Some plot development.15th Hematite, 225The day after the Saddle Arabians arrived in town, Isolde was on her way home early. Ever since her encounter with the animate statues she tried to get home before dark, and at least before all activity outside ceased completely. Shadytrails was slowing down for the day, but a few ponies and zebras were still wandering the streets to or from the tavern to get something to eat before heading home. A perfect time to get home so nothing could catch her out alone and vulnerable. It wasn't like she had anything to do anyway. She'd handled the town's official trading the day before and the head of the caravan hadn't expressed any interest in meeting with anyone in town, and if she did it would be with Bahati now anyway. Yeah, it was going to be a slow and boring night, which was just fine...
To her surprise, she was met at her door by one of the large equines. The charcoal coated mare wore lavish blue robes, and had at least two golden bands on each leg. Judging by her white mane and tired look, she must have been getting up in years. The caravan head mare? Hopefully this wasn't about some kind of problem in town. ...and hopefully she didn't need a guard. She cleared her throat and waved at the mare. "Hello."
The horse tossed her mane and met her eyes. "Good evening. Are you Miss Hookbill?"
"I am. Is there something I can help you with?"
"Perhaps. May we speak in private for a short while?" A small smile appeared on her face. "I've barely had an opportunity to meet the leader of Shadytrails and I was hoping we could discuss our future working together?"
...that was timely. Isolde smiled back. "I'm more than happy to speak with you, but if you're looking for the mayor, that's the zebra mare Bahati. She's probably the closest thing we have to a
leader in town..."
The mare waved a hoof. "Oh, but you're the one who must understand the finances. You did handle all of the negotiating with Taja yesterday, didn't you?"
"That's true. If you wanted to discuss a trade agreement or something of a similar nature then I'd be happy to talk with you."
"Wonderful! That's what I was hoping to hear. If we may?" She pointed toward the door.
Isolde unlocked the entrance and strode inside. "Absolutely, right this way. My office is right through here." On the way to her office, she said, "I'm sorry, I never caught your name."
"Sanaa," she answered while squeezing through the small doorway. "I see you must not have been expecting large company."
"Sorry about that... we built the public facilities to accommodate everyone as much as possible, but the thought didn't cross my mind until..."
Sanaa smirked and chuckled. "Just now?"
Isolde nodded and directed her toward the right door from the waiting area. "So sorry about that... there's plenty more room inside." She was going to have to ask Rosewood about expanding the doorway some now. What an example to set for a visitor!
"Don't fret over it. This is hardly the first time this has happened and I'm sure it won't be the last."
She'd be the one who decided whether or not to fret over a faux pas, but fair enough, she'd drop it for now. Isolde led Sanaa into her office and presented her with the largest chair available, which was just barely enough for the oversized mare to squeeze into. "Sorry again about the accommodations. We'll have to work on all of this before you return."
Sanaa shook her head. "As I said, don't breathe another word over it. I've found Shadytrails to be a lovely and welcoming place so far, and I wouldn't dream of letting something like this tarnish that."
"I'm glad to hear that, really," Isolde replied. She took a seat across from the horse. "So, what exactly did you want to discuss with me today? Did you have any special requests for us to produce for next year? Anything you were looking to try selling to us instead?"
"I had a few things in mind, yes," Sanaa said. She tossed her mane and adopted a wistful smile. "First, I'd ask you for the recipe for that heavenly strawberry wine you serve in the tavern, but I imagine that's something only the brewers might know. I
would however be quite interested in buying some from you. As much as you can spare now and as much as you can produce for next year. I just know everyone back home would love it as much as I did."
Isolde ran the numbers in her head. They'd produced a great excess of strawberries this year, so it stood to reason that they'd have plenty for next year. "Absolutely, that's something we'd be happy to do. I'll have to speak with Shortstack to see how much we have to spare for this year, but absolutely." She started looking for a notepad and asked, "Anything else?"
"Well, the gems I've seen look absolutely exquisite." Sanaa brushed the rings on a leg. "Do you have any jewelers in town that might be able to produce jewelry for us to trade back home? Anything in silver or gold would fetch a princely sum."
Jewelry? That sounded profitable indeed. "Did you have any specific..." Isolde's voice trailed off as something caught her eye in the room beyond. Funny, she thought she'd closed the door.
"...is something wrong?" Sanaa asked. She glanced back.
"Nothing. Nothing, sorry. I must have just seen a bird through the window." She cleared her throat and asked, "Did you have any specific requests? We can make all kinds of things."
Sanaa tapped the ring on her leg. "Oh, just about anything would do, but remember to size it appropriately this time!"
Isolde chuckled nervously. Right, she wasn't going to screw that- there it went again! Something definitely
inside of her home!
Sanaa rapped her hoof on the table. "Miss Hookbill, is something wrong? You look positively nervous."
The griffoness stood and circled around the desk slowly. "Just... stay here a moment. I thought I saw something." She headed into the back room cautiously, hoping her eyes were just playing tricks on her. She peeked around the corner and looked around. Nothing.
Behind her, Sanaa groaned. "Miss Hookbill, I do have a schedule to keep. If you're going to go chasing ghosts, I'll just get on with my business."
What? No! "Wait, Miss Sanaa, we can..." As she turned back, she found her office
empty. No hoofsteps sounded, and there was no way such a large mare could have slipped out that quickly and silently. She scurried back into the room and looked around. Nothing! She hurried out of the front door and searched up and down the street. Nobody. What in the world...?
Isolde lifted into the air and beat her wings unevenly to circle around her house. There was no sight of any horses around. Nor any ponies, zebras or griffons. What...? Where was everyone?
She set down near the tavern, far, far away from the statues, and rushed inside. Dead silence.
Nobody. This wasn't possible. She searched the upper level quickly and ducked down into the cellar, but nobody was there. Nobody, and no sound.
In a mild panic, she rushed back out into the street. "Hello!? Is anyone here!?"
A faint giggle sounded from down the road. She snapped her head that way, but saw nothing! There was nobody here!
"Did everyone forget you?" That was
her own voice, but she didn't say anything!
"What!?"
"Did they forget you and leave you behind?"
She spun in a little circle. "Everyone was here just a minute ago!"
"But they're gone now. Did they move on? They must have. They don't need you anymore. Who'd want to stay with a crazy griffon anyway?"
Isolde kept spinning, to the point that she almost lost her balance. "I'm not crazy! Where are you? What do you want with me!?"
"You loved them. You needed them. You thought they loved you, but now they're gone and you're alone. What will you do now?"
"Answer me! I'm not crazy!"
"Not crazy? Who's talking to themselves?"
A different feminine voice whispered in her ear, "It's all in your head..."
Isolde bolted upright and found herself surrounded by people. She was lying in the street... near the tavern.
Gunther reached down and took her claw. "Isolde, are you alright? You blacked out just now. You've been walking around and talking to yourself, then just blacked out!"
She rolled over onto her belly and placed her face in her claws. Was she alright? "I don't know..." she whimpered.
...she wasn't just imagining all of this. She wasn't! But... but gods... what was happening to her?
She didn't resist as Gunther lifted her, and with help, started taking her back to the hospital. "I'm not crazy..." she pleaded to no one. "I'm
not..."