Eva Mahler walked along her street, downhill towards the Westpoint Market, situated at the westernmost point of Hochmünster Island, facing the direction of the sea, where the Allon River meets ocean, about two miles farther downstream from Eva's peculiar home. It was early summer, and there were flowers in bloom all over the island city, mostly in well-tended flower boxes beneath the windows of the two and three story homes that she passed. It was early, but there were many people on the streets, all walking of course. True, Hochmünster's Shore Road, which encircled most of the island, was wide enough for motorcars, most of the other streets on the island were too narrow and winding and steep for the modern conveyances. Everyone walked. And at just under two miles in length, no place was too far to walk. Eva didn't mind it either. It kept her in shape and she enjoyed the time to think while she walked. And was there ever a lot to think about these days.
Soon the street leveled out as she reached the flat lowland of the western side of the island. Behind her loomed the Münsterberg, the high hill that dominated the eastern side of the island, where the Cathedral of Christ Triumphant towered towards the heaven, its two bell towers leaping skyward, and the dome over the crossing would be shimmering in the morning sun. It was a sight that the 18 year old took for granted most days, so she didn't look back to take it in. She now found herself in the main town, with the shops that lined either side of the Shore Road selling everything from baked goods to books to kitchenware. She crossed over the street not far from where Processional Way connected with the Shore Road. It was the street that led from town all the way to the Cathedral, zig-zagging up the hillside to its peak.
Eva went the opposite direction on Processional Way, where it continued across the Shore Road and headed towards Westpoint. The market plaza was semi-circular, with a wonderful fountain in the center and surrounded by a two story structure of arched arcades where vendors hocked the latest fresh food that had arrived by boat. She was on a mission to fetch food for a special welcome home dinner for her brother, Frank, but she had time to enjoy the scene. People in the market haggled in both Verroan and Alderstinian, the twin tongues of Hochmünster (her family mostly hailed from Alderstein, so that was what was spoken at home, but she was fluent in both languages, like most of those who called the island home). She went by Madam Bing's flower stall, with carnations fresh from the Verroan town of Alia, where her mother had been born. She'd met her father one summer when her family had visited the island on holiday, and found herself moving to what father called "the little slice of heaven on the Allon" a year later. Eva tried to buy her a bouquet of them every week during the spring. She paid Madam Bing for the flowers before she set off about the market in search of the ingredients needed for that evening's dinner.
As she crossed the plaza, she could see out the central arch that linked the two sides of the semi-circle market, and acted as a gateway to the river park. There, at the western tip of the island stood a large flagpole, with the purple-blue-white flag of Verroa fluttering in the wind. That was something else that Eva normally took for granted, but today she paused for a moment to ponder. Transition Day was less than a month away, and then the flag would change to the red-gold-white of Alderstein. That in and of itself was nothing new. For nearly 300 years, the island of Hochmünster spend six months out of the year in Verroa, and the other half of the time in Alderstein. It was a city of two flags, and while most people in the world found the concept ludicrous, the people of the island city took it for granted. According to what Eva had been taught in school, Hochmünster had started as a monastery but gradually attracted merchants and pilgrims and the town grew up at the base of the Münsterberg. In those days the Allon River was at the hinterland of both Verroa and Alderstein, and neither kingdom paid much attention to what went on here, even when the Allon River first became recognized as the boundary between the two realms. However, as times changed, people cared more about national identity and the exact borders between nations. And there sat Hochmünster, a city of a few thousand people, right in the middle of the politicians neat, organized border. War had nearly erupted. The city fathers had proposed that the island become a true Free City, but this was rejected. In the end, it was agreed that the city would be part of both nations, spending half a year in Verroa, and the other half in Alderstein. Unconventional, to be sure, but everyone was happy that war was avoided and figured that later on some better solution would be found. Instead, for the past three centuries, Hochmünster flip-flopped between the two neighboring kingdoms every January 1st and July 1st. A formal ceremony in the Westpoint Market marked the transition every year, where the Consul of Verroa and the Consul of Alderstein would shake hands and one flag would be lowered and the other one take its place.
No, it wasn't this peculiar tradition that gave Eva pause. It was because Alderstein was now under "new management," as her father liked to muse. At the end of January, a coup had removed the aging King from power, and a new, radically nationalistic regime had taken power in Oberron, Alderstein's capital. New leaders, new money, new flag. It was all anyone had been talking about since then. And the new leader, Premier Josef Starker, and his so-called Dragon Movement followers talked all the time about "consolidating the whole of the Alderstinian nation," by which he was referring to the other Alderstinian-speaking realms that were not under Oberron's watchful eye. But many in Hochmünster worried what would happen on Transition Day this year. Already the beloved Alderstinian Consul Maximus Geld had been replaced by someone loyal to Starker, a short, sour looking man named Heinrich Niedermeier. Everyone on the island currently enjoyed dual citizenship, and crossing from one nation to the other was a simple matter of crossing one of the two connecting bridges and checking in with the border guards (from January to June, the guards were at the southern end of South Bridge, welcoming you into Alderstein, and from July to December they were on the northern end of North Bridge, welcoming you into Verroa). New guards had arrived on South Bridge when the new consul had arrived in February. What would arrive on July 1st?
Eva finally pushed the worries from her mind, and finished her shopping. Her brother would be arriving that afternoon on the bus from Verroa, and she wanted the food to be ready when he arrived. He'd just finished his third year at the University of Brion (where Eva hoped to start at after the summer ended), and she hadn't seen him at all since Christmas. He'd spent the Easter holiday visiting the family of a friend (whom Eva suspected was more than just a friend), and had not come home as he usually did. She carried her full basket under her arm, and began the trek back up to her home.
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