balance
is not something you find. You create it.
While Earthland was no Avalon, Cassi had to admit to herself that it was pretty in its own right. She had only been wandering around the country known as Fiore for about a week, and it was vastly different from what she was used to. The structure of the buildings were often rather cookie cutter, especially in some of the bigger cities where everything was just so closely packed together. And the sheer amount of people that filled and wandered about these spaces was just staggering. She’d never seen so many people in her life, let alone been this close to them. For a young woman that had been raised in relative seclusion, this place was near claustrophobic.
She missed home already. It wasn’t that she wasn’t excited to be out on her own, to see new places and meet people the likes of which she’d never been exposed to before. It was just such a culture shock from where she’d been raised that it weighed a little heavy on her heart sometimes. So far she’d yet to find any rich forests, any bodies of water larger than a small lake, and certainly no one who spoke her native language. Learning to communicate with the locals had been a chore, one that she’d needed to spend quite a bit of time figuring out. Thankfully, Cassi quite literally had all the time in the world on her hands, as well as a number of other useful tricks that made learning new things -- including languages -- much easier. She wasn’t fluent in common by any means, but with some effort and creativity she had managed to get her hands on the resources she needed to at least break through the language barrier and be able to communicate effectively, if not prettily.
A small commotion caught her attention and she wandered out from behind a series of shopping stalls to see some tables set up in the main square of Rose Garden, the town she was currently in. There were lines of people in front of the tables, each of them waiting their turns to speak with other individuals that were sitting behind the tables and handing out papers. “Pardon,” she said, gently getting the attention of the nearest vendor, pointing a finger toward the square. “What eez all deh people waiting for dere?”
“They’re getting passports, miss.”
Cassi frowned in curious thought. “Passports? What eez dat?”
The man scratched his head a little, but was quick to give her an answer, recognizing that she was obviously foreign. “It’s a legal document. A paper that proves you are who you say you are, and allows you to visit other countries.”
She looked at him for a long moment, turning his words in her head and considering them. The people here needed some kind of… written permission to leave the country and go other places? The concept was new to her, and certainly one that she could find no logic on her own as to why that was the case. It seemed like a silly hoop to jump through. Then again, if she was going to fulfill the requirements of her pilgrimage in this strange time, there were certain rules she would have to play by in order to move freely. She was in Fiore for now, but there was no certainty that this was where her journey would keep her. There was no harm in obtaining such a document for herself, but there was potential harm in not doing so.
Crossing her arms over her chest formally, she bowed to the man. “I understand. You heev my t’anks. May Aryennrhod’s blessings be upon you.” After the man acknowledged her gratitude, Cassiti made her way over and, against her better judgment, got in one of the lines to wait with the other people. Thankfully, the people working the tables were quick, and before long she had her own document in hand: a strange sheet of parchment that was square rather than on a scroll. She rolled it up as best she could and tucked it into her bag before wandering off again.
She missed home already. It wasn’t that she wasn’t excited to be out on her own, to see new places and meet people the likes of which she’d never been exposed to before. It was just such a culture shock from where she’d been raised that it weighed a little heavy on her heart sometimes. So far she’d yet to find any rich forests, any bodies of water larger than a small lake, and certainly no one who spoke her native language. Learning to communicate with the locals had been a chore, one that she’d needed to spend quite a bit of time figuring out. Thankfully, Cassi quite literally had all the time in the world on her hands, as well as a number of other useful tricks that made learning new things -- including languages -- much easier. She wasn’t fluent in common by any means, but with some effort and creativity she had managed to get her hands on the resources she needed to at least break through the language barrier and be able to communicate effectively, if not prettily.
A small commotion caught her attention and she wandered out from behind a series of shopping stalls to see some tables set up in the main square of Rose Garden, the town she was currently in. There were lines of people in front of the tables, each of them waiting their turns to speak with other individuals that were sitting behind the tables and handing out papers. “Pardon,” she said, gently getting the attention of the nearest vendor, pointing a finger toward the square. “What eez all deh people waiting for dere?”
“They’re getting passports, miss.”
Cassi frowned in curious thought. “Passports? What eez dat?”
The man scratched his head a little, but was quick to give her an answer, recognizing that she was obviously foreign. “It’s a legal document. A paper that proves you are who you say you are, and allows you to visit other countries.”
She looked at him for a long moment, turning his words in her head and considering them. The people here needed some kind of… written permission to leave the country and go other places? The concept was new to her, and certainly one that she could find no logic on her own as to why that was the case. It seemed like a silly hoop to jump through. Then again, if she was going to fulfill the requirements of her pilgrimage in this strange time, there were certain rules she would have to play by in order to move freely. She was in Fiore for now, but there was no certainty that this was where her journey would keep her. There was no harm in obtaining such a document for herself, but there was potential harm in not doing so.
Crossing her arms over her chest formally, she bowed to the man. “I understand. You heev my t’anks. May Aryennrhod’s blessings be upon you.” After the man acknowledged her gratitude, Cassiti made her way over and, against her better judgment, got in one of the lines to wait with the other people. Thankfully, the people working the tables were quick, and before long she had her own document in hand: a strange sheet of parchment that was square rather than on a scroll. She rolled it up as best she could and tucked it into her bag before wandering off again.
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