Foxheart

Part One: Chapter One

The bookstore's bell tinkled lightly as Esme stepped out into the warm summer afternoon. She checked her books, excited about reading another historical adventure of the knights and dragons of old and curious about whether the new magazine would help her finally get her hair to curl like her aunt's. Her dark hair was thick and stubborn and so far nothing worked to change its flat texture. Esme kept trying though.

She looked up, shielding her eyes from the bright summer sun, when a massive shadow drifted over her. A cargo blimp was passing overhead, joining the other blimps and passenger zepplins dotted about the clear blue sky like flocks of fat birds. She recalled the days when zepplins brought pain to her and ignited an irrational hatred. Her parents could be alive if it weren't for one, but those feelings had long died.

Esme touched the back of her neck, frowning at the sweat trickling there. From the lack of clouds, the sun was free to blanket the world in heat. Everyone was wearing summer outfits and even Esme had placed a light pink sun hat on her head, covering her short black hair. Today was hot and she was in need of ice cream.

She set off down the cobbled road to seek out something to cool her down, keeping out of the way of the horses and cars that trundled by and passing many people who clearly had money behind them. The Garden District was richer than most of the old parts of Lakeside. Wayside and Oldtown were filled with buildings of disrepair, poverty or just abandoned from the blaze that ripped through it five years ago. But the Gardens were filled with old and historical architecture that was kept safe and clean with gardens, trees and flowers sprinkled about evenly. It was deemed a fashionable place to go for the rich and the shops here were extortionate. Women wondered about in their fashionable summer dress and outfits, dressed in high-heels, cloches and summer hats. The men wore light suits, puffed on pipes and hid their faces beneath bowler hats. Those with little money were obvious against the swarm of vibrant colours and beautiful clothes. Esme was one of the vibrant ones despite not really feeling it. Even though she wore the latest fashions, her hair was primly done and her soft shaded make-up expertly placed, Esme didn't feel like she fit in with the other men and women surrounding her. She didn't act right at all; gossiping and bragging endlessly of their businesses and money and name-dropping whenever possible. She found that trait of her class to be pointless and didn't dabble in it much at all. She just walked by, gazing now and then at the clothes shop she passed without stopping to greet anyone. She kept to herself as always.

Feeling the trickling about her neck worsening, Esme hurried onwards, pausing only once to cross the main road that guided the traffic of buses, taxis and carts pulled by thickly muscled horses north into the city. She tried to eye the vehicle, testing her knowledge of brands, while she stood amongst a waiting group of people. She noticed the oil-cars of the rich that left behind an awful stench, the steam-cars of the common that wafted smoke out behind them and the noisy slow clockwork-cars of the poor. She was always curious about cars and other contraptions like steam-trains, blimps and the new tram-lines. How they worked was a wonder to her, especially after being raised amongst the Wizards in the Ivory Tower. Magic made sense to her, even if she wasn't very good at it, while science and machinery were strange.

The moment the traffic warden came up to stop the flow of traffic, Esme crossed with a small flock of people and entered the west side of the Gardens. She knew exactly where she was going in the smug maze of alleys and roads filled with bustling people. The Ice Cream Parlour was her favourite place to go in the summer ever since she moved here.

Soon she found the white painted shop nestled beside a large men's tailors and a shoe shop. The familiar tree still stood outside, surrounded by a wrought-iron fence and benches, giving shade to today's shoppers and tourists. It made her grin in relief. She'd finally be able to cool down a little bit. If she knew it was going to be this hot she wouldn't have bothered to leave the Tower.