Snippet #2507718

"We're going away to leave you now,
Hoorah, me boys, we're homeward bou-mff!"
By now Richter had moved onto his next shanty, no longer content to just whistle to himself, and was now singing at an audible mumble. Well, that was until something descended upon him from the sky, something fast-moving and heavy, something that also made a sound other than "THUD" when it collided with him. Richter suddenly found himself sprawled out on his back with a face full of snow, but he had been rather fortunate that the snow was there to cushion him, as the alternative was a face full of splinters from the pier. If he was on his back, he would have landed on his rucksack, and that would put his instruments in danger. Before even looking at what had plummeted down from the sky he looked to his sides to check his instruments. He could hear his flute rattling around in one piece in its case, but his lute had escaped from its case and into the snow. Fortunately, the only damage it had sustained seemed to be a couple of snapped strings, and Richter had spares. He only had some bread and his money in his rucksack; his money would be fine and he could live with squashed bread since it would taste exactly the same as it did when it was bread-shaped. Now that he knew his belongings were safe, he turned his attention to the rather heavy object that had fallen upon him. The heavy object appeared to be a person, a young woman with orange eyes that were staring right into his. It didn't take even Richter any time to figure out that she was from Dhara; nobody from anywhere else had as colourful hair or eyes or as dark a skin tone. Richter had never met a Dharan before, so he inspected her face, dumbfounded, for a couple of seconds before uttering a rather awkward "Um... Good evening?"

Once Richter had awkwardly shuffled out from beneath the young lady, he hurriedly returned his lute to its case. Just as Richter was about to enquire as to why this girl had descended from the sky, he heard the angry voice of a sailor from the nearest ship:
"Damn girl's disappeared! Somebody find her before she gets away!"
"I suggest you do just that." Richter recommended, grabbing the girl by her wrist, hauling her to her feet and leading her away from the pier and into the city; answers could wait.

Once Richter decided that he'd got the girl a safe distance away from the angry sailors, he pulled her aside into an alleyway and slouched back against one of the alley's walls.
"I... what... how?" Richter garbled, neither sober nor calm enough to form a proper question.