I tugged my hat further over my ears as we walked down the twilight streets of Minua. Despite the time, the thin roads and alleys were brightly flooded with white lantern light that hung from strings between the buildings. A general hub of conversation hung about the air as the masses of people moved through the arteries of the city, and Auro had taken hold of my sleeve to drag along as to not get separated. Breale and Hosi had already been lost to us a few streets back when they’d stopped at a road stall, though that didn’t weigh particularly heavy on my mind. I knew that if the worst came to it we’d just meet again at the main square later.

“Is it far now?” I asked. “Will they even be open this late?”

Auro flashed a smile back.

“Everything’s open this late.”

I shrugged and continued with her. Supposedly we were heading towards a provisioning supply store to check out personally, though I knew that was little more than an excuse to walk about the city. We would be leaving for Fangpeak ere morning, and this was probably our last chance to explore Minua for several weeks.

And really, the twilight lanterns were pretty enough to justify the trip themselves.

We were both dressed plainly in long brown coats as was the common fashion, and I wore a baggy cap in an effort to disguise the tiara. I had no need for them, but we both wore mittens and tall wrapped boots, and Auro had a thick grey scarf wrapped around her. It was the most we could do to disguise ourselves, lest people eager for a story came forward to bother me.

Somehow this city managed to not feel claustrophobic, despite the paths being almost a quarter of the size of the capitals. Perhaps it was the expanse of the valley compared to the soaring peaks it straddled, or maybe it was the half-pipe shape of the town. For we were on the south side of the city and whenever a gap chanced between the houses we could glimpse the expanse of the city beyond it. The Castle Fenward and the stacks it sat upon were even visible over the roofs, and I thought I might even be able to make out the light where my room might be.

Had I shuttered the lamp? I suddenly couldn’t remember if I had or not. Rune stones didn’t burn, did they?

As we travelled along the slope, the crowds gradually grew less and less until we were almost by ourselves in the street. The cobbles turned to rectangular bricks of brown stone, and Auro brought me up a small set of stairs off the side of a building. The lantern light didn’t reach the top, and I slowed to a stop.

“What’s wrong?” Auro asked. “It’s just a bit farther.”

“You’re not bringing me anywhere sketchy, are you?” I asked, only slightly nervous. “Dark stairway, shadowy night… If there’s an alley up there I almost guarantee it looks like the sort of place you’d get mugged.”

I didn’t really worry too much about it, but Auro being so pushy about something normally wasn’t a good thing. Honestly, she’d gone so quick it’d almost looked like we’d lost the others on purpose…

“Rainwash.” She let go of my sleeve and pulled me by the arm. “Come on, we don’t have all night!”

I reluctantly let myself get dragged up.

Was a provisioning store really this important? The Duke had already stocked food and such already, and I didn’t see much need in agonising over rope or the like. Certainly not enough to be run through the city. I’d rather spend it at the cloudfish carts, actually, if I could find them.

Though I suppose it was better than what Breale had suggested. She always tried to disguise it, but following her advice was a one way ticket to hell the vast majority of time.

On top of the stairs, it was indeed a dark narrow alley where people most certainly get mugged, but Auro pulled me through as if she had gone down it a thousand times. The buildings it connected to were dark and derelict, and my fear of being mugged only grew as we continued down a bend at the end.

Further along, the buildings suddenly stopped on both sides, leading instead to open air and the gentle sound of rushing water. Auro slowed then, and I had to try to not bump into her.

In front of us lay a quaint bridge over a small stream that ran down the mountain and into the valley. It was arched like that of a holiday town, and was constructed of thick stone blocks, some of which were painted a dull red. Looking north, I found that the stream and the break in buildings repeated all the way into the valley, leaving a cosy area from which I could see most of the city. Behind us, the rock face ascended even more steeply into a mossy overhang from which translucent white vines hung like streamers from the stone. A single dim lantern was suspended by chain over the bridge, making a scenic circle of light on the ground below it. Winterbloom flowers grew all under the overhang, their brittle white petals waving softly in the wind.

Looking out over the city, I could see that the lower bridges were wider and more decorated than the one up here, but each one was chock full of people eating, talking, or just watching the city. The amount of people grew gradually less and less with each higher and thinner bridge until it came to the nearest one just thirty metres down the slope with only a single couple.

