He'd left without speaking a word.
Confused, Giulia looked at the open sea in which Randulfr's silhouette had faded. No, to say it faded wouldn't be the best way to describe it. As far as Giulia had seen with her own two eyes, the man had been struck by lightning far out in the ocean, disappearing after the bright flash.
"Oh…"
How she should have reacted to this, Giulia was unsure. For a long time, she stood motionless, looking in the distance for the man who was no more.
It happened out of nowhere. As if he had gone crazy, Randulfr rushed out of the tent in the middle of their discussion right after he asking about some foreign name.
By then, Giulia's confusion had already reached the highest peaks, but that was only the beginning of what would follow.
As if his stamina knew no bounds, Randulfr then proceeded to swim far out into the cold sea, and when he was as small as a dot—
"He got struck by lightning…"
That's what Giulia had concluded. As impossible as it may have been for lightning to strike out of the white clouds above them, it happened. Not only that, but through a weird phenomenon, the lightning bolt seemed to have formed starting from the ocean.
Now, what Giulia might have seen in a flash was not as important as the conclusion. That conclusion being that the one who owned her was now gone—killed in the middle of the sea, for somebody surviving after being struck by lightning out there was pure madness to even consider. Be it the nation most acquainted with thunder magic, humans had limits. Of that, Giulia was convinced.
During her many years of slavery, the woman had seen many people calling themselves strong. She also caught glimpses of them bending electricity to their will. One day, she even got to see her old master delfect a bolt of lightning so that it wouldn't hit the long house.
"He's dead…"
But clearly, Randulfr hadn't done the same as her old master.
"So now… What do I do?"
What could Giulia do all alone in a random fjord out of the many in this nation? It's true that she had tried to kill that man herself, but she never thought about what would happen if she succeeded.
"It's cold…"
Finally the woman moved, but that movement was not intentional. All that happened was that her knees started shaking.
"I'm alone…"
That's when reality hit. For the first time in her life, Giulia was truly alone.
Ever since she was born, somebody had always been next to her. Be it somebody who would abuse her, somebody who would order her around, somebody tasked with making sure she wouldn't run away, or somebody who didn't even care about her, the truth remained that somebody had always been in close proximity to Giulia.
Yet now, for the first time in her life, no matter how loud Giulia shouted, nobody was around to hear her. The more she thought about this, the more her shivers climbed up to her arms.
"What's that!?" the woman asked, turning her head in an instant at the sound of a stone falling.
"Who's there!?" she questioned a branch that gave up under the weight of snow.
"Stay away!" Giulia ordered a tiny bird who dared land behind her.
With every muscle in her body tensed up to the point of being hard as stone, Giulia stepped away from the shore.
"I have to get back…" she told herself.
"I can't stay like this…"
If loneliness is a feeling that slowly eats away at somebody's mind, then anxiety is the same, only much more hungry. She felt threatened by everything around. She felt unsure where she should place her next step. With nobody to order her around, she wasn't sure what to do.
The otherwise really capable woman had forgotten every single skill she knew. No, she was still as capable as ever, but with nobody around to oversee her, she was unable to act.
"Who's there?" she asked again, looking towards the forest behind her tent. It was still much too early in the spring, so the forest was mostly patches of snow and frozen ground.
Yet, under her terrified gaze, one of those patches moved. Not only that, but it also huffed, followed by a low growling sound.
What at first looked like a patch of frozen ground was now getting closer. Its round, brown, short fur swaying in the wind. That "patch" was actually alive, and it was called a bear.
Unusually round for this season, it was clear that this bear had had a wonderful start to his spring, already putting on plenty of weight. If nothing else, it was obvious that it was the one ruling those lands.
Instinctively, Giulia took a couple of steps back, but she was soon met with the cold water of the ocean.
"I've seen plenty of bears bigger than you before! So why—"
One question wouldn't leave her mind, for this woman was also frustrated at her current self.
"Why do I feel so scared!?"
Motionless, Giulia stood with her feet in the frozen water, watching as her death drew closer. She was so terrified that she couldn't even hold herself from… No… let's blame that on the cold water.
Having fallen onto her knees. Giulia triggered the animal's instincts, and the bear started running towards her.
"Oh? Already thinking about dinner?"
But the second a voice resounded from the ocean, the bear stopped in its tracks, holding its head low, for its prey didn't feel like prey anymore, but the opposite.
On top of it, seemingly unprovoked, Giulia was already back on her feet, her gaze piercing the bear, which started backing up.
"Shouldn't you catch it before it runs away, though?" the voice of that man rang once again from afar.
"Yes. On it!"
The change was instant, and all it took was to know somebody was there. Now, the scared Giulia was nowhere to be seen.
What had happened in the couple of hours Giulia had spent truly alone, she would never willingly disclose, but she wouldn't forget either.
