Chapter 17

As morning’s light reached her, Holly stirred from the depths of her slumber, the exhaustion from the night prior’s events still gripping her efforts to rise.

With a lazy turn of her head, she found her solo seed pouch resting on the covers next to her. She really had gotten back last night and collapsed, huh?

At least she had a new objective: find that bus terminal the Resonators spoke of. She didn’t know where she was going, but that was the exciting part! It would be a new adventure!

Of course, she worked up quite the sweat last night running around and throwing out all kinds of spells.

“Really need to get some jammies so I can wash these,” Holly mumbled to herself staring with a grimace at her cute little outfit. She did love her own style but did admit that she wasn’t a fan of smelling herself.

Though she did remember a spell that could help out. With that in mind, she stepped into the shower fully clothed.

“I’m washing me and my clothes,” she spoke with an almost inebriated lilt; perhaps she was drunk on the excitement of travel. Or just being silly for an audience of none. She certainly didn’t know.

Once thoroughly soaked, she stepped out of her room, seed satchel in hand. Perched on the deck, the early morning sea breeze greeted her, chilling the plant. She shivered, though thankfully this little berry tree had a way to warm herself. She drew up three pepper seeds and prepared her heart. “Here we go, Foschia Calorifera, Moderato.”

Almost instantly it became blisteringly hot around her. So much so, that the fire chinchilla burst out of his office.

“Do you have any idea what time it is?! What the hell are you doing?!” he barked pointedly.

“Drying my clothes,” said Holly, as if it should have been obvious.

“Use a dryer!” yelled the chinchilla.

“But these are all the clothes I have!” Holly protested.

“You’re just getting your clothes sweaty this way!”

Holly looked down. “Oh, whoopsie!” She stuck her tongue out and giggled playfully, but in truth, she wanted to drop dead on the spot.

----------------------------------------

Holly sat in a small laundry room, one of the chinchilla’s t-shirts and a pair of shorts keeping her decent as she watched her clothes tumble in the dryer.

“You could have just asked!” rang in her head as an indictment of her foolishness. She sighed. She should have figured Riterrans had the machinery to wash and dry clothing. She was so used to hand washing and hanging her clothes up to dry that she didn’t even consider the possibility of an easier way.

The little zalavan almost felt bad that she’d be checking out after her clothes were freshly washed – he didn’t have to lend her his clothes or usage of the machines.

She raised her wrist and looked at her watch. A quick pinch showed her proud ownership of 300 notes. There was no way of knowing how much it would cost to travel to a new city, so she had to keep herself frugal. At least until she was secure in the knowledge of her destination and lodging.

It would be sad to get to a new town and immediately have to work again, despite the fun she had during her last two Scherzando hunts.

That was a bridge to cross when she got there.

The buzz of the dryer completing its cycle earned a yelp of surprise from her.

“Noisy society,” Holly grumbled, trying to arrest her heartbeat back to a reasonable level.

Thankfully her clothes came out toasty warm and smelled good, all within a mere hour spent waiting. This modern technology was amazing!

Without much fanfare, Holly departed the hostal. Long goodbyes weren’t her style. Plus, the faster people forgot about her the better.

Before she made her way to the bus terminal, she stopped by the market again and picked up a spare change of clothes. A simple t-shirt and shorts that she could wear while her other clothes were being washed, nothing more, nothing less. Less than twenty notes gave her that little peace of mind.

Her seed situation was still very good, so she kept her greed in check and left for the bus station.

“Hmmm…”

Holly studied the board of routes. She could go anywhere in Selvica. Her eyes danced all over the map from where she was and what was available to her. The continent of her birth was larger than she ever could have possibly imagined. If she was reading this right, a route that was the size of her thumb compared to the map was twenty hours!

She had to see that for herself.

Stepping to the counter, she bought a pass to the city of Ralevi. The prices were so low, that she splurged and bought a fancy seat, only parting with twenty notes in the process. Had she known the fares were so cheap she’d have splurged on snacks and more seeds!

If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

With a spring in her step and a giddy smile, she left the line to look for her ride. “Three…” She read off the ticket, then scoped out her surroundings for the matching digit. “Uh-oh…” she squeaked. The poor little plant had no idea where this “three” was supposed to be!

