The dirt road back to her home was still marked by the Lieutenant's departure. So distracted by examining the damage the guards passing had created, she failed to notice anything out of the usual. As she prepared to turn down the road to her home, a loud noise made her jump and turn. Willow, so lost in her musings, had failed to notice the camp on the other side of the road until a tent collapsed with a resounding thud. Laughing a little at herself, she waved to the surprised Betrayer's before continuing on her way.

It surprised Willow to see them; The Betrayer's usually arrived in time for harvest. That was still a few weeks away. Willow knew they didn't travel on a schedule, but they had never made camp near the city so early in the season in her lifetime.

Honestly, it should have been impossible to miss the camp, their tents were always so bright and multicoloured, foreign against the permanent unpainted greys and whites and browns of Tanut. Many wondered just where they found dyes in such vibrant colours; dyes been seen in Tanut since the King had destroyed the entire industry in his takeover. When food was scarce, who had time for dying?

Men, woman, and children scurried about, preparing for their stay. As a whole, The Betrayers would be met with joy, a break from the dull humdrum of usual life. They alone had stories of the other cities, and people found them fascinating, if embellished and fanciful.

It was often years between their visits, so every time they came to visit was a novelty. They always had fresh stories to tell, although Willow and many other adults of the city were sure more than half of them were highly exaggerated or entirely fictional. Rumour stated they also ran some kind of underground letter delivery service over Realm borders. Willow remained sceptical, although it did fit with the rumours about the Resistance cells.

Not that Willow didn't enjoy their visits or their stories, she did just as much as everyone else, she just found it amusing how readily people would believe things when it came from someone they thought of as an authority.

Stolen novel; please report.

Shrugging, Willow turned away. When the Betrayers came, it wasn't all joyful. Old hurts that many, including Willow, agreed should have long been buried, still ran deep for some people: others in the city would not look upon their visit as favourable.

The ancestors of the group had been a part of the various cities once, but when the King rose, they had allied themselves with the King, for many reasons both selfish and self-preservationist. This had earned them their name, although it was perhaps not the most prevalent name for the group, just the only one permissible around young ears. Once the King had solidified his power, he had no need for them and he had set them free from his service, with certain privileges that the general, downtrodden, and defeated populace resented. These peoples had tried to return to the cities, return to the lives they had known before in the places they knew best.

They had, unsurprisingly, not been welcomed back by their angry and resentful neighbours. It had been the only civil war since the King's rise, and they had forced The King to get involved when the bloodshed grew in brutality. Forbidden by people who had once been their friends and family from entering the cities, the people had wandered and discovered other fellow survivors. Many had spouses and children with them and with nowhere else to go, they had banded together. They had travelled from city to city ever since.

As time passed, they had split into smaller groups; three groups rotated through the cities. Never taking a fixed home.

Willow felt sorry for them, not believing that the actions of their forefathers should dictate their lives now. But their critics were loud and influential, and it set them in their ways, having found a sense of contentedness with their situation over the generations. Richard often gave many of their number seasonal work when they were in town, bartering their time for goods they brought from elsewhere. Willow had formed lifelong friendships with many of their children, now adults, and actually used methods she had learnt from them to teach the children of the city.

Willow looked forward to catching up with some of her childhood friends in the coming days. It was always a joyous break from mundane life to feel even a small part of their colourful world.

She shook her head as she walked up the path to her home.