The rain still beats down relentlessly as I make my way down the muddy path. Bear is soaked with rain water and I can't say I'm faring any better, my moss dress is heavy with rain and extremely uncomfortable. When we reach a break in the road Bear points to the left, " Do you have any idea to where we're going?"
I ask but Bear just continues to point to the left, I sigh and move forwards. I briefly stop at a blueberry bush, everything is still as the rain falls, " You must keep moving." The rain whispers and I let out another long sigh, " I don't know where I'm going nor do I know why I'm going there in the first place, do you know where I'm going?"
I ask the air around me, nothing but silence, " I only know that your destination is in the lands of Ember." My eyebrows narrow in confusion, " Who am I going to meet when I get there?" The thunder resounds through the air and the rain stops, it appears my time with the rain is over; time to greet the sun.
" I don't like these lands," I say as I view my surroundings with distaste, " The nature reeks of sorrow, how do people even live here?"
Bear shrugs and we continue to move down through the barren lands, a woman dressed in rags walks ahead of me, glancing back at me, " Is something wrong?" I ask and she shakes her head slightly, " You just look a bit…. strange." I blink at her,
" I'm not from these lands, I'm heading towards the lands of Ember." The woman laughs, " You're currently in the lands of Ember,"
Her eyes narrow as she stares off into the sun, " I don't recommend you stay here long, nothing but war and hunger in this damned country." She scowls and stops when we reach a small house on the side of the path, she turns to face me, " Would you like to come in? I fear I only have tea to offer you though."
I smile and shake my head, " I still have to repay you for your company,"
I kneel and rest the palm of my hand against the cold earth; it's only then that I can finally hear it, the heart beat of the earth. Raw and unrefined, the woman regards me with wide eyes, " How did you- " I turn and head down the path, content with the soft grass underfoot, " I hope these fields serve you well."
I call out to her and continue walking as people emerge from they're houses, a small boy pats the grass in awe, " It's real! Real grass and look at our crops!" I slip through the crowd of smiling people and make my way down the path with Bear on my shoulder, " When I first got here I couldn't feel the earths heart beat at all," I pat his head, " The power of the tree's seems to be quite useful."
" Is that where I'm supposed to go?"
I ask in disbelief as I stare at the gray walls that span the perimeter what I assume is a town of some sort; When I make it to the entrance I spot a man dressed in armor with a spear at his side, " Halt, for what reason are you entering our kingdom at this time of night?"
He points the tip of the spear to my face and I sigh, shifting slightly onto one leg and pushing the spear to the side slightly, " There's no need for violence, we can both avoid conflict if you'll just let me in."
He blinks for a moment but then laughs, " Miss, it seems you've had a bit too much to drink. Head on home now to your mumma and papa."
He pats my shoulder condescendingly, I scowl and then spend an unreasonable amount of time going about the wall, looking for another opening of sorts, " It's no use, I've got no way to enter." Bear points upwards towards the wall, " I don't understand." Bear continues to point, this time a bit more forcefully.
My eyes widen as I finally understand, " You want me to scale the wall?! You must be joking."
I shriek and Bear gives me a thumbs up, confirming my suspicions; The wall is tall as the great oak tree's I climbed with ease in the forest but tree's are warm, they have branches and grooves to hold onto which greatly aid climbing. I rest my hand against the cold, stone wall and glance behind me before I start to climb.
The cold night wind pushes against my already unsteady form; at least when climbing a tree when and if you fall you'll hit some branches on your way down that will soften the blow slightly, if I fall now it's all over. I grasp the next nearby brick only to have it crumple in my hands and fall down to the ground with a loud thump, I quickly head on to the next brick and finally hoist myself onto the flat roof of the wall. I stand and look around a bit, there's a make shift staircase that lines the wall, I tentatively set my foot onto the first step and shiver as I start to make my way slowly down the staircase.
" Well that could have been better."
I say as I finally hit the cobble stone street below me; The sun is just starting to rise yet I still wince as the cold travels through my bare feet and start to walk down the street. A handful of men sit outside a large house with odd symbols carved into the wood above the main door, " Excuse me miss," I turn as I feel someone touch my shoulder, " Might I offer you a drink? Just a quick one?" A man with red cheeks and unfocused eyes asks me, " No thank you, let go."
He snickers, " It's only a drink, no need to get angry. Come on now, dear."
He attempts to push me towards the pub, I pull out the dagger, hitting him with the hilt before swiftly walking off, " You wretch!"
I hear him shout before the sound of heavy feet make me bolt down the street; nothing is even slightly familiar, narrow streets filled with loud people all in strange clothing.
I quickly duck into an extremely narrow street and quiet my breathing as the man runs past me without noticing, I let out a sigh of relief, " Excuse me-" I turn and point the dagger at the persons throat, it's only then that I realize it's a girl, her light blue eyes widen with shock, " I apologize, I thought you were someone else." She lets out a nervous laugh as I place the dagger back into my bag, " No worries,"
She runs a hand through her dark pink hair, I touch the curls without thinking before withdrawing my hand, " Sorry." I look down and she let's out another bright laugh,
"It's fine, this is the product of my sisters experiments that had gone wrong." She surveys me, " If you don't mind me saying this, you look a bit odd yourself."
