The trip to the city was long and jarring. The pony cart didn't move much faster than walking speed, but it did save their legs over the several hours the journey took.

"What if we miss the dragon though?" Willowrose questioned, and Barkstem grinned in a way that indicated she knew something he didn't.

She gave a look around as if looking for hidden listeners, and then leaned into him, whispering. "Don't tell anyone, but it's not Dragon day today-"

Willowrose pulled back in annoyance, "Then why-"

"It's tomorrow!"

She laughed in his ear, causing him to wince and move away, and she grinned, settling back into the driver's seat. "Knew my ma wouldn't let us go overnight, but we can always say we got stuck by weather or something."

"Huh." Willowrose leaned back, watching the forest pass them by.

"I've never been away from home overnight," he admitted, and Barkstem rolled her eyes at his frank admission.

"It'll be fine, you baby. Even if we get lost, the forest's so tame around here anyway that nothing's gonna come out and eat us."

He gave her a tight smile and went back to watching the trees.

-

They got to the city just as the light was starting to fade, and some of their shared bravado faded as they got inside the walls.

For all of her confidence earlier in the day, Barkstem seemed unsure of where to go.

"We can try setting up in an inn, right? They gotta have… Places, sleeping places."

Willowrose eyed her, "This was your idea, you should have planned it out."

She shrugged, "It'll be fine, I only know it's Dragon Day tomorrow 'cause one of the loggers mentioned it this mornin'."

He sighed at her and gazed around the street. They had stopped beside a sort of park, so as not to be in the way, but there were still people everywhere.

And it was so bright! He had spent his whole life in the village, on the edge of the Deeps. The village was beautiful, but it was surrounded by huge, ancient trees, and even in high summer it was still a place of dappled shade.

He had been to the surrounding villages with his father, to attend to the sick, but even those were still within the forest.

When they arrived it had been late afternoon, and the park had been full of people lazing around, enjoying the heat. He could see that during the day it would be in full sun.

He had only been here once before, when he was very young, and to see it as an adult really was something else.

They sat there for a while, letting the pony drink her fill from a trough, and simply watched the city move into evening. There were lamps on either side of the street, and as they sat, one by one they flicked into life, seemingly by magic, although he never knew magic could do that.

The roofs of the buildings were all plants and flowers, and he could see people walking around up there, hear the chatter of voices and the clinking of cutlery.

There was so much light and noise, how did people live like this all the time!

He was aware that he was staring around like an owl, and that he had been for a while, but he couldn't stop himself. There was so much to see!

He was broken out of his staring by Barkstem grabbing his hand. "You know what, that looks like an inn, they have a horse on the sign and I can see stables at the back. Let's stay there."

With that, she dragged him down from the cart, pulling him and the pony into movement, towards the tavern. Was it a tavern or an inn? Did these things have a different name, outside of his village? Back home it was just 'The Pig', and was rarely referred to as anything else. They had stables at the back sure, but they were mostly used by the locals, it was rare they got any travellers, being at the end of the road.

There had been that inspector a few years back, but that was the only one Willowrose could remember.

"Hey!" she shouted at a stablehand, the poor lad jumping into the air at the shout, "we wanna stay here, how do we do the horse thing!"

Stolen novel; please report.

Willowrose squinted at Barkstem, "the horse thing?"

"Yeah!" she continued shouting, "the horse thing, we have a horse, it can't sleep hitched to this cart. Who do we speak to about that!"

The stablehand stared at them for a moment, then gave a sort of shudder, "I'll get my boss" she squeaked, before abandoning her broom onto the floor and fleeing into the stables.

Barkstem nodded, as if she had done a fine job. "Well that's that sorted, should we go inside and find some food?"

He hesitated, "We should wait til he- she comes back, right? What if somebody steals our cart, we'd have to walk home. And your ma'd be well pissed."

Barkstem kicked him lightly in the shin, and putting one hand on his shoulder, nudged him towards the main building, "c'mon, why would anyone do that. Don't be weird. We can pay at the bar."

She sounded confident, and she did know better than him. She'd been to the city before, while he'd only been the once, after all.

"I guess," he hedged, allowing himself to be dragged along by the arm.

They got about halfway across the courtyard before there was a shout behind them.

"Oi!"

They turned, to see a rather tubby man walking towards them, the girl from earlier peeking out from behind him. "You can't leave that thing here," he gestured to the cart. "It's litterin'!"

