Warm light flickered into Meia's eyes and, as so often before, her gaze drifted from the back of the carriage to the right, to the back of the person standing on the running board, holding on to the side. When Meia first heard on the morning of their departure that they would be travelling with an escort, she initially thought of a whole troop of soldiers. She was then correspondingly surprised that not a single soldier accompanied them. After leaving the main road, when they entered the forest, one person got off the top of the coach and another came out of the inside. Since then, as long as they were driving, one of the two was always next to one of the carriages. Both carried swords. Meia concluded that these two people were probably the escort. So there were only two people and furthermore they were both women. It was not unusual for women to be soldiers, but to give them so much responsibility was an absolute rarity and certainly a bit reckless. Especially the one who was attached to the carriage did not seem like a fighter in any way. She often moaned as if she were frustrated. Just now she was looking at her pocket watch again. She did that all the time. As if she was bored. While the other woman always ran the entire way next to the cart, like a faithful Rottweiler, this woman stayed on the running board most of the time, like the master who is about to abandon it. Meia had not been able to see her face properly so far because she always wore a hood, but from what she had already been able to see, she was no fighter physically either, but rather the symbol of femininity. She had a figure like an hourglass with curves on every corner. Her pants was so tight that the shape of her bottom was visible through the fabric. There was no air in that pants. The fabric was tailored to fit her exactly. Just now, the carriage was going up again and whenever the carriage was going up again, Meia could see the storm lantern shining from the corner of the carriage through the gap in her thighs until the wagon had caught up. Combined with the swaying of the lamp and the dark weather, it had something of a lighthouse at the dawn of a storm. Was it to guide the sailors safely into harbour? It seemed so perfect that it looked as if it was intentional. The woman had also just put her legs back together. Meia had never looked at her gap deliberately until now. It was just hard not to look when you were dazzled. The horse on the right would certainly be able to testify that. Men had no interest in Meia. Maybe the shining woman's crotch was a sign to look elsewhere after all. Or maybe that was an overinterpretation. ~The frustration of loneliness. You make more and more sacrifices in your preferences and in the end you have a cat.~ Certainly it was not a sign. The woman simply had a sacred temple. - Meia almost giggled, but then the boost was not enough to lift her out of her emotional pit.~.

All of a sudden, the woman hopped off the carriage. Even with her riding boots in the mud and running, she still had a swing to her hips. It was rare that she used her legs for anything other than confusing light signals, meaning that something was up. Maybe they were coming to an inn again?

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There were other striking features about the woman worth mentioning. The first and most important was her voice. Meia had heard it several times before. It was an unusual voice, especially for a woman. Perhaps it was not helpful, but Meia would say it was like being wrapped in warm blanket while looking up into a deep night sky. It was a voice you enjoyed listening to. It was one that made you sit still so as not to miss a note. It was powerful, as if its words echoed in your mind. It was one of a kind. Meia had never heard one like it. She would say herself and other women sounded like the croaking of a small frog in comparison, so great was the disparity.

The next thing was her bracelets. She wore two on her left arm, which were a little too big, so they kept sliding up and down. It was certainly intentional. Anything else would not fit the image. Her cloak was also striking. The cut was asymmetrical and longer on the left side. The colour was a strong purple. The material looked glittery, as if there were metal fibres in the fabric. A symbol in a darker shade was embroidered on the back. It consisted of a ring, with many small balls on the inner edge. In the centre was a pair of butterfly wings with long tails. Meia did not know the symbol, but she only knew the most important ones anyway.

With a flick of her wrist, the woman removed a cloth from her waist. At that moment, two sword hilts were revealed and a soft glow of white light illuminated their perimeter. The woman's swords glowed in darkness. In their behaviour they were no different from krystafei. The woman carried both on her back under her cloak. The blades were pointed upwards at an angle and only the hilts peeked out at the bottom of her waist. In this way they were like small belt lanterns. The woman only ever removed the cloth when she was not on the carriage. Maybe she did not want to disturb the horses? The swords had no transition from the handles to the blades. It was all one material. They probably shone fully too, but the light was swallowed by the cloak. Meia had many questions about these swords. How would this method of carrying be advantageous in the event of a fight? How did the swords hold on her back? Why were they bare? The swords had no scabbard, but looked razor sharp. Surely this was dangerous? What kind of metal was it? Visually they were platinum, like the bracelets, but it was an alloy Meia did not know. It drove her crazy not to know. Despite this, she had not yet dared to bother the woman with her questions. In all likelihood, the swords were priceless one-offs and the woman had to be so rich it was impossible to even imagine. Absolutely everything about her screamed, 'Attention high nobility!' Meia preferred to avoid talking to such people.

Only now did she realise that there was actually no one in this convoy with whom she wanted to speak. Such was the fate of an introvert in a random travelling group. You remained the silent one and everyone only heard that silence and excluded you and you had to sit alone outside with the horses. It would be nice if there were at least a few soldiers or maids. Meia would be less noticeable and have people who were socially below her, who she could not care less about if they hated her.

.../ End Part