Solo Stumbling Around

[Caela Dorin]

61st Summer 514AV

Wandering around Sunberth with no particular destination in mind wasn't always the best idea. If you looked like you had a purpose, you were usually safe enough, or as safe as anyone in Sunberth could be. If you looked like you had no idea where you were going then you marked yourself as a target for thieves to see. Caela didn't have any place in mind that she wanted to go but she wasn't obvious about it, striding through the streets at an easy pace and with purpose. The dancer was restless as she waited for when it was time to go to work but she wasn't in the mood for going to one of her usual haunts. She had bells to kill but the young woman had no idea how to kill them. So she walked.

There were many streets, side streets and alleys in the city. The young woman was familiar with many of them. There were some places unknown to Caela because there were some places that she knew better than to explore. Some were notoriously dangerous (more so than usual anyway), some held strange reputations but there were also some that the blonde had never been interested in exploring.

Her feet followed more familiar streets without her guidance, heading for places that she hadn't walked in years. There were some places that she considered visiting, even if only to see if the rumours about them were true. Her feet could carry her to any of them but there were some that she wondered about the wisdom of visiting. Some of the rumours, if proven to be true, could result in her death or her receiving a serious injury. There was one that might be possible to visit safely though: Stumble Alley.

It's only really dangerous at night but it's day now so I'll be fine. Plus it's usually drunks that disappear down there, she told herself. It seemed a good argument but yet there was a part of her that was anxious at the idea of going there all the same. It did have a sinister reputation after all.

Oh buck up! It's Sunberth. It has always been dangerous. There are lots of bad places but that hasn't stopped me before and I'm still in one piece.

Caela wasn't going to be a coward. She had to prove that to herself, prove that she wasn't truly scared of a little alley just because of its reputation. Her course switched to that direction, aiming herself towards a place that she wasn't eager to reach. The prospect filled her with nervous excitement as she imagined what she might encounter in Stumble Alley. Would there be anything to see? Would she truly be safe under Syna's gaze or would she vanish like those under Leth's light? She had no idea.

Maybe there's something down there that those rumours help to keep a secret and I'll find out what it is. The thought sent a thrill of expectation through her. She would find out when she got there.

Word Count508 words

[Caela Dorin]

61st Summer 514AV

x
There was nothing sinister though in the appearance of the alley's entrance. It looked like any other street in Sunberth. The ground was cobbled but not as worn down as other more frequented areas of the city. The only other difference was that there wasn't anybody in it that she could see. It was completely deserted. Aside from those things the young woman wouldn't have thought there was anything strange about it. There were no scary monsters with big teeth ready to jump out and devour her. There were no mercenaries, thieves or rapists to cause harm to her either. In fact it looked perfectly safe, safer than other good parts of the city.

Maybe that's a sign that it actually is dangerous. They say that looks can be deceiving. The young woman shook her head at her own contradictory thoughts. She was getting jumpy over nothing. There was absolutely nothing there. Maybe it's not worth checking out then, she thought but found herself frowning. Why was she being so inconsistent today. One moment she was convincing herself to go in, the next she was convincing herself to do the opposite. Caela was certainly conflicted about it.

The dancer took one final glance behind her to make sure nobody saw her enter Stumble Alley before advancing down it slowly at first but picking up speed as she got in further. Once down it she decided that it was more of a street than an alleyway. It was no simple path between one street and another. There was a shop or two and what appeared to be a tavern but the place was fairly quiet despite the presence of the businesses. There were buildings here that looked as if nobody had lived in them for years. There were in a serious sate of disrepair with their damaged doors and windows and a smell of dampness escaping from their interiors. Caela didn't venture into any of them though. The emptiness of the place was starting to give her a strong feeling of foreboding. Perhaps she had been too quick to judge the place safe. Her instincts were telling her to run, her skin prickling as goosebumps formed but her brain hadn't come to a decision yet. She tried to push it off as just simple paranoia.

"They're 'ere! They're 'ere! Ga an' coin, missus?"

The voice seemed to appear from nowhere, loud and gruff. After the silence that seemed to be normal in this place, it was an unwelcome shock. It made her scream, a high sound that finished as abruptly as it started. The appearance of the owner of the voice elicited another shriek from her lips and a hasty reversal of her steps.

Her terror addled brain first though that this was the monster who had made people disappear. When the initial shock passed however, she was able to run back over his words and sigh with relief. It was only an old beggar. There was nothing dangerous or intimidating about him, he had merely startled her which had sparked her fear. He was no threat to her although the 'they' that he spoke of gave her pause for thought.

"No, I haven't any coin on me. Who's coming though?" she asked him, her voice anxious. She didn't want to have a run in with multiple dangerous individuals if that's what they were, which was likely. The old didn't seem to be interested any more. He merely grunted and shuffled away to the side of the street muttering to himself although the words were loud enough to reach her ears.

