At the cottage (Mila, Susanna)

[Mila Gaila Lavushkiva]

She was upset. Very upset. She cursed while cleaning, mumbled in all three languages she could use and sometimes she threw the wipe on the floor.
"Kirotut, kirotut, kirotut... ihmiset! Miehet! kчёртy!"(1)
She didn't realize how hard she was cursing until she saw Luna sneaking out without a sound. She stood still for a while and then sat down and covered her face with her hands. She was tired. She had searched for the Wanderer all around the forest, but hadn't found him.
"You knew this was coming, didn't you... and still..."
When she had came from town and hadn't seen the man's horse or him, she had became worried. She searched, for along time, and became heavily depressed. Finally she had to give up 'cause her horse wanted to go home, it was getting darker all the time. She had leafs on hair and they tickled her neck, but she didn't notice them. She only tryed to seek the man had been in her place. Mila wasn't quite sure why she was so eager to find him but she had been so angry at times that she could have punched him. And then what? Hugged him? And never letting go? This should had been predictable. She should have known. Maybe he went home. But he didn't remember a thing, so how could he go home? So where the hell was he?!
"Sinä tiesit, että näin tulisi käymään... ja nyt olet taas yksin..."(2)
It was odd having someone else here, and now she felt weird of being alone again. Maybe... no. He was not coming back. Somehow she knew it, but wanted to deny it. She would have never admitted to herself, that she was longing for some man. No. That thought stayed behind. She was just tired, so tired. And she was sad for some unknown reason. With a sigh she groped her hair and stared at the fireplace, which had been cold since yesterday. She hadn't eaten, she couldn't.
"Ehkä näin on parempi. Voi Vaeltaja..."(3)
He could've at least tell her what was going on or at least say bye or something. Eyes squeezed close but there were no tears. She refused to shed tears. Mila remembered how she once told her mother that the dead of her father should be the only thing to cry about. When we are talking about men. For certain reasons she didn't trust men. And still she had taken stranger in her home and obviously didn't like him going away.
"Ajattelet liikaa. Ajattelet aina liikaa. Itsehän valitsit yksinolon ja olet ollut tyytyväinen..." (4)
Yes she had been content here alone, but now she didn't understand what had happen. Her peaceful life got fracture on it's perfectnes. For the first time in her life she could actually use some company. She missed Susanna. Well she wasn't quite sure why Susanna came to her mind. Well, she didn't actually miss her, she just wanted to talk someone and only person here was Susanna. Mila hadn't hear when Luna came back but she felt it's tiny nose on her hand. Brown eyes opened and looked at the little red puppy.
"Oh Luna... You liked him too, you sweet little thing."
Women spoked with soft yet gloomy voice which made the little pup to put his front paws on her loved owner's knee. Mila smiled a little but then she sunk somewhere in her mind and she just stared the fireplace. Again.




**
(1)”Oh damned, damned, damned... people! Men! Hell with it!”
(2)”You knew this would happen... And now you're all alone again...”
(3)”Maybe it's better this way. Oh Wanderer..."
(4) "You think too much. You always think too much. You're the one who choosed to be alone and have been satisfied..."

[Susanna Achrenius]

The day had began to bend towards the evening, the forest below colored by it's deep shades of red and gold. It was when Susanna finally caught a glimpse of light in the darkening woods. Almost there.

It was one of those days when the teacher just had got the urge to go out hiking. Normally her course took her to the Lake Kawaguchi, but this time, she had wanted some mountain air for a change. And, considering the region she had chosen to go hiking at, it would never hurt to visit an old friend of hers every now and then... Especially when she was practically right along the route of choice of hers.
And now, finally, she had reached her place - a bit more further, up the hill, and she'd be there. Of course she showed up on quite a short and random notice, but with Mila being the hermit she was, with no other connections to the outer world than going to the nearest town on foot or hooves, it wasn't exactly that she would have ever - or even had a chance to - sent her much of a notice before arriving to her doorstep.
But little could she know of what was waiting for her when she'd reach her friend's house.

