With the early morning sun filtering through the soaring snow capped mountains and low-lying evergreens, I broke into the clearing nestled between the town, fields, and verdant little forest that served as the skyport for our dinky backwater. A squint into the rising light and quick tread of boots through the sodden vegetation from last night’s rain brought me upon the meager crowd assembling. The sight had me drawing my thick coat and layers of furs closer around me, head to the ground. Hopefully inconspicuous.

It worked well enough, no nearby eyes stayed trained on me for too long as the expectant passengers shuffled around and otherwise amused themselves with their own company. After a while waiting in the chill, a rise in murmurs drew my gaze from my feet to see it from far off.

The tiny dot in the distance slowly but surely grew into an approaching airship, drawn along by a flight of small wyverns. My ticket out of this place.

If only I could afford a ticket.

My pockets were, of course, completely empty. I hadn’t even been able to pilfer food for the trip. What was my plan for boarding and slipping away to Wyvernhome before anyone noticed my absence? There wasn’t one. That wouldn’t stop me from trying. As the airship descended and my trepidation rose, the morning's bells rang out, echoing alone across the previously tranquil vale and sent flights of morning birds from the surrounding trees. Winging out over those awful fields they expected me to work when I came of age. Or worse, the mines…

A shock of revulsion tore through me again, forcing me to shake myself in futile hopes of casting off these emotions.

“Hey.” The word was the only warning I received before a hand landed lightly on my shoulder. Still fighting down my feelings, I schooled my face into a poor imitation of neutrality and blinked away the tears when turning to the man. “Excuse me,” he followed up as our eyes met. I tried not to flinch while looking away again.

“Yes?” I croaked, the sound forcing me to wince and clear my throat. The man before me was old. Wrinkles, naturally graying hair with a receding hairline, and this fatherly look on his face that diverted my eyes like water off glass, to stare at his shoulder instead. He was wrapped in his own dark furs against the spring chill, clearly of a higher quality than my own, shabby and ill-fitting as they were on me.

“My name is Bartle. I have… a favor to ask,” the old man started off uncertainly, due to my demeanor of course. It was always due to my demeanor. But then he picked up steam. “I have a package I’d like delivered. I can pay, of course.” When my interest piqued at the unexpected offer, he added, “Five trell.” My eyes shot open, that was more than enough for a ticket!

“Done.” I stared at his chest, eternally grateful that he was so much taller than me, and extended a hand up for this package of his.

“Huh? You aren’t going to ask what it is?” I shook my head, but that just pushed him to explain anyway. “It’s nothing to worry about, just some stuff for my daughter.” I didn’t care, as long as it got me away from this horrid life. When I didn’t reply to his little explanation, he pulled the package from inside his heavy brown coat. It was a rough wooden box, unpolished, with a lid held closed by a few knotted ties.

“I'm too old to make a journey like that, and she probably wouldn’t want to see me anyway…” There was a pang of pity at the way he spoke, but I pushed it down. I had no desire to respond, so I just nodded again. “Here are the directions. Her name is Melody. She’s in Wyvernhome.” I took the little note he handed me and read it over, not that I had any idea about this city I was running off to. That was followed by the handful of coins I needed to get out of here.

I shuffled the little box and money into my scratchy, eggshellish gray coat, then nodded to Bartle and began to retreat before he stopped me again. “Hey, thanks a lot for this. You don’t know how much this means to me.”

“Mm,” I mumbled with another head bob, but I just wanted to get away from him now. The way he was still looking at me is making my skin crawl, even under my layers of bundled clothing.

“Before you go, could I get your name?” he asked, forcing me to speak again as I ducked behind my shaggy, brownish bangs.

“...Dani…” I muttered, barely loud enough for him to hear. He didn’t even try to hide the skeptical look at the fake name. It was a glorious relief when he let me go anyway, allowing me to disappear into the crowd, hunching low and trying harder than ever to avoid notice.

