Leah sat on her bed, scribbling frantically on a piece of notebook paper and trying her hardest to finish her homework before the next day. She humored the idea that teachers just get together each week to find a day to simultaneously shower their students with work as she pressed the "glow" button on her watch: 3:29 am. Sighing, she returned her bleary eyes to her math and French assignments and began to write with a half-conscious hand.
She had barely finished another page's worth when her head hit the pillow, her books and papers still scattered randomly about her legs. Her vague dreams blended into a blur of wandering, taking her to a sea of green where faint birds in distant trees called out to each other with the ticking of a clock in the background…
Leah woke with a start, her first thought slamming into her homework that she had still yet to finish. But that was soon changed as her vision adjusted to the faint light of her surroundings: she was hearing birds and she saw a forest of trees around her, never ending as far as she could see. She looked once again at her watch which now read five in the morning, explaining why there was so little light.
She stood up, brushing off the twigs and dirt of the forest floor that had caught on her clothes that she had fallen asleep in. By now she began to panic, not seeing anyone in sight. "H-hello?" she said in a quiet voice. No one answered. "Hello!" she yelled but nothing but her echo was to be heard. She looked around, searching for something that might indicate that this was a dream, or some kind of joke.
Again, her eyes saw naught but the underbrush and trees that blanketed the earth. Where was she? Everything was unfamiliar, unlike the forests she was used to that surrounded the parks a while from her house.
Leah began to walk forward from where she first woke up, hoping blindly that she might find her home just beyond each wall of trees. She walked for about an hour before she found an old, long forgotten trail crowded with growth and roots that wound around in a drunken fashion. Seeing it as a small hope of finding people, however small, she began to follow it in a general South direction.
Before too long, she came upon a fresher trail that sloped upwards, maybe trodden upon within the last day or so that ran perpendicular to the one she had followed originally. With renewed ambition, she jogged forward towards what just had to be civilization. However, it was long before dark when her stamina had all but depleted (she had had no food and only two hours of sleep to run on) when she saw off in the distance what looked to be a town down a ways from the hill on which she stood.
Exhausted and dizzy from lack of water she counted her blessings and trudged on until she was within five miles of the place whereupon she stopped and gave a pathetic try at making a fire in the grassy fields. Frustrated, she gave up and decided to try to get some sleep in the twilight sun.
She tucked her aching legs into her chest and curled up into a compact ball in hopes that she would not be discovered during the night. She had stayed awake far into the night, jumping at every bird call in the distance and curling up even tighter when the cool chill of the wind came and swirled the grasses around her. When she finally found sleep the sun had already begun to appear in the Eastern sky.
It wasn't until past noon that she woke with a start, her mind temporarily stuck thinking she was late for school. Realizing she wasn't, that she was in the middle of some forest or another with an empty stomach and being chilled to the bone in the early spring fogs in actuality, she got up and started towards town. Leah thought miserably about what her siblings might be doing now in their warm house with a plate full of food and drink already down their throats… Probably wondering where she was, no doubt… How had she gotten her in the first place? She sighed as she continued to contemplate this, trying her best to keep from panicking.
Her heart began to race as she finally came upon the town some four hours later, but stopped short as she found the gate leading to it was closed. She saw a little wooden sign that said "Greenway Crossing" in scrawling, hand-written letters. She walked up to the gates and knocked apprehensively on them, half expecting them to open up to reveal her laughing siblings. "Who are you and what do you want!" said a rasping voice that made Leah's skin crawl.
Shocked, Leah was only able to stammer out "Oh…u-um, I didn't…do you have to have an invitation to enter or…can I come in?" She looked down at the ground, avoiding the stare she was sure the gate keeper was giving her through the wood. She heard a shrill laugh from the other end as the gates opened slowly, allowing Leah in.
She promptly strode through, turning to thank the keeper who had already busied himself with closing the gates again.
"A' right, a' right. No need to make a fuss 'bout it. Had some pretty nasty folks a comin' through lately, you kno—" he stopped short as he caught a glimpse of Leah. Not only was she wearing very different clothing (faded khaki shorts, a brown zip-up jacket with an olive green tank top, and running shoes) but she looked far different from the burly, short statured folk that he was used to. Leah was equally surprised at his appearance: he looked like he just walked out of the dark ages.
"Where didja say you was from again?" he said after a pause, now eyeing Leah with suspicion.
Leah now became flustered, not sure what to do, so she said the first thing that came to mind. "Oh, just to the East a bit."
"Hum! If I had half a mind, I'd throw you right back out. From the east, Bah!" Muttering, the gatekeeper turned on his heal and stormed into his little hut that stationed the gate, slamming the door as he entered. Now even more deeply disturbed about her position, she continued to walk into town.
