Ami brought her mind back to the city.

The entrance curtains of the Omillian kotti immediately caught her eye. They always did, the ornaments and colours used in them being as different as the local cups. 

Catchy, yes. They certainly are. You can walk around the place in great circles, just looking at the curtains and windows. And then write a scientific paper about them. And those witch diagrams inside the buildings. If only they knew what it was all about, but they don't. So frustrating.

And the shapes of the windows. How do they make them so asymmetrical? It must be incredibly complicated... she doesn't remember the technology from the books. But it's so beautiful. 

Ami knew their local window making techniques, and had no idea how to replicate this Omill style. Or she'll definitely do it at home. 

Lucy was only partly right about the monotony of Omill's architecture. Yes, compared to the eye-catching fancy buildings and colourful stained-glass windows of Prime, the round houses did look rather modest. But there was a great deal of attention to detail - shapes, patterns, paintings. 

It was in the variety of detail that Omill surpassed Prime, and that was its understated but attractive beauty. Discreet, practical and cosy on the outside, Omilian dwellings and people were rich on the inside, hiding an authentic spirit and hidden witchy mysteries. You have to look closely to appreciate its charm.

Really lucky. There's a small Market under this Mushroom. 

It seems to have everything we need. Looks like we won't have to look for Caravans any more... More free time. Good news.

Now we can get lost in a city with all this stuff. The main thing is to get to work on time. 

"Great plan. Where do we get lost first?"

Not in our thoughts again...

Ami thought and stopped thinking.

...In the scents of Omill. It's a great thing to get lost in. Lovely bouquet. Forest. Mountain like air freshness. Clay. Herbs. Ground. Coffee… Food?

Hello, appetite! You've finally got a word in. All right, choose the coffee shop.

With grim determination, she entered the first shop she saw. It wasn't that Amelia didn't trust her stomach, but the visual part of food was interfering with her plans to switch off her mind. After agonising for a while, she finally decided what she was going to have for dinner tonight. In her new kotti! Her own Omillian kotti, temporary, but... There it is. Still incredible.

And... the job.

Ami's wide smile changed for a moment to an angry grimace.

...You're dirtbags, not dreams! Why do you come true in such a strange way?! Why does everything not always go according to plan and turn into an absolute mess?

"This mess is not absolute".

Good observation. Let's make the best of it.

The traveller left the place with a belly full of anticipation and an embroidered bag of delicious biscuits and the other bag full of simple cakes made of herbs and grains.

She gazed appraisingly at the blue hills and forest in the distance that she had admired on her first visit to the city. 

It was truly stunning.

They looked particularly majestic and incredibly attractive from this angle as she left the café.

Visiting them is definitely a must.

Amelia liked heights in general. Kantine didn't have any, unless you walked a lot to get the view of the Wastelands from the Frontier. 

But there really wasn't much to see. Hills, and... more hills. Lots of nice flowers in a warm season. Beautiful clouds above.

Prime Mountain was more interesting because it was higher. The view is amazing. Amelia recommends. 

 Live Mainland map, you don't know whether to admire it or start drawing from one side and a vast Ocean-sky space from the other. Primeans are the luckiest gnats on the Continent.

Omillian big Hill is quite small compared to the Primean one. But look at it, what beauty!

We must go there. Right now.

Climb up and see the city. Reduce our good supply of wonderful biscuits there, while the eyes are fed with beauty. The view is a nice addition to any meal.

Soon she was trudging purposefully and swiftly towards the enticing heights, wondering where the path of ascent might be. Surely it must be somewhere at the junction with the widest road... the only thing left to do was to try not to stray from the path.

Beyond the main road were mostly Selvas' paths. Amelia knew this because the closer she got to the edge of the city, the more of them she encountered. Much to her delight. 

They are beautiful. Graceful walk, melodious voices... Makes Ami admire and envy them. 

Marvellous paintings on the mugs and inside their kotties. Colourful, catchy designs on their clothes and draperies.

There is a lot of beauty to be found on the Mainland. Almost everywhere and in everything. Here in Omill, where you first have to suffer from the desire to see, hug, drink or eat the abundance of everything you see, and then from abstinence. It's hard to say goodbye to this land.

Immersed in thoughts and not concentrating on the difficulty of the task, the Kantinian easily found a well-trodden path to climb the Hill. In a single impulse, cutting the road, wading through bushes, catching on clothes and bags, clinging to the grass and stumbling, she literally flew up there, quickly reaching the highest point.

...And... the whole world stopped at that moment...

In the setting rays of the last departing luminary and the soft light of a couple of rising ones, the entire precious Omill lay before her. 

