A walk about Hilltown

Rebe

Rebe awoke late. Given the choice, she tended to sleep in, but she had meant to rise early today. She had fallen asleep still wearing the petticoat of her gown. The gown was worn on the dress form. It looked more like a mannequin to Rebe, with its arms and head for placing accessories. She remembered awaking in the night and mistaking it for a person only briefly. She had gotten up and turned it to face away and fallen right back asleep. The gown looked like something a girl from the fairy tales of her youth would wear. A princess. The word left a bad taste in the mouth. It turned her off it. 

Rebe grabbed for her normal clothes but found them absent. She remembered leaving them on a pile on the floor, for the sake of efficiency, of course. Adelaide had quickly collected and folded them and left them on her bureau. Instead, in the place they had been, she found a simple yet elegant green dress. Certainly not what she would elect to wear. Rebe tried it on but felt wrong in it. She looked in her looking glass and found no relief. She signed and accepted the uniform, begrudgingly. 

Rebe looked about her room, more thoroughly than she had the chance to last night. It was circular in shape. The room was constructed entirely of stone, save for the floor and roof, which were planks. There was a fireplace dead west, most likely adjoining that of Sato's room. Or did his fireplace adjoin one in Daniel's? She would have to find out later. The large bay window consumed the entire northern portion of the room. There was a red cushion placed on the seat. It would be a perfect place to read a book. The view was beautiful. The sea of grain, dancing in the wind, stretched out for miles. She thought she spotted the ocean at its edge, but it blended together with the grain so well she wasn't sure. The only thing that stood out was the dark forest in the distance. It irradiated gloom. The remainder of her room was filled with the form, the looking glass, the powder table, the wardrobe, the bureau, the door, and the bed in clockwise order. The middle of the room was covered in a bright red circular rug. 

Rebe put on her warpaint, and she made her way through the door of her turret and down the spiraling grand stairs to where Adelaide had told her the servant quarters could be found. As she made her way in that direction, she passed by a laundry and poked her head in. A large older woman in a brown dress was there washing clothes. 

"Do you happen to have my clothes? I'm one of the... Hero's companions." Rebe asked politely. The word felt weird as it left her tongue. She felt foolish.

"Still drying, I'm afraid... What's wrong with what you are wearing?" The old woman curtly questioned.

"Nothing at all, it's a lovely dress, only, I wish rather more to blend in than stand out," Rebe gestured down the dress. There was truth in her words. Perhaps even more than she intended. Still, the women missed her meaning.

"There are some folded commoners' clothes over on that shelf," the woman gestured towards a large shelf in the room full of linens. "Don't be surprised if you aren't met with bows and courtesies," The woman cautioned.

"I won't. I would like that anyway. Thank you, ma'am," Rebe curtsied slightly, forcibly. It felt almost mocking. The woman glowered and returned to her work. Rebe searched the shelf and came across some large brown pants with a rope for a belt and an off-white tunic. These would have to do. She thanked the woman again, who didn't respond, and made her way back towards her room. 

Daniel was clearly still asleep, based on the snoring, so she didn't bother him. She stopped in front of Sato's door and knocked on it. It opened, having not been properly latched. He must already be training. She considered entering to check the fireplace, but thought better of it. He could show her later.

Rebe entered her room and quickly changed into the common clothes. They were rough, scratchy, and definitely too big, but she still felt much better in them than in the dress. The dress was the right armor for the castle, but she didn't mean to remain in the castle today. She meant to go out and meet the people. She was ready to head out. She set out for the town along the way, seeing the sights of Hilltown. That is what Leo called the town beyond the castle walls. Not exactly inventive, but it was accurate enough. She once again left her room, descended the grand stairs, and this time headed straight for the front door. The guards opened it for her with cold faces and without a bow. Her disguise was already working. They thought her a servant. She curtsied and exited into the courtyard, quickly making her way out towards the inner castle gate. 

Leo had told her that the also unoriginally named Castle Hill consisted of two rings of curtain walls surrounding the keep. The first ring surrounded just the keep, courtyard, and the structures there within. The second ring encompassed most of Hilltown, save for some newest structures and residences, including most of Hilltown's farmers and foresters. The guards let her through with little trouble. She had seen much of Hilltown during Earl's tour on her first visit to Æurea. The blacksmithy, the bakery, and the inn. She had met many of the villagers as well.

Rebe made her way through the town, past a patrol of guards with large polearms dressed in mail and red and blue quartered surcoats. She passed children playing some strange game with a stick and a rock. She passed a pair of women, both wearing dresses, talking loudly about a strange well while carrying pails of water. She passed an odd horse-like creature that was scaled and reptilian. It was basking in the sunlight. It looked at her, blinked, and stuck out its deeply forked tongue. She passed a merchant dressed in richly dyed yellow and purple robes. She passed a cleric with a radiant sun. It looked sort of like those wood carvings in the war room. She noted that to share later. She passed a boy who was dragging a cart filled to the brim with golden and purple grain. She stopped.

"Are you from the little farming village outside the wall?" Rebe questioned. 

"Yes, ma'am, my father works a farm," The boy said proudly with a big smile. He was missing a few of his baby teeth. He had sun-kissed skin and hair as blond as the grains he peddled. He was short and looked to be no older than ten. 

"I would love to come see it if you'd have me," Rebe returned his warm smile.

"Sure, there's always plenty of room at the farm. I'm heading back home now. Follow me." Odd considering his cart was full. The boy had pep in his step and made his way quickly down the angled streets of the hill and towards the front gate. She strained to keep up with him, even dragging the cart. He spoke to the guards, who called up to open the gate. A portcullis rose slowly, and the drawbridge fell. 

The boy skipped along out of the gate. Rebe once again was outside the city walls. She hadn't spent any time outside the wall, except in passage, since she first came to this strange place more than a week prior. Looking down from the hill, she saw the vast sea of grain as far as the eye could see. It danced in the wind as it passed down the hill and over the fields.