"Uza!"
"Uzaaaa!"
"Uzaa!"
Three voices called a name amid the chill air with both hands cuffed around their lips. It was early. Too early for such nonsense. Still, minds always wandered when idle, and each head fell so until worry was found below the coat of night and roof alike. "Uza! You better hope I'm not the one that finds you, you damned brat!"
•
The bell rang, again, and again. Stirring up folk within seconds as expected. Nostalgia bended quickly in the girl as the crowd formed. Identical to the past, where she had fell lost inside, panicking while being bumped up and down the filled road like a damn twister cup. Innocent times, they were, but unlike others I do not wish for them again. Now I watch the people run amok below, now the breeze can be felt against my cheek, now I know when chaos fills ground, and when it does I climb high. That is a lesson, among plenty I am not willing to give up.
Get out the window, Angie always yelled when she was finally found. Get... out... the window... The girl's eyes moved left to right as the road of mud and stone were filled by the weight of humans. Those days had long since past. She would not be found today.
"Do you want to see?" Above, where her legs wavered through air and bottom to stone outside the decent sized shape, only the calm breeze replied to her words. "Yes, I think I will come with you," she replied as she pushed off the stone into a squat position, sure that her head would not meet the shape's outline like so many times before. Reaching outside and upward, she pulled herself to the building's roof with little effort, dusting herself off as her legs began in a casual stride.
Pine green eyes found the cloudy dark sky, it always felt good up here, or anywhere above ground really. She'd tried countless times to bring Serah or Moot, but they claimed the cold was too much. A odd excuse, it had never gotten too chilly for her in however many years since she'd found interest in heights. But if they declined such a request, then there was no chance for stubborn Angie to step foot on the dying brown metal roofs at the city's center. Though it is well known that she is afraid of heights. Sometimes Uza wondered how she even got around, the woman is a good amount more then six feet, blissful ignorance she supposed.
The girl's legs slowed as the building's footing reached it's end not long after starting her little walk, luckily it held the perfect view. Below, the crowd running parallel to her own steps had calmed also, though in number they multiplied after meeting another body of limbs at a intersection of streets, and at it's head, past the side walk was the Great Estate. A building made of pure white gold, and protected by two statues side by side behind the front gate and brick walls, planted firmly within healthy green grass. The property held a aura of beauty unmatched in the city, a fact even Uza could not deny as she found a seat at the roof's edge above the anxious crowd.
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"Excuse me." The ramblings of lips below slowed as a figure appeared upon the building's upper floor patio. The man was slim head to toe, with a eye glass upon one eye and a large scroll lying within his elbow. He was around the same floor height as Uza, perhaps even eye level, though the amount of distance between the two might as well have left him blind as far as having a chance to spot her. "As the law of courtesy demands, all will be silent before the lord's words!" he said while pulling the scroll in hand and unrolling it's contents. The man had quite the voice, no hint of magic or machine aided him, yet his words seemed to reach all with ears nearby.
The girl glanced low again, at the many faces new to her in this wide yet small city. All were quiet now, waiting for the words of their ruler, their fill-in kings. A pretender pretending to be a pretender, by the gods. One way or another, her eyes drifted to those standing in the corners of the crowd, from this height they stood out sorely, each one masked by steel with a pole arm in hand. They are the pretender's soldiers. Though which one, Uza was still uncertain. Some time ago she had witnessed some foolish souls attempt a protest during one of the lord's gift in words. Their fates were nothing more then a demonstration for the then newly made rule: The law of courtesy. Or in better words: mind your tongue, or lose it.
"My friends. My family. Thank you for taking the time out of your day to visit this great memento of our home, our city, Jahrin, and listen to my humble words." The pretender held a fist to his lips as a cough took hold momentarily. "Today, change runs wild through our air. Today, our order grows stronger!" Below, shouts and applause sung to the heavens. The speaker only smirked before continuing, holding a hand up to call for quiet as he continued, but Uza shared no such emotion.
"Fortunes and accomplishments have cursed our family greatly in the last few months since you heard my words. Many of these feats you will hear of soon, but for now! Gather your coin, prepare your schedules, festivities will find our streets in the coming days!"
As expected, the crowd responded in kind to his words with volume and energy, despite whether it be genuine or imperative. Either way, Uza had lost her interest entirely as she found her way back to her feet. "And here I thought something interesting would happen." With a sigh, her green eyes found the dreary grey sky again. Dawn was ending already. Which means... Uza shook her head. The thought of returning home gave her a headache. She had yet to return since sunlight and it was already morning. The girl, with reluctance, turned her back to the pretender and his pretend king's words, the crowd, and soldiers to find her way back. But while doing so, something interesting-or rather frivolous caught her eye.
A red slip of paper carried past her sight by the wind. She watched as it slowly made progress, and before it fell out of reach, she plucked it from the air, and eyed low as she opened her fist hip-level. Something in her rattled after reading it's words, as if a sixth sense came alive, echoing the warning.
Betrayal is near
Prepare
Uza swallowed as she reformed her fist, and placed the crumpled message in her pocket as her legs began to push forward again as planned.