Mina Rose's eyes practically turned wide as saucers. "Bully Hahbah? The big city 'erself?" She'd heard tales of the place since she was a little kit bounced on the knees of the adoring patrons of her father's tavern, regaled with tales of distant lands. For all that various places were spoken of, Bully Harbor held a special magic, a blend of wonder and danger in equal measure. It was a place that turned paupers into emperors, and sometimes vice versa. You rose gloriously there, while those who flew too high inevitably burned up in the sun.
Mina Rose hesitated before giving her answer. She should just say yes; there was nothing left for her here, after all. Her parents and lover's bones were both long out on the tide, her home burnt to ash; she didn't even have any clothes left to call her own. For all of that, though, this island had been all she'd ever known. For the first time, standing on that beach, 'everywhere else' seemed mighty big. "Alrigh'," she allowed at last. "I'll go wiv' ya, Auntie Tanya." She tried the appellation experimentally on the tongue. It didn't quite feel right yet, but that might come with practice. She glance down the beach to where a vessel was coming in to the village docks, far larger than the normal boats that ran island to island here. "Reckon 'at's yer schooner down there, ain' it?" she speculated. She gave a small shrug before starting to amble in that direction. "Well, at leas' I'm all packed," she quipped. She glanced at Tanya as she added, "Maybe ye can tell me abou' 'ese cousins ye mentioned, an' my new uncle. I gotta awful lotta names an' faces t' learn now, don' I?"
Mina Rose hesitated before giving her answer. She should just say yes; there was nothing left for her here, after all. Her parents and lover's bones were both long out on the tide, her home burnt to ash; she didn't even have any clothes left to call her own. For all of that, though, this island had been all she'd ever known. For the first time, standing on that beach, 'everywhere else' seemed mighty big. "Alrigh'," she allowed at last. "I'll go wiv' ya, Auntie Tanya." She tried the appellation experimentally on the tongue. It didn't quite feel right yet, but that might come with practice. She glance down the beach to where a vessel was coming in to the village docks, far larger than the normal boats that ran island to island here. "Reckon 'at's yer schooner down there, ain' it?" she speculated. She gave a small shrug before starting to amble in that direction. "Well, at leas' I'm all packed," she quipped. She glanced at Tanya as she added, "Maybe ye can tell me abou' 'ese cousins ye mentioned, an' my new uncle. I gotta awful lotta names an' faces t' learn now, don' I?"
