Day 2, Fall of 510 A.V. Frozenfalls Market--->Windward Boardwalk
Tag: Nidassasyae
Sparrows lived in one place their whole lives. The did not take to the air like the geese, flying en masse to warmer ground after the leaves fell. Nor were they swallows, sea turtles, or monarch butterflies, with their tireless treks across thousands of miles, like clockwork, every year, to a specific place that they knew by magnetic instinct. Whether it was due to a lack of iron in their beaks, or sheer stupid stubbornness, sparrows did not migrate no matter how freakin' cold the weather became. The point was, Rat had no sense of direction at all because sparrows didn't need that crap, and couldn't find her way out of the buildings and crowds for the life of her.
Rat could have sworn that the one particular corridor led out of the marketplace and into the forest. Instead, it led to more alleyways, and then a snow-lined street that Rat had never seen before. She snuggled down in her stinky furs. At least the walls of buildings loomed overhead. That meant the wind wouldn't blow Rat off her feet. Four Mizas jingled in Rat's fur-lined pocket. They were painful to the touch, they were so cold. In Rat's other pocket was a packet of walnuts.
Rat couldn't bird around while she had these things that she wanted to keep on her person. Man, so easy to get confused about places on foot. Rat was just about to snap at someone who'd almost tripped her, except she saw a tree peek over a wall. Holy crap! A tree! Rat had seen many trees in her life but none that made her as happy as that one.
Rat ran, and whooped (her breath was a cloud of steam), and rounded the corner, expecting to see the wild forest that she knew somewhat better than the city, and instead...
She got a park. A shykey park. #*$&%. #8*@!!! Yet another thing that Rat had never seen before. PETCH! Rat's fingers twisted into claws. She fell to her knees in the snow. Rat ranted into the cold, gray sky. Mostly stuff about how buildings were so stupid! Why did they exist?! She startled a poet into abandoning the haiku he'd been composing.