Spirit of Hope

The Journey, Part the Second

I sat up, breathing hard. It was the crack of dawn, and even in an unfamiliar dimension, the sunrise calmed me down. I didn't know if I would be able to sleep any longer. I decided that I would have to try.

I lay back down in my bedroll, and closed my eyes. I fell asleep almost instantly, and slept peacefully until I could feel the sun on my face. I opened my eyes and sat up, squinting in the morning light. Paul was still asleep, and I took advantage of that to find a nearby stream. I washed up as best as I could, and changed into another dress that had magically appeared in the satchel. This one was pastel blue, with silver trimmings. The neckline was not as low as the one on the previous dress, but it was comfortable. It was a bit wider than the other dress, better for walking. The shoes had magically drained of their colour overnight, but this morning, the had turned the same blue as the dress. Despite their appearance, they were very comfortable. I walked back to the campsite, and I saw that Paul was awake. "Hi," I said. Paul turned around. "Oh, hi," he said, suppressing a yawn. "There's a stream over there," I continued, waving my hand in the direction that I had come from. "You could go wash up there." Paul stretched, considering. "Okay," he said."But where'd you get the dress?" I silently showed him the satchel. He blinked. "But how-" he broke off, grinning. "I forgot that we're in a magical dimension."

After Paul was ready, we shoved the bedrolls back into the satchels. I was doubtful that it would work, but Paul was sure. "If they can come out, surely they can go back in, too," he'd said.

We found a nearby bakery and had some breakfast. After that, we set out on the road again. We were heading down a slight slope, so it was easier to walk. We could faintly see the great city of Otheron in the distance (I'm not too sure if it is actually that great, but the map called it 'great', so I guess I'm stuck with it). We had run out of conversation topics, so we walked in silence until we arrived at the next town.

It was a nice little place, bustling and full of life. But there was one thing about it: there was no indication of what the town was called. So we tried to figure it out. We went into a tavern and Paul went up to the barmaid. He asked her what town this was, and she looked around furtively. She fished a card out of her pocket and slid it across the bar. She whispered to Paul, and he frowned. He asked another question, and the barmaid whispered urgently. Paul nodded like he understood. We then exited the tavern and Paul led me to the nearest alleyway.

"What did you find out?" I asked. Paul showed me the thing that the barmaid had given him. It was a business card. "The Gold Star?" I read. "What is this?" "Apparently, they're a dancing place," answered Paul. "But she told me to ask for Jenny Rosenburg. She's going to help us." I frowned. "What do you mean, help us?" I asked. "We just wanted to know what town this is." Paul shrugged. "She seemed kinda rushed, like this Gold Star place was not supposed to exist, or she would get arrested talking about it. But she said that we needed help getting out of here."

I considered all of our options. We could go to this Gold Star place, which seemed a little shifty to me, or we could try to sneak out of this town undetected. I decided to chance The Gold Star.