"No coin. No go. Me an' me ol' cloak, dat's all."

The dancer stared after him, frowning at his nonsensical words. He must be mad, she concluded, no doubt listening to voices in his head or seeing imaginary figures. That was what Caela saw as madness. What if there was a 'they' coming and what if they were dangerous? Was she mad for contemplating continuing onwards? She was here now and she'd made it this far so why not go on? All she had to do was continuing walking into the maze of buildings that were opening up and she might come across something more interesting than a mad old beggar man.

Word Count712 words

[Caela Dorin]

Caela kept walking. Stumble Alley led into a whole new section of the city. She hadn't expected it to open up into so many shadowy streets, presenting her with a veritable maze of places to explore. That didn't mean that she wasn't presented with more of the same thing that she had seen on first stepping in. There were more dilapidated buildings, some of them in a worse condition than ones she'd already seen. The little narrow streets and alleys were still quiet, only a hint of a swishing cloak or a flash of movement told her that there was anyone there at all. All she caught of people were glimpses, disappearing in through doors or around corners and these were so few and far between that she began to wonder if it was her imagination. She'd always been used to the hustle and bustle of the city, its denizens always on the move incessantly during the day. The night was a different story although it depended on the area. She was certain that it was still day though so she could only guess that the Alley's reputation kept most people at bay.

If she did indeed glimpse people then they were probably people with reason to be here. People who might be hiding here (it was certainly a good hiding spot), doing business, and shady dealers and the like. The only thing that had brought her here was nosiness. The dancer didn't think that that was a valid reason. She'd be all right though. It didn't look as if anyone would stop her and ask her her business. She'd be left in peace.

There were so many twists to this place that she could understand how someone might disappear. To get lost here would be an easy thing and such a predicament would make someone an easy and an obvious target to anyone who knew their way around the place. At night time, anyone wandering down here would be like an unsuspecting fly zooming into the spider's web. They might try and get away, twisting and turning themselves around but eventually the predator would come to them and then their struggles would come to an end. Caela didn't particularly like spiders but she could imagine the human equivalent of them hiding away somewhere in one of these buildings and emerging when there victims approached. Freezing in her tracks, she peered in through the shattered window of the nearest building, half expecting to see a silhouette of a figure within. Her metaphor was probably all too accurate she realised and it was a thought that made her shudder. Far safer to be here in the day. Far more chance of tearing through the web instead of being caught in it.

Shuddering at the idea, she continued on in spite of her thoughts. These "spiders" probably didn't come out in the day, after all she'd never heard of anyone vanishing during the day. Admittedly though she'd never heard of anyone wandering in here during the day but that didn't mean that it didn't happen and that they emerged safe and sound afterwards. That's what she told herself anyway. Whether it was actually true or not was something that would remain a mystery to the dancer.

There was a chance that she was lost, or rather wasn't sure of the way back which was pretty much the same thing but she didn't want to panic herself. The obvious solution was to ignore the fact. It seemed like an excellent idea to move deeper into the maze and deny that she might not leave it then get out when she might still have a chance. Denial wasn't really cutting it. Anyone watching her would have seen how twitchy she'd become, glancing every few ticks in a different direction, hands moving to flatten clothing and hair often. Maybe she should find someone and ask them to help her get back.

I might as well save myself some time and yell that I'm the perfect target, she told herself. No, she wouldn't ask but maybe she should go back. Just turning around would make her stand out but if she could go in somewhere and then walk out again... Her eyes sought some sort of business. They weren't a regular occurrence this far in, which made sense because they wouldn't have attracted the custom. Still, she hoped that there would be one somewhere. Surely people came down here for something.

After a chime, she came across what appeared to be two such places right across from each other. One she wasn't so sure about. There was something that marked it out as different but she wasn't so sure that it was indeed a business of some sort. She paused in front of it. There was a door frame but no door and not a lot going on inside. There was nothing in the room at all of interest except another doorway. It was probably abandoned. That option out, she turned her attention to the building across from it. It wasn't in a good state but it hadn't fallen into as terrible a state of disrepair as the buildings beside it. Presumably someone looked after it. Stepping to the door, she pushed it open and peered in side.

It was lit inside but it was lamp light that illuminated the interior as opposed to Syna. The next thing she noticed was its contents and its smell. It smelled musty, her entry offering a gust of fresh air to the enclosed space. The reason for it might have been explained by the books. Caela had seen books before. Not many and only newly made ones for writing in. There were books that came full of words already but she hadn't seen them before. Not that it made any difference to her of course. After all she couldn't read. These books were different though. They seemed older. The covers were worn and dusty and when she flicked through one she found the ink faded and the pages themselves seemed delicate. It was silent in here too, somehow quieter than outside. It was more like sound was being sucked away in here, loud and then echoing quickly into oblivion like the sound of her footsteps.

