It's a small world

Chapter 8 : Coralie's

"Hey, hey, Alfa, wake up."
I told, shaking him slightly to wake him up. He was still asleep.
He woke after few minutes, rubbing his eyes.

"Muah... Oh, hey Kassie, so, what is up now?" he said, standing up of the bed and looked at the window I was pointing at.

"Big deal. Look, there are guards everywhere now!

- Ha. It's not good... They're screaching us.

- Us, why?

- Probably because I have you... Okay. There's the deal. You gotta have to follow me. I know a way to go outside of the Inn without noticing. We'll have to go to the backyard."
I nodded then went outside with him once my clothes worn.
No one was inside or outside the inn at this time. Probably they're still sleeping. We arrived to the courtyard. It was a snowy little garden surrounded by large barriers of grass. We hid in it, whisphering to each other:

"What now?

- Now? We gotta have to go inside the crowd foward there without us being noticed... Hmm, this Inn makes the frontier between the Snowy groumds and Classilicia. What we can do is finding a shop where we can buy clothes from here, to look innocent.

- Alfa, you're such a genius! But... What if we get spotted?

- I'm affraid that our trip would be done, then."

In a sigh of fear, we started to crawl our ways to the nearest shop we could see. The street right in front of us was crowded. It was a good opportunity to go in and be out of sight ("Don't let go of my hand."). We walked together to the end of the way, then noticed a surprising shop. There were inside many clothes for all type of people. But one mostly caught my attention.

"Haaaa... Pants!! I seriously need pants!" I urged to Alfa as he stopped, looking at the scene. I was pointing at the uniform I looked for. It was an elegant duet of nornal top and pants, and not too masculine. Perfectly enough for me.

"Yeah, yeah, hum, if you may excuse me, we need to hide first-"
Alfa said as we quickly entered the shop, before we were getting caught by guards.

Okay I got it. It is quite dangerous to stay out of here at this rate. I looked all around the cabine. There were many clothes hanged out by hangers. There were tops, dresses, coats, and others. All were there looking tidy and clean. I smiled to that. But my deep reflexion was cut by a voice saying:

''Oh, hello young lady. How may I help you?''
It was the cashier. A female wearing a casual and classical dress with a badge saying: "Coralie". She had her grey hair tied like a ponytail, showing her yellow eyes.

"H-Hum... Hello, well, we're looking for some new outfits... Well, if you may excuse us, we're really busy.

- Understood. Follow me, I'll show you. What are your preferances?

- Pants, if you have some.

- I may have some. Just have a look." she seems to be chuckling once she said this.

I went with her visiting the shop. There was no one inside it, expect Alfa, the young lady and I. Looks like no one wants to come here. Strange. We just looked at the horizons for now. Alfa was in his little corner for now, looking himself for something to wear.

Many minutes passes... After looking through many decisions, I picked up my outfit.
"Alfa, look! I'm all ready now!

- Really? Show me what you've--"
I could notice his red spots on cheeks again. By my experience, he was blushing. Really deeply.

"So... How is it on me?" I asked him, black pants with a white top and a bow-tie with it on my body.

"It... Whoa, I, it's really beautiful..." he stuttered, losing his words foward me.
"We thought this could fit her perfectly. Also, we found out another shoes for her. Boots won't fit with those kind of pants.

- Huhu... Well, I'm impressed. There's still this casual accessory missing... I'm sure we'll find out that soon.

- And what about you, Mister? Have you found what you wanted?

- Yeah. I'll wear those on. If you may excuse me." And so he went off to the changing room.

Again, some time passes before Alfa comes back with a gentleman-like clothing. I blushed too, surprisly. We packed our normal clothes in some bags.

"So. How much this will cost?" Alfa asked.
"Well, since you're, like, my first real client... I can make it free for you two. But this time only, your first.

- W-Whoa? But, no, miss, what about--

- I will be ruined out soon, so there's no possibility for me to continue like this... You can go on. Oh, also, before I forget, I can offer you this too."
The cashier searched inside her closet, then found a round hat and a monocle. She gave it to us.

"Those may be usefull. Wear them, and you'll be like normal citizans in here. I booked them first for a client, but since he wasn't here, even after a year... Plus, I heard about you two... Becarefull on your path to the Candy Castle.

- W-We will... Thank you..."
I said as I took the accessories, then left the shop with a great farewell. She smiled to us before we vanished to her point of view. Alfa told me that I could wear the hat, and him the monocle. This was a good idea, so we did like this, and we left straight to our left. During our walk, I sighed then told him:

"This is so sad that Coralie has soon to close her shop... They can't do this. This is so cruel.

- Well, you know? Life can be cruel at times. It has to. We can't live without cruelty. It has to be this way. Just realize that you did a wonderful encounter and that you won't forget about this person. That's the less to think.

- I wish I could support her...

- Hmm... I know a way to do so. But we'll have to go to the Castle first.

- R-Really? You know a way?"
Alfa nodded. I smiled really cheerfully and jumped to his neck, hugging him. I thanked him too many times. He smiled back and at this right rate, I could feel his hands right around my waist. I blushed, then I let go of the embrace. I asked him:

"So. What's our next destination?

- Now? We will have to go straight to the rainbow river and cross it to go then to Toynopolis then arriving to our last destination... The court of the Candy Castle. Where we will then, at last, meet KinG Doddle. But if we can do Classilicia without being spotted, that would be really a big relief."

He said as we continued our way to the exit. The sunlight was blooming onward us. It was getting slightly warm. Warmer than last night. The crowd was now emptier. I sweat a little, fearing that a guard could spot us any moment. Then, a pannel writing "You're now exiting Classilicia. Have a nice trip!" made it's appaerance. I sighed of relief then followed Alfa to it. We were now exiting this town. From now on, there's a big chance that there are less guards than the town. We're safe, Alfa told me. I nodded then went straight foward to the way for the river, thinking again of Coralie and her shop, and my desesparement for her.

To be continued...