Sisters of the Hills: Sofia and Helena

The sun was setting on a warm day, the birds chirped in the sky. It was a perfect day.

"Well, today was fun." said Helena as she and her sister sat down to eat dinner at their home. "I am glad we went to visit the Smiths, it is always good to see what new things are being made around here."

"Yeah, I wonder if we could get father to let us go see the traders that came through town today?" said Sofia with excitement. "They brought some interesting things, like bracelets and rings."

"Oh, no I doubt father would let us go." replied Helena with a bit of disappointment in her voice. "He didn't want us to go earlier when they were setting up camp just outside of town."

Sofia then thought for a moment before saying "Well, maybe we could sneak out and go see them tonight? They camped near the forest where we used to play hide and seek with our friends." Sofia said this with a hint of excitement in her voice. But then she paused and looked at her sister who had a look of shock and nervousness on her face. "What's wrong?" exclaimed Sofia. Helena then pulled herself together and replied: "It's just that the forest is dark and we can't see very well in there."

The two sisters then finished eating their dinner and talked about how much fun they had playing in the woods as children. After dinner, they helped their mother clean up after dinner then went to bed.

It was very late in the night when Sofia woke up. She couldn't fall back asleep so she decided to go outside and look at the stars while sitting on a rock near their house. As she walked outside she started feeling a bit cold so she put on her robe over her pajamas which helped her feel a bit warmer but still a bit chilly. While she looked up at the stars something caught her eye in the corner of her eye but it disappeared quickly so she paid no mind to it. Then all of sudden she heard someone sneeze loudly behind her! She turned around startled by what she heard and saw two figures standing there looking at her walking around outside dressed only in pajamas. They both were wearing cloaks that covered most of their face, but Sofia recognized them both from earlier today when they passed through town selling goods, they were cat people! She didn't know what to do so she hid behind the rock hoping they wouldn't notice her out here alone in this state but alas it was too late for that because one of them noticed her peeking out from behind the rock looking at them. He said with disdain: "So you are one of those humans that live here huh? Well today is your lucky day because you have stumbled upon something quite amazing!" The other man stared at him in confusion because he didn't understand cat language but he knew what he meant by his body language. The first man opened his cloak revealing many small jewelry boxes inside his cloak as he reached into one box he revealed some bracelets made mostly out of jade but there were also some amber gems placed throughout the bracelet making it quite beautiful indeed. He showed them off to Sofia and said: "My name is Al-Wadoud, my friend here is Abdullah." he pointed towards Abdullah who nodded his head over towards Sofia showing that he acknowledges Sofia's existence being there now. Al-Wadoud continued: "We are traveling merchants from far away lands who bring many wonderful items from our homeland for sale!"

Sofia was intrigued by these men so she slowly walked over towards them cautiously taking steps as not to trip over any rocks or break anything nearby just incase these men decided to attack her for getting too close to them or whatever their plan might be for approaching two humans such as themselves.. Abdullah watched as Al-Wadoud got closer to Sofia until finally he noticed him walk up next to Al-Wadoud who was patiently waiting for Sofia while smiling at her while showing off his wares on display within this cloak full of jewelry boxes; which really confused Abdullah because why would someone have jewelry boxes inside another jewelry box? He asked himself silently but only got more confused as he thought about it more intensely...

Sofia then asked: "How much do you want for them?" gesturing towards all of his merchandise on display within his cloak full of boxes...

Al-Wadoud smiled widely showing off his sharp teeth and replied: "For you miss I will give all items shown here for free! All we ask is that you invite us into your village tomorrow night when everyone goes to sleep! You know where it is right? In between two hills? Good! We will meet secretly with you there tomorrow night!" With that said Al-Wadoud removed all his merchandise from his cloak revealing many necklaces, rings, bracelets, hair pins etc.. When he finished putting all the jewelry neatly on a blanket he handed it over to Sofia along with everything else from within his cloak except for his short sword which remained strapped onto his waist securely holding everything inside place tightly against him... Not wanting to question these men about why they wanted into their village because for god sake they were only offering all this stuff for free but just curious enough Sofia accepted their gift without thinking much about it... She thanked them by bowing down slightly while clasping her hands together while looking directly into Al-Wadoud's eyes (which freaked him out a bit) saying thank you repeatedly thanking him over and over again while bowing down, Al-Wadoud nodded gently at Sofia acknowledging that she has thanked him... Abdullah watched this entire ordeal unfold before him wondering why would these humans be thanking them like this? He wasn't questioning anything though because Al-Wadoud was responsible for bringing all these goods into town today by himself including all of this jewelry stuff that these people were giving away freely! He didn't know what Al-Wadoud's plans were for these humans but he knew better than try doing something stupid like attacking these people who obviously know martial arts or self defense techniques if they could travel great distances without being attacked by other people or animals within forests or jungles throughout their homed lands! So instead he followed closely behind Al-Wadoud watching as they left quietly sneaking away into the darkness of night returning back where they came from earlier today after selling all their wares in town...