The Place On The Other Side

On-Ward

The journey continues, this time with Dolyia not being alone. Jon, the man from the normal world's village and who had been friends with her Ma. They left Penne' around the early hours of the morning so they could have plenty of time to get to the next village before dark. That's what they hoped for, but Dolyia's adventure was far from over. She and Jon had no idea what lay ahead of them.

　　Walking down the road, Dolyia saw a beautiful view. The road was covered with soft dirt and tiny pebbles. It was lined with an old but strong looking wooden fence. It stopped most of the bigger animals that were in the fields from getting onto the road. There were apple, pear, and plum trees spread out along the fence line. And many more of them were spatially growing throughout the fields. The butterflies and bugs zoomed in and out in front of them. Dolyia's eyes tried to follow as many as possible before they flew out of sight. The sunlight was warm on her, but there was still a small chill that made her shiver occasionally.

She could barely see anything that was far ahead of them. But the closer they got to everything the more excited she'd get and wanted to leave the road to investigate and explore, but she knew she needed to stay with Jon.

　　"Wow. I really wish I grew up here. Everything is just so beautiful and different, I've never wanted to go do so much at once." she said finally.

　　They had walked about half an hour before she spoke. And another fifteen minutes before Jon said anything back.

　　"Yes, but both your Ma and I are happy you didn't. It wasn't as pretty. There was a lot of war and loss when you were still here with your Ma. The Kings fought about your Ma and your real Pa's affection and love for each other, then when they found out about your Ma being pregnant. All hell broke loose."

　　"All because my Ma's and the king's nephew loved each other. That's crazy" she replied.

　　Dolyia couldn't imagine love causing war. It was just ridiculous. She thought to herself, that if or when she was a real princess again, she'd make a stand, and change the ways the kings of both kingdoms thought.

　　"It is crazy, but things will change now that you're here. You are this world's only hope. If I knew what lay beyond us and what you are to do, I would tell you in a heartbeat. But unfortunately I don't. I only know that you are to be helped along the road until the castle where you'll see your Ma again." Jon had said before tipping his hat closer to his eyes to shield the wind.

　　The weather seemed to be changing rapidly. Dolyia noticed the clouds forming tightly into one big darker cloud. The horses, cows, and the rest of the animals all retreated to their homes for shelter. Jon didn't seem affected by the sudden change.

The air became much colder, making Dolyia stop her and Jon for a moment to pull out her coat and scarf from her bag. After covering herself up she saw that the sun was gone. Only dim lighting shone through the large cloud. They walked on further down the road, after several slight turns and a sharp left. Dolyia realized they were closing in on a building with two large barns in the field close to it. When they were about there, the sun decided to show itself again. The weather lifted and the cloud dissipated into the sky. With the sun warming her and Jon up again, she shed her coat and scarf down to her shawl.

　　As they approached the building, Dolyia saw that it was farmland. The barns were stall barns for the cows and horses. There were a few hen houses, a pig sty, and a small area for goats and mules.

　　Jon piped up finally, "This is the Dairy Farm, but they work with other animals as well. They sell milk, cheese, beef, and pork, and eggs here, and before the war they were the best in the kingdom, but now things have slowed down for them and they have lost a lot of livestock and much more."

　　"That's sad. I'm glad to see that they still have a lot of animals though." She said to Jon.

　　They continued down the road. Looking down the path leading to the dairy house, Dolyia saw that it was an old and beautiful looking sight. The entire roof was covered in moss and luscious vines were growing up the walls covering most of the bricks and wood. There was a small water well to the right of the front yard, a gorgeous gazebo, with a small fire pit in the center of it, and a hole through the top for smoke to go out of. She saw an elaborate bird feeder fountain to the left of the path leading to the front door. The birds were flying all over the place basking in the sunlight and water of the fountain, some were perched on the gazebo rails tweeting their songs. With so much to take in at once, she decided to stop looking around and pick up her pace catching back up with Jon. When she was at Jon's side again they were coming up to a small bridge, the tiny sign above the stones on the right side said, 'Fresh Creek'.