A bit more, and she had reached the cottage yard. At first the sight of it all appeared somewhat strange to her - no smoke coming out of the chimney, for instance. She frowned slightly. Was everything alright?
But the cottage had lights shining out of its windows as usual and the horse was standing peacefully outside, so Susanna presumed it was okay to go further. Of course she would have gone anyway, but with more precaution, of course.

Before going in, though, she went to greet the horse. A shady figure coming out of the forest, which the animal had now noticed, she went to tell her that it was only her and everything was still alright. She approached calmly, and the moment the large animal got a hint of her scent it recognized the comer. It had been glancing around a bit nervously, but now let the woman come nearer and snuffled her affably. Quietly Susanna spoke some words to her, gave her a gentle scratch behind the ears and only then headed towards the cottage to go inside.
At the door she stopped, and as it was polite, she knocked before slightly opening the door to peek in.
"Iltoja~?"(1)

***
(1)"Evening~?"

[Mila Gaila Lavushkiva]

"Häh?"(1)
Knock on the door was the thing that got Mila to her right state of mind again. Well, not exactly. Actually it was the person that was peeking there.
"Susanna!"
She rose very fast and ran to her friend. She clung onto her and hugged her very tightly. Her friend! Her dearest friend was here!
"Rakaskultaihanaihminen miten osasitkin tulla tänne juuri nyt!"(2)
Mila's hair was quite a mess and her clothes were dirty and she looked like she hadn't washed herself for some days. Well, she hadn't. Some while later she let go and the bit of brightness which had rose on her face now faded a little from her eyes, and she saw the chair that had fallen when she had rushed to her friend.
"Säästän sinut arvailuilta ja meedion leikkimiseltä. Ei, kaikki ei ole hyvin."(3)
Mila had a smile on her face, but her eyes told something else. She took the chair and sat on it again. And then she realized that she hadn't put fire on the fireplace so she couldn't make any coffee and well she had nothing to offer to Susanna and... raah.

***
(1) "Huh?"
(2) "Ohyoudearestdarlingestsweetieperson just how you could come here for this moment!"
(3) "I'll spare you from guessing and playing a psychic. No, everything is not alright."

[Susanna Achrenius]

'Hngh' was all that left Susanna's mouth when the sudden hug attack burst onto her in the form Mila. Her word serpents never failed her.
She followed the other woman in as she let go of her and as an answer to her friend, sat down on the floor next to her, a smile fleeting on her face.
"No, eipä sillä että tarvitsisi olla mikään meedio sitä huomatakseen... Näiden vuosienkaan aikana jotka sinut olen tuntenut en usko, että olisin nähnyt sinua noin allapäin."(1)
Turning to look at her friend, green eyes locked to face the usually shining amber eyes now awfully blue, brooding. To Susanna, it was an instant sting in her heart - especially as it was about a good friend of hers, one of the few true ones she even had nowadays. It meant, she wouldn't save her trouble get her friend back to the usual brightness of hers.
"Kerro minulle. Mitä on tapahtunut? Voinko mitenkään olla avuksi?"(2)

***
(1) "Well, not that one would need to be any kind of a psychic to notice that... Even for the years I've known you, I've hardly seen you that down."
(2) "Tell me. What has happened? Could I be of any help?"

[Mila Gaila Lavushkiva]