And what she saw completely bewildered her: everything was like the materialization of the dark ages. Everything from the mud-brick housing to the thatched stores to the people (everyone of which had stopped what they were doing upon her entry). Everyone was silent except for a lone dog that began to bark at the sudden stop of hustle and bustle. Leah walked through town cautiously, feeling suddenly vulnerable with every eye in town upon her. People soon began to whisper, and an old drunken man laughed stupidly while pointing a lazy finger at her.
She began to walk faster, wanting suddenly to disappear from sight. She walked faster than ever now, while the people around her began to talk more. Now she ran, trying to find somewhere to hide. She turned blindly to the right and looked for a store or something to run into. Seeing what looked to be a small store, she went over to it as fast as possible, opening the door and closing it with haste when she was inside.
"I do not wish to be bothered right now. My inn is now closed, and as you can see, I am very busy right now. If you need food or a place to stay go try The Pony next door," said an annoyed and disinterested voice. Leah turned whipped around to see an old man pouring over some papers and making the occasional mark with his quill. He hadn't even looked up at her when he had spoken. Knowing that she was not welcome, Leah turned around and walked back out the door, her breathing too hard to gasp out a response.
Sure enough, there was another inn with a sign that said "The Prancing Pony" in wooden letters, and a carved horse (or pony) above it. She walked a little more calmly over to this one, and soon found herself in a very crowded room with merry singing and laughter thick in the air. Looking around, Leah found a stout man behind a counter who was helping another man in pointing out a vacant seat. Taking him to be the one in charge, she walked up to him and said when he had finished talking to the other man "Excuse me, but, could you please help me?"
The man turned around, and had much the same reaction as the gatekeeper. After a pause he said "Why, hello! And how might I help a person as yourself?" He leaned in a little over the counter so as better to hear her response over the explosion of laughter that had just erupted behind him.
"Could you please tell me where this is?" Leah started to flush a faint pink as she thought about how silly she must look with her strange clothes and lack of what was apparently common knowledge. She felt like a little lost child asking for directions.
Now the man looked even more bewildered than before. "Why, your at the Prancing Pony of coarse!" He pointed a chubby finger at the sign outside the window, obviously thinking it would explain everything.
"Oh, I know, but where is this, this town and everything?" she stammered a little, feeling even more childish.
The man looked down at her with confused eyes. "You all right there in the head young lady?" He paused, not sure of what to make of the situation, then added "This is Bree."
Leah, thoroughly confused herself, nodded her head and muttered a thank-you as she began to head for the door, fearing what would happen next. "Young lady, if you need somethin' to eat or somewhere to sleep we have a couple o' rooms open if you want." Leah turned around to see the man (who turned out to be Mr. Butterbur)'s face showing pity, which both frustrated and saddened Leah, but her need of something to drink and eat caused her to hesitate in her answer.
"I have no money to pay for it with," she said deliberately.
"No money, well that won't due. Tell you what, if you clean up the dishes or help clean up after closing, I'll give you both bread and bed," he said, laughing a little at his own rhyme. Returning to his original state, he indicated a door to his left that had a continuous stream of platters and drinks flowing from it.
Leah stopped for a moment, considering her options. It was her stomach that won her over as she agreed to assist with the dish washing, and she was escorted into the kitchen, where she was quickly introduced to some of the workers who smiled awkwardly at the stranger but did their best to be polite.
After a brief run through of how the system worked, she was soon incorporated into the workings, and spent many hours pouring over dishes and drying, and so on. About an hour into her work she was offered a drink of ale by a short man (barely three feet tall), and flustered at the suggestion, she hastily asked for water instead, drinking happily from the cup that she was given. It wasn't until way past dark when they were finally dismissed from their diligent work to help close up and have dinner, Leah now less light headed from dehydration than when she had come.
Placed at an empty table with some slightly dry bread and some of the left over soup, Leah was quite satisfied (considering the circumstances) with her work, and was content to slake her hunger and thirst. She thought it was almost eerie without all of the people calling out and laughing since the inn had closed down fro the night. Now no one but a few other workers were to be seen munching on their food. But not soon after she had finished a few bites of much wanted food, three cloaked figures strode through the door.
"Sorry sirs! We're closed for now. We'll be open tomorrow, though!" said Mr. Butterbur as the figures walked up to the counter and he hopped up to meet them.
"We're not here to stay, we are actually looking for someone, and we were wondering if they might have passed your inn." Said the front most figure, his weather beaten cloak faded to a pale forest green.