Never fear, never fear, for I am here. Never fear, never fear, don't shed a tear. A pair of forlorn faces this way come. I know them better than some, better than themselves, though not better than the other. I know them not from what they were, nor understand who they are meant to be, but I understand what they are. What they are when with me. Like skittering, scattering insects many have fled, fleeing the marked path of the magistrate. The balancer, cloaked anointer. From his form the people rush, always disturbing my delightful hush. Into the lands I threw them, to that grey death I fed them, for if fear is what grips them then let fear be their master. For what is a home beside the device to break the grasp of terror. Those who reject its still sanctuary only beg to be thrown to the wolf pack. This time will be different, they are different.
The pair, once again moving forward after the unfortunate opposition of the gremlins, trek across the field of varied flowers. Each gust of wind sends waves down the sea of pedals, creating a stunning ripple of colors and blotches, making the princess' eyes widen with continued amazement, finding each moment in the land better than the last. Insects with prismatic colors flutter into the air, bathing the area bout them in light tinged as if flowing a stained glass window, creating a constant show of lights and arial grace.
As the pair walk towards the towering castle it soon becomes clear that the grand mansion work was only the head of the area. At the base of the ivory white tower lies a sprawling township, viewable from the crest of a nearby hill. It seemed strange that not long ago the grand castle itself seemed only a small building on the horizon, but in a mere hours travel has become a grander kingdom of its own. It was like the each glance at the imposing settlement only made it grow, as of trying to decide exactly what shape it wished to take. This inconsistency irked at the back of Marco's mind, but his sore body made it hard to focus through the distracting surroundings, let alone pull together the oddity of the sight.
"This place keeps getting better," Star says with a childlike look of wonder on her face, lights of pinks and reds dancing across her pale face. "This place is absolutely amazing, you know, minus the killer goblins, but we took care of them no problem." She gives a bit of a apologizing smile, "Come on, you aren't still mad at me. I said it was just an accident. How could I know they weren't fans of prose."
Marco gives a sigh, hand still resting on his side as it cramps up in an aching pain. "It's fine," he lies, his eyes glancing away. He desperately didn't want to get in a fight with Star, but those things were out of his league and it was hard not to blame her for it. He knew it was childish to think that way, but it didn't help the annoyance he felt, if she had only spent a moment more listening.
Star gave a smaller smile before turning back around, getting the sense that it wouldn't go well to press the issue. She tried to be more weary of Marco, she just some times forgot he had limits that were so much lower than her's. He could run with her, but not sprint. She supposed that was remarkable in and of itself, he always seemed so much competent than the other humans she knew, so much, well, better.
The duo continued on in relative silence as the sun began to climb higher into the sky. As noon crept onto them the field began the morph. In a wave the varied flower began to shift and morph into a sea of red spinally tendrils. Marco and Star both watched in a giddy amazement as the wave of change swept over them. "Wow Star," he says, "I guess you were right. This place is amazing." He gave her a genuine grin, before bending down to look over the flowers. "I think they're spider lilies," he says picking one gently. They were a tall flower with a long stem. He picks another, "they look lovely."
Star nodded, beaming not only from the shift, but from Marco's change of attitude as well. "I know I'm right," she says jokingly as she continues on, her eyes glancing over the sea of blood red blooms. "I wonder if this happens every day," she ponders out loud.
Marco shrugs, her hands beginning to work steadily on the spider lily stems, curling and braiding them together. "Beats me, though it would be cool if it did." He walked a few steps behind Star who was oblivious to the craft Marco had began. "Maybe this place isn't so bad. It makes you wonder why it was sealed away."
Star looks around and ponders that for a while, "maybe things have changed since they sealed it away. It could have been horrible and dangerous a long time ago, but things can change after so long."
For nearly a half hour the pair walked and chatted idly, Marco slowly working on his little craft until they seemed to pass from the field into a plot of farmland. The pair step onto a dirt pathway moving through the land. To either side of them people can be seen working on what look to be rice fields fed by a nearby river.