"Did you want help with something?"

Word Count1056 words

[Caela Dorin]

The place had been so quiet, seemingly so deserted that she hadn't expected anyone to be here. At least, she would have expected to hear the sound of footsteps approaching to give her some warning but it hadn't happened. The book she was holding slipped through her fingers in her fright and she had to grasp at it in the middle of its descent in order to catch it before it hit the floor. It was old an if it was dropped then it would likely have been damaged. She imagined that that would have gotten her into trouble. Someone had gathered these books here for a reason after all. If it was a shop and she was caught doing damage to the book then she would have had to pay for it and Caela knew that books weren't cheap.

Sure enough when she recovered enough to look in the direction that the voice had come from, she found a woman standing there with an expression that said she was none too pleased with the near drop. It apparently didn't matter that nothing would have nearly happened to the volume if she hadn't snuck up behind the dancer. It'd be a good idea to clear this up before the woman got angry with her. "Uh sorry. I didn't hear you come up behind me. You startled me and I almost... sorry. I'll just um..." The young woman returned the book to its place before she could put it in any more danger.

The other female's face hadn't softened much but it had softened ever so slightly so that was a good sign. She was probably all right then. Obviously she must have realised that it was partly her fault. There was a silence between them then, a silence that Caela felt that she had to fill. It was like she was being silently judged and she wanted to take this woman's mind off of what she had almost done.

"I was just looking around. I've never seen so many books before and none like these so I was just... curious. I'm not trying to cause trouble or anything," the dancer continued, anxiously watching the other's face. She assumed that this was a shop but she couldn't imagine it being in any way profitable. There weren't likely to be many customers both due to location and what was for sale. It was probably one of those places that few people knew anything about but those few were probably very well off. She couldn't see gangs buying expensive old books though so custom was probably very infrequent. At last the shop owner spoke again, making Caela breathe a sigh of relief.

"They are here for browsing although I usually like people to treat them with respect. These books don't leave though. If you want one then I'll make a copy of it for you. For the right coin of course," she explained. The dancer looked at her strangely. Browsing? Like at the market? Was she saying that she was free to look through them? That it didn't cost anything to look at them? This was Sunberth after all and it had standards, or at least things that you could expect. This wasn't one of them.

"Wait let me get this straight. I can look through these and it won't cost me anything," Caela said slowly, waiting for the woman to tell her that she's gotten it wrong. "Yes, that's right. That's what a library is for. If you want to take the books away, or keep them then I'll have to make you a copy," came the reply. Library. This was a new word for the Sunberthian. She hadn't heard it before and she didn't know what it meant exactly. What was it? A place where you could look at books for free? Was that a useful thing? Perhaps if you could read and you wanted to get information about something but what information could you get from books?

"Library. That's what this place is, a library? What's the point of it exactly?" The librarian was looking at her oddly now. Maybe she thought it was a strange question to ask.

"You can't read, can you?"

The dancer hesitated. "No, I can't."

"Then you can't understand just how much you can learn from these books. You can learn about other places, other races, new skills, things like that." This answer was unexpected. Could someone really learn that much from books? Could those incomprehensible squiggles really tell someone who could read them that much? There couldn't be that much information available and for nothing as well. Free information. Usually if she wanted to learn about other places and peoples, Caela had to hang around the Docks in the hopes of overhearing sailors' talk. If only she could read then she could learn anything that she wanted. But she couldn't read and she wasn't going to learn how to anytime soon. She took in the number of volumes and the wealth of knowledge that surrounded her and for the first time felt that her illiteracy was a curse, a shame.

Sighing softly, she nodded in response to the librarian. She could definitely see the point now. "Thank you for telling me but I'd best be going now." Making a hasty exit from the shop, she found herself retracing her steps from earlier without a second thought. The dancer was too caught up in her thoughts to even notice at first. She was thinking about all the things that she could learn. There were only two ways that she could learn so much information herself and both would take time. Either she could go travelling and learn about things that way, which would be dangerous and expensive, or she could learn to read. She couldn't say which would be more difficult to do though. How would she find someone in Sunberth who could teach her to read? Someone who wouldn't look down on her or charge her outrageous prices for it. She had no idea.

Word Count1012 words

[Khida]

Thread Award

Caela Dorin

Skill	Points
Observation	+2
Subterfuge	+1

• Books: repository of knowledge
• Stumble Alley: a maze easy to get lost in
• Stumble Alley: quiet, derelict, and foreboding
• Subterfuge: pretending a destination in order to pass unremarked
• The Library: a place to look at books without cost

Notes

A fun little exploration scene. Caela has a tendency to get into things and then think twice about it, doesn't she?

If you have any questions or concerns regarding your grade, please let me know. Also, please edit your request to show this thread has been graded.