This was the world of Iraloné and the land in which Penelope would now reside was known as Birain, a country that encompassed most of the eastern coast. Based on the knowledge she was blessed with by the goddess of rebirth, the land was a temperate, which meant it was subject to the changing of the seasons and was home to all kinds of flora and fauna found in European countries. In other words, Penelope should be expecting to have to deal with winter eventually. Luckily for her, Tulilith dropped her off in Birain during the spring season, so there was time to prepare herself.

In terms of technology Birain had magic that replaced every day conveniences she was used to in her old life, for the most part. Some things were beyond this world currently, like television, radio and long-distance communications, though some people were lucky enough to have magic for that, it certainly wasn’t an every day thing like cellphones on Earth.

So said the goddess-blessed knowledge. There were a great many things Penelope didn’t know, like current events and the cultures, but she figured she could discover them soon. She was pretty resourceful, after all. So long as she had a working knowledge of the world, it should be all right.

When she was dropped off Tulilith kissed her forehead, a strange mark appearing for a moment before disappearing. In that moment Penelope suffered a large headache as she was aggressively shoved as much information on Iraloné as possible, in order to aid on her survival.

In this world, everyone was gifted by the goddesses who ruled over every aspect of life, from the moment they were born. A gift could range from having incredible cleaning skills to being able to master swordplay; each one was ranked by levels. It was meant to be a leg up on one skill to help determine a person’s future, though it didn’t mean you couldn’t build up other skills. Penelope was also blessed by one such gift. 

Standing next to a tree overlooking a small pond, Penelope decided it was time to give her status a check. She didn’t expect much, already grateful she can start life again. Tulilith even said she would have brought Penelope directly in front of a town, but Penelope said that she would rather be a distance away. At the very least she was left on a road that headed to a town. Right now, Penelope just needed a moment to come to terms with what happened.

After all, it was very sudden change.

The stresses of her old life were not here. At this time  she was free and it was such a weird feeling, knowing that nobody would be harassing her any time soon.

Is this decision paralysis? Penelope thought to herself. Knowing that the sky’s the limit now made her feel a little uneasy. She cupped her face, trying to wrestle with this feeling of not knowing what her next step was when she realized how full her cheeks felt.

Oh, right. This is a new body given to me by Tulilith.

Perhaps the best course of action was to take stock of her immediate assets; in this case, she should take a look at herself. Her former self had become something of a husk of a woman in her late thirties, so she had to wonder what she looked like now. The pond would serve well enough as a mirror.

Crouching by the water’s side, Penelope took a look at her new self.

…Wow, is that really me?

The girl inside the reflected water touched her face at the same time that Penelope did, moved to run through silky light blue hair just in the same way. She stared into the blue eyes of the stranger in the water, a hue similar to that of the goddess she recently met. As far as Penelope could assess, she was now a cute ten-year-old girl.

I was wondering why everything seemed so high and low all at once...

She came fully clothed, too. Penelope smiled bittersweetly. Though this was a version meant for a child, the dress she wore reminded her of the one she had to give up so long ago. The same light blue that she liked so much.

“How silly…everything about me is blue…are you trying to say something, Tulilith?” she spoke aloud, finally hearing her own voice in this new form. God, how could she sound so young.

Everything was so new, it truly sunk in that her old self had died and so pathetically, too.

A ripple appeared in the pond’s water. And then another, and then another…

Tears fell from Penelope’s eyes, mourning the loss of her old life. It had not been the best and every day was harder than the last, but it had been her life, after all. One that she worked hard to build. She had been a proud worker, someone who did best to support her family, just to get a scrap of happiness –

Penelope wailed and cried. She died. The only person who would care about the loss of Hokusai Kasumi would be the person she was now. The unfairness of treatment between herself and her younger sister. About how no matter how much she did, there was no praise, no love. Simply harsh words of “You should be doing this in the first place.” She had no friends, no support. It was such a wretched life, so she cried hard as she processed the shock of it all.

A new place, a new life. She had to start over again.

The person in her reflection was someone she didn’t know yet. Surely, she would come to know the person that was Penelope Snowflower, but for now, she wailed for a wasted life, filled with sadness and regret.

