The Place On The Other Side

Village People

She came out onto the main street. There were lots of street market tents up and down the road. In front of her was what seemed to be a pet shop tent. It had lots of little animal looking things. She walked up to the shop and looked around at the pets. One in particular stuck out to her, it could probably fit in her pocket. There were only a few there, each was a different color. The dark purple one with black feet and hands, and a bright pink nose, with beautiful big sky blue eyes.

　　"How much are these little guys?" She asked the guy behind the table. He was taken aback by her appearance, obviously lost in thoughts at the time.

　　He replied. "The 'MoonyPuffs' are 10 Dinies each."

　　She looked in her bag and found the money pouch Benwick packed for her. Opened the pouch and pulled out a few coins. Forgetting she hadn't asked or been told what coins were what, she looked at the teller and asked.

　　"I'm terribly sorry, but I'm new here and don't know which ones are the Dinies. Could you please tell me what they are all called?"

　　The man looked to be an honest man, and bent over slid two of the smallest silver ones toward the tip of her fingers and said.

　　"These are 'dinies', they are five dollars each coin. The bigger silver ones are 'kunins', they are ten dollars each coin. The tiny bronze ones are called 'ginens' ; they are one dollar each coin. Then the small gold ones are 'hunins' they are twenty-five dollars each coin, and the big gold ones are called 'finins' they are one-hundred dollars each coin." He finished telling her to stand up straight, then asked pointing to the moonypuffs.

　　"Which one were you wanting? They are great pets. They are very small and can fit anywhere you put them, they are also very fast when they want to be, but they also sleep a lot. You can teach them to talk if you want to, and they also can have some magical powers during the might."

　　She looked down again at them and pointed to the dark purple one, saying. "That one please. Is it a male or female, not that it really matters I guess."

　　The man picked up the one she asked for and handed it over to her saying it was a male. She held him up to her face and he looked into her eyes. She felt a warm tingling sensation run down her spine, making her smile.

"Your name will be 'Finney', I'm sure you'll have a great time with me, my name is Dolyia."

　　The man turned on his feet quickly and several people turned and looked at Dolyia as soon as she had said her name. She put Finneyin her dress pocket where he could see out the top and looked at the surprised face of the man.

　　"What did I say?" she asked him".

　　The man looked around at the other people and waved them away, turned to her and said in a low voice so the others wouldn't hear him. "Are you really, Princess Dolyia? Princess Dasi's daughter, have you really returned to us?"

　　Dolyia felt a rush of shyness run through her, she had never been addressed this way, a princess.. her thoughts were running through her head so fast she could barely reply. "Yes, I guess so. I never thought of myself as a princess. But yes I am Dasi's daughter."

　　The man's smile grew even larger at her answer. At that he gave her a bag full of food for Finney and said. "This should feed your moonypuff for about two months, if you need more just tell any pet shop owner who you are and you'll be served at ease."

　　As he finished telling her this he tried to give her the 10 dinies back, she felt embarrassed now, and said. "No, I paid for him as a normal girl, and it'll stay that way. I am sorry if that offends you, but even if I am a princess I grew up as a normal farm girl and would like to be treated as such, but with the respect I deserve as well." Trying not to make the man angry she added, "Sorry again sir, I don't want to sound mean, it's just that I only found out about myself and details about my parents’ life moments ago. It's all new to me still."

　　He didn't seem upset at all though. He merely just smiled and put the money back in his pouch and said. "Thank you very much for that, we here need people like you. I'm sure you'll do great in your mission and I give you my prayers for a safe journey my dear."

　　At that point he turned and started working with the other pets. Dolyia felt better knowing she hadn't hurt the man's feelings, but made him happier. She didn't want everyone knowing she was the long lost princess, so she decided to go by 'Dolly' for now. Turning to look at the other shops she saw another man standing next to a tent that sold clothes and trinkets, she walked over to get a better look at the clothes while peeping at the man.

