The bubble exploded. As far as ‘weird ways to start a sentence off’ go, it’s not that unusual. But the bubble I had created- or attempted to create- literally exploded. Prudence had water on hand for the tiny flames that flew into the grass around us. My previously white outfit was now blackened and full of unflattering holes from where the flames had clung to me. This was the fourth time this week that Prudence had tried to teach me water magic and the bubbles had exploded. At this point I would have thrown in the towel and laid down to watch a marathon of the Lord of The Rings series. Prudence- the damnable eternal optimist that she was- never stopped encouraging me. Each failure was greeted with, ‘I’m sure you’ll get it next time’ or ‘If at first you don’t succeed try, try again!’
I wondered how screwed up I was that as someone who was deprived of this treatment as I had been could consider positive encouragement a bad thing. After another attempt to form a solid bubble of water that ended in another explosion Prudence allowed a break. I went inside, not stopping until I got into my room and closing the door behind me. I sank to the floor- covering my face in my tiny hands. I was a failure. In a world of people who could easily make fireballs or lightning storms at a whim, I couldn’t even make a non-flammable bubble.
Do you recall the mouse? The mouse in the house? No, this is not a children’s story. The mechanical mouse that I’d seen before was Nolan- one of Prudence’s creations. Despite his small size he was extremely helpful. Or so Prudence claimed. All he’d ‘helped’ me do was explore how loudly I could scream. Nolan was not the cute little robotic mouse that many Steampunk stories portrayed. He was actually closer to a mouse skeleton made out of a glowing metal that had the smoke-like outline of a mouse. Nolan skittered close to me and asked- in a disturbingly deep voice- “What is wrong, ma’am?”
“Nothing. I’m just tired.”
“Does the young lady require a change of clothes?” He asked. I nodded. Nolan ran across the room to my dresser, looking over his shoulder to ask, “Does the young lady have a preference?”
“Something fireproof.” I reply. Nolan tilts his head and replies, “Not found in current wardrobe.”
“No preference.” I reply.
Nolan climbs into the drawers and drags out a new shirt and pants. As I dressed, Nolan perked up. “Master Prudence has requested that you go to the market to pick out a new pair of clothes.”
I shrug. What else could I do? Tell Prudence to go get them herself? For one thing that was rude. For another, the last time I tried that she’d come back with the frilliest pink dress that I’d ever seen. I left the house through the bar, ending up on the main road of Vivid, It had been roughly a month since I arrived here. Things had quieted down significantly. There was rarely any activity outside of a farmer or rancher passing through to shop. Vivid was essentially the town equivalent of watching paint dry.
I went to the clothing store owned by Mrs. Germanotta. She was a tall and slender woman who I knew nothing about beyond the fact that she sold clothes and her husband was a butcher. She gave me a smile that didn’t reach her eyes as she welcomed me back. “Another… incident?” She inquired. I nodded. She gestured for me to follow her into the back room. It was there she made the clothes she sold in her store as well as some that never reached the light of day. I had to admit some of the outfits she’d designed were beautiful. Some were disturbing and would’ve caused an uproar back in my original time.
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Mrs. Germanotta turned to me and asked, “What outfit is it today?”
“The white.” I reply. She nodded and gave me a white outfit.
“What do you think of this design?” She asked as she gestured to a dress. It was a sundress with tiny yellow flowers along the collar. The rest of the dress was white and seemed like it would move fluidly even as it lay still. The lace cuffed sleeves and low back gave the dress a kind of regality. The more I stared at it, the more beautiful if became. This was strange for me because I didn’t even like dresses. “Should I take your dropped jaw as you like it?” Mrs. Germanotta’s voice snapped me out of focus. I hadn’t even realized my mouth had opened. I closed it as quickly as I could but the damage was done. She smiled again as we left the back room.
“Why make a dress like that if you never mean to sell it?” I asked. She thought it over as she counted the coins I placed on the counter.
“The dresses I make… they are not like the clothes you would purchase from a vendor. I make them with specific visions in mind. The man makes the clothes just as much as the clothes make the man.” Could no one speak straight in this world? I take the clothes and leave the store, wishing Mrs. Germanotta a good day. Outside of her store are two farmers who have rather rudely parked their herd of Shoats- an animal that was rather like a mixture of a sheep, a goat, and a cow- in the middle of the road. Each was arguing about the directions and how they’d ended up in Vivid instead of Thadaran. As I passed by, their conversation became a quiet whisper.
Now, I wasn’t always curious. But when I was, nothing short of a SWAT team could prevent me from learning what I wanted to know. I crept closer to the two farmers who muttered about Shoats. “...heard about Steve’s Herd?”
“No. What happened?”
“Twenty of his Shoats, all dead! No wounds, no sickness, nothing!”
“You’re yanking me chain. That isn’t possible. From a medical standpoint, a perfectly healthy Shoat has no reason to suddenly pass! You really ought to read the article published by Doctor Maximus Vernon. He goes in depth to Shoat-”
I stop listening and walk away. Twenty Shoats dying at once? They were hardy animals. It was hard to imagine it as anything other than idle gossip. Still the affair of farmers weren’t of any concern to me. I had to get back before Prudence started worrying about me. It could get so tiresome at times.