The streets were busy this time of day — then again, Uma only had the night she was attacked as a reference point, so the bar was low.
She felt very out of place. That much was evident from the fact that her dress and Serosa's were clearly several tax brackets above what most of the other women on the street were wearing.
She could feel the glares from the younger women as they passed.
Suck it, nerds. My mom is better than yours.
Uma smiled smugly to herself and kept walking.
Serosa, for her part, moved through the street with a kind of effortless grace that Uma was struggling desperately to match. She wanted to look good walking beside her — like she belonged there — but it was becoming increasingly clear that she had not been etiquette trained.
Their first stop was what Uma assumed was an herbal shop, evident by the rows upon rows of jars filled with different leaves that made her head spin just looking at them. She tucked herself in carefully, suddenly very aware of her elbows.
Feel like if I breathe too hard I'll knock this entire building down.
As it turned out, she wasn't the one who did the knocking.
Uma had just turned a corner when a loud crash rang out and several jars launched themselves off a shelf simultaneously. She lunged and managed to catch one.
The rest were about to meet the floor when Serosa materialized beside them and — in a single fluid motion, one hand — caught every last jar and stacked them neatly on top of each other.
She has to be cheating.
Uma didn't have time to finish the thought.
A girl came tumbling out from around the corner, rolling end over end until she stopped directly in front of Uma — and they found themselves face to face, eye to eye.
The girl's eyes lit up the moment they met Uma's and she let out a squeal.
"OH MY GOD HI HI HI HI HI!"
She grabbed Uma's hands and started shaking them violently, then spotted Serosa over Uma's shoulder and immediately abandoned Uma mid-shake to rush over to her instead. Uma stood there trying to regain her balance while the girl proceeded to practically fangirl over Serosa — jumping up and down, fanning herself, the whole thing.
What the fuck is going on right now.
When Uma finally collected herself she got a proper look at the girl. Orange hair, freckles that Uma was instantly jealous of, and chubby in the way that made Uma want to squish her cheeks. She was currently vibrating in front of Serosa like she'd just met a celebrity.
Serosa let out her signature chuckle. "Hi, Vivi—"
Another squeal cut her off. Vivi spun around blushing and giggling like Serosa was a pop idol who had just acknowledged her existence.
When Uma walked over, Vivi's attention snapped immediately back to her. She stared at Uma's eyes with intense, unblinking curiosity.
"So cool, so cool—"
Before Uma could process that, Vivi was shoving a jar containing a genuinely beautiful red flower directly into her face, rambling what sounded like fun facts and references to her eyes at approximately the speed of light.
Then Vivi stopped. Looked at Uma's hair. Held it like it was the most precious material known to man. Rushed behind her counter, tumbled, knocked a jar over — which made Serosa cover her mouth — reappeared holding a flower in a jar that looked, in the best way Uma could describe it, like solid moonlight. She got directly in Uma's face and started rambling again, this time what sounded like a series of rapid fire questions that Uma had no hope of following because she was still trying to parse the first sentence of the red flower conversation.
Serosa, finding all of this deeply amusing, had started laughing properly now — the unconcealed kind, shoulders moving, wiping at the corner of her eye.
Vivi kept rambling.
It got to the point where Uma threw up. Not dramatically. Just that small nervous kind that slips out before you can stop it.
There was a brief moment where all three of them stared at it.
Then Vivi picked Uma up, laid her down on a moss covered table, and started throwing herbs over her with the focused energy of someone who had done this before and would do it again.
Serosa could not stop laughing. She was wiping actual tears now.
Vivi did not stop talking.
"Hey — why aren't you saying anything? Are you okay???"
A brief awkward silence settled over the shop.
Then Serosa, still giggling, reached over and tapped her own throat gently.
"She's mute, darling."
Vivi immediately leaned in and examined Uma's throat with open curiosity.
Way to broadcast my insecurity to the whole room, Uma thought, giving Serosa a look.
Serosa added something else — Uma caught enough to piece together from abroad and learning the language — which made Vivi's eyes go wide all over again as she drew breath to start another round of rambling.
Really laying it all out there, Mom.
Uma sat up with a speed that caught everyone off guard — including herself — which sent Vivi stumbling backwards directly into a row of shelves. A jar tipped, cracked, and emptied itself over Vivi's head.
Uma covered her mouth and rushed over.
Holy shit, holy shit—
The panic lasted about two seconds. Because Vivi, now covered in dirt and whatever had been in that jar, was laughing.
What is it with everyone in this world being so durable, Uma thought as she reached down to help her up.
She was still laughing when she got to her feet. Full, genuine, completely unselfconscious laughter.
I'll be honest. She's pretty cute when she laughs like that.
Uma fought back a silent laugh of her own and lost.
Vivi dusted herself off and looked toward Serosa.
"What did you need?"
"The usual, darling," Serosa said with a small curtsy, reaching into her pouch.
Vivi waved her hands. "No need to pay, Lady Serosa."
Lady Serosa. Uma turned that over in her head. Does that make me Lady Uma? I like the sound of that. She giggled silently to herself.
Serosa simply waved her off and set three gold coins on the counter. Vivi's eyes lit up at the sight of them.
"Well — if you insist."
Then Vivi locked eyes with Uma. Stared with an intensity that made Uma take a step back.
Is she going to kill me.
Vivi lunged forward. Uma blocked on instinct. When nothing happened she opened her eyes to find Vivi standing there holding the jar with the moonlight flower, peeking over the top of it with a bright smile.
"For you."
Uma took it carefully, holding the jar alone in one hand like it might shatter if she breathed wrong.
She was still slightly shell shocked as she and Serosa stepped back out into the street, Vivi waving enthusiastically from the doorway as they continued down the market.
They were greeted by all kinds of people after that — each of whom seemed to know Serosa personally, and each of whom addressed Uma directly, by name or by look, which was unfamiliar enough to make her chest do something complicated every single time.
By the time they reached a fruit stand run by an old man and his wife, Uma had accumulated a full basket of gifts she had no idea what to do with. She carried the moonlight flower jar separately, alone in her other hand.
"And who are you, little lady?" the old woman said, bending down to pinch Uma's cheek.
Uma's hands were full. She couldn't sign, couldn't write, couldn't gesture. I — uh — shit —
"She's my daughter," Serosa said, patting her head.
Uma's face went hot immediately.
The old man and woman both looked at her the way grandparents look at grandchildren they've just decided belong to them. The old woman reached behind Uma's head and tucked a white rose into her hair. The old man reached into his back pocket and produced a pair of earrings.
Uma was on the verge of tears by the time they walked away.
She looked down at the basket as they moved through the last stretch of the market. The local cheese man had given her a roll that was already making her mouth water. The straw weaver had given her the basket itself, plus a bundle of shiny rocks that caught the light beautifully. There were berries she'd never seen before and a cut of meat she was already determined to cook herself, consequences be damned.
By the time they made it back to the library she was carrying the full basket — gifts, flower jar, rose still in her hair, earrings she didn't know what to do with — and doing everything in her power to hold it together.
She swallowed it down. Slapped her cheeks.
And got to work.
Not just language anymore. Herbs. Geography. Whatever this world was made of she was going to understand it. She opened the first book and didn't look up.
If I want to repay these people I have to lock in.
Whatever this world needed from her, she was going to know it before it asked.