time to waste.”

I wanted to tell him that I hadn’t brought anything but my mouth was sealed shut. So I just looked back up at him, unable to speak or think. He shook his head at me and was back out. So I sat down on the narrow bench and tried to concentrate on the sound the wheels made on the uneven ground instead of the whispers outside.

Too soon the carriage came to a halt and I was ushered out by a soldier with an unfamiliar face and greeted by an extremely tall and thin woman. I curtsied, just like my mother told me to but the woman shook her head.
“Up up, young lady, I’m not the one to curtsey to. You may address me as Amanda, I’m the dormitory’s maid, understood?”

I bobbed my head along with her words, fascinated and intimidated by her attire alike. Where I came from people were shorter. They didn’t have skin this light or hair as red as fire or eyes as clear as emeralds.
“Now come along little girl, we have to get you all suited up for your introduction.”

I hastily followed as she hurried across a wide, open space and towards a huge building, made out of stone and wood, the roof made from something grass-like.

Even in the small village where I came from everyone had heard of The East Camp, despite being so remote and cut off from the rest of the world that everything else that was going on in the areas that my grandfather had called the restless world was entirely unknown to us.

I didn’t know too much of it, just the bits and pieces I was able to hear whenever the adults talked about it or when one of the rare travellers had told stories about the restless world to me and my siblings.

Strangers were always good storytellers. They had seen so much more of the world than we had and so we always clung to their words, eager to absorb every bit of knowledge that was to be found in these stories from elsewhere. Now I realised it must take great skill and training to navigate this part of the world as there was so much going on everywhere.

The guards had told me The East Camp lay a bit further from the city but yet there was a forest of buildings, dozens of humans and human-like creatures navigating the broad street. If this was not the city, I wondered, what would the city itself look like? Was this just an outer ring or a small town on the edge of the main pot. So many questions buzzing through my head and nobody there to ask. And even if, there was nothing to be asked with silent lips.

The lady ahead of me threw an impatient glance over her shoulder. I had gotten lost in my thoughts enough to slow down significantly. Inside I cursed myself for already making one mistake too many to be possibly accepted on a first day. Before entering the building, even. Falling into a trot to keep up with her I clenched my teeth in frustration. Nothing ever went according to plan, not my life, my thoughts and whatever else had gone wrong within the last few days.

Stepping through the giant doorway into the building I was met with a different atmosphere. The thick wooden planks beneath my feet creaked, a sound that sent a sting through my heart. So similar but yet so different to what I knew. Ahead of us stretched a long room with about ten tables on each side of it, all of them abandoned and half covered in shadows. The hallway we entered next had torches on the left side, a welcome difference to the darkness outside and inside the other rooms. I followed Amanda up two flights of stairs and through another door into a room full of children. She clapped her hands twice and the entire room fell silent.

“Kids, this is the new warrior we talked about. If I get to hear that anyone harasses her or makes her life hell in any other way, be aware that it will have consequences.”
“If she’s so special, why doesn’t she get her own room like all the others?”
“We found her in a village on top of a mountain. She lived without much human contact for the biggest part of her life and haven’t spoken a word since she arrived. It is time she gets to know some more people. And now, early to bed and early to rise, you have training at sunrise, remember?”
And with that I was left in the doorway, alone and faced with a mass of strangers who were all staring at me. I tried to swallow the lump in my throat without much success and wrapped my arms around myself.

“So you’re too fine to talk to us, huh?” A boy, much older than me, asked and stepped from the group, followed by two other people, a girl and another guy. I shook my head.
“Well now look at that, she’s denying it. Adorable. Now, little hellspawn, what do you think we should make you do to prove it?”

I was shaking and wished to be anywhere else yet despite that I stepped closer and opened my mouth. His eyes grew wide and he stumbled back. I didn’t know what exactly he saw, I never wanted to, but I knew that people were shocked by it. I shuddered and ducked into a corner.
“Give her a bed and make sure she is as far away from me as possible.”

And with that it was over, the group retreated to a couple of beds close to the door and a hand grabbed my arm to drag me to the other side of the room. My eyes cast down to the floor, the only things I could see were the wooden floor and the feet of the other inhabitants. Some shifted uncomfortably, others whispered curiously but in the end, they all expressed the same in different ways.

“So… you’re a mute?” the person who dragged me along asked. I looked up in surprise, I hadn’t expected them to speak. The guy in front of me was even older than the one who attacked me, almost a young man. I nodded but kept my eyes down, still not fully trusting of him not wanting to be nasty towards me.

“Do you have a different way to speak?”
Caught off guard I looked up and directly into his eyes. A smile spread across his face when I nodded and he pointed to a bed between what appeared to be his and the wall.
“Sit down. Can you teach me?” Again, I nodded and did as he said. Then I gave him a questioning look and tried to convey my question through my eyes.

“Just… start with what you think might be easiest.”
I pointed a finger at myself and then at him.
“You and me, right?”
I pointed two fingers to the ceiling.
“Is that a yes?”
Another nod. He smiled and crossed his legs, leaning an elbow onto one of his knees.
“So I assume this means no?” he asked, pointing two fingers down. A smile spread across my face as I shook my head. My hand was still raised in the yes-gesture so I just needed to turn it around so the back of my hand was facing him.
no

“To bed! Now!” came the command from the door a while later. I was in the middle of teaching my new friend the alphabet so I could spell my name out to him when Amanda came towards our beds.

“Good to see you took her in, Ash. What in the name of the gods are you doing there?”
“She’s teaching me her language. No wonder she doesn’t speak, ma’am, she has no tongue to do so.”

Silence fell around us. Amanda froze and the other children within our earshot stopped what they were doing to turn around and look at us. I could read a mixture of shock and pity on their faces despite best efforts to hide it and lowered my head again. Ash touched my shoulder and a sort of relief settled. None of the faces was displaying disgust, a great upgrade to what my condition was usually met with.

“We all have a lot to learn from her and we will have to adapt to the situation a lot, seeing that she won’t be able to just talk.”
“But how will we communicate if she can’t speak?”
I raised my hands. Ash smiled and pointed at me.
“Yeah. What she said.”
The ghost of a smile settles on my lips and I was able to look someone straight in the eye for the first time in a while.

Amanda massaged the bridge of her nose and shook her head.
“I am too tired to worry about issues like this today. We will look to it tomorrow. Until then, sleep, you will need it.” And with those words she left, taking the light source with her and leaving the room in complete darkness.

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