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Post by zasknu on Oct 25, 2011 16:50:46 GMT -5
"Oh... a-alright, Nimble. Thank you for the help and have a nice day." Aestella said with a nod, turning back to stare at the walls. Though she tried not to show it, she was sad that Nimble was leaving. She understood that he had things to do, but Nimble was one of the more... peaceful guests she had this morning, and being left with the others without him felt a little daunting. After Nimble left, closing the door behind him. Aestella let out a sigh, and looked around the room, planning the placement of various objects in her mind as she walks back to the table and starts to wrap up the scrolls. The ever-present knowledge that she did not have any devices already made was still taunting her, and she knew that it would take a long time to get enough clock made to make this room presentable. She could start now, assuming there were no interruptions, but she did have those watches that Quillson wanted and that order was place first today, so that's what she needed to spend the next 34 hours, 26 minutes, and 51 seconds of her free time on. Aestella put down the last of the scrolls, neatly wrapped in its ribbon, and looked up at the ceiling in thought. Assuming she didn't stop to eat or sleep, she could probably have the room filled with some of her more basic projects she already had designs for in another 20 hours. Nodding to herself, she began to levitate the scrolls behind her as she turned to go back towards her workshop when she heard the sounds of somepony coming down the hall towards the front room.
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Post by thepatriot on Oct 25, 2011 16:56:48 GMT -5
Quillson watched as Diamond brushed off his advice towards dealing with Aestella's trinkets, quickly scooping the various pieces back into the boxes. By the time he had finished putting them back (to the best of his effort) Diamond seemed to have grown disinterested with Aestella's designs in the room, and was moving on through the house.
He turned to follow suit, quickly re-rolling Aestella's sketch that Diamond had left sitting on her work table. Leaving the back room he made his way down the hall of Aestella's house, noticing the light blue Unicorn standing in front of Aestella's opened "bedroom". He hurried to catch up to her, hoping that the pony's nosy nature wouldn't upset Aestella beyond her current state.
Before he got to the Unicorn however, Diamond turned and began making her way towards Quillson. He slowed his pace, coming to a stop as Diamond approached him. Turning to follow along beside her, Quill looked down at the two mechanical birds. With a glance back to Diamon's eyes, spoke. "Oh, well I'm sure those will be just great for Aestella's store front. But do you think she'll mind too much that you got them from her room? She could have been keeping them in there for a reason..."
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Post by diamondpoint on Oct 26, 2011 4:13:01 GMT -5
Once again, Diamond shrugged off Quillson and his comment, after all he was talking nonsense. "Hardly! After all I got these out of some closet in the back, not her room. I didn't even find her room. Odd that. Where do you think she sleeps?" But there was no time to wait for a reply, there was decorating to do!
Diamond continued along her path through the house until she was in the entry room, floating the robotic birds behind her. She picked a shelf at random and placed the two figures on it nicely, taking actually taking an extra second to position them properly. "There." She said with a nod and turned to Aestella, "I couldn't find much back there, but these two bird-clock-things will do wonderfully until you get more stock. No need to thank me, I was happy to help." she beamed proudly.
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Post by zasknu on Oct 26, 2011 14:50:06 GMT -5
Shock. Horror. Abject terror. All of these emotions and more surged into Aestella's eyes, stretching them wide as she watched Diamond carry her friends and place them onto a shelf. She distinctly remembered saying that Diamond could look through her workshop, but not her room. Already afraid of what state she might find her workshop in, she couldn't even imagine what kind of damage the madmare had done to her bedroom. Looking over the mechanical birds quickly, she felt just a little relief in that they didn't seemed damaged. She swallowed, then slowly allowed a twitchy extremely forced smile to cross her face, though her eyes still betrayed her shock and fear.
"T-that l-ooks w-w-wonderful... Diamond... t-thank you..." Aetsella stammered. "I'm s-sure you are right. About the birds. Helping." Setting the scrolls down on the table once more, she awkwardly stepped over to Diamonds side, glancing again at the birds. "Don't worry you two. I'll handle this, and then you will be safe again." Turning to face Diamond, she coughs softly and says. "I think I know what I need to do to fix the store... but it will take some time and I'll need as much space as possible... so... if it's ok with you... would you mind umm... maybe... leaving?" She shrinks back from Diamond afraid that she'll yell, or scream, or hit her, or ... talk at her.
