Resilience Run

Chapter 3

"Come on, let me see?" Rhys begged.

"I'm... self-conscious." I said, pulling on the strings of the hood that I was using to keep my head covered.

Rhys' assessment that we would stumble onto a barber, or whatever Xeastea's equivalent was, turned out to be entirely accurate, and the man who had done my hair did a great job, at least from what he said, but I was still scared to show off my new look.

"You probably look fine, or even great!" said Rhys, "But I won't know if you don't let me see!"

"I know what it looks like and you look fine, moor-acu," said Felice, "There's nothing to be worried about."

"Ugh... fine." I said. With a little bit of hesitation, I removed the hood, revealing my cropped red hair, a very different look from my usual long blonde. Looking in the reflection of the pond we were sitting by, I looked like a completely different person, at least as far as I could tell.

"Wow." I heard Rhys say. I looked up just in time to see her cheeks blushing, right before she looked down at the pond and they disappeared from my sight.

"I - I mean, you look good... with red hair." said Rhys.

"Thanks." I said. I was probably blushing as well, judging by the hot feeling in my own cheeks.

We stayed like that for a little bit longer than a moment, and then Rhys coughed and said, "I think the city's gonna be up ahead, judging by the smell."

"What smell?" I asked as the two of us got to our feet and returned to the dirt path road.

"Ah yes, I forgot, my sense of smell is stronger than yours," said Rhys, "I can smell some industrial types of smells up ahead, a clear indicator of a city."

"Shutine, right?" I asked.

"Exactly," said Rhys, "Pull the hood of your cloak up, and keep your head down. The red hair can help, but the less people that look at your face, the better."

I did just that, pulling my hood up and putting my head down just as we made it back to the road, where a carriage coming from the direction of the city passed us as we walked by.

"Do you think we looked suspicious to them?" I asked.

"Probably not." said Rhys, "I've seen travellers like the two of us before, when Mama and I would come to the village. Unless someone recognizes you, I don't think we're going to have any problems."

"And if someone does recognize me?" I asked.

"Then we run as far as we can until we're away from anyone that can." said Rhys, "A quick duck into the woods and most people would probably give up. No one wants to stray off the path for too long, not even for a bounty."

We started passing some buildings, and people. No one seemed to give me a second glance, but my paranoia kept me on high alert.

"So far so good," said Rhys, "I think we'll be in the clear, at least for now."

"You say that right now, but what happens when we're surrounded by people?" I asked.

"I'm sure we'll be fine." said Rhys. The gates of the city came up, and we pushed our way into the city of Shutine.

I was immediately taken in by how bustling the city was. People were walking around, some alone, some with families, and the obviously hand-made buildings were so charming-looking, like something out of a fantasy novel I read as a kid.

"Taking in all the sights?" Rhys asked, snapping me back to reality.

"I sure am," I said, "This place seems less big than you were making it out to be."