Penelope didn’t know how long she wept by the pond, but her tears eventually stopped and the pain dulled. She couldn’t summon the tears back in that endless void, but as things settled, it took the young girl a bit of time to cope with the change. She had never cried so much before. Maybe she’d been holding it in since the beginning.

Ah, I never knew I was such a crybaby, Penelope thought. I never would have dreamed of crying before.

Looking back at her reflection she saw how red and puffy her eyes were. Goodness. Maybe it was a good thing she never cried before.

The sky had become orange. Oh, had that much time passed? She must have needed more time to come to terms with dying than she thought. She could only guess how fast time had slipped by and was a little annoyed with herself for wasting so much.

Even if she took off now, she wasn’t sure how long it would be before she got to town. Also,  she didn’t have money.

Or did she?

Penelope had been given a small satchel to carry things, but she hadn’t taken the time to check its contents. Would there be money in there? Opening it up she was both delighted and disappointed.

Not a single coin. However, there was plenty of parchment paper and a few sticks of charcoal to draw with. Not the best to start off with, but for an artist like Penelope anything was good enough. Looking further, there was nothing more to find. So, no food or no money. Penelope did say she wanted to do art, but how could she survive on just art alone?! Be real here! You couldn’t survive on nothing, but art! At least pack her a piece of bread or something!

Well, based on her past life, she knew she could live for a long time without food, so there wasn’t a big emergency, yet. The pond next to her could service her for a bit, at least until tomorrow so she could figure something out. No, the real problems were making money to eventually take care of two large issues:

Feeding herself and shelter.

Looking at her little hands, she had to wonder the wisdom of sending her in a child’s body to Iraloné. Would this place allow a child like her to work? No immediate information on the topic popped up, so it would have to be something she’d learned later when she eventually traveled to town. And if people did hire kids, just what would they hire them for? What skills did she have? Penelope wasn’t foolish enough to think she could be highly paid.

“Oh, right! My stats. I got so distracted I didn’t think to check. Now let’s see, how did it work…? Oh, right...Status Open!”

Right before her eyes, a holographic-like screen appeared before her, detailing her specs.

[PENELOPE SNOWFLOWER LEVEL 1]

[HP: 100

MP: 100

STR: 5

DEF: 5

MAG: 10

SPD: 5

ACQUIRED SKILLS

COOKING: LEVEL 5

CLEANING: LEVEL 5

IMAGINATION: LEVEL 10

ARTISTRY: LEVEL 10]

Well, that seemed about right. She hadn’t been an expert in videogames, but what few she snuck to play led her to believe she had newbie skills that correlated to her actual level. Seeing her artistry and imagination skills at level 10 made her smile, as it was the highest skill she possessed currently. She guessed things were most likely ranked from 1 to 100 and having something that high at such a low level was a decent start, as promised by how this world works.

Well, if nothing else, the goddess did make good on the promise she could draw. It still miffed her there wasn’t much else to work with. Hopefully people of this day and age liked buying art. Or maybe she could work in a kitchen to earn her keep. Yes, as long as she could work, it should be okay.

Thus her main problem was going to be shelter.

“I could sleep at the base of the tree…? No, even though it’s spring it might be too cold. Maybe in the branches if I climbed up?” The safest option seemed to be the tree branches and Penelope decided to climb upwards.

Well, a climbing skill was definitely something she didn’t have as getting above a few feet was a chore. Though Penelope was quite stubborn and even though her hands and arms were weaker than that of her 39-year-old self, she made it up to the first branch at least. While it seemed strong from where she had been standing below, now that she perched herself on the branch it felt very unstable, plying almost with her small weight.

There was going to be no easy sleep that night.

Penelope’s heart race as she tried different spots, but every time she moved on the branch it would dip suddenly, which caused her to yelp or almost fall off. Eventually she managed to settle, pressed up against the trunk where the branch was thickest. How did other kids in her past make this look so effortless and easy?! Penelope was sure to fall just from breathing wrong.