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Post by thepatriot on Oct 26, 2011 17:34:05 GMT -5
Quillson watched from the hallway entrance, sadly not surprised by Aestella's reaction. Of course she was upset, Quill had expected just that. The poor filly's eyes betrayed her. She was just trying to be polite, but it was obvious their actions were intruding on her home. He only hoped that something could still be salvaged from the encounter. Or at least, not worsened any further.
Quillson hurridly stepped forward next to Diamond, trying to part the two before Diamond had time to respond. "Don't worry Aestella, if you're busy we can surely get out of your hair! No sense in getting in the way." He smiled to the distressed unicorn in another attempt to ease her troubled mind.
Quill stepped back a notch, turning towards Diamond. He kept the smile, internally hoping that he hadn't upset her in turn. All he wanted to do was help the sensitive shop keeper, he could tell she'd had enough.
"I think this would be a good time for me to show you to the inn I mentioned before, since you're new to town and all. I would be perfectly happy escorting you there myself! He was a little upset towards Diamond for unsettling Aestella (And completely disregarding his advice), but he couldn't blame the filly. She was just excited and curious, she hadn't seen just how socially fragile Aestella could be. And maybe spending a little more time talking, they could get to know each other better.
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Post by diamondpoint on Oct 26, 2011 20:31:35 GMT -5
Being completely oblivious to the shopmare's horror, Diamond actually felt proud that she was able to help and spark Aestella's creative juices for a new look. She didn't even take any offense to being asked to leave, it made sense after all. So, the archery mare just smiled as Quillson approached, agreeing with the purple Unicorn and Diamond nodded, agreeing as well.
"Oh, fantastic! Thank you so much, Quillson. I guess we should get going right away then and leave Aestella to it! It was wonderful meeting you, Aestella." Diamond said, cheerful as always and trotted over to the door to wait for Quillson, "We'll have to do this again soon!"
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Post by zasknu on Oct 26, 2011 21:37:51 GMT -5
Aestella keeps fake smiling at Diamond Point and nods. "Yes, soon, sounds ... good." She stands there motionless, just smiling and nodding, waiting for the two ponies to leave. Oh she had so much work to do. She had to clean the floors, clean the storage room, clean her workshop. She still needed to remake her bed. There were so many clocks to make, and oh she still needed to finish Quillson's order!
"Oh, right... Quillson. I'll have your watches done in the time I mentioned before... if, you needed to know the soonest you could pick them up." With a nod and a slightly more genuine smile, she nods towards the door in a not to subtle way of saying that she hoped they wouldn't stay much longer.
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Post by thepatriot on Oct 26, 2011 21:52:29 GMT -5
Quillson waited for the other ponies to speak before approaching the door. As Aestella brought up his order, Quill decided to try and ease Aestella's work load. "Oh, don't worry too much about my order Aestella, I'm sure you have plenty of work to do! Please, just keep it as a last priority. I'm in no hurry at all."
He was about to take his leave, remembering to thank Aestella for her hospitality. He certainly didn't want to leave the impression of being an ungrateful guest. "Thank you again for having us over Aestella. you were a wonderful host! I hope we didn't cause you too much trouble, and I'll be sure to stop in again sometime soon to say hello!"
Finishing off Quill turned back his attention towards the light blue unicorn. He nudged the door open, keeping it slightly parted from the frame to prepare their departure. "We better get moving. The storm looks like it's starting to let up, but there's no telling how long that reprieve will last." And with a smile, Quillson kindly led Diamond Point out of Aestella's clock shop.
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Post by zasknu on Oct 29, 2011 21:17:30 GMT -5
Aestella walked to the open door as Quillson led Diamond from the store, doing her best to keep her smile plastered on her face. "Of course, you are more than welcome to come back anytime" She attempted to say sincerely. While it was true that Aestella would have enjoyed having them back some other time, she hoped beyond hope that it wouldn't be for a few days, or a week, or longer depending on when she could get her heart rate back down. As the two ponies walked further away, she managed to choke out a "Have a pleasant day" in quiet voice before closing the door and locking it in a hurry.
