"Oh, you actually came back early!" Alexis lifted his hat to salute them. He was smiling brightly almost like a mirror for the sun in the sky.

"We thought we would get lost, so we preferred to leave the fountain earlier." answered Alessia as she was petting the horses.

"Well everything is ready here, we can leave now, if you want."

"That would be perfect." Alessia left the horses."Would it be okay if I sat with you up there? I think I would get a better view of the land this way, I want to see if the change of perspective will actually have an effect in my reading of the maps I brought."

"I mean…of course you can but I will talk to you, so if it's serious work…"

"Nothing to serious, actually it's ore out of curiosity." Alexis got up on his seat and helped the lady as well. She put on her hat.

"Well than I shall take a nap!" Joan go t ready to board but Alessia stopped him.

"Surely you don't intend on sleeping on an empty stomach? It's bad for you!" She then realised her overly familiar tone and blushed.

"It's okay, I am not dead yet so I'll consider that it's not another missed lunch that is going to end me." He wasn't going to let her suffer from her outgoing nature. "Let's go Alexis!" He said from inside the carriage. Immediately after they began to move. Joan, who had been struggling to stay awake found the regular motion of the ride to be a very efficient lullaby. He soon drifted into a deep slumber.

Alessia and Alexis discussed everything they could think of : the weather, the gods; neither of them were firm believer of the gods; regional legends; Alessia jumped on the occasion to show off her newly acquired knowledge; they even discussed their childhood dreams. Alexis wanted to be a knight, like those in fairy tales, that's why he began riding horses.

"Did you also try fencing? My parents made me do it when I was much younger and I don't really remember it to be especially kid friendly!" Asked Alessia. "Personally I hated it!"

"I didn't, it was too… we didn't have enough time or money for that back then. But recently a friend of mine invited me to try with them and I found it to be really good at clearing my thoughts."

"Maybe I should retry, as a university sport, maybe I'll make some friends that can remind me to come to lessons"

"You don't seem to be absent minded, at least not when it comes to your studies. Why do you think you would forget?"

"Actually, I'm lazy. When I say 'remind' what I really mean is 'drag me to the lessons'." Alexis had a hearty laugh.

"You're young, that's why. When you'll get older you'll want to optimize your time as much as possible !"

"You are not old enough to speak like that!"

"Technically I am already retired, henceforth I am an honorary member of the 'old people'. I can speak however I please!"

They were overcome with laughter. "To hell with 'lady like mannerisms' " Alessia thought happy to be able to express her joy. After another long discussion they both fell silent, their mind occupied with their own thoughts and worries. Alessia diverted her attention to the horizon. She could see the high peaks crowned with immaculate snow ahead of them, the sky was still clear even if a few white clouds were gathering westward. The land was indeed more 'readable' but it was not a change worth noting. She found that where she sat would only affect her tan line.

She watched a group of birds elegantly fly in the sky, crossing and meeting one another in flight, yet never bringing chaos to the whole. She dreamt of being able to fly. Not only would it be super useful, it would be a great help in her work, but it would also feel fantastic. The wind on her face, the illusion of complete freedom : She could go anywhere she felt like, she any place she could think of...Flying would feel incredible, she was sure of it!

Maybe engineers in San Vale are working on a flying machine, with the power of steam. Sure it was brand new, the beginning of humanity's adventure with water vapor to power things, so far humans had only been boiling water to sterilize or brew some tasty beverages, but soon, they would travel far and wide with this technology. Their creative spirit, their desire to invent new things had already pushed them so far as to invent train engines and steamers, steam powered boats, to cross the azure sea, lifts,...So why not flying machines to carry people above the sea?

Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.

The Mother be blessed! She had bestowed upon humanity the water, origin of all things, giver and taker. She must be so proud of her children to have learned to use her gift in a new way. Water is ever changing, mobile, shifting, like the human's abilities to create.

The fourth day ended nicely. They stopped at the side of the road, at a sight seeing point.The sky was still very clear and billions of stars shone brightly over their heads. Alessia fell asleep staring at them in ignorant wonder, having never asked a single question about the distant guardians of the night. Joan took the first half of guard. He quietly took out a pair of binoculars, the best he owned, and spent some time during his guard looking at the small moon and at the brightest stars. He knew that his instrument was rudimentary and frankly almost useless in the study of the cosmos, yet he took his task very seriously. Finding a sense of calm in the study of the seemingly unchanging lights. He found that he became something of a poet at their contact, keeping secret the fondness he had for them lest someone ruined it for him.

