Ymiden 10 718
In an effort to prevent the sweat from stinging her eyes, Eternity dabbed at her forehead with her raised shirt. Fortunately, it wasn't even that hot. She simply wasn't ready for how much labor moving would take. After all that walking, even her pockets, which were heaving with her most important belongings, had grown heavy. She had her friends to assist her carry, but they weren't very helpful in other ways, and she was pleased to have them out of the way. All she required at this point was a quick breath and some solitude to catch up with and adjust. Eternity got up, grabbed her waterskin, and went for a walk around the home before unpacking.
There were already some facilities in the residence. A bed was squeezed into the bedroom's frame, and a chamber pot was hidden beneath it. An off-hinge lid on a chest kept it partially ajar at the foot of the bed. On top of stones in the main chamber, a hearth was positioned. A single chair was brought up to a little wooden table that was placed behind it. The table was slightly off balance on one leg. Then it was over. Although there was a window in every room, the house only had one entry and did not have particularly high ceilings like some other homes in the city. It was not strengthened or braced against the elements, allowing the wind to whistle by instead. It was a straightforward house, far more so than she had originally imagined when scouting it out.
Eternity had only packed one bag of belongings and a few random objects in addition to the furniture given. She barely packed one additional set of clothes and some essentials, but her friends had bought her a small mirror for makeup. She hoped that would be enough to make it seem like home, but after throwing her belongings on the floor, the house suddenly seemed quite large. Eternity started the organizing process with less zeal than when she had first begun.
"Stay upbeat." She gave herself a boost. " Look! This entire area is yours!" However, she started to feel really dejected as she was thinking it.
Even though she made an effort to keep herself occupied by trying novel methods to fold her clothing and moving the mirror about, nothing was able to effectively take her attention away from the reality. Her home was deserted and, on top of that, incredibly lonely. She abruptly plopped down on the floor while still attempting to adjust her mirror over the sink. She was embarrassed by the gesture and inwardly berated herself for being so silly, but she was powerless to resist pulling her knees to her chest and encircling herself. Uncertainty quickly crept in.
"Can I really make it if I can't do this for just one day? Am I destined to depend on others for the rest of my life while sharing a rat's nest and having little of my own? What's expected of me?"
By the time the tears had overflowed, Eternity had stood up and longed to go away for just a bit. She ran down the street for a while to find something to take her mind off things. She still had teary eyes so she had trouble seeing where she was going. She turned down an alley, then another, then she was lost. She ran down an incredibly narrow pathway, one that she doubted most people would ever bother using because it was so narrow. She tried her best to keep down the path but her arms swung and kept touching the walls. One thing led to another and she tripped sideways. As she approached the earth, she felt the wind sweep just beneath her skin, warning her that she would be too slow to correct herself. Her body immediately flipped over heels into the bush next to the shrub when her arm instantly grabbed on it. The damage to her pride was worse than the pain her body felt.
She gave herself a chance to sulk rather than immediately getting up off the floor. She tried her best to cover the cuts with her clothes so they wouldn't be as noticeable. When she had had enough, she peeked over the bush to get a better look at the route she would take back home. Only then did she become aware of her surroundings.
She was surrounded by a lush garden that smelled of ripe fruit and lovely flowers. The amount of vegetation that stretched across its trajectory was so great that it was difficult to see the soil below (apart from the location of the crash landing). The property the garden sat on wasn't that large but the owner had certainly made the most with the little land they had. Eternity's delicate fingers started to twitch slightly and her mouth almost sprung open at the sight of it all. Even she found it difficult to predict what may have happened next had she not been frightened back into her bush by the approach of heavy, booted footsteps.
When dread overcame her, a woman came close to her hiding place and Eternity's eyes widened even more. She was unsure of the woman's feelings toward strangers in her garden. With the gaze of a protective mother monitoring her child, the woman's boots cut through the yard as she looked over the garden. She didn't stay in one place for very long, though, unless there was a weed to pluck or a stray plant to reposition on its trellis. Despite the grime that covered her little figure, her attitude alone exuded importance. With this quick pace, the woman soon arrived at the little shrubs where Eternity was hiding. After pausing, the woman sighed.
"Do you intend to stay here? Then, at the very least, you might emerge."
Eternity felt a chill run down her spine and released the shrub with sheepishness and crept into view. Eternity said, "It's not what you think."
"What do I think, then?" The gardener cut her" off.
"I know it looks like I am tresspassing." Eternity said ashamedly.
The gardener's emotion was not visible in the hard countenance. She simply carried on her grilling. "Hmm." She put her fists on her hips after uncrossing her arms. Eternity immediately hung her head since the act made her think that she was in trouble. "Leave my garden," she said.
Eternity jumped to her feet obediently and started to search for a way out. The woman sighed once again and covered her eyes with her hand, seemingly attempting to blot out the entire situation rather than just the image. "Are you going to take all day?"
"Well, I didn't mean to come here. I tripped through the bush." Eternity said with her face on fire. She simply desired to depart and return home as soon as possible so that she could weep. She faced the bush and ran at it. She willed herself to jump over it but she couldn’t jump nearly that high. She ended up falling into the bush and then she had to fight her way back out of it. She’d thought she’d finally escaped but she ended up back on the same side as the garden, again. She turned back around to face the bush then tried climbing it. She grabbed a handful of branches in both hands and then tried to hoist herself up but it couldn’t support her weight so she just fell again.
"Follow me through my home then," The lady gave the order. She turned around and entered the home with a determination that could not be questioned.
The woman's home was equally charming and rustic on the inside as it was on the outside. Most items in the house were covered in a thin layer of dirt. Dust particles clogging the air were lit by light seeping in through the windows. Veggies and herbs were dried in varied degrees and hung from the rafters. If she had been just a few inches taller, it would have touched her. However, she experienced comfort rather than feeling crammed. She was enthralled by the way the house swaddled her like a newborn. She wished for this.
“You look like the kind of girl who needs to learn a bit of responsibility,” the woman said. She handed her a potted plant and said, “take care of this. If you do it right, it’ll grow as large as this one.” Eternity nodded politely and took the plant, eager to do whatever it took to get out of there.
In her home, Eternity stepped back to enjoy the fresh plant she had placed on her windowsill. Although it wasn't as attractive or wealthy as that gardener's. In fact, it had grown a little limp on the trip home—and it didn't quite fill the space (standing at only a few inches tall), it did make her smile, and that was its primary function at the moment.
She had already made up her mind to visit the woman later and learn more about its maintenance. For now, Eternity just applied a cup of water to the soil, letting it run out the bottom as the woman had instructed her to do. She turned the plant several times before she was satisfied with the angle at which it was displayed.
With a sigh, Eternity jumped onto the bed after taking another look around the room. It still felt a little bit more like home, even if the furniture was all uneven and the room was still dark and gloomy and she still yearned for someone to occupy the space. That was sufficient for the time being.
[Template credit to Pyrre]