Please, everyone, just leave me alone…

For a long while, I had to resist the urge to curl up on the soaking wet ground, instead turning my attention to the slowly approaching airship. Until at long last, it drifted down toward us, the vaguely rectangular shaped hull more akin to a building than a sailing ship. Not to mention the expensive wooden construction which came to rest with a shuddering thud before us.

...

Standing at the back of the winding, scattered line of passengers, I filed up, paid the man at the entrance, and shoved my change back into a coat pocket without a word or a glance above the man’s neck, then hustled up aboard. Once I got some distance from the others, I finally looked up from my feet to take in the top of the ship. It was surprising, the way it wasn’t much more frame with hundreds of ropes connecting to a spray of massive balloons overhead.

We stayed grounded for some time after everyone boarded as they finished feeding the wyverns, then it was time to go. Staring down over the thick wooden guardrail on one side of the ship, I scanned the treeline which stood between us and the town. My heart soared when I didn’t see any pursuers. This was it, I was going to get away. Away from Greenvale and… and everything. All these people, always looking at me, their expectations...

While I was sinking, starting to wallow again, the mages up in the overhead rigging did whatever they do, and got us back in the air. As I continued to stare sadly out at the receding trees, I caught sight of Bartle below. Even at this distance, I could feel him looking right at me, and automatically ducked down behind the railing. I tucked my head into my knees. Ugh, not again… I sat there on the deck, rubbing at my eyes for a while, trying to whip my spirits back up. I was getting away, everything would be fine. Holding my arms around myself desperately, I whispered, “Just me.”

After some time, I finally managed to push away the depression with the help of the incredible, expansive views. I’d never seen the valley from so high up. My eyes ranged from the rolling green grasslands that extended between areas of yellow and reddish cultivation and green forests, dotted brown of towns ringing the valley, all the way from the azure western sea, then above, to the gleaming white, sky-piercing mountains ringing the other three sides of the little oasis of green in the otherwise frigid north.

Speaking of frigid... After a while I wound up with my teeth chattering, doing my best to huddle under the edge of the ship’s railing for a windbreak against the battering rush of freezing, high-altitude winds. Even as I was huddling for warmth within my many layers of fur, I couldn’t help but glance up at the scurrying mages, waving all around in the upper rigging as they worked, blown this way and that without a care. Wow, mages sure are wild…

The airship made a few stops along the way, picking up and dropping off passengers all around the valley before ascending toward the mountains. And my goal, Wyvernhome, the largest city in all of Nithalina. A place where I might have truly been able to disappear. Just melt into the crowd and not be… me anymore.

After a long journey in which I greatly regretted not bringing any food with me, we finally made port in the city of my wildest dreams, at a skyport carved straight into the side of a jagged, snowy mountain, with a dozen guardian wyverns and a dragon flying around to ward off any potential dangers. They came in so many brilliant colors, visible even through the onset of worsening snowfall that accompanied our approach up the plunging cliffs.

When we finally set down and disembarked, the snow was driving, heavy winds blowing it fully sideways, right under my hoods, the bite cutting straight through every layer of heavy fur to tear into me like nothing I’d ever felt before. I knew what we heard about the high reaches, but this was insane!

Despite my huddled form shrinking against the wind, using other passengers for cover, it was all I can do to make it to the guard checking everyone as they stepped off the ship.

“Name?”

“Merca,” I forced out with my shuddering breath. This guard, he wasn’t even shivering. He had a whole swath of thick, lustrous furs wrapped around his massive frame. Was that really enough to hold off the cold?

The man just noted it down. Then with a strong nod, he thumped me on my shaking shoulder and said, “First time from the valley? Don’t worry, man, you’ll get used to it.”

I didn’t flinch. I wanted to be sick.

“Thanks.” I forced the grunt out of my throat so I could get away from him. Moving with the rest of the crowd, I kept clamping down until I got into the cover of the cave, out of the wind and snow. Then I sagged against the roughly hewn stone, breathing deeply.

It’ll be fine, everything will be fine. I kept telling myself that to hold off the forming panic attack, until I managed to calm down. Then I wiped tiredly at my eyes and brushed my bangs out of my face.

