September 22, 1491

We'd been traveling for days now, Ana and I. Our dresses had become torn, and our faces dirtied. We'd found food and shelter from inns scattered along our path, using the meager amount of gold we had to pay.
Ana seemed uneasy all the time, jumping whenever any person would pass us. I, on the other hand, rather enjoyed the adventure.
Yes, two young girls traveling alone could be quite dangerous here, but the adventure was exciting. I had never gotten past our small village, and now here I was, parading around Bulgaria, and pregnant as well! It was all very exciting, and I meant to enjoy every minute of it.
It had been 10 days since we had left home. We had walked on foot for two days, before finding horses that I charmed out of the easily swayed farmer. Ana hadn't wanted to, something about morals, but I insisted that it was the best thing we could do for ourselves; we would go much farther and much faster on horseback than on foot. She reluctantly agreed.
We were now reaching the end of day ten and searching for refuge for the night.
A small cottage at the edge of a village far from ours promised food and a good night's sleep. Ana and I gave our horses to the stable boy waiting at the front entrance and walked through the door.
Just like all the inns we had been to, it was filled with drunk men and flirtatious bar maids, creating a rowdy and loud atmosphere.
A man near us spilled his drink and Ana flinched, moving away from the frothing liquid on the ground and now hysterical man.
I grinned and tried to suppress a laugh. This trip was truly changing my naive sister.
"Ana!" I said loudly, over the noise of the place.
She turned to me.
"What would you think, if I became a bar maid? You know, to pay my dues?"
She looked appalled. To become a bar maid was to sink to the lowest level in her mind.
"Absolutely not, Katerina! A bar maid is... Is..."
She looked around, looking disgusted as one of the bar maids pulled a man up from his seat, dragging him off into one of the rooms.
"A bar maid is the closest thing to... Why... A prostitute." she finished with.
I burst out laughing.
"A prostitute, Ana? Why thank for giving me such a good idea! That will give me much more gold then a lowly bar maid!"
Her eyes widened, and she opened her mouth to speak, but I interrupted.
"I'm only teasing, Ana, have a sense of humor, please. Now come on! Do you want supper or not?"
Without waiting for an answer, I grabbed her wrist and dragged her towards the small front desk at the corner of the room, dodging swaying dancers and tipsy girls.
The innkeeper stood at the front desk, chatting with a few other men. When he noticed us, he stopped the conversation and smiled, revealing rotting teeth.
"And what can I do for you lovely ladies?" he asked, tilting his head slightly to the side.
"We'd like supper and a room, if you would, kind sir." I said politely, earning a smile from my sister on my right.
Good to know I didn't disappoint her all the time.
The innkeeper led us to a table, away from the rowdiness of the place, making Ana let out a relieved sigh.
"You lovely ladies can pay after dinner." he said.
I thanked him profusely, and as we waited for dinner to come, I scanned the room.
While looking around, I couldn't help but notice two gentlemen who looked very out of place in the dingy inn.
They were both wearing clothes that looked like they were made for nobles, and they were not drinking at all, rather having a heated discussion.
I couldn't help but wonder what they were talking about.
Our food came, and I turned my attention to Ana, talking about what we always talked about at supper; what we were going to do with ourselves, where we would be going tomorrow.
We finished our food, and the bar maid serving us came over, waiting expectantly for gold.
I took out my satchel, used to carry all our clothes, food, and gold. As I searched through it though, my hands could not find any hard, cool pieces among the cloth.
I bit my lip, taking out articles of clothing, in order to find something, anything.
"What is it, Katerina?" Ana said.
Her voice was laced with worry, and she looked more scared than she had been these entire ten days as she glanced up at the steadily growing impatient bar maid.
"Don't pester me, Ana." I said with gritted teeth.
And then I remembered.
We had used our last bit of gold last night.
I removed the last article of clothing, and stared down at the empty bag. The bar maid saw it and retreated, whispering into the innkeepers ear and pointing at us.
His face became red and ruddy as the bar maid spoke, and he stormed over to us.
Ana shrank in her seat as he approached.
"You!" he yelled, pointing a shaking finger at us.
"You have the audacity to walk into MY inn, eat MY food, request a room from ME, and don't intend to pay for it?"
He leaned in closer to us.
The whole inn had quieted. They were intent on watching this entire exchange.
"Look, we have no money. So we will just be on our way." I said, getting up.
He grabbed my wrist, taking me by surprise. I attempted to twist out of it, but it doesn't work. The man was strong.
"Do you know what I do to women who don't pay?" he said angrily.
"Do you know what I do to men who say that?" I replied, my anger and fear growing by the second.
"Katerina..." Ana warned, but before anything could happen, two men interrupted the fight.
To my surprise, it was the two well dressed gentlemen from earlier.
They got in close to the innkeeper.
"Leave the girl be."
One of them said calmly, while the other ripped the innkeeper off of me with a surprising amount of strength.
"We will pay for their meal."
This one said.
"Come with us, ladies."
Ana and I, astonished, followed them out of the silent inn, into the night.
They turned, and even in the dark, I could make out their handsome faces.
Now these were the faces of noblemen.
"Thank you." Ana said breathlessly, and I remembered my manners.
"Yes, thank you. It is much obliged." I said.
"It was no hassle." the darker haired of the men said.
The other man stayed silent, but nodded and smiled.
"I'm Elijah, and this is Klaus." the darker haired man said.
"I'm Katerina and this is Ana." I replied, gesturing at her.
She curtsied, making me giggle at her proper ways.
"Twins?"
Klaus finally spoke.
I nodded.
"I've always wanted a twin." Klaus continued.
"Elijah just isn't as interesting."
He grinned cheekily at his brother, and Elijah rolled his eyes.
"So, I suppose the two of you don't have a place to stay tonight?"
I shook my head.
"We were hoping to get a room at the inn, but I suppose that's out of the question."
Elijah nodded.
"Perhaps you ladies would like to join us at our estate for the night? It's a few hours ride from here."
I could see Ana out of the corner of my eye, and from her furrowed brow and pursed lips, I could tell that she was not keen of the idea.
She glanced at me and I stared daggers at her, hoping that the anger in my eyes was enough to shut her up.
"We'd love that." I said sweetly.
"Then it's decided!" Klaus said joyfully.
"Ana, you can ride with me, and Katerina, why don't you ride with Elijah?"
I nodded and let Elijah take my arm and lead me down the steps to where the brothers' horses were waiting.
Before Klaus could lift Ana onto the horse, I whispered in her ear.
"I will not let your childish ways ruin this, do you understand?"
She nodded, not looking at me. Klaus pulled her onto his horse and they rode away.
Satisfied, I let Elijah help me into the horse and gripped his waist tightly.
We rode off.