Vivien and the Scoria

Chapter 5: Complications

So, another edit happened, and the story got away from me again. Many thanks to @leafshadowchan for inspiring me to continue editing this story.

On with the story...

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

           

Complications

4th Year of Lord Tante's rule

Path to Aernir

Mount Api

5th day hour

Before I could investigate the figure standing to my right, it disappeared into thin air. I shook my head and rubbed my eyes, convincing myself that the figure was a figment of my imagination due to my fatigue. After running a hand through my hair, I strolled towards the bakery, checking that I had enough coins in my pocket to pay for a pastry.

There it was again – the white figure flickered in and out of sight just down the road, always to my right. I tried to ignore it, tried to convince myself that it wasn't actually there, but it kept returning. Finally, I got frustrated and ran towards where it had last appeared. It flickered up again, still no closer than before, and I ran after it on a twisting route through the residential streets of Mount Api.

Minutes later, after I had slowed down slightly to catch my breath, it flickered in and out of sight multiple times in one spot, and I was able to get closer to it, almost close enough to identify it. It was certainly human shaped, though male or female, I could not tell. I got within a body length of it before it disappeared completely and I was left standing at the end of a street that I had never seen before now.

"Uhhh..." I mumbled to myself, puzzled. Swivelling on my feet to assess the houses and street around me, I found nothing out of the ordinary that could have made whatever the white figure was, lead me here. The houses were of the typical Api style: low, one story buildings with red tiled rooves and two chimneys, and an assortment of hanging metal wind chimes hanging from the eaves of the veranda. The street was paved with basalt stones, grooves from carts clearly visible from centuries of travel. Nothing strange at all.

I took a couple of steps forward, to see if I was missing anything. And I was. Just around the corner of the last house on the street was a small yet pretty lookout point over the rest of the city. As I walked over to regard the view before me, the sun rose over the houses behind me, illuminating the city in a magnificent gold sunrise. Smoke from fireplaces in houses that were sprinkled down the mountain rose in little columns in the sunlight, and metal ornaments twinkled from their verandas.

From here, the main path down to the city centre of Aernir was clearly visible. I could see various merchants travelling down with horse-drawn carts filled with goods for the Aernir market. I could also see a slight figure with white-blonde hair walking up the path, a large, cloth wrapped bundle in their arms. At the point where they were on the path, I knew that they would have had to have been walking for hours, regardless of where in Merasa they came from.

As I observed them, I noticed the white figure I had followed to this point appear momentarily beside the white haired person, flashing in and out of sight. Did the figure want me to meet this person? It wouldn't be the craziest thing I'd ever done, though it would be pretty high up there. I sighed to myself. Here goes nothing then.

With that thought, I leapt over the railing of the lookout and rolled down the grassy slope for several metres. Once I had stopped rolling, I stood up and dusted myself off while looking around suspiciously to check that no-one had seen me. It hadn't been my most dignified descent down the mountain, and I had desire to answer to Lady Mara about leaping over railings again. I hadn't had to answer to her about that for years now, and I had no desire to do so again any time soon.