"It looks like a pretty normal place so far," Marco comments before catching up with Star. "Also," he says fishing out his craft. It was a little crown, two lilies sitting by where either ear would be. "Here, I know you don't have your headbands, so this might help with your, uh, copious hair."
Star takes it, trying to suppress a small blush. "You didn't have to do that Marco," she says putting it on. She really could have just conjured a new one, and some new cloths for that matter, but she thought it was sweet that Marco went through the trouble of making it. "You know, it course to me that maybe we should get a change of cloths."
Marco looks down, "right, you can do that. No dresses this time, and no pink. The girly-est I'll go is a midnight purple." He crosses his arms with this resolution, as if to strengthen his statement.
"Just give me a second," Star says, pulling out her wand. She points it at Marco first after taking in her surroundings. The farmers dressed a lot like the farmers in her kingdom, so maybe something that a banker would wear would be good.
Giving a short chant, Star blasts Marco, sending a blinding flash. As it dies the boy's new dress could be seen. He wore a crimson double breasted suit vest with a white pin stripped under shirt. Over that was a dull brown jacket. On his feet were a nice pair of dress shoes and he wore a black pair of pants with broad, dark grey vertical stripes.
Looking over himself he gave a smile, "wow, fancy. I'm only missing a top hat and I'd be just right to meet the queen." He took a few steps, "and they move well, which is always a plus. Shame there isn't a sweatshirt though."
Star gives a light chuckle, "I think you need to expand your wardrobe, plus it suits you, very professional." She looks at herself before giving a short incantation, the wand giving off a similar flash. When it dulls, she stands wearing a short, mildly frilled dress of a dull teal hue. It seems to be strapless, but it's hard to tell due to the short teal borleo jacket. She has flats on, an odd exception from her normal choice of boots.
She gave a little twirl, "how do I look Marco? It reminds me of some of the stuff in my old wardrobe. Just a bit stuffy, but it has a lot of freedom to move in."
Marco's face flushes slightly, "yeah, it looks great on you."
Star grins, "well come on then slowpoke. The castle town is only a little ways away from here." She almost immediately starts off down the dirt path once again. Her eyes watch the people she walks by, they seem a bit generic, the princess swearing she had seen a few of the same people but at different plots. She thought nothing of it though.
Before long they reach the large outer gates. Standing before the wooden gate are two guards in what looks like a type of light plate. The armor consisted mostly of a vest made into three sections of steel strips. They look like they would fold behind one another slightly to allow the wearer to bend down. Pauldron and elbow pieces protect the joints, along with leather gloves, the legs are covered in greaves that rise to the knees and a section covering the thigh. A chain mail coif flows from the open faced helmet to protect the neck and head.
They move to rest their hands onto their weapons. The one to the right, a grizzled looking man with a mussed grey beard and long scar across his cheek speaks first. "Hold there, state your business."
The one on the left, a much younger looking lad chuckles, "isn't it obvious, they're obviously of noble blood. Some big shoots must have lost their heirs. I bet you ten copper they tried to elope and resized 'taint nothing to elope to."
"Samuel," the older one barks, "pay some respect to them. They obviously look weary, and if they did come from the out lands we best pray they only traveled during the day." He looks down at the pair, hand moving from his weapon, "so then, what brings you to the outer gates, instead of being inside the walls. Farmlands are safer than most places, but there are all sorts of seedy types looking to take advantage of wondering nobles."
Samuel crosses his arm dismissively as Marco starts, "Yeah, that's right. We're nobles who, uh, tried to elope." Star immediately blushes a cherry red, causing the younger guard to snicker under his breath.
"Just hope you didn't go basket making with the poor girl, I know I would loath to be in a position like that and have to come crawling back to her father." Star's face only deepens further, trying not to shoot Marco a glare. His society was a frank one, which made her doubt the idea that he understood what they were saying.