Knowing she would not fall asleep easily nor actually rest, but would be safe enough hidden among the leaves, Penelope set to occupying herself for the next several hours.

As the sun fell, Penelope observed the tree she was in. The trunk was strong, the bark not rough, but definitely with a texture she was not familiar with. The leaves were also not large, but thin and numerous enough to hide her. There were little dark orbs as well, she noticed. A fruit? She reached up and plucked one, turning it around in her finger. She squished it gently, feeling the texture of the fruit.

She sniffed it and though she rarely ate them before, Penelope recognized that this was an olive! Or something like an olive. Her hopes soared at the thought – food! Granted, it wasn’t her favourite thing to eat, it was better than starving until she got to town. But wait. She had to slow down. Foolish people would immediately eat a foreign thing and get sick. She had to be practical about this. She shouldn’t stuff her face with these in case they were poisoned. Best thing she could do was maybe lick one? If they were poisonous, she would have a tingle in her tongue, like that of an allergic reaction, right?

God, she wished she’d been given more practical knowledge of this world before Tulilith left.

Well, only one way to find out. Maybe she would be lucky and she’d be saved by the goddesses; they did say she’d have a guarantee of not dying right away. If not, she would heartily demand compensation for her next life!

Breaking the fruit in half, she found a small pit inside, which she tossed onto the ground. Taking a breath, she brought one half of the tiny fruit and have it a quick lick.

She had regrets.

It wasn’t as if a fast-acting poison had taken hold of her and she was foaming at the mouth, body with paralysis and she tumbled to her doom once more. Oh, no. What assailed her tongue wasn’t a poison, but simply the most bitter taste she ever had!

“Oh, gross!” she shouted. She hated bitter foods as Kasumi. Seemed in her new life this was also a truth. She licked it again to hope maybe her tongue would get used to it, but it somehow got worse. Ugh.

After waiting a few minutes to gather herself and do a mental check if her body was having a reaction, she eventually deemed this olive-like fruit safe, if disgusting, to eat.

“Maybe that’s why they’re always brined like pickles? Maybe it hid this disgustingly bitter taste,” she mused aloud, dutifully picking more from the nearby area.

Well, she couldn’t complain, there was something to eat. She packed some into her satchel while a handful was kept to eat now. Penelope looked at the food sadly, but made herself eat them one by one, citing to herself she had to deal with worse before. Much, much worse. At least she was fed.

“I want rice,” she mumbled despondently. To think that in the morning she would be subjecting herself to eating more of these…

After the olive escapade she was still left alone in the tree, though now darkness was truly settling in. Some light of a rising moon filtered through the canopy of leaves around her, but she could barely make out her own hand.

Yet still, she eventually came to an old comfort: drawing.

If she couldn’t sleep, then she could get started on making some art.

Bringing a piece of charcoal to a piece of paper, she began her first little sketch. Nothing fancy, just to see what she could make. Visualize, perhaps, something she wanted.

“I want a home. I want a place to be safe. Where I can sleep…” These were the words she said to herself with conviction. A house came to being on the page. Due to the lack of light there was no extreme detail, but generally had the essence of a house. Since she was currently a child, she forgive her own whimsy at drawing herself as a childish stick figure next to her house. Comically as big as the house she had drawn, as normal for kids her age. Not the work of a classical artist, but just being able to put an image to paper gave her soul ease.

Yeah, she thought. Things will be okay. I’ll figure it out! I’ll make it work in this new world. I’ll get a home and I’ll be able to do whatever I want and be happy!

A little smile was drawn onto her drawing self on the paper too accent this thought. And as she drew her charcoal away from the paper, it suddenly began to glow, shocking Penelope greatly.

The lines took on a golden hue and came off the page, flying towards the area next to the pond. Penelope watched as they built a foundation similar to what she had drawn before sticking together and solidifying. Filling in parts that was missing, like in a colouring page, tough instead of colour was the materials needed to make her picture a reality. Walls came up, a door and single lamp overlooking the entrance. In one last burst of golden light, the structure settled, as if it had always been there.

Penelope was gobsmacked.

“Wh…what just happened?!”