The night sky was vibrant with brilliant stars that twinkled along endlessly through the heavens for what was presumably an eternity. She peered through the telescope again, grinning to herself as she stared at the waning gibbous moon, staring in wonder at the detail she could see from the shadows across its face.
After a moment, she pulled her eye from the telescope and down to the paper that sat on her lap, illuminated by the light of a lit candle to her side, a bottle of ink beside it. Quickly, she dabbed a quill into the liquid, before putting it to the paper, continuing a drawing of the moon that she'd seen, cautious to meet every detail she could recall.
Her hand moved gracefully across the surface, skillfully marking every crevice and shadow to the best of her ability. She bit her lip, staring at the drawing for a moment, before going to dip for more ink- and accidentally knocked over the bottle.
Jumping, she made to catch it all too late, accidentally knocking over the candlestick in the process, and an inconvenient gust of wind blew her paper off of her lap.
"No!" she cried, making to grab for it, still too slow as it slipped past her grasp, the wind carrying it down the cliffside of Mt. Ebott.
With the candle out, she was cut from a source of light, and quickly grabbed her textbook that the candlestick had previously sat upon before chasing off after the paper that continued to drift away back down the mountain.
Without a source of light, she stumbled and tripped over roots and vines on her way after the paper, barely able to keep up with where it was through the limited light given to her by the moon, but there it was! She was so close now, just to-
Gravity shifted. Or rather, she fell, but she didn't hit the ground, instead finding herself tumbling through the air into an extensive darkness that swallowed her whole, before the world faded...
"Ribbit."
"No thank you."
"Ribbit?"
"Please, not yet."
"Rib... bit..."
She frowned. Who was croaking at her? Slowly, her eyelids cranked open and she could see golden flowers obscuring her vision. Frown increasing in severity, she lifted her head to see she was surrounded by golden flowers. She'd landed on a bed of them, sunlight cast down upon her from above.
Peering up, she squinted at the beam that glowed upon her. It looked... really high up, prompting the girl's stomach to lurch up into her throat.
"Oh no... oh nonono..." she trembled, quickly climbing to her feet (miraculously unharmed from the fall) and began to pace. How was she going to get home now? There was no way she'd be able to cover up for her sneaking out, but what if she just died down here? Maybe her father was right. Maybe women weren't supposed to be interested in science and studying if this was what happened.
No. That was stupid. Taking a deep breath, she started to calm herself, deciding to try and find a logical conclusion to her dilemma. This came quickly as an answer when a light breeze brushed against her skin, and she turned to its direction, peering through the dark and managing to see some kind of violet archway.
So this wasn't just some random cave. There was architecture, and that meant at some point there had people, and that meant there was a way out. The breeze suggested an exit, but the archway confirmed it.
Gathering herself, she looked around, feeling naked without- there it was.
She stooped over to grab her book, dismayed to find the back had been ripped off sometime in her fall or landing, or maybe when she'd been running. She wasn't certain. Either way, it was a true tragedy- though her glasses somehow remained unbroken on her face.