Marco was about to start before the old gentleman interrupts again, much to the cherry red Star's relief, "Enough Samuel, such matters are nothing of our concern, let alone rightful to talk about in front of a lady." He sighed, "We're just supposed to try and weed out suspicious types, but mimics rarely have the ability to get their hands on such fine cloths." He chuckles lightly, "Watch yourself in the outer ring, though, there are quite a few people who would be more than willing to relieve you of any excess wears." He turns and moves over to the side of the gate, opening up a small wooden door, "no sense opening the gates for just the two of ya'." He opens it wide, stepping in and waving for the two to follow. As Marco passes, he leans in, whispering, "and just a word of advice, it is generally a poor plan to elope from Miasma."
The pair move though the stone hall to the other side, Star taking short, quick steps, her head locked into looking forward. "What's the mater Star," Marco says catching up. He looks at her, noting her tomato cheeks. "Why are you blushing so deeply, I mean, that went rather well."
She huffs, "Marco, I know you meant well, but you have no idea what's going on here. This place is a lot like Mewni, and not at all like earth. I'm actually surprised you don't know what elope means."
The hallway seems to go on for an oddly long time, much longer than it looked from the outside. Marco simply chalked it up to the gate being towards the front of a very thick wall.
Marco shakes his head, the two of them nearing the other end of the passage. "Nope, why?"
She sighs, "it means to run away and get married, and basket weaving," she stops, "well, that's uh. You know, that." She pokes her fingers together nervously, trying not to look at Marco.
"Wha-" Marco turns beat red in a flash, "oh. Uh, maybe you should be in charge of talking to people while we're here."
"Good plan," she says with a mild tone of sarcasm before swinging open the second door and stepping out onto the cobblestone path.
The outer ring was a slum, and absolute slum. The buildings were packed close together and in shambles. Beggars were on every corner of the dreary grey street. The road swerves and moves erratically through the town. The houses were mostly pitched with tar or thatch roofs, most of them had broken windows, if they had windows.
"Well," Star says, "If I were to wager a guess, it's going to be a lot harder to get out of the outer ring than it was to get in." She looks around, "We'll probably need to find a way to gain passage to the upper city."
Marco looks at her, "then why don't we just head home then. If the most interesting thing we can see is a slum then I don't think it's a good idea to stick around. Especially given the fact that a lot of these people probably want to shank us and take our cloths."
Star sighs, "fine, but we're coming back some other time." She reaches down to her side and her face goes white. "Oh no, oh no no no no no no no." She opens up her bag and searches it quickly, "they're gone."
Marco looks at her in shock, "you don't mean."
"Yes I mean," she says in a panic, the scissors are gone. I had them, before you woke up I picked them up off the ground. Where are they!" She panics, pulling out her wand and digging through the bag, though pointlessly given those were the only two things in there.
Marco's face drains of color, "Oh man Star, this is bad. How will we get back?"
Star pulls the bag over her shoulder, steeling herself. "This place was sealed off, so that has to mean people came here at some point, which also means there are probably scissors here." She gives a false smile, "we'll find them, maybe even our own pair, it shouldn't be too bad."
Marco tried to calm down, "right." He couldn't afford to get angry, at this point he was pretty certain they needed to stick together if either of them wanted to get out of this. "Yeah, we'll get through this."
Star looks a bit relieved, happy that Marco didn't get angry. She berates herself internally, but outwardly tries to stay on top of everything. "That's the spirit," she says, "now it's been a few hours, why don't we look for something to eat. Chances of there being some sort of bar or pub around is rather high, and most of them have actual food in them." She glances at Marco, "I spent some time in the lower castles on Mewni. I know how things work here."
Marco just shrugged, "But we don't have any money to actually buy anything, unless you intend to dine and dash."
Star stopped to think, her hearts turning to spinning cogs. "It's still rather early in the day, we might be able to find someplace to work in, maybe an inn would be willing to give room and board for a day of work."
Nodding, Marco agrees, "seems like it's at least worth a shot. I really would prefer to avoid starving on the first day we're here."