I was exhausted and starving and I really just needed to get started on… what? Life? How was I even supposed to do that?

Pushing all of those thoughts aside, I started on my way through the big city. I had to keep moving, or I’d sink again.

Clopping down the street, I gazed all around at the brand new place. It was carved, almost every bit of it, from deep, matte brown and gray stone. The project must have been incredible, entire multi-story buildings and huge city blocks carved into shape from what once were the solid innards of a mountain. It did wonders to keep the wind and snow out, the crowded city streets nearly as warm as the valley I came from. Once I’d finished shivering enough to bring my body temperature back up, I didn't even need my extra layers quite so much here.

Besides the buildings themselves, the most impressive features were the glowstone lighting scattered absolutely everywhere, on every building and every lamp in the street. We had a handful of them back home, placed up around the Greenvale town square, but the city was on an entirely different scale from anything I’d ever seen before.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

Unfortunately, I could only stay mesmerized by the city streets for so long before the hunger pangs from my stomach would no longer be ignored. I barely considered asking for directions before the thought of interacting with another person threatened to send me spiraling again, so I scrapped that plan and started looking on my own instead.

As hungry as I was, all I could do was huddle down in my furs and wander aimlessly, eyes searching the passing streets for any sign of food or drink. I followed the sound of the crowd, holding my pained stomach when I finally spotted my goal.

I approached the stone carved sign depicting a large ale mug, up to the front of the building. ‘Chroma’s Inn,’ I read off the nameplate. Wait… Pulling out the previously forgotten instructions from Bartle, I found the same name. I’d completely messed up, just wandering through town in a daze instead of following his instructions, yet I’d somehow ended up exactly where I was supposed to be.

Still somewhat mystified, I pushed through the front door of the blocky stone establishment, finding it quite a bit hotter inside. It was actually warm, in a cozy way, with white glowstone lighting scattered all around the room, to illuminate it in a somewhat dim manner, more homey than home had ever been.

Stone carved tables and wooden chairs spread throughout the mostly empty bar room. The middle of the area held empty tables, with a few occupants near the walls. When I noticed someone looking at me, I immediately averted my eyes to the floor at my feet, staring at the smoothly sanded down stone with the vague hope of repelling the gaze.

“Ahem,” a quiet voice interrupted my staring match with the floor, and I anxiously turned my attention up to a young woman standing nearby. Without meaning to, I met her eyes, just for a moment, before flinching away again. From the corner of my eye, I think I saw her tilt her head and smile, surely laughing at me.

But when she spoke up again, all she said was, “Hi, I’m Kora, I’ll be your server today.” Then she took my hand and gently pulled me over to a table in the far corner, away from the other patrons.

Once seated, she tried to take my order, but I was still completely out of sorts, in no state to figure anything out. With a light shrug, she said she’d bring me the day’s special, before heading off to the bar. As soon as I was alone, I thunked my head down on the tabletop.

Some time to breath deeply, and my nerves slowly calmed again. Finally with the presence of mind to glance up to the girl at the bar, I noticed how she had her head of blond hair pulled into a braid behind her, with a nice, form fitting uniform of dark fabric without a hint of fur on it, surely because it was so warm in here. They didn’t need any warm fur here like everywhere outside. She had pants on too, though they didn’t fit as well; a little too large on her, so she needed to cuff the bottoms to keep them out of the way of her shoes.

Behind her stood a much taller woman, moving to grab what looked like my order from behind the bar and depositing it all in front of Kora. Then the blond server spun on a heel, marching back over to my table with a big mug of something steaming, and a plate of food. Rice, vegetables, some meat… It was all sizzling hot and the smell that wafted off of it immediately made my stomach growl with hunger again. The stifled giggle from Kora had me huddling down into my coat again to hide my heated face.

“Come on, don’t worry about it,” she laughed out, to my dismay. “It looks like you've had quite a trip. And you can take off your coat you know. Aren’t you hot?” I grumbled something wordlessly, continuing to huddle down until she sighed with a big shrug and let me off the hook. However, she only retreated a few steps, leaning against a nearby table, rather than leaving me alone.

