A path that ran through a dense forest. From deep black clouds heavy drops lashed sharply down on this path. The leaves of the forest bowed rustling to their burden. Water collected in puddles along the way and filled the wheel tracks. The excess washed away through the grass of the bank, washing up the crunching pebbles of the earth. The carriage wheels rattled and made new tracks in the path. The horses snorted, but kept pulling the wagons forward through the deep mud.

The crackling, the clacking, the rustling, the crunching, the wheezing, the smell of rain and wet leaves in the humid air, the feel of wet fabric on the skin; for almost five days now these things had been the unwanted travel companions of Meiandra Arvis, or Meia, as she would prefer to be called.

Meia sat on the front bench of a transport wagon that followed a carriage. It was a small convoy, making its way through the damp forest floor hour after hour. In order to be less conspicuous, the wagons were simple and had only the most necessary equipment. For the same reason they took this remote route in the first place, although there would certainly have been far quicker routes to their destination. At least that was Meia's guess. She wasn't sure. The destination of the convoy was secret. Meia didn't know where they were going or when they would get there. Nothing was revealed to her during the journey. Hardly anyone had said anything to her at all. In the best case, she was asked to step aside or was given a meal. She was also not informed in advance that she would embark on this journey. She was simply woken up one morning, had to pack her things and has been driving across the country almost non-stop ever since. All she knew was that she was in a convoy for her mistress.

The path wasn't necessarily filled with sights. Forest was on the left. In the middle were horse butts. But at least on the right was also forest. So she could change her head position without having to worry about missing anything. The environment was always the same since they left the main road. Meia would not have thought that there would be so much forest in Jena. Beside enjoying the scenery, she had nothing else to do either. The reins of the horses were not in her hands. Instead, they hung lonely on a hook next to her. To add to her frustration, the hook did the job surprisingly well. The horses blindly followed the carriage in front. Not a grumble came from them. From what Meia had overheard, it seems that it was more down to the horses than the hook itself. In general, the horses needed neither blinders nor reins. Apparently they even obeyed your every word. To what extent that was true, Meia did not know. She didn't want to risk trying it either, because if it worked her joy would be short-lived.

So she sat bored behind the horses, supporting her chin with both hands. Her weary gaze was dull on the back of the carriage. Mud got caught on a wheel, spun around a bit and fell down again. It was a brief distraction from doing nothing. Her gaze goes back to the hook. ~If I had to at least hold the reins...~ was all she could think. At least it had stopped raining. However, the sky did not look like it would last long. It was currently the rainy season in the country. It was always only a matter of time before it would start again. According to the calendar, it would be over next week. Perhaps the trip should have been postponed by a week.

Unenthusiastically Meia shook the water from the hood of her red cloak. The lack of vigor to not at least set up straight beforehand, took revenge immediately. The pool spilled from the hood down her back right into the gap at her waistband - the disadvantage of a cloak that only reached till under the chest. However even the unwanted refreshment failed to elicit an excessive reaction from her. Only the corners of her mouth became even flatter, while the last dry part of her clothes fell victim to the water. How could so much water have collected there? Meia had no other change of clothes with her. A cold was probably inevitable by now. Humiliated, she lowered her gaze to the running board. The ankle boots and her trouser legs were full of mud. The laces were barely visible anymore. Due to the brown color of her pants the dirt was at least not too visible. Apart from the underwear, Meia had been wearing her clothes since departure and she would have to wear them the rest of the way, no matter how long it would be. But everything she had had been affected by the weather. Everything was crumpled and soaked. Even her shirt and hair got damp through the cheap robe. The fabric was sticking to her skin everywhere and her butt was now stuck to the bench as well. It was a sickening feeling she couldn't escape. Although the carriage possessed a spanning of the coachman's box, it did not protect her from the rain, which, carried by the wind, always hit her from the front. In general, the spanning was much too short. Whoever designed it had probably never driven in bad weather.

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With as few movements as possible, Meia pulled her hand mirror out of her pocket. It was a rectangular hand mirror in a delicate red metal frame. It wasn't really valuable or flashy, but Meia had it for a long time. Looking in the mirror was an expected disappointment. Deep shadows under the eyes and tousled hair. It wasn't a particularly ladylike appearance. The lack of sleep was written all over her face. What else had she expected? They had only stopped twice at an inn for six hours. So in five days she had only really slept around ten hours. She had often tried to fill the driving time with sleep. To her regret, she never made it past a few minutes. The wagon shook too much. The wood of the bench was too hard and lacked any form of padding. The stones under the wheels kept tearing her out of her dreams.

~Why is no one telling me anything? By now it should be okay to tell me where we are going. Or at least tell me when we are arriving.~ Meia started whispering to herself with matching little gestures. "Oh, by the way, Meiandra, we'll be there in five hours. And here, I brought you a pillow. - Ohh, thanks for bothering." ~Ahh, probably no one knows my name anymore.~

Meia's butt was not only wet, but also numb from sitting so much. At least the path was quite soft through the rain and only transmitted small vibrations to her via the poorly sprung wheels. It didn't hurt that much while sitting anyway. The real pain she would feel again when she would had to get up, which unfortunately would already be the case at the next stop. Wondering whether to thank the rain for the soft ground and the resulting protection of her bottom or whether to be angry about the wetness, she looked at the spanning behind her. Behind it, inside the wagon, there were benches with thick cushions. Fluffy and soft, the expensive fabric would flatter her, but unfortunately the benches were already occupied. Her two older colleagues, as well as the luggage, which was worth far more than Meia herself, had already claimed them and so for Meia as the youngest addition there was no other place than the one outside. Of course, Meia knew that it would be stupid to load the valuable luggage in plain sight instead of her, and also that a better, bigger wagon probably wouldn't have worked. After all, they were already noticeable enough with these two. Still, she couldn't help but envy her colleagues for their seating and for their protection from the weather.

Meia sighed and turned around again. Inside the leading carriage was her mistress. She was also the reason why Meia had to go with this convoy.

Meia's mistress was Erika Brandt Von Rosenberg, the Queen.

But why was the queen traveling around in such a cheap carriage? Why did Meia have to come along? And why wasn't Meia allowed to know where they were going? Meia didn't know everything either, but to understand at least the part she did know, you had to go back in time...

.../ End Part