Chapter Text
The sun beat down on the corridors of the city, leaving almost no ground untouched. It was summer, a season someone was clearly not used to here. That someone desperately clung to the shadows drawn by overhangs and draping and umbrellas littered through the walkway. That someone was moving faster than a simple run, moving fast enough to be mistaken for a mirage of light. Fortunately, they were mostly the only one there. Until they weren't.
With a bump, they ran into a man standing in shade just outside of a store. Embarrassing, they thought, as they quickly brushed themselves off and apologized. “I…sorry. Sorry. I’ll be on my way.”
The man only looked down in pity, immediately recognizing the traveler as overwhelmed. “You’re not dressed for this weather. Out of town?”
“...You could say that. Bye.” They didn’t even look back. They kept going. They had to.
“You know, we’re open right now. Everywhere on this block is. It’s colder inside.” He calls out to the someone, pointing out the obvious, but an obvious point that the someone must have missed.
“The shade is fine. Farewell.” This time, they briefly looked back. But that was all. And they kept moving.
“Really. Because you just ran into me while darting through it, and I’m the only person standing here.” The man flatly points this out.
“...” They stop and turn around. “I can’t stop. I’m not here to stop. I’m here to keep moving and get something done. And that’s all I need to do, and then I can go inside and in the shade as much as I’d like someplace where it isn’t this damn ho-”
The man watches silently as the traveler thinks. They look up. There’s no sun above them. They look down. There’s only no sun around them. The shade is beneficial, but far from comfortable.
“...Fine.”
Someone steps out of a store about an hour later. Barely any of that hour was spent shopping. The first five minutes were spent sitting on a bench in a corner. The next five minutes were spent mulling about the aisles of books. And then one was spent double-checking the title on one’s spine. Four minutes of flipping through it and three minutes of paying for it later, and they were now back on the bench, but with a new purchase.
It was what they were looking for. A guide. A history. A detailed account of what exactly they were sent here to retrieve. And it was in the shade, behind them.
The traveler reached into their pocket and pulled out three small, white squares. Looked at them. Looked at the book’s illustrations of the ruins they were searching for. Held a square at a distance, and aligned it. It was a perfect fit.
Interesting. Maybe too interesting. But they can’t worry about that now - they have a map, and a guide, and potentially the key to their mission. They close the book, stowing it away. They take the three squares, and clutch them.
In a flash of light, they leave the bench, and are back to blinking through the shade. Towards their way back home.