Ivie stood at the edge of the cliff of mountain Erandain, staring down at the town below her. The name echoed in her mind – Erandaar. The humans were nothing but ants from her vantage point. Maybe it was easier to deal with them from that way. For the past two years, there had been that incessant buzzing in her ear, almost as if she was the Grinch, being forced to deal with noisy kids while she rotted in her own loneliness. 

But she was willing to let that change, because the buzzing had stopped. She was able to see the way the city flourished below where she usually stood. People were running towards bakeries, buying fresh bread, having casual conversations, checking their phones, making their way to work. She squinted her eyes at one particular figure who was paused in the dead center of the city They were seemingly doing nothing in particular with their hands limply at their sides. Ivie raised her binoculars to her eyes again, trying to pinpoint what exactly the person was doing. 

Her sharp gaze was met with another girl,  around the same age. As their eyes locked to one another, Ivie noticed that she was staring  straight at her with a similarly squinting, concentrated expression. Her eyes held an almost amused glint in them,  as if she could see exactly what was going on in Ivie’s head. The girl in the city crossed her arms over her chest and lifted her head slightly, as if beckoning Ivie to come down to the city. 

Ivie dropped her hand holding the binoculars to the side like she’d been burnt. She quickly turned on her heel and started discreetly slinking back to her hideout, chalking up the whole interaction to her imagination. After the past two years – she closed the window – there was no reason for her to believe in the empty promises the city held. 

It was quite simple, really. The way her ears rang in a warning way, the way her steps dragged on, and her hands shook as a warning… She wasn’t meant to be here. The last time she’d even attempted to enter the city, she’d been ignored, ridiculed, outcast and called a witch. She’d meant no harm, to be herself, and what good did that earn? Oh, silly me! 

And yet, there she was, standing to the gates of the city where two guards smiled at her warmly, and simply parted the way for her, all but welcoming her into the city. She took careful steps and measured breaths, confidence wavering as she entered the same place that had bashed her to the ground. 

Ivie dragged her own two feet to the middle of the city, letting the warm bustling of the city wash over her in soothing waves. There was something that had changed that was a welcoming shift from an incessant buzzing in her ear to the soft hum of a lively city 

Maybe whatever she had to navigate in Erandaar wouldn’t be that bad after all.