Once more alone in her home, Aestella sank to the floor at the base of the front door, coming to rest in the leftover puddle from the morning's previous 'excitement'. Thinking about the time of day made her wince, and with a feeling of fatigued foreboding, took a look at her watch to find that she has only been awake for 2 hours. Only two hours, she thought with a mental groan. The morning had taken so much out of her, and all she felt like she could do now was crawl back into bed and sleep for the rest of the day. "Aren't you going to clean that up, Aestella?" Chirped a high pitched metallic voice in her mind. "That puddle will damage the floor, that and it wouldn't do for you to stay damp" Chimed in a similar but different voice. Aestella looked up from the floor to the mechanical birds on the shelf where Diamond had left them. "O-oh, right. Of course, how could I have forgotten..." Aestella picked herself up from the floor, and shook off whatever water had clung to her coat before making her way to the kitchen to bring a mop back to the front from inside a small closet affixed between the kitchen and the bathroom. With the mop floating before her, Aestella began to soak up what was left of the water from the floor, "Oh Tick, Tock... what would I ever do without you."
With the puddle taken care of, Aestella returned the mop of the closet and made her way into the storage room, followed by the two mechanical birds, both 'flying' with their wings as they glowed with a soft cyan light. "So, which project are you going to start on first?" Tick asked excitedly. "I'm going to work on merchandise for the store, like the others said I should" Aestella responded, cleaning up anything that was still left out in the storage room after hurricane Diamond blew through. "Do you mind if we watch? You look like you could use some company" Tock mentioned, concerned for Aestella's tenseness of tone and seemingly lack of concern for the state of the house. "Oh... I think I have had plenty of company for the week... But I would definitely enjoy having you two with me. I always do."
With her friends 'company', Aestella pulled out most of her supplies from her storage room and carried them into her workshop. Once situated in the workshop, she spent a few minutes talking with Tick and Tock while cleaning up the mess that Quillson hadn't gotten. The cleaning did not take too long, and when she was comfortable with the state of the room she began to sort through all of her clock designs. She found a good number of various types of projects that she had made before and set them all out on the floor of the room. Closing her eyes, Aestella envisioned each clock she wanted to make in her mind. Every part and piece of each machine flash through her mind as she began to magically lift all of the parts she had brought into the workshop from her storage room. With her friends helpful comments and suggestions, Aestella gradually constructed many clocks and watches of various styles and sizes, as well as a few tunable music boxes of the course of the rest of the day.
"Maybe a little to the left..." Tick suggested as Aestella nudges a large grandfather clock along the wall in the entry room in her home. It was late in the evening, but Aestella couldn't stop to rest. The shelves were lined with mantle clocks of various designs, the walls were lined with wall clocks as well as a grandfather clock here and there, evenly spaced and keeping the room symmetrical of course. "You've really done a good job here, Aestella. Your guests would be happy with the changes. Now, how about going to sleep? Or perhaps just a bite to eat?" Tock asked, his mechanical voice filled with concern. Aestella placed another watch case on the table, using a triangular piece of brass to make sure it is angled correctly with the other watch cases she had placed before, "I can't go to sleep, Tock. I still need to finish Quillson order, and I'm almost finished in here anyways." She made a few adjustments to one of the wall clocks before nodding to herself and returning to her workshop with Tick and Tock. "He did tell you, 'Oh, don't worry too much about my order Aestella, I'm sure you have plenty of work to do! Please, just keep it as a last priority. I'm in no hurry at all.' Remember?" Aestella didn't pause, "Yes I remember he said that, and I did take care of my store first. Now that I have the time, I should really get started on his watches." Once more in her workshop, she smiled happy to be making so many devices. The familiarity was so comforting, she didn't really mind the fatigue of the morning or the fact that she hadn't eaten a thing all day.