I blush and look down at the street, " Only your clothes," She quickly amends before she points to a house behind her, " My name is Anna by the way, would you like to come into my shop?" I nearly reject her offer but the sound of heavy foot steps and loud voices send me running into the shop.
I've heard of houses from the animals in the forests, the field mice especially loved to tell me about the nooks and cranny's of the houses the lived in but never before I have I ever been in one,
" Is everything alright?"
Anna asks me as she sets her coat onto a chair and lights a candle, " Yes..."
I answer slowly as I look around the room, bright colors litter the walls, " May I get changed?"
I ask and Anna nods, I set my bag down and start to strip off my moss dress, " What are you doing!?"
She shrieks and throws me a blanket which I catch uncertainly, " You want me to wear this?" She shakes her head violently, " Have you never dressed properly before?! Your not even wearing undergarments!"
I narrow my eyes in confusion and Anna let's out a deep sigh before heading off into a room.
I turn to my bag and rummage through it before pulling a dress out. Anna reemerges from her room with two strange objects in her hands, " Here, you can have mine. I'm not sure if they'll fit you though..." I stare at her for a moment, " How do I put these on? What are these for?"
She stares at me for a moment, " Lift your arms, I'll help you put it on."
I do as I'm told as she slips the strange contraption over my arms and onto my chest, " What is this for?"
I ask again and she snorts, " It's lingerie, it's what women wear to... Never mind, it's not important but you must wear one everyday."
When she's done I move my arms around, " It's a bit tight but not too uncomfortable."
She blushes yet again and hands me another strange article of clothing, " These are panties, slip the over your legs."
I do and she finally relaxes, " There, all decent now." I pull the sun dress over my head, the fabric is a light golden silk, Anna runs her hands over the material, " This is lovely, a bit thin considering winter is approaching though." Anna snaps her fingers and heads towards her room again but this time she hands me a cream colored shawl, " Here, now tell me about yourself."
" Your trying to tell me that your a farmers daughter?"
When I nod she erupts into laughter, " You can fool me, I've met a handful of farmers and their daughters, they're all plain faced."
I bite my tongue, she already saw through my lie, " I won't pester you; I must know though, where do you plan on going?"
I shrug, " Visiting my grandmothers friend," Anna stands and heads over to the kitchen, " Here," She tosses me a brush, " Brush your hair while I make you something to eat." I run the brush through my hair as Anna hums out a tune in the kitchen, " Here, not much but I think you'll enjoy it."
We sit in silence for a moment, " Anna! Help!"
A voice cries out and we run to the room which the cry came from, Anna throws the door open, reviling a girl with dark, long hair; her dark blue dress is covered in a dark green substance, " Nonoko! What happened!?"
Anna cries and Nonoko looks close to tears as well, " I ruined my favorite dress! And my experiment failed terribly!" Anna stares at Nonoko for a moment, " Really? Is that all?" She sighs and points towards me, " We've got a guest over, you could be a bit more proper."
Nonoko blushes and then bows slightly, " Sorry, nice to meet you." She looks down at her dress, " Let me get changed first and then we can talk." She slips her dress off and grabs another, this ones black. We reach the kitchen and Nonoko turns to me, " I haven't gotten your name yet."
I smile, " My name is Mikan," Nonoko is about to respond but the growling from my stomach interrupts her, we stare at each other for a moment before we both break out into laughter, " I know a good place to eat in town, you want to come as well, Anna?" She asks and Anna stretches slightly, " Why not, it's a lovely morning to go out into town."
We head out onto the street, Bear shifts in my bag slightly, " Calm down, we'll keep moving afterward."
I whisper to him and he finally stills, " Is this your first time in the country of Ember?
Nonoko asks and Anna snorts, " She was trying to tell me earlier that she was a farmers daughter, can you believe that?"
Nonoko giggles, " That was a bad lie, Mikan. Trust me, farmers daughters are never very pretty." My cheeks redden slightly as we turn the corner and out onto what Anna calls the main street; the street is almost alive with people, Nonoko pulls out some silver coins, " Let's go to my favorite part of the market."
She grins widely as we make our way through the large crowd of people; I try to keep up with them but their too well acquainted with the fast pace of the crowd and I can hardly move an inch, I see a small opening through the waves of people and move forwards only to be knocked on my feet by an unexpected figure.
I look up angrily, dark red eyes stare critically back at me, " Don't just sit there, "
His voice is cold, matching his stern face. Unkempt black hair falls into his eyes and he pushes it back; suddenly a small smirk falls across his face, " Although I must say, I am getting a rather nice view from up here." I don't understand what he means at first, I look down to see what he calls a nice view, " I don't understand how you can find beauty in a cobblestone street," He chuckles, " Well stated, I wasn't talking about the street though."
I look down again, " I still don't understand what you mean," I stand and cast him a strange look, " I guess people can find loveliness in everything," I tap the ground with my foot, " Although, it should be stated that having feelings of admiration towards cobblestone might not be exactly healthy; The street will never return your feelings sadly, good bye." I say as I walk off in the direction of Anna's and Nonoko's voice.
This chapter took me FOREVER to write, mostly cause I accidentally deleted it and had to start all over. Not to mention I also had mid-terms last week. I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, don't forget to favorite and review, bye!