Fighting down the burning anxiety at being watched, I tried my best to focus on my food. I took a couple spoonfuls of food to appease my knotted stomach. Then a testing swig of the hot drink. It was something totally unfamiliar, but filled me with a rush of warmth that finally helped me relax a little, letting a contented sigh pass my lips for the first time in… I don’t even know how long.

Unfortunately, that just made me even hotter under my layers, starting to sweat in earnest. Casting a side-eye to the waiting server woman, I found that she was actually gazing off at the wall rather than directly at me, an odd wistful expression on her face.

Releasing a little of the tension in my shoulders, I sighed and shrugged off the top layer of suffocating furs, laying them down on the curved bench seat I was on. Ok yeah, that was a lot better than sweating half to death.

“So, stranger,” Kora suddenly spoke up again, causing me to flinch, “you have a name?”

Mood dropping instantly, I stared at my food and made myself answer, “Vil.” I didn’t even need to look directly at her to catch the smirk my answer brought. But she showed mercy and didn’t say anything about it.

“Mmm…” the young woman demured playfully, swaying from side to side. “In that case, what brings you to Wyvernhome, Vann?” This time, she peered at me as she spoke, clearly catching my grimace at the weird name, before I smothered it.

I grumbled, taking a few more bites of food before working up the will to answer her question. “I don’t know.” Of course that raised a brow.

“Well then, do you have a first step in mind, Fann?”

Did I really need to continue this conversation? “I am supposed to find someone named Melody.” With that, I knew I'd hit my word limit.

However, even my heart sinking straight through the floor couldn’t distract me from Kora’s sudden full-body flinch.

“M-Melody?” she questioned, blinking. Unwilling to torture myself further, I nodded, assuming she knew who I was looking for. After rifling through the coat sprawled across the bench at my side, I drew out the wooden box, placing it on the table, then passed the directions I’d received from Bartle over to her.

Straightening the paper between her fingers, Kora’s eyes scanned down the little note for some time, before she heaved out a heavy, dejected sigh that seemed extremely out of place coming from the abnormally pleasant server. “I used to go by Melody,” she suddenly explained without prompting, “back before I ran away from home. Changed my name to Kora.”

Oh. I blinked up at her, I didn’t see that coming. With a sad, conflicted look on her face, she actually met my eyes again, and this time, I didn’t feel the need to immediately look away. Kora offered a small smile, then stepped forward, ruffling my hair in a way that left me shocked briefly while she swept a chair over from nearby and fell heavily into it. She gestured for the wooden box, and I slid it over to her.

Kora made quick work of the ties with a little knife she pulled from the belt of her pants, revealing its contents. Unable to contain my own curiosity at this strange turn of events, I peeked into the box.

Inside, I found a small slip of folded paper, which she removed, to reveal a set of earrings. They looked incredibly well made, a tiny, curving line of gemstones embedded within the shimmering metal, their colors forming a tiny, beautiful rainbow. Compared to the little stud-like earrings Kora was wearing, they must have cost a fortune. And Bartle had entrusted them to me, a complete stranger?

After pulling them out and staring wide eyed at the gleaming stones, Kora glanced to the little letter, unfolding it and beginning to read.

I followed her eyes across the slip of paper, saw the dull shock register, then the quiver of her lips and the shine of tears as she read whatever it was that Bartle had to tell her.

Kora sniffed, folding the letter and taking the earrings out of the box to gaze at them, tears beginning to well up. Her eyes shifted, meeting mine once more, and this time she looked down. Blinking away tears and sniffling, Kora rapidly excused herself.

I stared after her as her shoes clopped quickly across the floor, a small lump forming in my own throat. From the bits and pieces I’d picked up, since she'd run away, Bartle must have been angry. So now, maybe he'd forgiven her? I couldn’t be sure though, as I watched Kora wave at the bartender woman, and they both disappeared through a door into the back of the bar.

I felt a tiny ache in my heart for the woman and her elderly father.

Actually, what would my own parents think, when they realized I was gone? Even as my mood began to sink at the thought, it wasn't that bad.