Aestella took only a second to find the sketches she had drawn up for Quillson's watches and another to put on her loupe. She began with the forehoof watch; collecting the gears she already had in storage for the internal mechanics of the watch as well as one of her simpler but more elegant premade clock faces, as well as some squares of silver blanks for the watch's casing. Fitting the clock portion of the watch together took only about an hour, but the silver clasps that would connect the clock to the band that would wrap around the wearer's leg took much longer. Aestella had considered using some of the premade clasps for Quillson's watch, but instead she opted to continue the motif that she had planned for the pocket watch. She picked out another two small silver blanks and picked up a small detailing hammer with her magic, slowly tapping away at the silver, shaping them with the hammer and her magic into two small typewriter shaped clasps. Putting down the hammer, Aetsella looked over her handiwork, and after two nice compliments from her companions, began to polish the pre-watch with a small cloth. After polishing the pieces to a nice mirror shine, she collected a nice black cloth band to use for the strap, and finished the watch by connecting all the pieces and setting down the watch in a nice black case.
Working on the watch had taken Aestella most of the night, much of that time being spent testing the watch to make sure it functioned properly and was durable enough to be useful for a pony who traveled. Her 'avian' friends continued to advise her take a break, for sleep and for food, but Aestella only had one project left, and it was already morning so she might as well continue working. As with the watch, she assembled all of the gears and other internal parts for the pocket watch, as well as the many brass blanks needed for the watch's casing and the rotating disk that would tell the time of day. Fitting the mechanisms together didn't take too long for the unicorn, but when she set about with her hammer and other detailing tools to create the casings and the cityscape scenes she found herself engrossed in her work. The day passed by quickly, with Aestella tuning out the world other than her work. When she finished the detail work, putting the pocket watch together, and attaching the brass chain to the casing, it was already very early in the morning.
The unicorn yawned softly, as she carried Tick and Tock back to her bedroom, thanking them for their help. Leaving the two birds back in their spots on her trunk, she returned to the workshop, finishing up the fine tuning on the timing mechanisms on the pocket watch, just to make sure the time disk inside would accurately display the correct hour of the day. Placing the second watch in a case, she wrote a quick note on a piece of parchment, identifying these two watch as Quillson's order, and left the cases and the note on the desk. Fully aware of how tired she felt, she decided that she would take a quick nap after one more pass around her entry room. When she arrived there, she did indeed find a few more unevenly placed clocks on the shelves, which were quickly adjusted. Lastly, she unlocked the front door with the idea that should someone come in, the chimes would easily wake her up from the light nap she planned on taking. With a yawn and a smile, she turned and walked halfway back across the room before collapsing to the floor, asleep.
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Post by thepatriot on Oct 29, 2011 22:24:28 GMT -5
Quillson marched on through the partially cleared road that bends through the small town of Hoofington, moving at a hurried pace to keep up with his friend Diamond Point. After "happening" into each other at the inn, they'd decided to go and visit their friend Aestella together. It had been a few days since either had seen or heard from the shy unicorn.
Quillson hoped that their last visit hadn't pushed the pony to an estranged point. It was obvious to Quill that the visit earlier in the week had been stressful to his friend, to say the least. But it wouldn't do any good having her think she'd scared them off either. Maybe he was trying too hard to keep things calm... perhaps thinking less would do him so good.
Rather than toil over the issues of their last get together in his head, Quill instead decided to enjoy the scenery of their walk. The snow wasn't falling today, but it still sat in large enough quantities along the road and on the roofs to paint a wintery portrait. Smoke climbed high from various stacks and chimneys around town, giving the air a quaint hint of wood smoke. He continued to turn his head looking about the town as they walked, eventually looking over towards Diamond. The first thought that came to mind was how happy he was to have these new friends in town.
"It's not too bad out today. Relatively nice for the middle of Winter."
He smiled over to her as he spoke, tilting his head at a slight angle. He was happy to be spending time with her again. That's what friends do right? It'd been years since Quillson had been around *anywhere* long enough to make real friends. Hopefully things could different this time around.
Soon enough they had reached the steps leading up to Aestella's shop and home. The exterior looked the same as it had before, the clock sitting up above the door with its luminescent glow. Quillson climbed up the steps, stopping short at the threshold. Last time he had just walked right in, though Aestella had still seemed startled by her door chime mechanism. Hoping to do better by her, he raised a hoof and knocked hard a couple times. Surely that would alert her.