Well she had have this down when her father has died. But by then she didn't yet know Susanna. Tired eyes watched the woman on the floor and hands were still on her lap. Fake smile stayed on her face for some time, but of course Mila did know that Susanna saw everything right throw her. She sighed.
"On tapahtunut aika paljon sen jälkeen kun olit täällä viimeksi."(1)
She began with small voice and she had to cough a little bit so that she could be heard. Luna had faded somewhere, but she was still inside. Little nails made sounds while it was walking around, maybe still wondering what just happened.
"Tiedät etten pidä tuntemattomista. No tuota, löysin metsästä jonkun, tajuttomana."(2)
She saw the happenings in her mind and it was painful. Wanderer. And the beautiful horse.
"Hän oli pudonnut hevosen selästä ja tajuton. Iskenyt päänsä. Toin hänet tänne."(3)
She was little reserved. She couldn't imagine how her friend would react when she would learn that the stranger was a man. And when she would learn the rest of it... Red hair fell on her face while she moved her eyes on the floor, away from those green eyes which she thought were the most beautiful green eyes she had ever seen. She wondered should she start to count seconds. How long would this other woman to take to figure out why she silenced and why she looked a bit uneasy. Susanna was probably only one who knew her here. Her very own and only, dearest friend. Finally after a long moment of silence she turned her head and faced her friend again. She couldn't be more obvious with her body language.

***
(1) "Quite a lot of has happened after your latest visit here."
(2) "You know I don't like strangers. Well, anyways, I found someone in the forest, unconscious."
(3) "He had fallen off the horse and was unconscious. Had hit his head. I brought him here."

[Susanna Achrenius]

"...jonkun, vai?"
Susanna listened, silent, only nodding as her friend explained her worry in few sentences. Yet afterwards followed an awkward silence, which lead a few thoughts run through Susanna's mind. Because clearly, she still wasn't telling all of it, and facing away like that she was so obvious about it that it could have been figured out by dead fish, let alone Susanna. First of all, even a hermit of Mila's kind or not, if she herself would find an unconscious stranger out there, she definitely wouldn't have left him/her alone to die out there either. She understood perfectly what such an action meant to a hermit used to living alone, but still she couldn't help the feeling that even for the likely discomfort, she seemed awfully bothered for it to have been just any stranger. Had it been someone familiar to her for her to be this shaken? Oh, but she had already stated that she hadn't known them. ...Someone generally known, perhaps? Someone famous?
Though even then she didn't understand why she would be that much shaken about it. Had something happened between them, then..? Something more than that the stranger had obviously left already. That much she could deduce from the array the cottage was in.
Only then did the amber haired realize another detail - that her friend hadn't exactly yet stated the gender of her surprise ward. (Which was pretty easy when speaking in 3rd person in Finnish - only one, unisex word there to describe both 'he' and 'she'. Sneaky.)
Combined with the ongoing silence it did draw Susanna towards one conclusion - that it was indeed likely to be about him for her to act like this. Another one could be that she had been hurt or violated by the stranger in some way. Which of course led a worried frown form upon the brow of the woman seated on the floor. (Sub)consciously she switched the language.
"There's something more to it, isn't there? Just tending to a wounded stranger wouldn't get even you so shaken as you are. Did he do something? Did he hurt you?"

***
(1) "A... someone, eh?"

[Mila Gaila Lavushkiva]

"oh no. Not anything like that. He was very kind and helpful."
Switching language. Sneaky. But they both could speak english or finnish and switch the langugage without even noticing it. So did she, but then she realized that Susanna had made it with purpose. Well, it wasn't up to a language they were using.
"He had hit his head. He couldn't remember anything. So I called him Wanderer, since he was so faraway from city and peoples. He was here, you know there are nobody near this place."
Muscles started to relax little by little since her friend was so calm and she had finally someone to talk with. Maybe the other fire-headed woman wouldn't understand, maybe she would. It was something again that didn't really matter. As long as they could talk to each others there was no worries. Mila knew Susanna would be there for her as long as was needed.
"All he ever did was being so kind and... different somehow. He liked this place, peace and being alone. Without crowd."
When Mila said the name she had given to a stranger she said it softly. Luna the fox had smelled a familiar scent from the cottage and suddenly the cub rushed to the room and straight to the other womans lap. She was smirking with all her little face and started to lick Susanna's hand. Yey! Luna had two people to scratch her again! This little episode made Mila smile with brighter face and this time it stayed on the face. Yet there was still little mist in her brown eyes when she wondered what else she would tell to the other one.