And at the other end of our bridge, a single empty mansion without a light sat at the end of the road. There was no other path that I could see.

“I, eh, think you might’ve gone down the wrong way.” I chuckled. “And you looked so confident walking over here, too.”

And it’d take forever to get back to the main square, too… I should’ve known better than to trust Auro’s sense of direction of all things. Even her home town was apparently above her.

Auro smiled, unexpectedly happily.

“Oops! I guess I mixed it up with somewhere else… Why don’t we stay for a bit longer anyway? It’s such a nice view from here.”

“I thought we ‘didn’t have all night’?” I asked, bewildered. “Don’t we need to get to that provisioning store?”

Auro tilted her head in confusion.

“Isn’t my father handling provisioning? I didn’t know you were the type to agonise over ropes…”

“I refuse to be gaslit.”

She gave me some pleading eyes, and I again relented to being dragged over to the bridge proper. I rested my arms on the bridge and looked over Minua.

True enough, it was a fairly good view, though the ambiance of the garden was probably contributing a lot of extra points. I couldn’t exactly say it was more awesome than the overhead one I got from my veranda, but it definitely showed off Minua’s beauty in a more visceral way then the lines of light it appeared to be from above. It almost reminded me of pictures of [Venice], though without the canals and strangely aggressive salesmen.

I started suddenly.

[Venice]... Silst, er, Gideon had apparently visited it once with his family one fall while he was in high school. From the way he talked about it, it was chock full of tourists the whole time and wasn’t actually as great as the post cards made it look. So really, wasn’t this quite a bit better? The population was practically nothing in comparison to the metropolises I’d been used to back on [Earth], and none of the pollution. I wasn’t quite an Elysian communist yet, but even I could agree that a lot of places looked much better with less people in them. They felt more ‘real’ somehow, if that made any sense.

I chuckled softly to myself.

Past Ryder would probably be aghast if he’d heard me say that before. He’d… I’d loved Chicago after moving there for college, and how there was so much to do in a place like that. I still did, in fact. And while beautiful, Minua was a boring wasteland of entertainment in comparison where I could only read, practise, or pick up some hobby to go on. I’d even picked up drawing in desperation, though I was positively awful at it. I hadn’t even been game or [internet] obsessed like some of my friends had, and even I found it mind-numbingly boring here a lot of the time.

And yet… I still found I preferred it in some way. Not enough to abandon my family back on [Earth] or to try to stay, but some part of me yearned to do just that. To see what change I could affect if I put my energy into something besides leaving.

Which was utterly stupid, of course. This world was deadly, boring, and I’d already messed it up by becoming famous somehow. It had demon incursions, it was socially backwards, and war was common and devastating. The annals even spoke of deadly magical plagues and invading monsters to add to the savagery, and none of these things really existed back in America. Or rather, they didn’t affect my life in nearly as monumental a way. It was naive romanticism to believe it was in any way better here than [Earth].

Auro pulled me from my thoughts by scooting close and resting her head on mine.

Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

“Sorry, it’s just so cold…” She said in response to my raised eyebrow.

Oh, that too. The world, or at least this plateau, was utterly freezing. That didn’t affect me, of course, but shouldn’t that also be put into the score if I was ranking them? And if it kept getting colder like they said it was, then it might even hurt me too one day. Though I’d probably starve to death from crop failures before then.

A strand of hair escaped my braid and whipped around into my eyes, and I sighed.

It really was way too long at this point, almost to the middle of my back. Would people care too much if I just cut most of it off? Marcolo wasn’t here to stop me, after all, though Breale might try. Honestly, you would think Breale of all people would care the least about looks with her whole duelist persona, but that wasn’t the case at all. She knew full well how huge of a pain in the ass it was to deal with and how detrimental it was while fighting, and yet she insisted upon it anyway for some ungodly reason. And despite her not nagging Auro about her short hair, I was sure she’d find a double standard to care about mine. Perhaps I should do it without telling her then?

“Saphry? Are you alright?”

Suddenly remembering where I was, I shrugged.

