I stretch again and go out hoping I can see Smith in this darkness, luckily I can hear some noise outside, looks like Smith is getting the wood in the oven, he hasn´t started the fire yet so I'm sure I woke up really early, there's not much to do so I just sit down close to the door and watch him, I'm pretty sure Smith knows that I'm here but he doesn´t bother talking, I guess he´s too focused in making the fire.

Looks like the first thing he does is light up some straw on top of a piece of wood and then puts it inside a litle house made of sticks inside the oven, in the moment he does that, the little stick house lights up rather quickly, I wonder if this is some kind of special wood or he added some fuel to it, in any case the now lighted wood faintly enlightens the place, Smith is now perfectly visible since he´s directly in front of that fire, he seems troubled…almost like he's depressed.

“Looks like someone woke up early today” - His voice feels a little rough, I wonder if he's concerned about our little talk yesterday, that would make two of us, but being concerned about that is not good, I just smile and tell him that I woke up hungry, even though it´s a little too early I help Smith to pour the water in the jars and we have breakfast on this penumbra, the bread is stiff and salty, the town is cold and silent, I need to change this but I don't know how, I just silently eat and wait for the oven to be ready.

Around half hour after breakfast Smith asks me to go inside to take some wood and metal so we can start working, this day starts pretty much like the others from here, heat up the metal, hit it, heat up the metal, hit it, a monotone activity that goes on for about 1 hour, smithing is undoubtedly an interesting activity but making the same sword over and over again, it is not.

We finish the first sword and quietly start working in the second one, the sound of the hammer hitting in the metal, since I came here it's the only sound I can hear in the morning, but something is different now, I can hear something else, those are steps.

A moment later I can see the mayor, though it's not surprising to see him it IS surprising to see he´s accompanied by someone, I can see a person peeking from behind, looks like a woman, she has a really slim body, that physique doesn´t seem like a healthy one, she also has a long light-brown hair and pointy ears, I guess she's some kind of elf, but I'm not so sure, as far as I know the elves are blonde.

The woman looks at me and the smith in silence, not moving from her place, I notice she´s wearing a white dress that goes below her knees, but that dress is pretty dirty and damaged, her skin is pretty white but her face looks specially pale, might be a sign of anemia.

“I found her walking half dead near to the farmer´s field, I don't know her story but she's obviously having a bad time” - I can see that she is, her seemingly frail body has a big amount of scratches and bruises on it, I wonder what happened to her before coming here.

“Looks like we have a half elf here, I was thinking to have a deal with her like the one we had with Robert, but it´s a little complicated with her” - I can see it being complicated, we're two here, even if someone else wants to work here, that is far from possible right now, but we still have the cook, she can even show her how to make some bread in case this girl doesn't know how to, but I don't know how possible it is to cook for her.

I turn to Smith who looks uncomfortable with this elf´s presence, he looks at the mayor and shakes his head, I´m not sure what they're thinking right now, he said she's a half-elf, maybe she being a half breed is some kind of taboo, I´ve seen it happen in a couple stories, taboo or not she´s not in condition to go out and try her luck in another town, maybe I should break the ice here.

“How are you? as you can see we don't have a work to offer you here, maybe it would be a better idea to go ask the cook, have you ever prepared a meal before?

…………

I´m sure I said something weird again, maybe it was bad on my part to recommend the cook? I can see that being the case, but even if it´s that, these two being troubled by her means that at least they don't feel comfortable throwing her out, I should wait a little more for them to process what I said.

………

“Young man, you can speak in the elf tongue?” - The what?

…...Elf tongue, did I just talked in another language? that must be the case, how curious, maybe that´s the reason I can talk to the people in this town, I thought they could understand me but it's not the case, I'm the one that talks in their language.

“Well, when you´re a merchant like me, you have to make sure to always have the most amount of information possible, and most of the time that information is something you won´t get in the same place” - I hope that´s enough of an explanation, I spoke to her not knowing I was using another languaje and now I'm the center of attention, at least the elf seems relieved, and very, very surprised, though I'm not sure, it also looks like she's smiling, maybe, I don't know, she's not moving.