Chapter Text
Rose heaved a big sigh. Her book tour had been amazing. She couldn’t believe how well received she’d been, everywhere she’d gone. She shouldn’t have been surprised, with Lucienne’s help and the Library of the Dreaming at her disposal. But she still felt like an imposter when people recognized her on the street and told her how much her story meant to them. Finally, she was at the end of the tour. She and her agent had organized it to end in Naxos, a cute little island near Greece, and tomorrow Ara would be joining her for a sweetheart trip (who says you have to get married to have a honeymoon, anyway?). But today was for relaxing, and she needed it!
She had woken late this morning, in her fancy hotel in Chora, and had a leisurely breakfast (the Naxian honey for her toast was amazing). Then she gathered her thoughts, flipping through tourist guides, trying to decide which of the many activities on offer would be the most relaxing (and which she wanted to save to do with Ara, when she got here–she’d definitely save the Kastro castle, Demeter temple, and the Portara!). She narrowed it down to a swim at the beach, or a little hike up Mount Zas. The hike looked nice, especially because she was craving some good solitary exercise in nature after all that flying around, but she decided on the beach–it was a beautiful day for a swim. So she left the pamphlets in her hotel room, packed her swimming bag (snacks and sunscreen are essential), and headed out for the beach.
Apparently, everyone else had the same idea. Rose wandered up and down the beach, looking for a quiet corner to put down her towel, but every time she thought she’d found one, a random stranger would throw a ball towards her, or a child would accidentally kick sand on her towel. Finally she found a perfect spot, only for a seabird flying over to let one loose on her head.
“Argh! I give up!” She turned inland and got out her phone to book a ride to Mount Zas on the site the hotel desk agent had shown her. Ten minutes later her car arrived, the enthusiastic driver willing to talk her ear off as he drove her to the parking lot, raving about the Cretzschmar's Buntings and Eleonora’s Falcons she would likely see at the summit. The cairns and trail markers he pointed out were easy to follow, and Rose enjoyed her hike, crossing the large slabs of rock near the beginning with care and peeking into the dark Cave of Zeus. The birds at the summit rode the air currents (falcons) and picked at the ground for seeds (buntings). The ocean glimmered in the sun on the horizon. She felt the stress of the last few weeks melting from her body.
It was on her way down again that she was thinking about her next book and suddenly noticed that there hadn’t been a trail marker in a while. She looked around. Surely this was the same path she’d come up on? It looked the same. But there weren’t any trail markers around. Ah, well, she decided. She’d just go on and hopefully she’d see one soon.
Half an hour later, Rose realized she’d been walking “down” far longer than it had taken her to walk up. And furthermore, the trail was now kind of going up again instead of down. And she hadn’t seen another trail marker in a while. She sat on a convenient rock and took out her water bottle, considering her options.
She could try to go back, and hope she found the right trail without getting further lost. She could turn on the GPS on her phone and use that to try to figure out where she was. Or she could just hike on and hope she came out somewhere interesting. Well. She had food in her bag and it was still a beautiful day for a hike. She decided to go on a little farther and see what happened. Worst case scenario she could call for a rescue if it got to be late afternoon or her phone battery started to die. She ate a protein bar from her bag, reapplied her sunscreen, pulled up her socks so they wouldn’t chafe in her walking shoes (good thing she’d put her flipflops in her bag instead of wearing them), put away her water bottle, and carried on.
An hour later, Rose was still enjoying sauntering along the dusty path. It had grown narrower, but she could still pick it out as she went along. She’d been able to refill her water bottle in a little stream along the way (it was a good thing Naxos had so much natural fresh water). She’d seen plenty of birds she didn’t recognize, and took a few pictures of them in case she got the same driver on the way back – he’d be able to tell her what they were.
It had been about two hours, and Rose was starting to think she should retrace her steps so she could get home by dinner time, when suddenly she was accosted by a young man in the local Greek clothing.
“Halt! Who goes there?” He was pointing a gun at her, so Rose turned a bit sideways and tried to look as unthreatening as possible.
“Oh, um. My name’s Rose. I didn’t realize this was a private trail. I just got kind of lost…” she trailed off uncertainly, because he was looking very confused and confusion plus firearms is not a good look.
“There is no trail. Only family can find this place.” Rose looked back behind her at the trail she’d been following. It was a trail. It was an obvious trail. Maybe not paved and all like some of the ones on Mount Zas (she wasn’t sure she was on Mount Zas anymore), but definitely more than a wildlife run. When she turned back, the boy was looking over her shoulder at the trail, his mouth dropping open in astonishment.
He carefully holstered his gun and offered her a small bow. “Would you like to come to the house? My mother and father would be happy to meet you.”
Well, Rose thought, maybe this was the adventure she’d been looking for.