That day, Giulia discovered a scar she had been keeping well hidden even from herself.
*****
Four years had passed since that scary man took Giulia with him. In those four years, she learned that her new master's name was Alf. He was a jarl—a nobleman living a couple of fjords away to the west of her old home.
Under Alf, the girl was tasked with caring not for the animals, but for the longhouse. Compared to her old life at the stables, her current position was much cleaner and held a small degree of dignity.
That cleanliness and her looks also brought her attention from the other thralls, so Giulia now had somebody to speak to and somebody to teach her how to take care of herself.
In truth, the girl cared little about her appearance. During her early years, she'd come not to mind the stench of the stables either.
On the other hand, speaking was something she found oddly enjoyable.
"Hello, Giulia!"
"Hello!"
It wasn't just speaking. The smile of a greeting, the interaction with another human, and the fact that somebody took the time to be focused on her especially, all of these things made Giulia feel warm inside. When she felt warm, she bent her arms, touched her face with her palms, and jumped lightly from one leg to another. That was her childish way of letting her warmth reach the outside.
"Giulia! Your hair's as pretty as ever with your white and brown strands!" a thrall complimented her one morning.
"Thank you! I've washed it!"
"Is that so? But if I remember correctly, on the day you came here, your hair was completely brown. What's happened to it?"
Giulia's cheeks turned pink when she heard the question. She clasped her hands behind her and fiddled with one foot, not trying to hide her bashfulness at all.
"Ah, it's fine! You don't have to answer that! I'm just glad you're all right!"
Fortunately, the other slave was a polite man, so he didn't ask anything more. In truth, it wasn't that Giulia's head grew white strands in an instant. Her hair had slowly been turning white ever since her days among animals. However, it was only after she'd properly washed it for the first time that those strands became obvious.
Giulia was not one to mind being dirty or smelling bad every once in a while, but even for her, admitting how she'd come to these lands felt shameful, so both she and the thrall who helped her clean herself spoke nothing about it ever again.
Thus passed the first four years serving Alf—the man who seemed scary but treated Giulia much better than the last jarl. It wasn't an easy life, and it wasn't all that enjoyable compared to how free people spent their days, but it was nevertheless a life she couldn't complain about. Hence why the gray hairs on the girl's head had not only stopped increasing, but they even made way for some of her brown to come back.
"Giulia! Come here a minute!"
That was the voice of the man called Alf. Every once in a while, the man would stop her for a chat. The usual subject was her growth, as the man seemed to care much about how she was developing for some reason. He would compliment her every once in a while on how she'd learned to keep herself more presentable, even though the girl frequently skipped hygiene to go out and play in her little spare time. Still, Giulia wasn't one to mind such details. She simply thanked the man and carried on.
"I'm coming, Master!"
"Please, how many times have I told you to call me by name?"
"Master~ I've already learned what a joke is, so you can't trick me with that!"
Puffing her cheeks, Giulia gave a hasty response and entered a room as instructed by Alf.
This time, she'd been invited to the man's personal quarters. It wasn't the first time she'd entered the place, so she knew what she had to do.
"Should I clean everything around here? Do you want me to bring a new mattress first?"
"Ah, since you're so kind…"
"Of course!" Giulia answered and grabbed on one side of the mattress.
"Come on, help me!" she asked the other thrall lady who came in with her, but no answer came back.
"Oh?"
When the girl looked after her colleague, she only heard the sound of a wooden door shutting. She glanced around the room, but nobody was there.
"Master? Are you letting me here all by myself? Well, don't worry! I won't steal anything!" Giulia said, puffing her chest, proud of the fair woman she was growing up to be. She had decided on acting well, so she may never lose the little she had going on for her, and she would stick by this rule of keeping her life this way.
"Oh… I know you won't do any stealing~… I will—"
But it seemed that she was not truly alone. Her master only went behind her and whispered softly in her ear.
Out of nowhere, the girl felt a hand grabbing her and another palm on her hip. She tried to turn around, but a strong push shoved her on the bed.
"Master! What are you—"
Not giving her time to speak her question, Alf threw herself over the girl, putting his hand on her mouth. The look in his eyes was unlike anything Giulia had seen before. It was worse than that scary look from the day he'd bought her. While it was still a scary look, this one carried much more determination.
"You want to keep living like this, don't you now?"
That goal—the only goal she had set for herself—had spun unprovoked and bit her. There was a fate Giulia could never escape, and it came to take its share.
"So just make sure to serve your jarl well~"
With a nod of her head, Giulia closed her eyes. There was but a tear that dropped down her face, reaching the mattress that wouldn't hold steady.
From then on, Giulia had one more duty to fulfill, and for each time she'd fulfill that duty, a new strand of hair would turn white at the roots, never to regain its color.