Claus

Three

            Faryn's taxi pulled up outside of a wooden shack that to Humans would appear to be the only structure for miles in this part of the Dolomites. But Acurials could see past the illusion to the town built near the edge of a cliff that laid beyond. Lower Eiraacia. And high up on the mountain above it was Upper Eiraacia, only visible in the night because of the lights shining from its buildings.

Faryn slipped her new phone she bought at Heathrow into her bag. Once she had it in her possession, she had removed the battery from her old phone, cutting off her access to Acurial servers. In the taxi to the airport, she had risked a few minutes on her phone to watch the video of her and Nick that had gone viral. It did not paint her in a favorable light. She'd debated texting her boss that she was going to be out indefinitely, but her boss was a mouse Thorine and would soon know why she wasn't going to make her next shift at the tourist shop on Broadstreet. If Winter questioned him, for both of their sakes', it was best Faryn had no contact with him.

Faryn paid the driver and with a breathless "Grazie. Tanto Piacere," she exited the taxi. From Heathrow she'd flown into Malpensa in Milan and then took a roughly eight-hour train ride before having to switch to taxi so she could get to Lower Eiraacia. A bed with big fluffy covers sounded amazing.

The shack before her was famous to Humans as serving the best food in the area and for its breathtaking views of the alps to the continual amusement of Acurials. Yet Faryn was sure if Humans knew the backdrops to their pictures were illusion cast with magic, it would only make them more eager to flock here.

Walking up to the shack, Faryn tugged her wooly hat down and pulled the hood of her snow coat up over her head. She patted the dagger strapped to her waist, making sure it was secure. When she'd had to go through security at the airport, she'd tucked it into her bag, but the magic on it was able to fool even the metal detectors.

Stepping inside the shack, she found a few guests spread out among tables. A man walked up to her, and Faryn braced herself to be recognized, to be pinned to the ground, but he only said, "Buongiorno," and asked if she wanted a table. Faryn had a basic understanding of Italian. She often heard it spoken around Oxford, but she could by no means carry on a conversation in the language.

So, instead, she used the universal language of Acurials to greet him.

The man grinned at her and motioned to a rickety door on the other end of the room. "Through the back, please, signorina."

Faryn smiled, relieved, and crossed the shack to the door. She pushed it open, and a harsh wind snipped at her face, threatening to push back her hood. Clutching the end of it in one hand, she squinted at the town she'd stepped into. Cobblestone peeked out from underneath fresh snow. The buildings were a mix of brick and wood and lights in every Christmas shade were draped over them. Upper Eiraacia probably wouldn't have many lights strung up, if they had any at all. Lower Eiraacia was more known as a Winter Court town. Their Christmas celebration yesterday would have been spectacular.

As she walked through the town, she looked for a way to the lifts that could take her to Upper Eiraacia. The street signs were written in the Acurial language, but she still heard snippets of conversations in Italian. This was her first time being in an Acurial town, and yet she was forced to keep her head down instead of freely gaze around her.

Walking out of a shop ahead of her was a Thorine in her Celvian form, her great white wings the only visible indication she was Pegasus, but it was her scent that marked her as Thorine and not Cyra. Faryn had only seen a few Pegasi before. Since they couldn't get rid of their wings, they couldn't spend time in Human cities like Oxford. The same went for Unicorn Thorine. When they shifted into a Celvian form, they retained their horns. Faryn's pointed ears were easy to cover up. Pegasus wings and Unicorn horns were not.