She turned back to where she had bought the ticket, but the line had since advanced and a crowd now swarmed the ticket booth.

“I’ll figure it out ahaha…” She didn’t believe herself.

And so began Holly’s journey anew!

She didn’t get very far before she began to fret. The plant had enough of feeling stupid – she was going to figure this out!

And surprisingly, brute forcing the problem didn’t help! Now she was even more lost than before!

“Okay, don’t panic Holly,” she said mid-panic.

Just when she was going to completely lose it, a tug on her jacket sleeve brought her back to reality.

A small(er) Resonator boy stared up at her his wide eyes on the verge of tears. “Excuse me miss. I got separated from Gamma… can you help me find her?” he pleaded.

The little boy was a breed she had seen many of around Pietri – one bearing triangular ears and a long fluffy tail poking out from his rear. A cat she believed they were called. His rhythm felt weirdly neutral? She couldn’t place an element on him, how weird. Maybe it was just a cat thing? She wasn’t certain.

“Sure! Do you remember where she was last?” asked Holly, unable to resist putting on cheerful airs, despite being lost herself.

“I think she was this way, but I’m scared, it’s so loud and noisy…” the cat whimpered, holding his tail and pointing in a direction Holly herself had yet to check.

“It’s okay, it’s nice and safe here,” Holly assured him with a smile.

Her fib worked and the cat seemed to relax. Following his directions, they drew closer to the noise in question and fortuitously came across Holly’s actual destination. The zalavan beamed with pride. Her good deed was rewarded!

And thankfully the Maestro to the cat’s Resonator was also on the bus terminal proper, looking around for the lost child. As soon as she spotted the missing boy, she rushed over. “Oh! Ṃ̶̢̪͇͘á̶̹͖͙x̸͇̗͎͈͋!” the elderly Maestro cried, embracing her little Resonator.

“I’m okay gamma, this nice girl helped me!” the cat motioned to Holly.

“Hee hee, it wasn’t a problem, we were going in the same direction,” the plant giggled.

“Oh, aren’t you a sweet thing too,” the elder smiled warmly. She looked around. “Are you all alone dear?”

“I am, but it’s okay, I have my seeds,” Holly replied.

“Well! I think you deserve a reward for being such a good little Resonator!” Reaching into her purse, she pulled out a single golden-wrapped something and deposited it into Holly’s hand.

Holly stared at it. “Uh, what is it?” she asked.

“A butterscotch candy; they’re very good.”

“Oh thank you miss!” Holly beamed (she was thankful she had mastered faking enthusiasm).

It wasn’t too much longer before the bus arrived and the elderly woman and her cat got onto the same number three bus Holly boarded. Though the little zalavan was seated on the upper level with the huge luxury seats and an amazing view (eventually, right now all she saw was concrete).

“Ah… worth it,” Holly cooed, melting into her big cozy chair.

If she had to sit anywhere for twenty hours, she was going to make sure it would be comfy.

----------------------------------------

In retrospect, Holly’s earlier panic about missing her bus was unfounded, as they took forever to get everyone in and situated before the journey began.

She also didn’t understand why she was one of the few people on the upper luxury level. Were people just so cheap that they wouldn’t shell out the extra notes for better seating? It was a mystery to the young zalavan.

The bus lurched forward, and Holly sat up straight. It was time!

She was so happy with her seat choice as the height was paying off immediately. She was able to take in all of the glory of Pietri. The many Maestros, Resonators, weaved in between the buildings; there was so much to see Holly wished she could have taken it all in, but alas her eyes just weren’t fast enough.

Soon the city melted away into the mountains, the vegetation became sparser and then the visual interest faded.

The zalavan plopped back into her seat. “Fuck,” she cursed under her breath as she realized something distressing: she didn’t get anything to keep herself occupied. Oh well, there was always the tried and true-

“NO SPELL OR AD-LIB USAGE” hung on a big obnoxious sign at the front of the bus.

“Fuck,” she cursed again.

Hopefully, boredom wasn’t lethal.