Timoth stepped into my room with scarcely a knock to announce his arrival. Only a short time had passed since my conversation with Daegwin.

'How was the discussion with the men of the Borderlands?' I asked him.

'I gather that you did something to offend Count Djiron,' he replied.

'That’s not what I asked.'

Timoth cocked his head in thought, then decided to answer me. 'He brought with him stirrups for our horsemen, that they might be better able to guide their horses and free their hands for weapons. Mostly, the talk was of politics. Father and the Count both wish to secure more funding and more men from King Degron.'

'Was there any talk of a marriage between our houses?' I asked.

He shook his head slowly, but I glared at him. He took a deep breath. 'Only briefly, but… The talk was of Khad and Kaeya.'

'I knew it!' I exclaimed. 'Yet she did not even return home to meet him.'

'Actually,' I saw my brother brace himself for the delivery of bad news, 'they met the day before yesterday at Grandmother's estate.'

'What!' I cried.

Not only had Khad’s performance been informed by research into my family, he'd already met one of them! I looked back on our earlier conversation in a new light. Especially when he'd told me that he needed to marry for wealth or troops – Kaela would bring him no more than I would have!

'Don’t let your thoughts linger on it,' Timoth advised. 'We have our own business to be getting on with.'

My blood boiled with the unfairness of all. Khad had basically lied to me, yet I was the one being sent away for offending him!

The morning had seemed so full of hope, what with Timoth promising to aid me in portalmancy and the prospect of a visit by a travelling nobleman. But it had all turned to dust in the wake of my failures.

'I’ve already packed,' I told him, gesturing at the two chests on the ground before him. 'These are my cases.'

'There is not room enough for two chests of that size,' he said.

I must have looked sad, for I did not alter my expression before he changed his mind. ‘Maybe they will fit,' he said. He looked at me. 'I am weary from entertaining our guests. If we are to leave after dawn then I shall return to my chambers to rest.'

'Goodnight, Timoth,' I bade him.

'Goodnight,' he reciprocated. Then he was gone.

I blew out the candles Daegwin had lit and ensconced myself in the bed, tossing my clothes to the floor. I also wearied of the day, and though trepidation caused sleep to evade me for some time, I slept dreamlessly that night.

The morning found me awakened by Gwaeda and Daegwin, albeit unintentionally. They were trying to lift one of my chests. The other chest was absent. The previous day's clothes had also been taken to be washed.

I sat up in my bed and greeted them.

'Good morning, my lady,' Daegwin responded.

Gwaeda said nothing.

I looked out the window. The sky was red with the light of the rising sun. I was about to request that breakfast be speedily prepared but Daegwin was one step ahead of me. 'Your breakfast tray is just outside the room, my lady. I'll get it presently.'

She gave up on lifting the heavy chest and walked outside the room, returning with my breakfast tray as promised. I ate heartily for I’d heard that travelling could be exhausting.

'Your things are already aboard the carriage?' I asked her.

'Nay, my lady. My horse's saddlebags will carry my belongings,' she replied, and I felt an inkling of guilt that her possessions could fit into a saddlebag while mine could not be lifted by two attendants.

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Eventually, however, they did manage, and the chest was carried out of my room.

I realised that I'd left myself nothing to wear for the day, and I considered running after my attendants to collect some from the chest, but they’d already be far away – and I couldn't exactly run through the keep dressed only in my chemise. I turned to my wardrobe of discarded clothes and made a compromise between the least awful and worst fitting clothing. I ended up in a dreaded silk blouse and grey trousers. I was grateful for the prompt to scan my wardrobe as I realised that I’d not packed a hat. A wide-brimmed straw hat sat at the foot of my wardrobe and I donned it and my flat shoes in preparation for a day of horseriding in the open sun.

Remembering that I was to see Khad, I pinched my cheeks and smeared some ointment over some minor skin blemishes that I could feel. I draped my silver necklace in the shape of a galley over my neck – galleys being the symbol of the House of Tfaeller – and donned my matching mainsail earrings. I wished I could have a look in Mother's mirror but there was no time. Perhaps mirrors would be more common in Hollowhold.

I made my way down the stairs of the keep to the bailey. The morning sun was soft as I emerged into the courtyard to see Khad's men mounting their horses.

I was right on time.

