Tenpenny's Teahouse by the Sea

For the first twenty minutes of the ride Alice found herself wondering about the bus' engine. The vehicle had a space in the back that would fit a diesel engine. And yet, the bus made no noise of its own. The only sound through the ride was that of the rubber rolling over the road and that of a constant, narrow flow of air that Alice could hear in the walls of the bus. The bus' interior was in ridiculous contrast to what Alice knew as a city bus. The walls were wooden and had the same square-in-a-square carvings that she had seen in the dorm hallways. The bars of the bus were skinny columns, with gilded lines traveling down them. In the fore and back, actual lanterns were posted on the walls, the oil flames flickering during bumps in the ride, which the bus took more softly than she thought it should. The seats were burgundy cushions on a long bench for most of the bus. However, three stairs rose in the back and lead to a booth with a small round table and circular bench. Unlike the buses at home which had strips in the wall to push when one wanted to disembark, this bus had lines extending above the seats which were attached to small brass bells. The driver had a navy-blue uniform complete with leather driving gloves for the gilded steering wheel, and a conductor's hat. Alice constantly resisted checking every detail of this Victorian take on a city bus. Alice began to wonder if the school's architecture and the city's were somehow connected. The city itself seemed much more modern, but flairs like this bus appeared now and then in the city. Perhaps hints of a united past.

“If only I'd known! Why'd I bother with flyin' in th'first place!” Alice settled down when the bus entered the city, which she had seen twice quite recently. She looked to Alex and blinked a few times, coming down from her giddiness. “I can't wait 'till we get to th'tea house. What if it's like this? Or better!" She sat on the cushioned seat, skirts crushed, with a small, lopsided smile.

A city on an island, home to the most unusual people in the world. Alice watched neon signs that were intermeshed devices of rotating flywheels and rising steam attached to buildings of various construction. Some brick, some stone, some were made of concrete and steel. She saw paper lanterns, streetlamps, and more of the magical lamps from the courtyard. People walked around in suits, aodais, even relics of fads long lost, like bell-bottoms with seams of glowing lines. It was a city unlike any other, Alice was sure, but a city still had to function on the basis of urbanization, of importing products. How could such an elusive civilization go undetected by the world? Alice imagined that magic, real magic, was involved. Maybe she would meet another Saffwyn here, or learn more of what made her what she was. In the back of her mind, though, another concern arose.

Alice turned back from the window and sat close, next to Alex. She was too used to her lonesome observation and easily forgot that she was not on a night out with the sights. She was here to have fun with Alex, her roommate who was nice enough to include her. Alice looked at Alex, wondering what a friend really was, and if she could be a good friend for her roommate. Alice felt a sense of uneasiness in her companion again.

"So, wha'cha thinkin' about?"

Alice was convinced at the end of "nothing important" that there was something important. It was the way she looked in a direction but not looking at anything in that direction, the way she closed her eyes just a small amount when she did. Alice was convinced that Alex was not one of the snappy-talking people of television, but a world of thoughts in a turbulent galaxy. Alice felt that she understood what she had to do. She wanted to learn Alex. That was what caught her attention the previous night before and kept her from sleeping. The truth was, Alex was the first person she might be able to learn, not to understand, but to experience. To Alice, a feeling was a world on its own. It wasn't just about the physical workings that she noted in people up until now. Alice almost laughed at how easy but how long it took for her to finish this thought.

"That's exactly why we should go. Back home, it's all 'bout th'beer and bratwurst, 'specially th'beer. I've never been t'anyplace pretty and relaxing. If we're trapped 'ere on a crazy magical island, why not do somethin' different? Not that I'm old enough t'try beer, but, y'know. I mean, imagine. Maybe it'll be a place with traditional musics and arts from China? Maybe it'll be some sort of, I don't know, English style, if there's such a thing. Maybe there'll be Englishmen playing citars in parachute pants, who knows?" Alice was on the verge of chastising herself for saying random things, but thought the better of it.

Alice noticed that the buildings had thinned in grandeur and scope. They were passing through neighborhoods of townhouses, though their compositions and decorations still varied. Alice did not make any special notes of any of it. However, it did suggest that the wharf was probably coming up soon.

"Lucky! My only food choices were 'more sauerkraut' or 'less sauerkraut,'" Alice said playfully. "It sounds like you had quite th'family," she said softly. She thought for a moment. She was not sure if it was smart to talk to much about home, either of theirs. She suspected that for both of them, it was a bittersweet subject, not something she wanted to talk too much about to Alex, the night and the bus lanterns bringing out that depth in her eyes she thought was so mysterious the night before.

...Has she read my thoughts yet, I wonder? I wish I could read hers...

A turn around a corner revealed the spinning lights of the lighthouse on a hill and the small lights of the boats docked at the wharf. "Where should we get off?"

Alice looked up a bit. "Fair 'nough." Alice visualized the smile lined in a thin black beard and eyes that never stopped smiling when she was around. She then saw that same smile gone pale, still. His mouth breathed out the smell of corruption from within him, and then he was still. "M'dad was a nurse. He worked as much as he could with kids. He was real funny," Alice said with practiced happiness, muscling the memory out of her consciousness. "I could go on for hours. My mom is a really good psychologist, and she taught me all my academics and the magic I know so far," Alice said, striking down memories as they rose up. "We had a nice little house in the West hills." The feeling of electricity. Alice stopped the memory. "We did the usual for the area. We built enough snowmen in strange scenes to create a movie, I bet. Have y'ever seen th'Calvin and Hobbes comic where Calvin builds a broken snowman on his dad's car and then builds two more snowmen standing to th'side, as if his dad hit the first? I did that once," she almost snickered. "A few times we had snowball fights. We didn't travel much at all. I guess we were just three people playin' in th'snow, back then.

...back then...