　　He looked very familiar, as if she'd seen him before. She couldn't help herself any longer so she walked up to him and said "I'm sorry to disturb you, but I can't help but think I know you from somewhere. Have we met at some point?"

　　The man was tall and had a nice dark blue suit on, his hat covered a good part of his face and he had a pack over his shoulder as if he had been traveling or was getting ready for a long journey. He looked down at her and only grunted, then turned away and walked down the road towards the town hall building. Dolyia wasn't sure if she felt angry at him for rudely walking off with just a grunt or embarrassed for walking up to a strange man like that. Pushing the thought and feeling about the man out of her mind she turned to the shop again. She did a little shopping, buying herself a pretty gold necklace that had a butterfly pendant, and a longer thicker shawl, and an extra set of pants and blouse for her pack. She then walked down the street towards the end of the village.

　　To the left on the last street going out of town she saw a large house and decided to sit and admire it for a moment. She thought to herself that that must be Sugman's home. Looking at his backyard she saw beautiful horses running in their paddocks, and there were butterflies everywhere. The sun was slowly going down, she shivered and realized it was starting to get late.

　　Deciding then that she should stay here for the night she turned back up the road towards the shops, went up to the pet shop owner again and asked. "Where is an inn I can stay for the night? I don't want to travel at night."

　　"Just down there is the Windal Inn. The owner is 'Genny'. She is very kind and would be more than happy to have you stay there." He answered delightfully, pointing to a sign that read 'The Windal INN'.

　　"Thank you very much," she said back to him.

　　Dolyia went over to the building and went inside. The place was warm and felt inviting to her. An older woman with white long hair and wrinkled face, wearing a long pretty dress and an apron came up to her as she walked in staring at everything around her. The inn was large and had many tables in the room on the right. The left had a desk and on the wall behind the desk was a key holder with ten key spots, only a few were missing. In front of her was a hall leading to the bottom five rooms and to the left of the hall was stairs leading to the top five rooms.

　　"Have you come to stay or are we here for a beverage?" The woman asked her, she stopped looking around and looked at the woman. She replied with a smile.

　　"I need a bed to stay in, until morning. I have a very long journey ahead of me. I'm Dolly, and this is Finney."

　　The woman smiled and said, "Oh honey, I know who you are, you don't have to hide your name from me. But I understand and agree with you about using a different name for now. You can stay in number 10. It's the best room I have. Don't worry about charges, it'll be my treat."

　　Dolyia didnt want to stay for free so when the lady turned away to get the key, she set a hunin down on the desk next to the teller machine. Genny handed her the key to her room and showed her the way to it. Walking through the inn, Dolyia only saw two people sitting in the corner of the room on the right. One of them looked up and she saw that it was the man she thought she knew, from the marketplace. She followed Genny up the stairs to the second floor and down the left side of the balcony to the last door to the right of her. On the door was a big golden colored number 10, Genny bowed to her and turned away whisking down the walkway to the stairs.

　　She used the key and went inside the room. It was still slightly lit up by the sun's setting rays shining through the window. There was a bed on the left against the back wall with a side table next to it, an oil lamp and bible, pen and parchment neatly set up on it. On the side wall was a tall full body mirror and a wash basin table. On the right of her was a small comfy golden yellow armchair, and a small round dining table. On the right side of the back wall was a door that Dolyia figured led to an outside sitting area for guests. She went to the wash basin and washed up, then walked over to the arm chair and sat at the table. She opened her pack bag and looked through the labeled jars of food that Benwick had packed for her.

　　Then she picked the one that she thought would be the tastiest. She ate and put her bed clothes on, laid in bed and looked at the ceiling. Her thoughts were running through her head like a carousel. She couldn't fathom how much she had found out in such little time. Within the last two weeks she had lost her Pa, the farm but found this new world and found out she was a princess for goodness sake. Dolyia was drifting off to sleep by this point and when the oil lamp burnt itself out finally she was fast asleep. Dreaming of herself being a real princess all dressed up in gowns dancing in a huge castle with her Ma again.