Timoth was also there, already astride his stallion. My pony, Lilac, had been saddled by my attendants. They were still trying to cram my chest into the carriage, which was stacked full of such chests and wooden boxes. Eventually, they secured it with rope.

After a brief embrace from Gwaeda, Daegwin mounted the gelding that had been assigned to her with some awkwardness. I could tell she had little riding experience.

I turned on Lilac to bade Gwaeda farewell, but she had her back to me and was returning to the keep. It was unlike her to be so thoughtless, but I had no chance to correct it as Timoth and Khad were already in motion.

We trotted at a slow pace. My parents met us at the castle gate, still clad in their morning robes and wooden sandals.

'Farewell, my children,' Father said. 'Timoth, take care of your sister. Saemara, be mindful of yourself.'

'Yes, Father,' we both responded in chorus.

'Be safe,' Mother said, and though I thought it an odd farewell coming from her she received the same acknowledgement from Timoth and I.

Timoth and Khad set the caravan moving for real. They led, closely followed by Wargwa and Khad's twelve horsemen. The four guards of the Reach stayed beside the carriage, swords dangling from their belts and shields hanging from their saddles, and Daegwin and I followed at the rear. I would have like to have moved in front of the carriage, but Daegwin lacked confidence on her mount and she had more space to learn behind it. We numbered twenty-two, including the carriage's driver, though upon reaching Trackford we would part ways with the thirteen Borderlands men.

Timoth set us travelling east, through Haelling Cove. As we travelled, townsfolk often stared at the foreigners. Some of them also watched Timoth and I, and I tried to sit straight in my saddle, but it hurt my back. I succumbed to a restrained slouch.

Something had bothered me since we’d left. I turned to Daegwin to confront it.

'Gwaeda did not bid me farewell,' I said.

'She was hurt,' Daegwin replied, concentrating intently on gripping the reins and staring at the road in front of her.

'Hurt? Why?' I asked, more out of curiosity than concern.

'She only told me this morning. You didn't ask her if she would come with you to Hollowhold,' Daegwin explained. 'She assumed that you disdained her company in favour of mine.'

'No,' I sighed, shaking my head. 'She had already said that she would not be willing to travel, on account of her husband.'

'Speaking hypothetically is not the same as being faced with a choice, my lady,' Daegwin told me. 'It would have been the nice thing to do, to make her feel wanted.'

I sighed. I wondered if anyone truly liked me, as a person. Timoth did, and so did Father. But they were family, so it was different. That said, Mother and Kaeya often belittled me so I decided to take my victories where they were on offer. There was certainly no way I could mend things with Gwaeda now; it’d have to wait until my return.

Two years from now.

It seemed such a long time. Two years ago I’d scarcely been introduced to the idea of portalmancy. Daegwin was not yet my lady, and Timoth had been but a boy. I feared what else would change in Haelling Cove during my absence, but I was resigned to it now.

Soon, we were on the road past the town heading into the countryside farmlands of the Reach. The road became an ill-trodden trail only a short distance outside of Haelling Cove. The river ran parallel to our course, and was often visible when our road took us over hills and knolls.

We passed few people. Mostly, we were observed by farm animals fenced inside their enclosures. The potent smell of a bloodberry crop would sometimes ride on the cooling sea breeze, and I longed for the comforts that I’d given up mere hours earlier.

Gwaeda's poor behaviour weighed on my mind, and I knew that I had to take some of the blame for how she felt. I tried to exile it from the forefront of my thoughts, conscious that I wouldn’t see her for two years. I would be a different person then. A woman. A portalmancer. Gwaeda would probably have moved on with her life in that time. Perhaps I'd never see her again.

The thought filled me with razor-edged optimism. While I had grown used to her company, if Gwaeda took on motherhood then I’d never have to sort out what had happened between us. That was a good thought, and one completely disparate from the situation I now faced.

Timoth estimated that we’d reach Trackford at the end of our second day of travel if we made good speed, or during our third if we delayed. That was how long I had to make things right between myself and Khad, as Father had commanded. It would be a test of the diplomacy skills that I’d been taught from a young age, though I hoped that I wouldn’t be restricted by the lack of attentiveness I had shown to my education. I could simply have considered it a test of my interpersonal skills, but after yesterday I felt that I was better off relying on diplomacy.

I resolved to make an attempt when we made camp for the night.