Barkstem glared at him, one arm still tight around Willowrose's. "We weren't leavin' it, we were gonna go inside and pay, we need stabling for the night."

"Oh did you!" he glared. "I've seen your type before! Just abandoning your poor old nag here and hoping it's gone when you come back. But no, I won't put up with that!"

This conversation was mostly incomprehensible, and Willowrose wished deeply that he wasn't a part of it.

"We were gonna pay!" Barkstem sighed loudly, rolling her eyes, and then took her money pouch off her belt, jingling it at the man, "look, we have coin!"

"Give it here." He stomped over and snatched the pouch out of her hand. He rummaged around in it for a moment and took out two large coins. "That'll get your poor thing a bed for the night, and I'll even be generous and put your cart under shelter."

"That's too m-" Barkstem started, but the man glared at her so viciously that she stopped in her tracks.

"It won't get yous a bed for the night mind," he thrust the bag back into her hands, "come back here at first light and pick your mare up or you'll be cleaning the stables to pay board."

She gulped and clutched the bag to her chest, and then turned without a word, marching towards the inn. Willowrose watched her go, wanting to follow, but also to clear things up with the stablemaster.

"I'm sorry about that, we really didn't mean-"

The grubby man turned around and walked away without even looking at him, as if he wasn't even there, instead taking up the reins of the pony and leading her away. Willowrose stood frozen for a second, and then scarpered after Barkstem.

Maybe it would be better inside.

-

The bar was dim with smoke, from both cooking and tobacco. The main dish on offer seemed to be a rather charred joint of meat suspended over the fire. It was being turned by a bored-looking child, half-naked and still sweating in the heat.

The dining room was big and crowded, and Willowrose hung back as Barkstem pushed her way towards the bar, unbothered by the noise and smoke.

He was pretty sure there were more people in this single room than in his entire village. Every table was occupied, and Barkstem was having to shove her way through a crowd of people to even get near the bar. Everyone was shouting and moving and drinking and smoking and it was just too much.

He realised he's wrapped his arms around his torso and backed up into a corner, overwhelmed. He had also lost track of Barkstem. She had merged into the crowd somewhere near the bar.

A minute later, he found himself outside in the stableyard again, breathing heavily. The pony and cart were gone, and it was blissfully quiet, after the chaos inside. The evening dark had come on all of a sudden, as it does when you go from inside to out.

He spent a time simply breathing, back pressed against the wall. It wasn't entirely quiet here, there was still the muffled noise from the barroom and the rest of the city, but it was better.

Opening his eyes, he let out a final, shuddering breath, and stared across the yard. If he started walking now, he could probably make it home by morning. That was assuming that he didn't get lost on the way, didn't twist an ankle, and wasn't attacked by anything.

He ran trembling hands through his short hair, feeling his shirt still sticking to his back with sweat.

He wanted to go home. He wasn't meant to be here. Home was a house of shadows, but at least it was quiet and familiar and the air was clean and he knew everyone.

Barkstem could find her own way back, she was resourceful, she'd be fine.

He forced himself to move away from the wall, shivering a little in the evening chill, and started the walk towards the gates. It would be dark on the road, but if he followed the road it would be difficult to get lost. They had passed through two smaller villages today, so those would show he was on the right track.

As he reached the edge of the courtyard, he had to pass through the still-open gates onto the main road. He laid one hand on the solid stone and looked back at the yard, the stables all locked up for the night, lit only by what was coming through the windows of the inn.

Then he turned, and started the walk home.

-

It was early morning by the time he got home, and he was sitting in the kitchen with his head in his arms and his forehead against the table, when his father came in.

The shadow loomed there, unspeaking, for almost a minute, before finally, something broke.

"You never came home last night."

"Went to the city with Barkstem." Willowrose didn't remove his head from the table, and his words were rather muffled through his folded arms.

There were another thirty seconds of silence, and then, "I was worried about you."

His father's voice was flat, and Willowrose peeked out from underneath his arms for a moment, casting an exhausted eye over the figure. He just wanted to sleep.

"Shouldn't you be in the shop?"

His father stared down at him, unmoving, and then, "I didn't open the shop today."

There was a long pause, and then a sigh, which Willowrose felt more than saw.

"I was worried about you."

He hesitated, and then his expression broke a little, "I thought you were gone."

Willowrose stared up. The figure of his father was still a shadow against the light, but something in his face had changed. With a sigh, he pushed himself away from the table, groaning with all the aches and pains he had earned over the night of walking.

"I know dad," he sighed. "Let's go open the shop."