The pair start off, trying to find any place that might use them. At about the fifth seedy in they are finally given a chance. The owner is a broad, fat man. He wears an apron stained in old blood over a tattered linen shirt. "'Taint going to question why ya' are in the outer ring, but I'm short staffed. Lazy worker took the day off trying to make some butter with a few of the gals from last night." He hands Marco a basket with an apron and Star only an apron, "so it's your lucky day. Twig boy, buss the tables and make sure everything is clear of vomit, makes people lose their appetite. You, heart girl, wash the dishes twig boy brings in. If either of you dally you'll wish you spent the night on the street." He turns and heads back behind the bar, grumbling something about noble brats.
Marco looks over to Star and slips on the apron, "well, at least it's something. Means we have a place to stay for the night and some food. We can get better situated in the morning."
"Yeah, this should do for now."
The pair move off to do their separate tasks, Star moving to a small courtyard with a water pump and Marco moving busily among the bar patrons and booths. The smell of the service area is atrocious, an air of stale liquor and greasy food cause Marco to gag. The men in the bar seem to run the gamut from lank sulkers to broad, boisterous brutes.
A particularly nasty group of men set at the far end of the bar, their drunken crooning filling the rest of the tavern with horrid, off key notes. From what Marco heads from their legible conversation, much of what they "say" are merely drunken slurs, it appears that they are a band of mercenaries or something similar.
"Ha," one slurs out, "you think that's something? Wait to y'all hear this." He raises the mug to his grimy face before continuing with a rude burp. "So, I just got finished havin' a tiff with some busty farmer's daughter, a real dairy cow, and I find that wraiths have flooded into the field. The specters start to come after me, but I wasn't intendin' to let 'em get ta' me. Drawin' my blade I strike at the baddies, shredding them to bits, bony bits and their blood slathering onto the farmland." He holds up his thick arm for all to see.
One of the others calls out, "aye, how many were there? Any hunter worth his salt can take on a wraith."
"Why, I'll tell you. Twas at least a hundred of the things, all surrounding the farm house. Not a single sword arm beside mine for a mile."
"I call horse shit," one of them says, "ain't nothing but a lie. I mean, ain't no way in hell some cow going to go for a ugly ass like yourself. Wait, scratch that, not even a mule would take ya', couldn't even muster enough coin to get a whore to do it."
"Why I aughta'," he starts, standing up to show off his tall, powerful form.
"Sit down Clarence," the barman says, slamming his knife into the counter top. "If you want to fight do it outside. I don't need you raising hell in my bar." His eyes narrow down at Marco, who was listening to the whole affair, "and you, runt, get those dishes back to ya' woman before I find a better occupation for her."
Marco flinches and quickly hurries to the back door, giving a quick yes sir as he does. He swears he hears the large man mutter "bitch" as he scurries off.
In the courtyard it is obvious Star made use of her wand, though in a notably less extravagant way than one would expect. The dishes were floating along as Star sat off to the side, keeping half an eye on the process. "Man, this place seems pretty rough and tumble," Marco comments, setting down the basket full of wooden plates and tankards.
Star shrugs, "Reminds me of the lower city on Mewni. It's just as crass at least." She takes the basket and mutters something and gives a wave of her wand, bathing them in a shower of hearts and pink glow, causing the dishes to move with the rest.
"You know you're getting really good at using that wand Star. When you first got her such a tame spell would have been hard to pull off."
She smiles, "There's a lot of technical information at the start of the spell book. The first owner seems to have been the best educated on the wands exact abilities, not to mention she was by far the most organized out of the authors." She looks up to the sky from the small, building enclosed courtyard, her feet crunching the stale grass, "I don't like this place Marco."
Marco's face twists into a little frown as he watches Star stare off into the darkening twilight sky. "I think I agree with you, this place feels odd somehow. Maybe it's just because it's a slum."
"That's not it," she says slowly. "I don't know, my wand feels weird here. Everything feels weird here." She shakes her head before putting a smile back onto her face, "what ever, I think the feeling's passed. We still have a lot of work to do to get ourselves back home, so head back out there and get cleaning."
