Outside - Part 1

— Absolutely not! I will not receive this girl in my house, what will I tell her grandfather when he visits us and sees a commoner here? Take this girl out of here now! — Safi's father shouts, pointing his finger at her face.

— Father, he doesn't need to know!

— Do you think I am crazy? Like hell I will hide something from him!

— Hauss, my dea— — Safi's mother interrupt

— Shut up! Don't you interfere! — He turns his sight to her, ordering her to leave the hall.

— There's no problem, Safi, I will manage somewhere to stay on my own — Eva says, in order to calm down Safi's father.

— See this? Now get her out of here, I'm ordering it. — The father insists.

Eva and Safi leave the mansion.

— Tsk, I'm sorry Eva, I'll face them even more tomorrow, don't worry!

— Safi, you don't need to do this, i will find a pl—

— No no no, I've said it already, you definitely will live in this giant mansion with me.

...

While the two girls were in silence at the front of the mansion, Nodo and Eosaph suddenly came running, waving and shouting.

— Heeeey! Safi! Eva! We are going to the pear woods soon! Hese is almost ending his shift at the gate! — Nodo shouts.

— That's right! — Eosaph confirms.

— Pear woods? What is this? — Safi asks.

— It's a place outside the city that has a lot of fruit trees, not only pears. — Eva responds.

— Huuh? I never heard about it, and I've left the city with my parents a few times already. Sounds cool, but I don't think I will go.

— Whaaat? Why not, Safi? — Nodo inquires.

— Well, as an Annzi child, I don't think the guards would let me out of the city without informing my parents, plus that, if they find out I left the city with Eva, they would never let me walk around alone anymore. So, for the sake of the unity of our group, I won't go. Make sure you all bring me some pears when you come back, okay?

— Sure, we will bring you some, but are you really not coming? It won't be that fun without you. If you can't convince your parents, maybe I can talk to them! — Nodo says confidently, as walks into the mansion... until Safi grabs his shoulder and brings him back.

— Are you crazy? Of course my father would let me out of the city with a boy, huh?

— See? You just said he would of course let you, let's go!

Safi stares at Nodo confused

— I don't think you got the point, Nodo, she was being ironic — Eosaph advises Nodo.

— Oh, she was? Yeah, that's what I thought.

The group then laughed together.

— Well, then by now Hese must be going back home, we have to go, Nodo, Eva. Bye, Safi! — Eosaph says as he leads Eva and Nodo.

— Goodbye! — Safi waves to the three, and then enters home.

— It's a pity that Safi won't come with us, she would like the pear woods. — Eva laments.

— Have you ever been there already, Eva? — Nodo asks.

— Yup, when my mother was alive.

...

— Have you been there, Nodo? — Eosaph joins the conversation.

— Oh, I don't, my brother says that my Mother always went there with my Father when he was alive, this will be my first time going there.

— Is that so? We hope you like it, right, Eva?

— That 's right.

After some time walking, Nodo, Eosaph and Eva were almost at the City gate; they could already see Hese and Gill preparing the supplies for the tour in the woods while chatting.

— Hey there! — Nodo ran in the direction of the two, while Eva and Eosaph stood still together.

— Hey, Eosaph. — Eva called.

— Yes?

— How much time will we be in the woods?

— Uuhh, I don't know, about five or six hours, why?

— Couldn't it be a few days? — Looking at the ground, Eva questioned.

— Whaat? Of course not Eva, why do you say that?

— I just wanted to stay out of this place for a while, so I could forget about my father.

— Don't worry, Safi got you into her house, right? You won't be threatened by him again, right?

— Not actually... Safi's father didn't let me in, I'll be on the streets for a while from now on.

— He didn't let you- Eosaph, who was shouting, was silenced by Eva's hand.

— Shut up! Nodo can't know about this! — Eva scolds Eosaph. — If he find out that Safi's father disapproved, he would end up trying to enter the mansion and getting severely scolded! — Eva whispered nervously.

...

— There's actually a place in my house that you can stay for a while, but it's not that comfortable. — Eosaph said while crossing his arms.

— Don't mind, I will find a place on my own.

— No no, after we return, I'll show you the place. By now, let's go meet the others.

— Tsk, fine. — Eva walks with Eosaph to where Nodo, Hese and Gill were.

— Finally! What are you two talking about? — Gill questions.

— Nothing important. — Eosaph responds.

— Then, where's the other girl that was going with us? — Hese asks, confused. — I'm pretty sure Gill told me that five of you were coming.

— Safi won't be able to go with us, her family won't allow it. — Nodo replied.

— Safi? Ah, yes, the girl from that day, what a pity, huh? Then, shall we go?

— Yes! — Everyone shouted.

Hese led the group towards the city gate, asked for his garrison colleagues to open it, and left to the road.

— So, all four of you, we are going to spend two days camping at the place my father built many years ago in the woods, okay? — Hese said, while walking.

— Okay! — Nodo and Gill both replied.

— Two days? Haven't you said five or six hours, Eosaph? — Confused, Eva asked.

— Heehee, I was joking, I knew you would want to stay longer. — Eosaph responded with an open smile for Eva, who just smiled back, not saying anything.

The five of them kept walking on the road.