Actually, they would be happy they no longer had to deal with me, wouldn't they? In fact, they would mourn the loss of another of hands in the fields. Or the mines. I had to shake myself again, or risk losing my appetite entirely.

Pushing those thoughts away, I told myself to focus on the present, not the past. That's where my life would be now. In the big city, with brand new sights and sounds everywhere I looked.

I actually managed to relax a little again as I dug into my meal. And oh was it incredible. There were all sorts of ingredients I didn’t recognize from my tiny valley town; it tasted like freedom.

By the time I finished it all, I was already growing tired, my stomach both calmed, and somewhat painfully stuffed. About the same time, the door to the back room opened up, the two women coming out. The first thing I noticed was the rainbow glimmer of the tiny dangling earrings Kora wore when she raised a hand to touch one.

Following that, my eyes moved to the larger woman who was following behind her, with curly red hair, wearing essentially the same serving outfit. Except that despite her size, her clothes were too loose all around, so she had them cuffed and tied off to stay on properly, and actually looked kind of sloppy for it.

Only then, did I finally realize they were coming right for me. I did my best to lower my gaze, but my food and drink were already gone, so there was nothing to distract myself with. I swallowed hard, staring at my clasped hands instead, as if that would help.

“So, Kora said you brought her that letter?” the larger woman asked, even as I faced the table in front of me. With an even, somewhat deep and soothing voice, she didn’t… sound bad… Probably.

I returned a silent nod, glancing to the side continuously to gauge her reaction. I didn’t know what to expect, but it definitely wasn't for her to lean in and ruffle my hair too, even more energetically than Kora earlier, leaving it a complete mess. After elbowing the larger woman with a huff, Kora moved forward, starting to straighten it out.

I sat frozen as she shifted behind me and worked, her scolding tone painting a petulant grin on the larger woman’s face. “Leave Fenn alone, Chroma.”

What was going on right now? Was this just how city people were? Why did they keep touching me? And why were they so nice to me? “Anyway, Lenn, you said you didn’t know what to do after this, right? Do you need a place to stay?”

Without even meaning to, I found myself hesitating, waiting until Kora finished with my hair, before answering. “Yeah, I-” I winced and cut short, needing to swallow hard. “Mm.”

This time, Chroma jumped in. “Alright. Will you be staying in Wyvernhome… Linn?” Brightening up, I nodded enthusiastically.

“Cool, you can stay upstairs,” Kora followed up, moving out from behind me to stand shoulder to shoulder with Chroma. “This is an inn after all.” Her mocking tone brought a short round of elbow jabs between the two women, which devolved into giggles.

Then they turned their attention to me once more, big smiles on both of their faces. Warm enough that I could actually look up at them without the normal rush of anxiety or terror. The way they looked at me was... different, somehow. “What about work? We could take you on here if you’d like. How does that sound, Linn?”

Did they just stop shuffling through random names? I guess they settled on that one? Whatever the case, I couldn’t contain the smile on my face as I nodded happily at the proposal. A place to live and work! In the city! With nice people!

“Come on then, I’ll show you to your room,” Kora offered with a wave. “You must be exhausted; I know how long the journey from Greenvale is.”

Gathering up my extra layers in my arms, I followed after her, to a room upstairs. Pausing briefly in my doorway, Kora brushed a hand over one of the new earrings again. “Hey, Linn. Thanks for the letter.” Offering my warmest smile, I bobbed my head. “I’ll pay you back later. We’ll find something nice for you to wear for work when you get up. Don’t need so many layers here, you know?” Another nod. “Night, Linn.”

She gently swung the door shut, and I wandered my way over to the bed. A narrow thing of flat stone with a mattress and thick woolen blankets thrown over top. She was right, it really was warm in here. Shedding the rest of my layers of coats and furs at last, I flopped down into the bed with a thump and a sigh.

“Just me…” I mumbled, curling up in the warmth and comfort of this new place. This new me.

Linn, I like that name, I thought. Maybe I’ll keep it...

The End