The Sky's Calling

Chapter One

The Rosebud Alley is a place nobody of any rank of nobility wants to be. Sure it has a pleasant sounding name, but that's the only pleasant thing about it.
I push open the door to the cheap, gross inn I was staying with a hearty shove. I stride out into daylight, getting strange glances as I flip my hood over my probably gross, unkempt curly hair. I walk around to the back of the building, disregarding the curious whispers that seem to follow me. I take a sharp turn further behind the surrounding buildings, ducking under a man swinging a mug full of ale. Sloshing it everywhere, it sprays all over my already dirty clothes.
"Great." I mumble, slightly angered at the drunk as I try to wipe off the liquid before it soaks in. Another turn and I'm soon in closer quarters with buildings than I would like. Squeezing my way past crates and barrels isn't really fun in already tight spaces. I hate small spaces, I whisper to myself as I shimmy past a stack of boxes.
A couple more turns and tight spaces and I pop out of the shadows into a bustling, back alley market full of scammers, ridiculous prices, and kleptomaniacs. I slow my pace to a little slower than a walk while striding inside a huge circle of at least 50 booths, looking for a weapons dealer. Suddenly, I'm grabbed by the shoulders. I panic and my thought process kind of shuts down defaulting to an attack stance. I jump back, fist pulled back ready to punch and my other arm bent in a defensive position but it's no threat, just a grabby salesman.
"Woah, calm down there!" The salesman pulls back, obviously startled. He steps away from me with his hands up. I'm not really intimidating, I assume, seeing as how he's nearly twice my size. Still, I put my arms down, folding them into a crossed position.
"What are you selling." I sigh. He gestures to a booth behind him. I has all sorts of stuff; pristine daggers and swords, steel armor, vials of who knows what, and a single navy blue crystal on a necklace. Immediately intrigued I give it a closer look, it's deep, deep blue flecked with white sparkles reminiscent of a starry night sky. It had a silver bail attaching the hexagonal crystal to a black cord-like chain. I quickly look away from it as I step towards the table to further inspect the weapons, there is no way I could afford that. After buying passage on that ship and the few nights I stayed that that disgusting, cheap inn, I only had 2000 stow. Working on farms across the countryside doesn't make you much stow. But I needed money if I was ever going to make it to Athos from Talmage in the south, which took me five years of hard farm work I'll have you know. I pick up a nice iron dagger with a leather wrapped handle and turn it around in my hands, inspecting the blade. The man, now behind the counter, sets a leather scabbard down in front of me.
"Free of charge with the dagger." I nod, placing the dagger on the table next to the scabbard.
"How much for the dagger?" He pauses in thought, most definitely wondering how he can rip me off. He shrugs.
"For you, sweet thing," I shudder. What a gross guy I think. "400 stow?" I shake my head.
"250." I barter, sassily placing my hands on my hips. He snorts.
"300." He puts his hands on the table, leaning forward slightly. I bit my lip, a bad habit of mine. The price was high but I was unarmed and he knew it. What scrawny girl would try to defend herself by punching a man over twice her size when she could use a weapon?
"275." He crosses his arms, visibly uncontent with the bargain I drove.
"285." He drew out the syllables for emphasis. He wouldn't budge on this price, I could tell. I furrow my brow, reaching for my coin purse in my cloak.
"Fine, 285 it is." I count to 100 before the necklace catches my eye again. I stop, staring at it and the way the early morning reflects off it so nicely. Soon, I get lost in the white, glimmering specks in the sea of deep, dark blue. My vision seems to tunnel and I feel almost a soul connection almost as if it was calling me. I need it. I convince myself. The salesman gestures impatiently for me to hand the money over.
"How much for the necklace?" The words escape my mouth, unprompted by my tongue. A sly grin crawls across his face.
"This is a rare stone, miss." He gingerly lifts the stone off it's display, letting the cord dangle off his palm. "Blue Goldstone, they call it." He closes his palm around it before setting it on the table in front of me. "2000." My jaw drops. I don't have that kind of money.
"1500." I demand. He shakes his head.
"2000. I won't take anything less." I finish counting out the gold and hand it over. I sheath the dagger and buckle the scabbard around my waist, the dagger hanging on my left so I can grab it with my right hand. I'm just about to walk away when I take one last glance at the necklace, What a shame.
