Historia IV

Bummed and delirious, I wobble my way through the front doors of the inn. It’s loud. There are a lot of people inside. It’s rowdy. Really busy for it to be this early. Surprisingly though, none of them were where one would be dreading them to be. They are everywhere but the front desk.

The inside of the lobby to this place is: expansive. Very huge, to say the least of experiences with unverified inns. It has shops, tables, people with strange colored hair, the most mouthwatering foods the sense could savor, and counters for other stuff I couldn’t make out from where I’m currently standing. It is all so inviting… if only I wasn’t so tired!

My walking hasn’t gotten any better. These legs— albeit warm enough to feel again— are still just as exhausted as the rest of this body. Shimmying past people, sliding by humanoid things I’m too tired to question; the wobbling doesn’t go unnoticed. The closer I get to the counter, the more eyes I can feel staring at my back. Whispers and mutters begin to collect where loud pitch vulgarities had been crackled along beside. Not every voice quietens, but there’s enough to pick up upon. Nevertheless, my left, injured hand stays glued to my jacket. Pressure and all.

I can tell the mutters are about my clothes. No one else’s outfits look remotely close. I stood out like a sore thumb. It would bother me any other time, but—this time—it’s freeing up the front desk more and more from other potential guests. Even the strangest haired one that cut in front me.

Slapping my hand down on the polished, wooden front desk, “I’ll take one room, please. Any room!” Unfounded confidence bursting out of me from nowhere. Just the knowledge of the hunt for my Atlantis is finished.

“O-oh”, the poor inn clerk accommodates tearfully, “o—okay, miss. That— that will be thirty-five gold coins.”

This grand display garnering more attention than there already had been. Piqued curiosities rapidly turning into rustled scowls; the atmosphere is spiraling into a sour pit of dissent.

Ahh— that’s not how I meant it to come out like!

“Uhmm…”, the inn clerk’s uncomfortable moments of silence breaks with pools of water forming at the corner of her soft eyes, “w—we can also accept ninety-one in si—silver.”

Her sweet attitude makes that loud outburst of celebration even worse in retrospect. The confident smile that was on my face slips into a reflective look of pulsed lips. Clapping my hands together, “I’m sorry! I was just happy to finally find an inn. I didn’t mean anything by it, and you seem so sweet. I hope the rest of your day goes amazingly,” I apologetically beg for a room.

As the girl bows, the room returns to normal. Everyone goes back to the things they were doing. All but one. The black-and-white haired boy beside me. Standing, quietly. Staring. It was weird— it is weird. But, it didn’t matter. I need to empty my pockets for gold.

Reaching for my pockets, “Thank you, kind inn keeper. I should have enough coins in these,” I look up towards the inn keeper for the second time. And, this time I notice something. Something I should’ve picked up on the first. Something just beyond her pixie-cut bangs.

“Oh my god!” Sending a verbal lightning bolt down everybody’s spines within earshot, “You’re an el—“