She'd been traveling for weeks, maybe even a month or so, and finally she made it.
The Katolian/ Xadian border. The border past the world the elf once knew. The moment she crossed it, she instantly knew that she was in for a change,... a major change. Little past the border, she made camp. The next day was going to be interesting, to say the least. She drank the last bit of her moonberry juice and drifted to sleep.
The next morning came faster than she could blink. She picked up camp, and walked deeper into the unknown world. The world she'd only known through history.
With little money, she arrived in the city and bought a change of clothes, a little more food, and a hopeful overnight stay at a hotel. She learned quickly observing her surroundings as well as the humans all around her minding their own business. Lucky for her she'd had an illusion over her physical appearance so she blended in with the large crowds.
The 19 year old found that there was a common question, many of the people she'd meet would ask her, "What are you doing out of school?"
She tried to be cordial about it, as well as trying to be aware of why she still had to be in school. She'd already gone through school. Of course, an old friend used to tell her how young she looked. It was possible that it was her appearance that threw them off, passing her off to seem only 14. Boy, were they wrong! Five years wrong.
The day, otherwise was going better than expected. The hotel was hiring and she quickly applied to their requirements. This would at least bring something in. In a little over two months, summer was to begin which gave opportunity for businesses to gain extra hands. Something she'd learned was that in the human cities, everything had to be exchanged. One thing for another, mostly money. If you wanted anything you needed money to bribe with.
She figured there was something she needed to do. Everyone believed she belonged in school. Perhaps they were right. With the help of temporary acquaintances, she enrolled into a high school currently teaching in the junior year. This particular school allowed people of many age groups to apply. GED courses could be given, but for those set back by unfortunate circumstances they were allowed to make the choice themselves. After a couple weeks working at the hotel she should be able to pay for her tuition. She learned more from the local libraries, eventually figuring she might also need a mobile device.
On her way to a phone company store, she bumped into a young woman just around her age and slightly taller. Both fell to the ground sending a book flying over to the elf.
"Hey!! Watch where you're going, will you?" The stranger demanded in aggravation looking around for the culprit of her fall. She was only a few inches taller than her, with jet black hair and purple streaks at the tips. She wore a black, short-sleeved crop-top with gold designs dancing across it, black shorts, with gold at the edges of the pant legs nearly touching her knees, and sneakers. She had pale green eyes and a matured face, wearing light makeup. Pink lipstick, light blush, and mascara.
The human disguised elf stood to her feet quickly, picked up the book reading "Love Amongst Dragons" speaking in a thick, scottish accent, replied, "It wasn't entirely my fault. Your book plays a good part in this accident.Youshould be watching whereyou'regoing." She still extended her hand to help her up.
The ravenette sighed, and took her hand standing up, "Sorry, uh, thanks. I'm Claudia, and, yeah I have that problem. My books are a little too intriguing for me to lift my head for it. Everything seems practically invisible," She smiled and chuckled, grabbing her book from the girl's hand and dusting herself off. She extended her hand to shake.
"Um,... Okay. I'm Rayla. Sorry about the bumping into you. My head was paying too much attention to my surroundings that I forgot to look at what was in front of me." Rayla smiled somewhat confused looking from Claudia's hand to her face. What was she doing?
Claudia caught on quickly, "Um,.. You shake it, withyour left hand.. Do younot know how to shake hands?.. You do it, when you meet someone."
Rayla shrugged, "Okay." She said slowly and wearily.
Claudia noticed Rayla's outfit almost instantly. She was wearing a turtleneck-like shirt that seemed to be under a pale light green shirt with a thick, black streak in the center striping from the collar to the very bottom tip and black horizontal stripes an inch from the centered streak wrapping around her waist intricate swirling designs in a lighter shade of green on the green parts of the shirt which was over another shirt. She wore light green pants conforming well, and mid-thigh high deep green boots. It wasn't the most fashionable thing, but Rayla also didn't seem to know certain things. At some point they would have to work on her wardrobe choices. Right now she seemed to have other important tasks to pay attention to. Rayla didn't even wear much makeup, if any. Her white hair was hung loose without anything holding it up.
"So what were you looking for?" Claudia perked with a friendly smile.
"What?" Rayla questioned before remembering what she was talking about. "Oh! Right! Um,.. I was just looking for a.. for the electronics store. It's the phone company store, Verizon. Why the interest? It's not like it's all that important to..."
"Oh, I'm just curious, I know this city like the back of my hand, you seem... new.. to say the least. I could show you where that is. I go there all the time to get my devices fixed. I can even suggest the best stuff."
"That's not necessary. You could just point me in the direction and I'll be on my way." Rayla excused waving her hands in front of her.
"C'mon, trust me it'll be much easier than just pointing in a direction, follow me." Claudia insisted reaching to take Rayla's wrist, but Rayla reacted and moved before she could.
"Ookay, just follow me, then." Claudia walked as Rayla followed.
She showed her to the store, and did as she offered in recommending the phone brand and even helped pay the expenses. Before parting ways, Claudia insisted on exchanging phone numbers, "We have to talk sometime."
"Thanks, I definitely owe you," Rayla chuckled awkwardly. She'd just met her and she was helping her more than was necessary. Did she really mean they could talk anytime? Not likely. Claudia would probably forget about her by tomorrow.
"Nah. Don't worry about it. We're friends. Just let me know, if you need anything, you have my number." Claudia waved it off and grinned wide. With that she walked off with her book.
Rayla headed back to the hotel. She'd need to wake up early for her appointment with the Dean of the High school about 1 1/2 hours before school started. She needed to get as much rest as possible.
