Alaia decided it was time for her to leave the apartment by herself. So far she'd only either gone to the office, or to buy some groceries, or been with Tove somewhere in Old Town. She had been scared she would get lost and couldn't find her way back, and that no one would understand her so she couldn't ask anyone for help. Or that she would be able to ask for help in Fjellish (it wouldn't be that hard, she just had to ask for Old Town, and once she got there she would find her way again), but wouldn't understand the answer. That was probably the more likely scenario. There were a lot of ways to say the same thing, she had learned since moving here. Often she might be able to say something in Fjellish within the very limited vocabulary she had, but when someone else was saying the very same thing to her, she didn't understand a thing, because they would use a slightly different sentence structure or slightly different words she simply didn't know.
But she would have to learn. She couldn't spend her entire time at the office, at home, or with someone. Being able to move alone beyond a walking distance of her building was a thing she would have to do. So she hopped on a tram she was relatively sure would take her to the right place and headed for one of the harbors of the city. There was an island about a half an hour ferry ride away with an old castle on it. For hundreds of years it was used as a stronghold and first line of defense of the city, but now it had been so long since Embärfjell's last war that it served as a tourist attraction, museum and public city park.
She had managed to get on the right tram, so changing to the right ferry was easy. And, to her surprise, since the ferry was also part of the public transport of the city, she didn't need to pay an additional fee for it, since she had already paid for the tram. She stayed on the deck despite the wind (she did now have heat-magic woven clothes, and a proper outer layer that kept the wind out, after all), to see what the city looked like from the sea. True, she had seen it already once as she arrived, but the ferry left from a different harbor than the one that the big, long-distance travel boat had docked, so it was a new point of view, if not a completely new sight.
Mr. Marqués had told her it was worth it going to see the place during the summer, but she had decided to give it a try in the winter too. And it was worth it. She spent half the day on the island, finding ancient hidden doors in the castle and marveling at how thousand-year-old furniture was still intact (though not to use anymore), or at the jewellery and other small artifacts in glass boxes that had been found all over the castle over the decades the museum had been there. Even though she had intentionally wanted to go out alone today, she still wished Tove was there with her.
She also wandered around the lands on the island outside the castle. She could imagine how beautiful it would be in the summer, when the trees had leaves and the green grass covered the ground instead of white snow. It was a sunny day, not too cold, and the snow-covered yard reflected the light from the low-hanging sun almost blindingly brightly.
She headed back towards the city as the sun began disappearing behind the horizon. She had seen enough of the island for now, and wanted to be back somewhere at least remotely familiar by the time it was completely dark. So it was another ferry ride. Another tram ride. She didn't head straight home. She took the tram to the market place, and got herself some more of those peppermint sweets. She had found she quite liked them.
From there she walked home. The way was already familiar. It was odd how fast the vastly unfamiliar became familiar. She got lost in her thoughts of what home actually is if you look at the definition closely, sucking on one of the peppermints she had just bought. It had a hint of lemon flavor in it mixed in with the mint.
Suddenly she became aware of... something. Something was odd. Something was different. It was a feeling in the air. It was a feeling in her ears. A difference in the pressure maybe? A little like she was underwater, except very different. And just like underwater, she realised she couldn't hear much more than the constant hum of her blood through her veins. There was something else, on the verge of her hearing, but she couldn't quite figure out what it was. Like a sound coming from somewhere so far away you couldn't quite be sure if you were actually hearing something or not.
She looked around, confused, and came face to face with a tram that was trying to slow down as fast as it could, but it wouldn't be fast enough. She barely dived out of the way, hitting her hand on the front of the tram. Through sheer luck she was able to not land on the arm in which something was clearly broken now. She rolled onto her back, panting, looking at the tram, whose nose came to rest three meters from where she had just been standing.
People had stopped to look. Someone had come to stand next to her, asking if she was ok. She was only remotely aware of whoever it was talking to her. She was staring at the wall of the tram. The tram driver was also coming out to talk to her.
What had just happened? She hadn't heard the tram coming, of course. But why? Her hearing was normal now. What had happened? Was there something wrong with her brain, her ears?
But no. It had been in the air. She didn't know what it was, but there had definitely been something in the air. It was magic, of some sort, but she didn't recognise the feel of it. It was something she had never encountered.
Someone helped her stand up. They asked about the arm she was holding. She said something about it probably being broken. She just stood there, staring at the tram, confused, until someone led her away.
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Sorry this is short. It's been kind of a busy weekend. I gotta go.
The topic for tomorrow is Road(s)
~matu
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