　　"This is the Freshest Creek water you'll find in this kingdom. It runs down off of 'Freshwater River', from up top of 'Shade Mountain'." Jon said as they walked across the bridge.

　　Dolyia nodded her head and continued to study the creek below them. After crossing, the road continued on its way. They passed by several amazing sights that Dolyia would have never seen before in her past world. This place was absolutely unexplainable, she thought to herself. There was a large field to their right, after about two and a half miles. It was a different color grass then the other ones around them. Dolyia turned to Jon and asked to rest for a minute.

　　"Can we sit here for a few and have a quick snack?" Dolyia said.

　　"Yes, of course. We have a bit more sunlight before dark hits. Only a few miles to go until we reach the next village to sleep overnight." Jon replied.

　　Dolyia found a long fallen log from the old fence on the left of the road. They sat and dug into their bags for a snack. Dolyia found a muffin tray with four tiny muffins in it that Benwick had made for her. Jon was already biting into his apple he found. After eating and chatting a bit Dolyia had to ask about the grass in the field across from where they were sitting.

　　"So, it's been bugging me, why is the grass over there such a bright neon colored blue? It’s not like the other fields around here." She asked with utter confusion on her face.

　　Jon looked up over to the field she was talking about, and chuckled. "That is 'Hue Grass', it changes its color depending on the lighting. Right now it is blue. When the sun is behind a cloud it'll look green. If it's raining it turns red, and pink when it snows. The catch is that it can tell us if there is danger on the way, it will turn black and die out if the land is doomed to war."

　　Jon ended with a serious face, causing Dolyia to have chills run down her spine. To lighten the mood back up, Jon smiled quickly and sprang to his feet grabbing his pack and Dolyia's hand lifting her to her feet. She grabbed her pack as well and they set off again. Dolyia felt better after Jon had smiled and showed her that he does have a little spunk left in him. They continued down the road and what felt like forever only took a short time to finish walking the last three miles to the next village.

They were walking up to a tall wall that had a huge open archway into the town. The big sign above the archway read 'Jalyn'. There were two men standing on either side of it with their arms crossed over their chests with mean looks on their faces. Though they weren't looking at anything in particular it felt like they were staring into Dolyia and Jon’s souls.

　　With a quickened pace Dolyia caught back up to Jon as they made their way through the crowded small pathways. They reached a small door that read 'INN' on it. Jon opened the door and ushered Dolyia inside, staying close to her as they walked through.

　　"This village is not one to get lost in." Jon said as he helped her to a chair at a table near the right wall of the lobby area.

　　"Wait here while I round us up a couple rooms and super for tonight." He finished saying as he turned and walked to the front desk.

　　Dolyia sat at the small table looking around the dirty but cute Inn. There was a grand piano in the left corner of the room. A small dining area to her right. The front desk was as long as the room was wide, taking up the whole back wall of the room. There were several keys hanging from tiny hooks on the wall behind the desk. A small woman stood there at about four feet tall and maybe close to 150 lbs. She was a very plump woman, but had a high pitched voice when Dolyia heard her speaking to Jon. She saw there were two sets of stairs on either side of the room leading to the upper floors.

Another woman, this one taller standing at about five foot and close to 105 lbs., was dusting the piano, staying very quiet with her head down looking away from everyone else. A tall and slender man came up to Dolyia. He was slouching and had an awkward smell about him.

　　"May I get you anything Miss?" He asked her.

　　"No, thank you. My friend is already on it.". She said pointing towards Jon.

　　When he looked up and saw Jon the man slightly jumped and turned quickly running up the left set of stairs. Seeing his actions out of the corner of his eye, Jon was back at Dolyia's side in a flash, pulling her up with him and quickly rushing out the door to the outside busy street again.