[color=0072bc]4.

Alanis hated the heat almost as much as she hated what caused her to have to make the long journey. Some of the journey had been by boat, the other part, by plane and now, she was stuck walking the rest of the way down the seemingly deserted highway. The closest she could get to her destination was the next major city over and she had been walking for quite some time. That however was alright with her as she enjoyed it, at least until her food and water supply had run low and she had no means to replenish it.

[i]Lord, I really hope I'm almost there,[/i] she thought to herself as she stumbled slightly, she was exhausted and it was only midday judging by the position of the sun. With a sigh she trudged on and by nightfall, she saw lights in the distance which brought a small amount of hope to an otherwise dreary day as she set up a small camp on the side of the road. Once her make-shift bed was done, she laid down and in minutes, was asleep, her bow and arrows close by her and her pike clutched in her hand in case any unwanted visitors decided to show up.

Around dawn, Alanis was up and packing up everything in her small backpack before trudging on again. This walk though, seemed different than the others to her as hour by hour, what had only been lights in the distance, slowly became buildings and by the time dusk began to settle again, she was finally standing at the border of New Haven.

"Finalement, je l'ai fait*," she murmured in french as she finally stepped into the city.

She decided to try and find a place to stay inside the city instead of just setting up camp and waiting outside for the night. As she wandered the roads, she saw some people walking the streets and even some where giving her looks because of her choice of attire, sure it wasn't the cleanest thing at the moment, but she knew she could eventually wash it. Spotting someone standing on the side of the road, she went up to them and tapped onto his shoulder.

"Excusez-moi, savez-vous où je peux trouver quelque part pour dormir?" she asked, and when the man gave her an odd look, she cleared her throat and spoke again, "Excuse me, do you know where I can find a place to sleep?"

"Ah, yes, if you continue down this street, you will come across a motel," he said with a small smile.

"Thank you."

With a small smile, she left the kind man who had given her directions and began to head towards the hotel she had been directed to. About half way there she found herself at a small park, so she decided to stop there for a bit and swing a little. Even at the age of twenty, Alanis enjoyed the small things, as she had been traveling for at least two or so years now. As she amused herself on the simple child’s toy, she noticed that the sky had become darker and the moon was hidden behind what appeared to be some storm clouds. On a sigh, she slid off of the swing she was on and started her way back towards the hotel she had been told about.

Within minutes of her beginning her walk, rain fell from the clouds in a heavy sheet, causing her to be unable to see anything more than a few feet in front of her. On a small sigh, she rain through the rain, unable to see much of anything let alone know what direction she was going. [i]It is just my luck to end up getting caught in a torrential downpour when I finally reach the city,[/i] she thought to herself, moments before she tripped on an unseen rough patch of the sidewalk. The fall caused her to pump into something relatively solid, and smelled faintly of a man’s cologne, which immediately had her back peddling as she apologized for her clumsiness. After apologizing, she stood up and squinted through the rain to try to see who it was she had bumped into.

"Excusez-moi, but do you happen to know in which direction the hotel is?" she asked him, a small smile on her face, "I may have strayed off course a bit and I'm kind of tired and hungry."

Though she was unable to really see his face due to the rain, she looked up in the general direction that she assumed it should be. Noticing she was still rather close to him, she backed up even further, murmuring another apology. Alanis wasn’t used to much human interaction after she had contracted the Paige disease, as most people who noticed the subtle changes that made her visibly different (much like her light blue hair) would treat her with disdain and scorn.

OCC: *Finalement, je l'ai fait = Finally, I made it (I don't speak french... so I used a translator.)[/color]