After a few moments of waiting, and a couple glances back at Diamond Quillson knocked again. Maybe she couldn't hear from where she was at home. Or maybe she was just busy. He turned around back to Diamond as he spoke. "Maybe she's not home. Do you think we should come back again later?"
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Post by diamondpoint on Oct 30, 2011 3:30:53 GMT -5
Diamond Point skipped happily a few feet in front of Quillson as they traveled down the path. She was lucky to have met up with him before he left. It wasn't like she was waiting at her door and listening for him or anything. That would have just been crazy. As always, Diamond rambled on about some random topic as they walked.
"Breakfast was so good today! I really need to get the recipe for the Inn's waffles! And where do they keep getting those strawberries? They must have a greenhouse hidden around here somewhere, because I'm pretty sure you can store them in the back for this long, right? They would rot. Oh, and their blueberries! For the muffins. How do they get them so fluffy?" she giggled, "So good! Oh! You remember what that Zebra we met the other day said about eating snow? Well, I tried some yesterday and I must have done it wrong, because the stuff just tastes like water! Really cold water. But I didn't add honey. I remember her saying something about honey before, and--Oh! We're here!"
Diamond looked up at the shop, Like Clockwork, and Aestella's glowing clock above the door. She still thought it to be an odd decoration, but the idea behind it was still really sweet. She watched as Quillson approached and knocked, and waited. She gave a small shrug one of the many times Quillson looked back at her before he tried knocking a second time.
"Pfft, no. We came all the way over here, and it is a shop. Let's just try the door!" Diamond suggested as she pushed her way past the Stallion and opened the door, pushing it open. "See? Unlocked the whole time!" she stepped into the room and looked around, letting out a low whistle, "The filly's been busy. See? Now this looks MUCH better! Like an actual shop! Ponies will know what she sells now!"
The archer pony trotted around the room, admiring the decorations before tripping over a light blue lump on the floor. Stumbling a few feet before catching herself and turning to see what she hit, and her eyes went wide, "Aestella?! What are you doing on the floor? That is no place for a pony to sleep!"
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Post by zasknu on Oct 30, 2011 4:03:30 GMT -5
The sudden jolt of somepony tripping over her caused Aestella to open her eyes in alarm. She had not heard anypony knock, or open the door. Even the chimes that had been set up hadn't been enough to wake her. Blinking a few times, she began to get up onto her hooves but slumped back to the floor, still exhausted from lack of sleep. Clearly, she thought, she wasn't out cold for too long if she felt this awful. Looking around from her spot on the floor, she quickly fixated her gaze on the sky blue unicorn standing over her. She snapped her eyes closed again for a few seconds before slowly opening them, praying that in her tired state she was just imaging things. Unfortunately, upon reopening her eyes she found the apparition before her was very real.
"H-hello there," Aestella whispered tiredly, "C-can I help you?" She was terrified of the situation she found herself in; not just because she realized that talking to this particular pony would mean an endless stream of words would soon be thrust upon her, but also that laying on the floor as a tired mess was not the way a proper hostess should behave. Once more she attempted to stand up but again failed, falling back to the floor with a thud. Oh this day couldn't start out any worse, could it.
The third time appeared to be the charm, and Aestella shakily managed to get off the floor, using the closest wall for support. Turning to Diamond Point, she managed to whisper "S-sorry about all this... I'm just a little tired..." She turned away from Diamond in shame, only to see that Quillson was also here, standing in the doorway. With an internal groan, Aestella hung her head, hiding her embarrassment behind her unkempt mane. "P-please... come inside, Quillson. Is there something I can do for you both?" She asked, not raising her head, but making a slight nod to the interior of the room in an effort to welcome Quillson inside.
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Post by thepatriot on Oct 30, 2011 5:02:21 GMT -5
Quillson propped the door open against his side, letting the ever curious blue unicorn work her way into Aestella's shop. He looked around, taking in the sight of Aestella's stark changes to the front room. It certainly did look like a shop now, with her various clocks placed nice and neat across the walls and shelves. He surveyed them all, looking at the distinct differences between models and designs. She had obviously put in a large amount of work into every device placed here.
