Among the Blades of Grass

Chapter 1: The Corner of The World

Pepper

I live in a quiet corner of the world, at least Ma and Pa tell me so. Only the three of us make up the population of our city. But, alas, we have veritably high walls! Two of them to be precise, big, white walls form a corner at the back of our city. Opening up the vast wilderness on the opposite corner. There is a thick forest full of dangers out there they say. My Ma and Pa always tell me to stay in the city because it is the only way they will know I am safe.
"Pepper!" The large voice of Pa was booming down into my well. I had been fashioning out this hole for quite a long time now. Living in the same city for eighteen years seems to afford one a lot of free time. "Pepper, get up here!" Pa repeated.
"Comin, Pa. I heard ya the first time. Whatcha want anyway?" I would rather stew in my hole and continue my work. I have been secretly mapping the outside areas of the city. Ma and Pa say they were born and raised here too, but they cannot have been the only ones here forever. Right?
"Quit'yur prostratin and get a scuttling to your mama. She got something she has to ask ya." I could feel a rising anxiety in my chest. Pep would never make a mistake! I told myself. I racked my brain at miles a minute trying to figure out how I had slipped up. Did Pep forget to recollect all of his markers? No, I definitely snagged each and every flag from my trail. Could Ma have found Pep's project far away? Ma would never stray that far into the forest without telling me though, she would not be able to tell me her last words if something happened. The Rocklands are far to the south, the route to them along the wall is quite treacherous— it made me shiver. Still, I hurried past Pa without another word; I was quick and nimble. Around a minute flat was all it took for me to hurry to my Ma's palace. Pep it's just her house. Shush, let a prince dream.
"Close the door, please." I did as she said, but she did not continue to speak. Her eyes drilled into my body, while she inspected me in entirety. "Care to explain this?" She said coldly. Ma laid a small yellow flag on the table. My heart sunk. Idiot. I was thorough, I was confident. Clearly not thorough enough, you might as well lock yourself in that hole now! "So Pepper, would you like to speak? Or are you just gonna stare off into space?" A pause happened and I said nothing still. "A nifty ladder I found out there, it was. Now tell me, who would I be lead to believe left that stuff there? Pa? Well— I asked him and he said no." Pa would never lie to her.
"What else do you want me to say?" I had been caught, at this point she was just waving it in my face saying— 'See how careless you were?'.
"I want to hear from your own mouth, how you have been lying to us. How you have been sneaking around trying to abandon our family. You don't think we have tried any of that?" She looked sincerely into my eyes.
"I was just..." she interrupted me before I could finish my thought.
"You just thought you knew best. Thought you knew how you could get out of our city. But, guess what? There is not one Pepper. The Walls are more than just the two you see beside you." I looked at the shiny, white walls behind her. She clearly held a certain favor for them to live next to them. "The further you venture, there are always more walls in the distance. You can see them can't you?" Tears had welled in her eyes. Years of grief palpable from her voice. I do feel bad, but also I want to know myself. Not just through what I am told. I deserve a solid visual explanation for the foundations on which my life is built, and if that explanation leads to the same answer Ma made— so be it.
"I want to know Ma. I want to prowl through the trees and live off the surroundings. I want to climb the Inferior Castle, and see what's at the top. I want to map each and every wall that does exist, and maybe then I could be satisfied. But there isn't anything to do, we farm for food and live simple, boring lives. I need something more." The tears had begun to silently drip, one at a time down her face. Classic slow crying. I felt a pang of guilt for making her cry, but knew she was probably playing it up to make me feel bad.
"Pep, you are capable but you are ditzy. Ignorant of the true dangers that lie ahead of you. I am prepared to let you go but you must learn and listen. You must be prepared, you understand? I cannot bear any more loss." She spoke without stutter or trouble from crying. The latter of which had begun to quicken. The floor was damp from her tears, the dirt to mud at her feet. "You may go. Please, speak with your Pa one your way back." With that I kissed her on the forehead, and exited her palace. Pep, it sounds like we have a blessing. I'm not sure that's entirely what happened, I wonder what Pa's opinion is. When has Pep ever cared about that old bag? At least he gives me the time of day to explain myself when I get into trouble. I walked slowly on my way back home, I knew that Pa would be waiting for me when I did get there.
Eyes glued to the sky I gazed up past the walls, past the overhanging greenery into the late day sun. Then a thought occurred to me. Pep, this greenery is hanging over the walls. Does this imply an even grander space on the other side? Now that I think about it there is a lot of weird things that have been happening more often. Loud noises like thunder, emanate from the other side of the wall. Thunder that repeats for what seems like hours on end. The North wall has always scared me quite a bit, so I have always steered clear of its mysteries. Even my own Ma's palace freaks me out, she's built it connected to both West and North Walls. Inevitably she lives among the thunder of the north and the howls of the south. The howl of some large beast looms beyond the imposing West Wall. Its presence was more scarce than the thunder, which was often a daily occurrence, but in turn, was far more terrifying. Pep, remembers. I remember, I do.
I was on the stretch of the West Wall heading south towards the Rocklands. There was what seemed to be a giant boulder— which was not necessarily strange, but was an unexpected sight. It was about ten times my size and was quite sturdy, still it was nothing compared to the size of the Inferior Castle. Maybe a fourth of the size. If even, but I inspected it thoroughly anyways. It was a dirt clearing that had no grass anywhere in sight— all dirt and a large wooden mass sticking through the ground and out again. It twisted and contorted in odd ways, it appeared to be wood after further evaluation. I took out my notebook and sketched some quick ideas of what I had seen. I walked around to the back of the boulder and discovered that at the back was a perfectly carved out stairway that lead to the top. Naturally I went up, my discovery was not the most interesting but it did confirm the layout of things. It was a very nice lookout point from the West Wall, you could see basically every nearby landmark from where I was standing.
To the South was the Rocklands, but it also contained what we called the Superior Castle. A structure of unimaginable size, it towered dizzyingly into the sky. It doubled even the ginormous walls that surrounded us. A massive roof, like the one on my mother's palace, lay slanted out over the walls. Off of the roof hung small metal rods. It became obvious from the boulder that the walls and the Superior Castle were one entity. There was also a structure just neighboring the Superior Castle to the North. It was mostly grey and black, but had no other defining features. Also an unknown. Beyond that was what seemed like a desert of some kind. Pa has told Pep some old tales. In the middle of the desert, there is a large tower that is too far away to make out in any detail. According to Pa it has been there since he was born and before his dad as well. If you could ever get close enough, you could see it glowing a red hue.
I stumbled back down the stairs with the beginnings of my aforementioned map and stabbed a little yellow flag into the ground at the base. I stared at it on my way back, wondering if anything else lie in between all of the landmarks. Or whether it could be just a couple days trip to any of the places. Hmm.