Chapter 184: Samantha’s Mother
Elin had been starting to doze in the afternoon light, as she listened to Samantha practice playing the harp, when she was startled awake with the announcement. While she was happy to know what the next challenge was, she didn't really care too much about heading out for it right now.
She'd discussed with Kim earlier about taking time to work on their skills. Elin didn't mind doing that, especially if it helped them when it came time to get in a battle again. Although, Elin wished there was a way to get her level up, at least when she was so close to it. She doubted that she'd be able to do that while she worked on her skills, but at the same time, she'd at least be getting herself stronger anyway, so it wasn't like she wouldn't be able to get her level raised when they finally started out again.
Rubbing her eyes, she yawned and stood up. She wasn't sure, but she thought that the king would want them to move over to his palace by the end of the day. Or at least that's what she thought Kim had told her, but couldn't really be sure, since she didn't actually hear it herself, just as secondhand information from Kim.
Not that she didn't trust Kim, it was more that she had slept through the discussion with the king earlier that morning, so she merely had to trust what Kim's interpretation of events was, rather than being able to evaluate what was said herself.
"Huh? Mother is back!" Elin heard Samantha say, causing her to turn her head to see the girl looking out the window of the room they were in.
Samantha had been practicing the harp next to the window, in the corner of the room, largely because she had told Elin that she had been told by her tutor to play it at least an hour each day. So, she always made sure to do that, although Elin hadn't been assigned to play an instrument by any of her tutors, so she really didn't know if that was normal or not.
Still, the music that came off the harp under Samantha's fingers against the strings had been very pleasant. Almost to the point that she really didn't look forward to continuing on to the king's palace while they continued on in their journey with completing challenges.
"When was she supposed to return?" Elin asked, unsure if the return was supposed to be about this time or if Samantha's mother was early.
"Next week," Samantha said as her fingers stopped their dance over the strings of the harp. "Unless she somehow heard about the attack last night, I can't imagine what might have caused her to return this early."
"Where was she?"
Samantha turned to look at Elin, worry etched across her face. "She was managing our lands, making sure that everything was ready for the people on our lands to be able to bring in their harvest in a couple months."