[FrostWynd]

This was it.

This was the festival that she had been hearing more and more about as of late when she first stumbled upon this city by sheer chance. Which was perhaps more than a week ago? Since then, Isaanduin had chosen to stick around in the meantime until the festivities began so that she too could witness what exactly this event had to offer. All for the sake of her own curiosity.

And it was... as extravagant as all the locals had said it would be, with all the heavy usage of gold practically everywhere as folks from all over had gathered to participate in the merry festival.

[FrostWynd]

All around her, she could see everyone having fun while they ate various food, wore elaborate golden costumes, and shopped at all the stalls selling all kinds of goods, and when they got to tie threads to each other for a significant purpose. That particular part was something she only learned about much more recently, along with how this festival had more to do with connections and unity, and all that fun stuff.

Which would be why, while everyone else around her was enjoying themselves, Isaanduin decidedly was not.

[FrostWynd]

As much as she were to try and have a good time while she was here at the festival, there was something about seeing all these people around her that made her own chest tighten. It was a feeling that made it a little hard for her to breathe, but it was something she had been familiar with for longer than she cared for. She probably should've become used to it by now...

"Ma'am?"

The voice of the man operating one of the stalls would invade her troubled thoughts and suddenly drag her back to reality. A bright orange gaze flicked up to meet his. "Yes, sorry." She'd quickly reassure them that she was indeed still listening.

[FrostWynd]

The man would give her an incredulous look, before he continued. "As I was saying, this necklace is quite a rarity. Made with the finest of gems and gold, and superbly crafted by an expert jeweler. You can't find something like this just anywhere."

She had gotten so wrapped up in her thoughts that she nearly forgot that she had been looking at the piece of jewelry he was now holding out to her, which was glittering brightly under they rays of the sun. And after going through this much effort to give her his sales pitch, she felt obligated to at least give it a closer look...

[FrostWynd]

She would have to admit that it did look very nice... But with the way he was making it sound so special, she had a feeling it would be too far out of her price range to even actually consider. Constantly travelling around didn't exactly leave much room for affording something like this, her wallet was struggling enough as it is.

Plus after what she went through just moments ago, she wasn't feeling particularly enthusiastic about this anymore. She attempted to back out of this exchange as gently as she could. "It is quite lovely. But it's not what I'm really looking for right now, thank you."

[FrostWynd]

Unfortunately it wouldn't be quite enough to get him to really back off on trying to make a sale, as he promptly set the necklace aside and started rummaging around at some of his other wares. "Oh, then perhaps something else here might be of interest? I have some really nice fabrics you might like!" Which made her a little nervous when she finally tried to back away. "N-no... I'm sorry. Maybe some other time."

When it became clear that this lady wasn't going to actually buy something, she could sense a wave of annoyance come off of the owner of the stall with just a single look that she got from him, before she turned around and walked away. From behind her, she overheard his irritated mumbling about 'being a waste of his time'.

Well, you can't please everybody.

[FrostWynd]

Finally managing to get out of there, Isaanduin couldn't help collapse on the nearest seat she could find and let out a long sigh. Browsing the stalls when you had no money to really spare may have been a bit of a bad idea. Needing a moment, she gave herself a few minutes to calm herself. That part was over at least, but there was still the rest of this festival to go, and she wasn't sure what to do about that.

There were other activities she knew she could probably get involved with that wouldn't require any coin, but as she stared out at each thing around her, none of it seemed as interesting to do all of a sudden.

[FrostWynd]

Which was the wrong thing to be feeling at a time like this, and she knew it. It was a festival for crying out loud. You're supposed to have fun at a time like this! So why did it have to be so difficult for her to have any fun right now?

The laughter of a child somewhere would lead her to the only answer for it as she turned her attention towards a nearby family. Not feeling particularly keen on delving down into those thoughts again if she could help it, she promptly stood up to find somewhere else to go.

[FrostWynd]

She didn't know where to even go exactly, since no matter where she went there would always be the same sight throughout the city. Of families and couples doing something nice together. Which was pretty much the whole point of the festival, so it wasn't like she would be able to escape any of it without leaving the city completely.

All she could do was wander aimlessly through the streets, and maybe start contemplating leaving early while she still could.

[FrostWynd]

A part of her didn't want to though. She genuinely wanted to enjoy this festival just as much as anyone else here. It's just... actually being here while knowing full well what it was about just made it that much harder than she had anticipated in the beginning.

Being alone was not a good feeling, and all this festival did was make her painfully aware of just how lonely she was right now. All she could think about now was her family, who were all thousands of miles away from here.

[Wild Pet Found]

[FrostWynd]

She would keep on walking without really keeping an eye out on where she was going. It got to that point where she completely lost herself in her thoughts again, and this time the only one thing would be able to knock her back to her senses.

Quite literally in fact.

"Oof!"

Suddenly from seemingly out of nowhere, she ended up bumping against something pretty hard and lost control of her balance from the impact. The world would tilt itself towards its side as she tripped and fell forward down onto the ground.

Nearby there would be a clattering sound, and a shocked gasp from someone as something else got brought down with her.

[FrostWynd]

"Oh Gods! What happened?!" They would cry out, stepping around quickly to check on things judging from the sound of their feet, and the now looming shadow above her. "Are you okay?!" She would hear them ask, as something shifted beside her. "Y-yes. I'm fine. Just, agh, a bit of a spill, nothing to worry about." Isaanduin wouldn't see anything right away, not until she started picking herself back up. Wincing a little from a new stinging pain in places that had gotten scraped, she turned her attention up to the people now beside her.

[FrostWynd]

It was just two of them, and a lady was hovering over the man she was with, her face clearly filled with concern as she swiped her hands around on him to help brush off stuff from his clothing. "Are you sure? That looked like a pretty bad fall..." But the man, despite now having a small crack evident in his glasses and dirtied up clothes, didn't seem too upset from what she could tell. "Absolutely. Don't worry about me." The fussing from the woman would only stop once he grabbed her hands, and with a look in Isaanduin's way, both sets of eyes were now on her. "I'm much more concerned about her." He said as he turned to offer her a hand. "Are you alright, miss?"

[FrostWynd]

With the attention now on her, she stammered a bit at first in response, but soon found her words. "Y-yes! I'm okay..." She reached out to grab the man's hand, and got lifted the rest of the way back up again onto her feet. Her answer seemed like it was good enough, as he was now smiling. "That's good to hear! At least nobody was hurt then." No more than to be expected, at least. Which was fine, since a few scrapes weren't a big deal right now.

What was a bigger deal would be the small mess of items now scattered around that had spilled out of a bag, which made her realize even more what she had done when she had taken him down with her.

[FrostWynd]

"Oh no! I'm so sorry! Your stuff..." It looked a lot like stuff that she had seen earlier when she was wandering the stalls earlier, so they had to have been doing some shopping of their own before she bumped into them by mistake, and now it was all on the ground all dirtied up...

Having pointed to it, that would be when the lady finally noticed as well and moved to start picking it up. "Aww, look at this mess..." She sounded disappointed, and of course worried assumptions starting brewing in Isaanduin's mind as to why when she noticed how she was looking at each object before it was placed back in the bag . Hurriedly she also went to start helping her out. "I'm so, SO sorry!" She apologized again.