11 New routine

When the sun had gotten to its peak indicating noon, Iris stopped his lesson and led him back to the house. After his recent lesson he was a little better at being able to carry a conversation, as long as the other petty spoke slowly and carefully. After a light lunch of dried meat, Iris got her bow and arrows and then led Leo across the village back to the gardens.

When she was done done having a short conversation with Lucy, Iris turned to Leo and said,

"I'm going hunting, stay and help with the garden. Be back before sundown for dinner." Due to the fact that she had spoken slowly, and they had focused on learning words related to village affairs; Leo had been able to understand almost all of what she said. Feeling proud of himself and wanting to show off a little he then replied,

"Ok I understand, do you want me to start dinner?" Ignoring the excited whispering and the giggles from the ladies behind her, Leo only focused on Iris as she replied with a radiant smile,

"No, I'll make it. If you want I'll teach you how to cook though." Once again he felt proud for understanding most of her words. Before he could say anything though, Iris turned and ran off to join the other hunters. Smiling, Leo turned around just in time to catch some gloves someone threw at him. Lucy then walked up and slowly started explaining things to him. As she showed him the details of the garden he noticed that some of the things they had to eat the night before weren't there. He decided to push the details he hadn't heard yet to the back of his mind, and focus on what was right in front of him.

Though he mostly did the physical work such as shoveling dirt or moving pails of water, he enjoyed helping the ladies out and felt like he was able to return some gratitude to the villagers for saving his life and nursing him back to health. As the work went on the ladies learned the extent of his vocabulary and pace of speaking. They also helped him out by talking quite a bit with him, teaching him more words that Iris hadn't gotten to yet. As he continued trying to talk to them his speaking got slightly more fluent and he learned many words related to the work they were doing.

After spending the rest of the afternoon helping tend to the garden, Iris came back to get him. Curious as to why she made such a short hunting trip and where her kill was, he tried asking about her trip.

"Did you not find any game?" Noticing the increase in his speaking pace, and his vocabulary Iris smiled before replying,

"I only checked traps, I wasn't looking for prey to shoot unless it was on my way." Due to her still speaking slowly, he was able to understand what she said. Walking back to the house, Leo pulled out the extra blankets and furs while Iris started making dinner. After he had finished making his bed on the floor, Leo watched Iris make dinner. As he was watching her he realized that even though they had only known each other for two days, they were already quite close. He slowly started to get a feeling that this must be what married life was like.

As his imagination started running away, there was a knock on the door. When Leo opened it, saw elder grandma standing outside.

"Good evening, may I come in?" Leo quickly remembered his manners and moved to the side while saying,

"Good evening, please come in." Elder grandma walked inside the house while looking obviously pleased with his progress. When Leo turned around he saw that Iris had finished cooking, and there was even a third serving prepared for elder grandma. Leo figured that she normally came by for dinner, and didn't say anything. As Iris placed the plates on the table, elder grandma took out a small bundle and opened it to reveal several slices of sweet smelling bread. Based on how rich the smell was Leo guessed that it was fresh baked, and when he ate it was even still warm.

While eating elder grandma visited with Iris for a while. Leo assumed she was asking about him because he heard his name occasionally. After a while however they seemed to finished their conversation and then she turned to Leo and slowly started asking how things were. Leo tried to explain that things were going well and tried to tell her about the various things he experienced in the last two days. Seemingly satisfied with his answer, elder grandma stayed a while longer and continued making small talk before leaving.

Then Leo and Iris turned around to give each other privacy and readied themselves for bed. After he finished changing, Leo made sure Iris was done before quickly getting in the bed on the floor forcing her to sleep on her own bed. When Iris realized what he was doing she simply glared at him before sighing and crawling into her own bed for the first time in days.

Quickly becoming his routine, Leo spent each day of the following week similar to how he spent his first one. He would get up with Iris a couple hours before the sun rose every morning and stretch before exercising and training until the sun was already up. Then after breakfast he would spend the rest of the morning learning their language. After a light lunch, he would go to different groups in the village and spend the rest of the day helping them, while also communicating with them further learning their language. Then going home with Iris he would have dinner with her and elder grandma before turning in for the night to start over the next day.

He still hadn't asked about learning more about magic though. He figured another week or two before he would know enough to ask about learning it. He became even more excited when he saw Jack, who apparently doubled as the village blacksmith; plunge his bare hand into flaming hot coals to retrieve a piece of molten hot metal. He thought he saw a pale light cover his hand before sticking it in the coals, but wasn't sure if he was just seeing things or not.