Suddenly, my hand reaches out and snatches it off the table, against my will. Panicked and stunned, the salesman picks a dagger off the table. Run! I urge my body to motion, taking off, running behind the booth, passed the livid salesman. I dart into a small alley, the armed man close behind. I'm already out of breath but adrenaline keeps me running. My heart is beating so fast and my breath is so heavy I doubt I'm still alive. I run for so long, taking random turns to throw him off. I finally make it to the front of a building, I shove open the door and run around to the back of the building. I hear him shove open the door to the shop I'm supposedly in. I tip-toe around to the side of the shop and peer through a window. He's searching everywhere for me. I slouch against a wall, crouching below the window. I open my palm and there it is, the Blue Goldstone, in perfect condition, completely unharmed. I sigh and stuff it into my coin purse inside my cloak that drags on the ground when I walk because it's way too big for me.
I jog behind the building, out of the alleys into a small, neighborhood square type thing. I turn around checking to see he isn't following me while I trot out into the square. Not paying attention, I suddenly ram into someone. I whip around, my cape following me dramatically.
"Oh my. I'm so sorry." I stutter. "I wasn't looking and...oh my!" I look down and she's crouched down picking up flowers and placing them in a basket. I bend down and gingerly pick up the rest of them a deposit them into her wicker basket. I push myself back up off the cracked stone pavement as she pops up.
"It's fine. I wasn't paying attention." She flashes me a genuine smile.
"Nice flowers." I gesture to her lovely selection of wild flowers.
"Oh! Thanks! I picked them myself."
"Cool." I nod. We stand there. Suddenly I hear the voice I wanted to hear the least.
"That kid!" It's the salesman. I freeze and turn to the girl next to me whose eyes are wide in confusion and fear.
"He's after me." I mumble, flipping my hood up, eyes concentrated on the ground.
"Give me your cloak." She mumbles, reaching out her hand. I unclasp the clasp by my my collar and pull it off on to her arm. She quickly latches it on. I unhook the scabbard and slide the dagger in my waistband, untucking my extremely baggy shirt and pulling it over my dull, dirty grey pants. I pick up the basket of flowers and slide it onto my forearm. The unnamed girl grabs my shoulders and squares them with hers so my back is to the man after my life. I stare at her awkwardly. She has straight blonde hair the seamlessly flows just barely over her shoulders. I stare into her crystal blue eyes, cursing her luck with beauty. Cursing my dull brown hair and brown eyes. I've been staring too long, I look at the ground. Catching a glimpse of a simple green dress under my gross light brown cloak. The man walks past us, only a few measly feet away, shoving past people frantically searching for me. The girl grabs me by the arm and pulls me to the alley that I came from, back to the shop I led him into. The door is lighter than it was the first time I pushed it open. She whips me around.
"I'm Emeline. Pleasure to meet you." She sticks her arm out from under my cloak for a handshake. I meet her hand, and give it a good shake.
"Mae. And the pleasure's all mine." Suddenly a girl, looking roughly in her late teens pops out from the back room behind a counter. I take a quick look around, she brought me to a bakery.
"Hey, Emeline." The girl had a cropped bob of fiery red hair. "How'd flower picking go?" "Look at these!" Emeline reaches for a basket on her arm. She pales after grabbing an empty forearm. Panicked, I quickly pull the basket off my arm and hand it to the very stunned, Emeline. She immediately seems to thaw. Showing the lady, whom she's probably related, a beautiful yellow flower that I've never seen before.
"Who's this?" The lady asks politely. Emeline gestures to me.
"Oma, this is Mae." Turning to me she gestures to her relative. "Mae, this is my sister Oma." I nod and put my hand out for a handshake.
    "Pleasure to meet you, Oma." She shakes my hand daintily.
    "You as well." She smiles a very welcoming smile before going back to the kitchen behind the counter chalked full of delicious looking foods. I haven't had a good meal in days, I would kill for some bread that I couldn't kill a bird with.
    "This would be yours." She sets the basket on the floor and gracefully removes my cloak before handing it back to me. I pull my dagger out and refasten it around my waist after I clasp the cloak on, reaching for my coin purse to make sure everything it still there. I open the tiny string coin pouch and pull out the Blue Goldstone. I sigh, it's still intact.
"Why was that guy chasing you?" I sigh, I don't know whether to tell the truth or not. Will she even believe me?
"Do you believe in destiny?" Confused, she nods.
"Yeah, I guess so. Why?"
"Well," I start. "I was in the market, buying a dagger, when I suddenly reached out and grabbed this necklace," I dangle the stone from the cord. She lifts it in her palm with a gasp. I vaguely hear her mutter Goldstone. "And before I knew it I was running away from an armed man."
"So you stole it?" She moves her palm back to her side, causing the necklace to swing towards me.
"Basically." I stare at her, searching for disgust or alarm on her face, but instead it lights up with intrigue.