His attention was soon directed towards the back middle of the room, noticing a small periwinkle lump. Once the gears clicked in his head Quillson tried to react towards his realization of the anomaly. He stepped forward suddenly, trying to reach Diamond before she-
Quill winced as Diamond's legs collided with the filly on the floor, though she managed to keep herself from fully falling over. He continued forward as Aestella seemed to take in her surroundings on what just occurred. As a matter of fact, she looked rather frightened to see Diamond Point standing over her. Quill understood how that could be a little bit of a shock to wake up to in your own home.
"Oh Aestella, are you okay?" he muttered walking towards her, stopping as she tried to bring herself to her hooves for the third time. Once she had, Quillson watched as the tired pony addressed him... off to his right. Quill glanced back to make sure he wasn't mistaken, and there was certainly nopony there.
"P-please... come inside, Quillson. Is there something I can do for you both?"
He inched forward softly, turning around to stand beside Aestella. He pressed up next to her, allowing himself to be used to support her weight. "Are you all right Aestella? You look so tired... do you need help getting back to your room?"
Quillson looked over towards Diamong Point, offering up a concerned look. He lifted out a half smile towards the end before leaning back and peering towards Aestella's drooping head.
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Post by diamondpoint on Oct 30, 2011 16:33:52 GMT -5
"Don't worry about us, Aestella. We're here as friends, not customers." Diamond said as she returned Quillson's look of concern for the shopmare, before looking around at the room again, "She must have over worked herself to get this room done so quickly..." she said solemnly. She was the pony who pointed out how to fix the shop, so this was partly her fault, but why didn't the Clockmaker ask for help instead of doing... this to herself.
Diamond shook her head. Well, if it was her fault, then she'll have to make up for it. "Alright, you get her to her room, Quill. I'll go check her kitchen and see if I can find some food or tea or... something." It was only a guess on her part, but she figured if the shy filly worked herself to sleeping on the floor, then she probably didn't bother to stop to eat. And if Aestella wasn't hungry, then... well, then she would have a meal ready for later.
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Post by zasknu on Oct 30, 2011 18:46:19 GMT -5
It took a few seconds for Aestella to realize that Quillson wasn't in the doorway, but was instead helping keep her from falling to the floor again. "I'm alright, really. I just need to rest for a bit." She pulled off of the wall and back from Quillson, shaking herself to try and become a little more awake. What was it that Diamond was saying? Overworked? Perhaps... but she had gone longer without food or sleep and been fine. Aestella pondered this for a moment longer before remembering that Diamond had said something else; had Diamond said that they were Aestella's friends? Aestella tried to get the words in her mind to fit together correctly, but it was as if she was trying to see through a thick patch of fog. She was, however, able to make out that Diamond was talking about food.
"If you were h-hungry, Diamond... The kitchen is the first door on the left if you fallow the hallway on the right past the storage room. Though... you might find the pantry a little... under stocked." Aestella whispered, trying to focus on where Diamond was standing, which was easier said than done as Diamond Point just wouldn't stand still. For just a moment, Aestella let her mind wander, pondering how Diamond was able to shift around the room without moving her legs, but banished the though with another irritated shake of her head.
Attempting to focus, Aestella tried to figure out the reason for this sudden wave of fatigue she was experiencing. It couldn't just be an issue of lack of sleep, since previous experience has prepared her for long periods of sleeplessness. Perhaps, she thought, she overexerted her magic and strained herself in that regard. No, that wouldn't work because she had left herself drained before when she still lived in her clock tower and it didn't feel like this. She did feel warmer than usual, a strange warmth that seemed to come from within rather than from the room she was in. Maybe she was ill? That could be possible, she reasoned, the journey to Hoofington in the first place had required she spend a lot of time trotting through snow.
Blinking, Aestella suddenly found herself in her kitchen staring at the door to the walk-in pantry. Had she been walking? She didn't recalled having started to walk, but she had to have been. How would she have gotten here otherwise? With a tired sigh, she stumbled over to a chair at the small table in the corner of the kitchen and sat down, resting her head on the table.
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