𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐓 𝐌𝐄 𝐍𝐎𝐓 𝐓𝐎 𝐋𝐄𝐀𝐕𝐄 | outlander ↠ jamie fraser

12 | The Rain in Spain

Near dinnertime, I was quite famished from my day's excitement. Briefly, I considered taking advice from Jamie and keeping a stock of food in my quarters. Aside from medical school, I always had food available to me whenever I grew hungry. Not that I had ever cooked it. There was always someone about to do it for me.

I wasn't sure it was proper to ask for more food, especially not knowing the state of affairs of the people of Leoch. Not to mention that my previous assessment of being able to remember my way to the kitchen proved false. After Jamie had left my room, I had attempted a walkabout only to find myself completely lost. Thankfully a woman, who must have held some position in the castle, took pity on me and brought me back to my quarters, much to my embarrassment. But in my defence, the last time I had visited the kitchen was 200 years in the future.

My stomach grumbled just as a small knock came at my door. It must be time for dinner. Mrs Fitz promised to send someone to escort me down to the great hall for the meal. Secretly, I had hoped that Mrs Fitz would send Jamie to fetch me for dinner, but I was disappointed to find a young boy who introduced himself as "young Alec." Forcing myself not to show my disappointment, I smiled at the young boy. He smiled back before he led me to the hall where dinner was being served.

So far, I found the people of Leoch to be rather friendly. Aside from Dougal, of course. Him I still wasn't too sure of. By now, my conversation with Colum had likely reached the ears of the residents of Leoch. They were very kind, although it did seem like they were keeping a slight distance from me. Probably until I proved myself not to be a spy, which hopefully shouldn't prove too difficult, since I wasn't a spy at all. Just someone lost out of time, trying to find my way.

Young Alec came to a swift halt as we entered the hall, which was a long, narrow room outfitted with tables down the length of each wall. Servants walked in and out of the room from both ends ladening the tables with bountiful trays, trenchers, and jugs. Seeing all the food laid out before me, I made a plan to sneak some fruit and bread into my overly large pockets to store in my quarters. Why had they done away with pockets large enough to sneak food in my time? Or rather, my former time. Such thoughts of comparison and contrast of time were terribly confusing when dwelt on for long.

After thoughts of my time, my eyes were then drawn to the architecture of the room. It was magnificent. Even my vivid imagination hadn't done the room justice on my trip with Lottie. The late sunlight poured in through the high narrow windows giving more light to the room than just the sconces holding lit torches. And between the windows banners and tartans hung on the wall. This room looked almost nothing like the crumbling one I had last seen. It was magnificent, especially considering the modern tools and conveniences they lacked to build such a place. I had to fight to keep my mouth from hanging open out of pure awe.

The room was abuzz with conversation in Gaelic. I couldn't help but wonder if most of it was about the strange woman, myself, being led to the head table by young Alec. This was one moment I was rather thankful I didn't yet know the language, but I was determined to learn it - especially considering I was planning on making this land my new home. I was also rather thankful that most of the forty people dining kept their eyes politely on their plates. Not that it stopped their chatter.

Colum was already seated at the head of the room, his stunted legs tucked out of sign beneath the scarred oak. I couldn't help but wonder if people thought less of him because of his condition. In my time, there was still prejudice on such things. I could only imagine it was worse at this time. It felt like Colum watched me walking toward him the entire time, but I breathed a sigh of relief when he nodded his head graciously and waved me to a seat on his left.

A passing servant pulled out my chair at Colum's request before I sat down. Colum then introduced me to the pretty red-haired woman on his right - his wife, Leticia.