"Awesome." She whispers with a smirk. I clasp it around my neck at it sends a warm feeling through my whole body, like it belongs there. I disregard it, and soon forget the cozy sensation.
"I haven't seen you around," Emeline speaks up. "And I know pretty much everyone, so are you new?" I nod.
"Yeah, came from Eriway." She looks confused.
"Never heard of it." She shakes her head.
"It's outside of Astance." Her eyes light up.
"You came all the way across the sea! What's it like over there? Is everyone weird? Are the houses made out of sand like the rumors?" Overwhelmed with questions my eyes widen.
"Ummm," I stutter. "Foggy, humid, and rural. No and some near the coast are." She nods.
    "Where are you staying?" She cocks her head to the side questioningly. A crappy inn. I think to myself.
    "A crappy inn." I end up saying outloud.
    "With your parents?"
    "No..." I rub the nape of my neck. "They could only afford passage for one and they wanted me to have a good life, get a good job and stuff." She nods understandingly.
    "Well, you're welcome to stay here, we've got an empty room if you want it." I grin from ear to ear.
    "Really?"
    "Yeah." She nods matching my grin.
    "You don't mind having a kleptomaniac in your house?" She laughs.
    "Not at all." She shakes her head. "I'll help you grab your stuff and you can move in." I blush.
    "This's all I've got."
    "Really?" I nod sheepishly. She only shrugs before grabbing my arm and dragging me behind the counter and into the kitchen.
    "Oma!" She yells.
    "What?!"
    "Mae is living with us because she doesn't have anywhere to stay!"
    "Oh." Oma pops her head out from around a corner on the opposite side of the room.     "How much rent you gonna pay?" I blush.
    "Uhhh." I stammer.
    "I'm only joking." She winks before returning to work washing pots and pans.     "That's fine, we can always use an extra hand around here."
    "Come on!" Emeline drags me around to the left and up a tiny steep stair case. She leads me to a room in a hall with four doors, I'm assuming 3 bedrooms and who knows what. She pushes open a door at the very end of the hallway.
    "This is my bedroom," She turns around to face to other side of the hall, pulling me with her. "And that's Oma's bedroom." She turns 90 degrees, facing the end of the a hall with a door that's a slightly different color wood than the walls and the rest of the doors. She grows solemn.
    "This is where my parents stay when they visit, I'm told to never go in there." We stand there staring at the mysterious door.     "Anyway!" Emeline pipes up, seemingly unconcerned with what might be behind that door. Me other the other hand, I'm always wary of secrets.
    "And this," She pushes open a door to the left of her room. "Will be your room!" She smiles and pulls me inside.
She plops herself on the twin bed that's against the right wall and I take in the room. On the opposite wall to the door there is a book shelf, a wooden chest, and a nightstand pushed up next to the bed. I turn to my left. The left wall has only a table/desk with one chair and a window pouring late afternoon sun into the creaky wooden room. I make my way to the bookshelf packed with books and begin sifting through the unorganized piles laying on each shelf.
    "Do you like books?" Emeline sits on the bed leaning against the wall. "I never cared for them so I put all mine in here. You're welcome to read whatever you want!" Her face lights up as she pushes herself off the bed. "Can I show you my favorite thing in the whole world?" Confused, I answer.
    "Uhhh, sure." Then, my arm is grabbed and I'm pulled out of the room, down the stairs, out of the shop and into the square. Emeline pauses for a second scanning the massive crowds gathered around, talking amongst themselves. She pulls me by the hand through the people, weaving between people with a dismissive "Excuse me."
We find our way to the city gates with a community stable right outside the town limits. She beams.
    "I love my horse. Here she is!" She drags me to a beautiful arabian, sleek, brown with black mane.
    "She's a really nice horse!" I exclaim, wondering how she afforded it, considering, I'm assuming, she doesn't live under her parents anymore.
    "Her name is Breeze and she's my pride and joy." She grabs a dirt cheap looking saddle off a nearby fence and straps it on her horse along with reins. Swinging her leg over, she pulls herself onto the saddle. She sticks her hand out to me.
    "Hop on!" She gestures for me to join her. Hesitantly, I slowly approach the horse. "It won't kill you! Hurry up!" I pat the horse and it doesn't do anything. I reach up to grab Emeline's hand. She wasn't as gentle as I expected. She hauled me up and made me uncomfortably sit on the back of the saddle, half falling off. She steers her Breeze out of the large stable that houses about 15 horses. She looks ahead and it's green plains as far as the eye can see, with some fuzz of a forest in the distance.
    "Ready?" Emeline grips the reins, ready to urge the horse into movement.
"Of course." I shrug. I've never ridden a horse before but how fast can it go? It can't be that scary, right?