A Human’s Guide to Surviving Magical Mishaps by Kit Bryan
Rule 119- When making eye contact you have two choices, look away quickly or double down and turn it into a staring contest.

Leaving the castle really hammers home that I am not in the human realm. For starters, no cars. There are fae walking by us on horses, and even a few flying overhead. The streets are smaller than I'm used to and much quieter. The buildings are just as big but there are clear differences in style and designs. No monotone modern houses here, but there are a lot of hand engraved door frames, lush gardens and every now and then I see something that defies logic and has to involve magic somehow. Like this one plant that is actually glowing. It looks like it is serving the same function as a porch light and actually turns on as we pass it. Ashton and I are walking hand in hand down the street. We could have taken a carriage or a horse, but I want to look at everything and apparently our destination isn't too far so we decided to go on foot. I'm in my new dress and Ashton assured me that he has made sure the other dress I wore as well as the comb I was given will be put with his things to go with us so I can take them home. Despite being dressed in the height of fae fashion, as demonstrated by the fact that almost every woman I see is dressed fairly similarly, I still feel underdressed. My blue hair doesn't stand out here, plenty of fae have naturally colourful hair. The bracelet I'm wearing, while clearly valuable, looks fine with what I'm wearing. The issue is that I am still barefoot. Ashton isn't wearing shoes either, in fact no one is. I really don't understand it. Did shoes never catch on here? Don't people's feet need any protection? Have they never stepped on a hot sidewalk or a rocky path and thought 'damn, I wish there was something covering my feet.?' Maybe fae feet just aren't as sensitive as human feet. I thought it would be more uncomfortable, but the packed dirt road is warm and clear of any pointy stones so it's actually quite comfortable, although I bet my feet will be filthy by the end of the night. Despite all the obvious differences, the weirdest part of it all is how everyone reacts to seeing Ashton. I suppose back in the castle everyone expects to run into the prince, but out here... People gawk, point and whisper. If he goes anywhere even remotely near them they bow. I can tell that more than a few of them are staring at our linked hands and when the whispering starts, Ashton smirks, tugs me closer to his side and slips his hand around my waist instead, holding me closer. I'm not one hundred percent sure what point he is trying to make, but people are definitely noticing and they are SHOCKED. The few people I've made eye contact with have quickly looked away, not wanting to get caught staring. I don't really mind, it gives me a chance to gawk back at everyone without feeling too rude or making too much uncomfortable eye contact. I'm not totally sure how I feel about all the bowing. Ashton mostly just nods back at people or occasionally gives them a wave. We walk quietly at first, mostly because I'm too busy taking everything in to actually manage a conversation. I do my best not to let my mouth fall open and not to look too distracted. Ashton seems to enjoy my reactions. I can't help but think that he reacted to seeing my realm very well. He barely gawked at all, although he did ask a near endless stream of questions. I can't even figure out what questions to ask. I'm so overwhelmed by it all. I'll probably have tons to ask about later. Except... One question does occur to me.

"Where is Fin? I thought that he was coming back to my home with us. If we are going straight from this outing, should he not be here too?" I question. Ashton shrugs.

"I believe that he's trying to give us a little bit of space. He will come along later, and bring our belongings with him." He adds.

"Oh, Okay. If you are sure. Is... Is he okay? He seemed a little unhappy when we saw him earlier." I comment and Ashton raises an eyebrow.

"You're the one who told him how upset Lucy is with him. Did you expect him to take it well? You already noted that he is rather attached to her." Ashton points out and I sigh.

"Yes, but he is the one who made her angry. She told me she was wrong about him and it was a waste of time to care. She said she was totally done with him. They only spoke for a couple of minutes. What did he even say?" I groan. Ashton frowns.

"I don't know exactly what he said to her, but he mentioned something about trying to make a clean break. So I suspect he said something to make sure she wouldn't for him. Obviously he can't lie, so whatever he said was true, but it may not have been the entire truth. I doubt that he meant to hurt her..." Ashton trails off and I can see his frustration. He wants to know what happened between the two of them as well, but until one of them decides to share, I guess we will never know.

The rest of the walk doesn't take too long. Ashton points out anything he thinks I might find interesting along the way and I stare at everything. More than once I think I spot Bast, but that's ridiculous. Surely he didn't follow us all the way out here? It's probably another fae cat, or even some other animal entirely. I don't see it long enough to be sure. I'm a little sad that I didn't get to say goodbye to Bast properly. I looked for him before we left but he was off wandering. Maybe if I'm able to come and visit the fae realm again someday I'll get to see him, and hopefully he forgives me for abandoning him without so much as a kiss on his furry little forehead. At least I didn't have to stare into any pathetic cat eyes pleading for me to stay and give him more cuddles, although I suspect I'm going to miss curling up with him, even if I only did it a couple times. Maybe I should get a cat when I go back home? Or maybe not. Somehow that feels like betraying Bast. Maybe I'll have to get a rabbit or something. They're supposed to be cuddly too, right?

The sun is just starting to set when we reach what looks like an actual forest. Why are we going into an actual forest? This doesn't make sense to me at all. I would assume that we're lost or making a stop somewhere, but Ashton is still confidently leading me along and there are a few other people wandering in the same direction as us. I can also faintly hear music in the distance so I guess we are going the right way after all. I just didn't expect to go to the middle of a forest! The fae DO seem to be a lot more at home with nature than we humans are. They don't live in trees or anything crazy like that. It's more that they don't cover up all the nature with cement and rather than cutting down all the plants and trees they've just sort of... Build around them. It's pretty, this is one area I definitely think the fae are beating humans in. I don't love their lack of technology. Most things I can give up, but I'm not enjoying not having a phone. I'm used to being able to contact my friends on a whim. How do the fae get anything done without phones? I've never had to live without mine. It's only been a couple of days and it's already stressing me out. I want to call my dad and check in. I want to text Lucy and Marcus photos of all the cool stuff I've seen and I want to take TONS of cute cat photos. No wonder Ashton and Fin were both so excited when I gave them phones. I wonder if it would be possible to get a phone signal here? A little solar battery could charge the devices, so really it's just signal that's an issue. If we could make it work then I could call Ashton whenever I want. That would be nice. I'll have to ask more about how these portals that go between realms work. Maybe there is some way to get the signal set up? I have no idea, this is probably a ridiculous daydream. All daydreams fall out of my brain when we reach our destination. It is not what I expected at all.