The next day it was Alessia who took a nap inside the carriage while Joan sat next to Alexis.The driver felt a little intimidated by the historian. He found the man impressing but maybe a bit cold or distant, not unfriendly, simply…well, aloof. He also felt a bit stupid next to a man who had accomplished so much.

"Excuse me sir Archebus, but, have you always had academic aspirations?" Joan, upon hearing his last name said in such a serious way, felt really upset. He realised that he had never been really friendly to the man like Alessia had. He coughed.

"Please call me Joan." the professor had a little uneasy laugh and remembered the question. "And no, when I was younger I wanted to work in a bank to become rich. An opportunity came and I jumped on the occasion. Needless to say, the inner workings of economy utterly bored me, but upon learning the basics of history I realized that it was what I truly wanted to study. In fact it totally entranced me, I knew I wanted to do that until I died" Alexis smiled.

"Oh, you are so passionate, like lady Alessia! Have you ever regretted your choice? Was pursuing knowledge really worth it?"

"Every time I have to pay rent, believe me, I regret it." Alexis laughed. "I like to say that I am not pursuing knowledge just for the sake of it. My ultimate goal is to virtually reverse time!" Alexis was puzzled, he was speechless for a while before inquiring about it.

"Reverse...time?" He scratched his head. "What do you mean?"

"Simply put, I want to understand history so well that I could, in a way, navigate between eras." Joan sighed. "I suppose it is akin to pursuing knowledge, that, at least, anyone can understand. The former make me sound like a mad man."

"But it is a sensational conversation starter!"

"You don't say...Alexis stop!" They halted brusquely. "Where's the bridge?"

In front of them the road ended abruptly. Between the two cliffs, where a waterfall flowed majestically, there used to be a bridge. Yet, all they could see now were the low walls made of light colored stones. Where the bridge would have begun.

"What is going on ?" Loudly asked Alessia from inside the carriage. "Why have I been rudely woken up?"

"I am going to take a look, you stay with the carriage." said Joan with the authority of a man used to discipline entire uproar with the confines of a classroom. He walked to the edge of the cliff and knelt down. The bridge had collapsed he discovered when he looked at the wreck below. A number of stones and bricks had fallen down, some finding themselves on the banks of the lake at the foot of the waterfall. "It looks like the bridge collapsed! It's in utter ruins, everything fell down!" He shouted from where he was. He took one last look at the scene before he came back.

"What?! But I specifically asked if we could go that way, I even asked for the state of the bridge!" Alexis was furiously shaking his head. "They said it was safe!"

"It must have changed since Margen, it was a long time ago…" Alessia began, Alexis cut her before she could finish her sentence.

"I didn't ask in Margen, I asked in San Timo."

Silence befell the group. Why send them this way if the bridge had collapsed? Unless it had happened after they had left the town. But if it had been in a bad shape shy did they say it was 'safe'? There had not been any storm during the night…

"It doesn't matter, we have to go back anyway. We need to go back to San Timo if we want to take the Northen road and continue toward Andora. I also should report the incident." Alexis ran his finger in he hair, at that moment the white hair became much more visible, as if worry had made him age faster."We will lose two days just for that."

"We can't do it differently anyway, there is only one road back and only one forward now." observed Alessia. "Professor you should take a seat inside, we'll switch places." She went back to grab her hat. Joan agreed to the change.

He was worried. With no way to contact Berel, he couldn't tell him about the incident. The archaeologist might become restless and believe that something had happened to them. He tried to rest but didn't manage to calm down sufficiently. He grabbed a book and tried to read instead.

Alessia took one last, good look, behind her, at the waterfall. She couldn't see any scorch marks on the stone. As if the bridge had simply come undone, deconstructed on his own. What had really happened ? Had they been misled on purpose? No, that was crazy. 'You are overthinking a very simple issue Alessia! Hold your horses!' She told herself. But why then, why was it so hard to rid herself of that feeling? Like she was missing an important details. She turned to Alexis in hope to find in the man some support but his face was closed. Alexis felt a strong mix of anger and incomprehension, he tried to avoid Alessia. He didn't want to expose his lack of temper like that. He kept his eyes trailed on the horizon, right ahead. Alessia was left to find comfort in herself, something that prove almost impossible, prone as she was to overthink everything to extremes that even professional play writer could not dream to ever achieve.