A dark spot on the plain, lumpy with round kotties, looked like a strange pinkish-brown “speck” on the brown-green body of the Continent at sunsset, mottled with the broad lines of tracts and narrow city lanes, long “veins” of water channels. 

A huge lake, the same lake whose waters gave Omill's coffee its unique flavour and medicinal properties, was surrounded by a beautiful Forest, full of familiar trees and those Amelia had never seen in Kantine. An ancient relic in the heart of the Mainland. Beautiful. 

Illuminated by many small lights, Mt. Zeth and the eastern forest, much of it, if we look to our right. Beyond that green ocean is Lim, in theory. And a lot of elves somewhere in it. But in practice, none of this was visible.

Still, the sight is enchanting.

 On the horizon in front of them, on the other side of Omill, there was also a second dark strip of lush vegetation, beyond which, if the mother's maps were to be believed, lay the Swamps. 

The very swamps that no one had seen in person for a long time, but which remained in a collective memory as a... swear word. They couldn't be seen from here behind the forest, but they would be seen from Prime if Ami travelled to its southern edge during the cold season. 

Or they wouldn't. There's always a chance that the wild Forest, protecting their secrets, won't shed its leaves. That's probably why they persist... In permanent shade. 

Amelia turned her gaze once more towards the more densely inhabited part of the Mainland. A turn to higher ground.

The famous Prime Mountain was visible from here. It could be seen from anywhere. Like a reminder of the heights you can reach with the power of your mind. And the power of your legs, of course. Getting to the top of a mountain isn't easy. In harsh weather conditions, it's hard to navigate.

That's why the colour-changing witch's beacon light is here, to be a guide for the lost. And it was about to be lit there. Would it be visible from here?

We'll see. But for now. Huge green, purple, and yellow Kantine. Which was also clearly visible from both cities. 

From here, the great place of Ami's grief looked like a small, harmless, colourful patchwork of fields and meadows with small, pretty lakes.

Sorry for my attitude. I never meant to be rude or ungrateful. It's not your fault... your people are ghouls. Perhaps not all of them. You are beautiful on your own.

I can see that from here. It's better for both of us to keep our distance. We have less to hold against each other. 

And I've got to stay here. With this space, with this freedom. Stay and get used to the taste of this meaningful life. 

There's no going back. It’s clearly visible from here. And the journey there has been well worth it.

The hiker sat down wearily on the edge of this flat part of one of the higher peaks of the Hill, that served as her vantage point. 

Only now did she realise how tired she was. And that no one was going to carry her home, and her own legs didn't really feel like it.

It was getting really dark.

The fluorescent Mushrooms had begun to change the colour of the surrounding city. One of them was an attractive blue, and she would have to remember which way to go to reach it. She would have to hurry with the descent so that he wouldn't have to do it in the dark and fall. Of course, the descent would be much faster if she fell, but that's not the desired result of hurrying.

The mighty wanderer breathed happily in the forest-scented, sunset mountain air and stared blissfully into the darkening sky. Finished admiring the surroundings, she sighed again and struggled to her feet, which responded with a searing protest. 

We have to, dear ones, we have to. You'll freeze to death here. Even though it was still warm, it was already quite cold at night.

The small path, which she had not noticed from below, was more visible from this side. So she came down without too much trouble. 

The sky was cloudless and the satellites that had come out provided enough light. 

As she descended, her only regret was that she hadn't seen the city in daylight. It would have helped her to know the city better.

Now she had to find her way back through it, much to the displeasure of her legs, taking the long way around and choosing the familiar streets.

If there was a decent map of this city somewhere, she'd have to get it.

With the view of the hills and the Omillian biscuits in her mind, it was easier to distract herself from the hardships of the journey. She made her exhausted way home, automatically admiring the soft light from the windows of the kotties and the flasks of glowing plants outside.

Pulling back the front curtain, she finally entered the house, putting her bag on top of the others and crawling to the bed as if it were her last effort. Resisting the urge to fall face down in the dust on the floor at the entrance and fall asleep there.

“Housekeeping” and “general arrangement”, huh? Well done. 

It proved once again that the famous 'Kantinian diligence' was not her quality. Notorious “Lazy slacker” Amelia was the same everywhere. 

It's the legs that do all the hard work. 

But let's not diminish her achievements. That's only half true, because her bags were full of everything she needed for cleaning, even if she couldn't use it now. There was also a supply of delicious food and sweets for breakfast.

The vagabond quickly kicked off her boots and, with a great deal of effort, pulled herself under the bedspread with a pile of things on top of it, tucking her legs in obediently. It did not cause her much discomfort, however, as she fell asleep almost immediately.