1st Day of Autumn, 508 AV Minerva Agatha Zipporah stepped off the ship, her brown eyes scanning the city without a clue what to do now. She had spent weeks travelling here, and was only just getting started. She'd left Sunberth to see the world, and, well, this was just one part of the world. But it sure was a pretty one. She wandered down from the docks, not even noticing as she bumped into several people here and there. She couldn't take her eyes off the buildings. Everything was so beautiful, so artful... not at all like the drab, functional buildings of Sunberth. The buildings looked as if they had been painted right onto the landscape by an artist's brush. It was unlike anything she'd ever seen before. Then she finally noticed the people. Such beautiful people. So many women... barely any men. That was fine by her. She rubbed at her neck, still a bit sore after weeks of healing. The bruises had faded, but sometimes it still hurt to move. She shook her head and dismissed the thought. That was the past. It didn't matter. What mattered was where she went from here. Of course, 'where she went from here' didn't quite want to make it far past the docks. She was enraptured by the house at the end of the harbor, and just stood there staring at it. The architecture, the painting, the flow of beautiful people going inside and out. It almost didn't seem real. It had to be real, right? She walked up to the building and laid her fingers against the wall. It was smooth, and clean, and painted in blue, green, and pink. No rot. No splinters. No filthy, mud-covered streets. No sound of distant crying. No men who looked like they'd as soon stab you as look at you. Staring at the mural painted on the front of the building, Minerva began to cry. |