Esper slowly drifted back to wakefulness, the trappings of her sleeping mind now gently releasing their hold on her conscious self. As she felt herself wake up, she stretched herself out long, her face still planted sideways on the pillow, extending her hands and feet outward. Slowly, the girl opened her eyes, seeing the faint orange light shine in through the small window. Her body ached and her mind was fuzzy; in a sense she almost felt more tired than she had the night before. She pushed herself up with her right arm and rubbed her eyes, to remove the morning dew, with the other.
Her gaze went around the room once towards the door, which was still blocked by the table. Everything was exactly as she left it before falling asleep, except for the red blanket wrapped and contorted around her legs as if binding her. Pulling the blanket off, she swung her feet from the bed and hopped off. The stone floor was cold against her warm skin and felt pleasantly refreshing. A yawn escaped her and she rubbed her face once again. Her body ached but this was the inevitable result of the first real full night’s rest in a proper bed. The residual dull pain, a leftover from her body and soul mending themselves over the course of the night.
She walked over to the window, looking at it closely now for the first time. It was tall and thin, the glass was foggy and the smeary effect prevented anything more from passing through it than the light from outside. A small handle poked out from the side facing downward. Looking at it curiously, she grasped it and turned it until she found the right direction it would follow. With a slight pop, the mechanism let loose and the window gave way, swinging open as she pulled on it to reveal the bright night outside.
The girl didn’t know how long she had slept, it felt like a long time, but daylight had not shown itself yet. A draft of warm air, but fresh at least, came in through the window filling the room. Her hair tangled from the night's sleep blew back gently past her shoulders. Esper leaned forward, feeling the breeze against her face, looking out of the window. The room looked out to the left side of the building, down a road she hadn’t seen before, another one of the bridges leading across to another mountainous stone finger rising out of the abyss.
Sound was the first thing she noticed. The voices of men, women and children calling and crying to each other. The echoes of small talk and bartering intermingling with the laughter of the people standing before open wooden stalls that seemed to be selling food and drinks. People of all manner walked down the surprisingly busy side street, some stopping to chat and mingle with the others and some simply on their way to do business. Their clothes were all wildly colorful, but uniformly simple as she had seen the day before.
The women all seemed to wear bright, mono-colored clothing of all variety that she had never seen before; often together with short white or pale yellow cloaks that covered their shoulders and nape. The men wore less colorful outfits, their base choices often returning to the classic variations of ambitious shades of brown, gray or black. Though they too accessorised. Many wore different shawls of a loose, flowing material, which shared the same color palettes as the womens. Of course there were exceptions, men and women in robes and pants or other clothes that were simply more suited to labor in.
That wasn’t including the men and women she saw walking by every now and then through the crowd, wearing their dark blue metal chest plates, each of them lugging around one of the giant metal shields. Some with more gusto than others. Esper wasn’t sure how long she stood there, watching the people walk by and interact with each other and the world around them, but she was lost in captivation of the new sight for a time. Her eyes darted from one person to the next, observing and watching them with keen interest. Though the feelings of uncertainty and fear still filled her, as her mind raced back to memories of the other town she had been in.
With every second that passed, she felt something well up higher and higher in her core. An urge, a desperate want to get out there and to see the world up close for herself. To see the people and the things they were looking at in person and not from a window, and for the first time, to be a part of it herself. She turned around and hobbled back towards the foot of the bed, her leg hurt a lot less already. The ointment the tall woman had spread onto it the day before and a good night's sleep together were tools that her still young body had put to good use.
Esper unfolded the robe-satchel and looked at her possessions. Her little torn bag with the stone knife still inside of it by some feat of fortune, the mask, the jar, the lantern and the satchel with the little metal things. Grabbing the jar with both her hands, she held it under her arm and twisted the lid off, the room filling with a familiar deeply heavy scent, to which her stomach responded immediately, craving food. All of the stew from last night burnt off. She dipped her fingers into the mixture several times, scooping out large globules and eating them cold. It was thick and congealed and it made her a bit thirsty with the greasy feeling it left in her throat. But it was as rich and savory as before and filled her with a deep contentedness while eating it.
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Once she had her fill, Esper screwed the lid back on and set it back down on the pile, atop the unfolded, much too large robe. Grabbing her old dress, she threw it over herself and went out to the door and pulled the table back towards the window, once more it screeched as she pushed it over the stone floor. Once she reached the window she took a last look outside and grabbed the handle to shut it tight. Esper walked to the door, still trying to not put too much weight on her bad leg and grabbed hold of the key still in the lock.
