Kasumi

Chapter Two: "The Game is Afoot"

Current Location: Banner Village

 

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     Sometimes I feel as if I've got no social life outside my job. Sure, my work does keep me busy, but that's no reason not to go out and mingle with other people, right? (Mingle. Isn't that a strange word to describe it? It sounds like it's suppose to involve mixing things up, then jangling it with a bell or something.)

 

    But I digress.

 

    If there was one thing I regret --one of the things I regret, anyway -- it was letting my job be my priority in life. If I hadn't, I wouldn't be having much trouble trying to relate with other people today. I may know how to deal with them professionally, but once the office disappears from my line of version, I'm a hopeless case.

 

    Maybe all this free time I've got now is to rectify that. Start anew, speak my mind more often, get in touch with all those old friends I've lost contact with. There are scores of people out there waiting for me to mingle with.

 

    Mingle. There's that word again.

 

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    Elly had never, in all of her eight years (she prided herself on being mature-er than other children her age), had an opportunity to see much of people from other towns and villages, having spent all her life within that small isolated community known to most as Banner's Village. She had long accepted her fate as a simple innkeeper's daughter, and her dream to explore places unseen slowly drifted away like the tides that came to and fro along the shores of the small fishing village. Make-believe games with some of her friends were the next best thing; a small solace away from the hours she spends calling out to passers-by to come stay for a time at the inn her parents ran, though not many visitors visit her hometown in the first place. Sometimes, she wished for a miracle, for something different and exciting to happen in her life to disrupt the boredom, if only for just a moment.

 

    Her miracle came in the form of a young weary traveller trudging into the village, apparently from within the deep recesses of the forest right next to it.

 

    She had short hair; that was the first thing Elly had noticed about her. All the women in Banner's Village wore their hair long (except maybe for that strange woman who comes often to their inn and drinks too much), whether in braids or in a long ponytail. The stranger's was cut short much like that of a boy's, a small red bandanna covering part of her forehead in an attempt to keep most of the bangs off her large blue eyes. She was dressed in an outfit no one in the area would even think of wearing, that was another thing she had noticed; as black as a raven, with so many folds that she couldn't tell where one ended and the other started, yet not completely hiding the full bodysuit underneath. Strange, this one. She was the exact opposite of most everyone she knew.

 

    And that, in Elly's mind, made her an answer to her prayers.

 

    Being the obedient daughter, she continued to call out to visitors from the entrance of the inn, though she watched the stranger's approach, curiosity growing with every step. When the latter was only a few feet away, she paused, took a deep breath, and sang out in a surprising display of lung power for someone of a short stature.

 

    "Hello there! How would you like to spend the night in the best inn in the village? For a reasonable price!" Well technically, this was the only inn in the village --and from anywhere within a thirty kilometer radius-- but Elly liked to believe that the rest had closed up shop from bankruptcy when her father decided to open his own. She flashed her cutest smile - a trick she learned that usually worked.

 

    The stranger stopped and smiled back at her. Her hair and clothes were rumpled, as if she had been running hard, and her eyes look a little strained. "An inn? I haven't slept in an inn for about three - " She blinked and stopped hereself. "Has it been that long? Well, would you mind telling me what place this is, little miss?"

 

    "Banner's Village, ma'am."

 

    "And what country is this area in?"

 

    It was Elly's turn to blink. From what side of the continent did this strange girl come from? She hoped she wasn't one of those non-humans living in the forest, if she can believe what Koh says. But then again, Koh would say just about anything, from his made up stories to his tales of his favorite hero, some leader who took part in some war years ago. "It's under the City-States of Jouston. But it used to be under another country a few years back, I think." She'd heard that from her father once. Not that it really mattered though; Banner Village was Banner Village, wherever it was a part of.

 

    The woman contemplated on that for a full minute, shrugged, and smiled again. "Well. That's a nice name. And sure, I'd love to stay at your inn for awhile."

 

    "Great!" Elly's face brightened, even as she stepped to one side to grant the stranger access to the front door. Anne 28, Visitors, 0. Darn but she was good.