The Underneath: Saga of Aupolis

The Garden

Vesna ambled to a halt beside a large, mossy boulder. "Just need...a...rest," she huffed in feigned exhaustion. She chuckled silently to herself, making sure to turn her head so her diligent escort would not see the humor on her face. She was never good at hiding her emotions from creeping up into her eyes.

"You shouldn't have been that far from the Garden," her pillar of a chaperone chided. She envisioned his deep monotone to sound like stone, if such had a voice. "While it's not forbidden, it's highly frowned upon."

Looking away from him, she concentrated her mind on anything else. Farther in the distance, the ravine began to expand into the area known as the Garden. It was the district in closest proximity to Gods' Gift. To live next to the waters that poured from the Gods themselves, was considered one of the highest honors. It was allotted to those who provided the most to society- apart from those who served the Temple.

"You should rest your ankle." The Comrade motioned to the boulder.

A part of Vesna wanted to refuse, but she wanted to keep up her pretense as well. Easing onto the moss ridden stone, she allowed herself a respite. Since her flinch away from him earlier, she noted how he stood a respectable distance from her. Just as well.

Towards the Garden, she could just discern the buildings they would first approach on their way through to the Temple. These small, stone houses belonged to the fisher men and women. Most sported their own fish ponds dammed like a patchwork of pools. Others, who did not have the structured ponds, fished directly from free flowing areas of the Gift. 

Vesna focused her gaze on a fisherman throwing out his line. Occasionally his head turned in their direction. She was sure it was probably out of curiosity. While the men and women in this area had grown used to seeing her from time to time making her way back into the Garden from out of the depths of the ravine, none had seen her attended by a Comrade before.

Suddenly feeling uncomfortable, Vesna pushed off of the boulder. Without a word or backward glance, she proceeded on.

This part of the Garden Vesna enjoyed the most. There was never any noise other than the sounds of nature: the water delicately running over submerged stones, the whisper of the breeze through leaves, and the soft singing of birds. 

The few folk they passed waved at Vesna and her companion. She waved enthusiastically back, but her stolid shadow marched along impassively.

All of the structures along the Gods' Gift were made from the same, smooth river stones as found beneath the flowing water. As they proceeded beyond the quaint fishing huts, the houses began to increase in size. The spaces between each buildings widened, allowing for decent sized gardens or animal corrals. There were compact orchards of lemons, oranges, apples; a plethora of various fruit bearing trees and plants. Among the groves, there were rows of corn, potatoes, lettuces, and other vegetables. Interspersed and less frequent, were chicken coops, quail pens, and other bird enclosures. Here, the noise started to pick up with the intermingled sounds of people and animals. The dirt trail they were following became hard packed with tiny, embedded pebbles and lined with a matching low wall. The houses themselves all stood to the right side of the path and nearly flush to the lapping waters of the Gift. Balconies or decks overlooking the river were visible on some.

Vesna and the Comrade were mostly overlooked around this area. People coming and going was nothing unusual, but a few still did a double take towards the spear bearing soldier. Vesna decided her ankle hurt less and increased her footsteps. If her pillar of an escort noticed, he never said a word, and continued at an even distance.

The passage of people slowly increased along with the width of the pebbled walk way. Soon, it was wide enough to be considered a narrow road, and supported continuous foot traffic. A hum of voices began to develop. The commotion would only rise from this point on.