With a sharp metallic ‘click’ it snapped to the right as she turned it. Pulling the key out of the lock, she grabbed the handle of the door and pulled it open. Somewhat nervously, the girl glanced out into the hallway, there was nobody there. There was however, something down at her feet. Looking down at it, she saw a slip of tea yellow paper, with something written on it. Bending, she grabbed it and brought it close to her face. Her eyes went up and down, tracing the two lines of symbols on the paper, but she couldn’t make heads or tails of most of it. She frowned somewhat confused.
Closing the door behind herself, she locked it again and placed the key into the inside pocket of her dress, her fingers grazing the cool necklace as she did so. The girl went down the stairs, making a point to hop on one foot. She stopped when she reached the third to last step down. Then with a big leap she jumped down and landed on the ground floor with a smile.
“Full of energy are we? You sure slept long enough.”
Esper looked to the side into the large open room. Aline sat at a table, leaning back on a chair with a small book in her hands.
“Good morning,” said Esper, somewhat uncertainly to the woman.
“Good morning,” replied Aline, reaching over to the table. “Get cleaned up girl, I’ve bought some proper clothes for you.”
Esper looked down to her dress. “I like my dress.”
“You look like an urchin, if you want to work here you need to look the part.”
“What’s an urchin?”
The woman rolled her eyes “Did you not see my note?”
“Mm!” said Esper, holding out the paper “I couldn’t read it.”
“Can’t you read?”
“I only ever read some of mama's book, but it had a lot of pictures.” Esper looked down at the note, a realization coming to her. She held the note out to the woman “You can draw a picture on this if you want! I can read that!”
The woman tapped the side of her head with her finger, her feet still up on the table. “Are you touched, girl?”
“No, I’m witchblood.”
“I didn’t mean that kind of touched.”
“What?”
Aline leaned her head back and groaned obnoxiously, her long hair dangling back off the chair behind her. “Go back upstairs, to the door straight at the end. It's the washroom, your new clothes are there. Get washed up and put them on.” Aline shushed the girl away, waving her hand towards her and picked her book back up to continue reading. Esper stared at her for a moment, then turned to stare back up the stairs that she had just come down. “Okay!” she replied and on one leg, hopped up the steps, wishing that she could fly. Aline’s gaze rose to look at the girl, before going back to her book.
Esper reached the top of the stairs now once more and hobbled down to the door at the end of the small hallway. It swung open inward with a gentle creaking, as she turned the handle. Inside was a small room with another window much like the one in her own room. Inside the room was a basin filled with water; another sigil carved in the stone above it, just as with the basin below in the kitchen. It wasn’t active now though. A small stool sat next to the basin and on it lay a small colorful bundle.
Curious, she went over to it and lifted it up, her fingers pinching and running over the cloth. The material was as soft and as smooth as her blanket, sliding between her fingers with little effort. It was thin and airy and smelled deeply of a scent she couldn’t quite identify, but didn’t find entirely unpleasant. As she lifted it up higher, the cloth below resting on the stool began to unfold, showing the rest of the garment. It was a dress, cut similar to her own in a sense. The material had a pale mauve color, that reminded her of the purple of Deryk’s robe, but without the ornate frills on the ends. The straps were broader and not knotted and torn like hers.
Raising the garment sideways, prying open the neck area she looked inside to see how big the pocket was. To some confusion however, she quickly noticed that there was no pocket to be found. Surely there was a mistake? Where would she put her things? Turning the dress around a few times and examining it from every side, she quickly resigned however, that there just weren’t any pockets. She scratched her head in thought, she would have to fix her pouch then, so she could wear it on her belt.
Below the dress, still on the stool, were several undergarments and a cloak similar to the ones she had seen the women outside wearing. It was short with the color of a pale, winter-sun yellow. Looking closely at it, she saw a thick white thread dotting the ends, weaving around in a decorative pattern of shapes and waves. Esper smiled, very happy with these new things. She made a note to thank the woman when she went back down, but first set everything down and turned to the basin.
Stepping forward towards it, she dipped a hand into it, the water was nicely cool in contrast to the humid air. Taking off her old dress, she raised her bad leg and lowered it into the water, following then with the other. The girl sunk herself down into the basin, the water rising up to her chin as she leaned back against the wall. The cold water felt refreshing against her skin and she lowered herself further down into it, holding her breath as she rubbed her body and hair beneath the surface. Something that bothered her though, was that it wasn’t a flow of water like her old river, rather just the stagnant basin.
But that was okay for now, she thought as she weaved her fingers through her tangled hair, undoing the mess it had become overnight; her mind still racing with excitement about exploring this new place.