“I’m fine.” I frowned. “You know, if you’re that cold we could always just go bac-”

“I’m…” She took a deep breath and gave me a weak smile. “I’m fine.”

…Alrighty then.

“Ah, that’s good…” I said, and then suddenly: “Oh! Are you nervous about the trip? I didn’t mean to force you into coming, you know. I won’t feel bad if you want to stay here where it’s safe. I know Fredrick said-

“No!” She cried suddenly.

I looked at her in bewilderment, but she didn’t match my eyes, instead looking away to stare at the city.

“I mean, I’m happy to go.” She said finally. “I’ve… I’ve wanted an opportunity to help out for a while now.”

“It might be a good chance to practise magic too.” I nodded. “And we’ll be able to duel outside the cart too. Fairly sure that one’s not illegal.”

“That’s… They’ll be shocked to see a lady duelling.” Auro said tentatively.

“So? Societal conventions are for people who don’t expect to be at war.” I said. “Bre doesn’t seem to care about that taboo.”

“...Breale also loudly challenges anyone and everyone to everything like she has a chip on her shoulder.”

“I think it might be better to follow Bre on this one, it’s much more funny.”

Auro sighed, though there seemed to be another emotion buried in there. I stared hard at her for a moment, but I couldn’t quite puzzle it out.

“What’s up?”

I poked her in the side a few times for good measure, but she still didn’t respond.

“What’s wrong?”

“I was just thinking, you can’t really shorten ‘Auro’, can you?” She finally said. “You can say Andri, Fred, Bre, even Rol I suppose, but there’s nothing for Auro.”

I blinked.

“What does that have to do with duelling?” I leaned forward on the bridge railing. “Though I suppose I could make up a few. How about ‘Big A’? ‘Au’?”

“Ah, hard no on that first one… and the second sounds like you’re in pain.”

“We could go pirate then. Aur.” I joked.

“What does that have to do with pirates?” She asked.

“Because…” I tried to think up an explanation that’d make sense, only to give up after a moment. “Well, that’s just what they say. Never mind it.”

“Maybe I wasn’t meant to have a nickname.” Auro sighed.

I chuckled.

“I mean, Auro’s a fine name. No need to change what is already perfect.”

It sounded somewhat Summarkan to me, and I found those to be the best names on Elys. After all, what could surpass ‘Saphry’? Probably only ‘Ryder’. Plus, a lot of their city names were just fun to say. An-dor-lin, for example, or Sere-still for Cyrstil. Made it all the more sad that so many people I knew had proper boring Veroline names.

For some reason, Auro looked away then and lightly stamped her feet, and the thought passed through my head that I might’ve upset her.

“Big A?”

“Sap…” She took a deep breath, and she seemed to freeze for a moment. I felt a strange tension behind her words, but I couldn’t pinpoint a reason why.

I waited expectantly for her to say anything, but the silence stretched on for a minute. And then, she deflated somewhat and looked towards the ground.

“Saphry, thank you for inviting me. I’ll… I’ll be sure to live up to your expectations.”

Expectations? The heck did that mean? I literally just invited my friends, they weren’t expected to actually do much at all.

“I don’t know what-”

“It’s getting cold, do you want to head back?” She interrupted.

The tension suddenly broke, and Auro offered me a small smile.

“I, eh, suppose so?”

“Then let’s go.” She looked towards the city walls and beyond for a long moment. “Off to Fangpeak, and the Forest of Claws.”

…

“You’ve all visited the shrine?” Andril asked. “You’ve been blessed for the journey?”

“Twice now.” I said. “Can you stop worrying?”

It was still dark out, and I was still groggy from the late night. I’d only been able to manage a couple hours of sleep once we got back, and Breale had taken a sadistic joy in waking me up before the crack of dawn. That hadn’t stopped either of us from nodding off in the shrine in the very same traveller’s ritual that had started off this whole rebellion business.

We were not outside the main gate, but a small sally port on the side, and it was almost empty. We’d decided that keeping the negotiations a secret as long as we could would be for our benefit, as though it was unlikely any spy would be able to pass a message through the passes in time to intercept us we still didn’t want to test our luck. So only my friends, Count Ephren’s family and retainers, Andril, and Captain Gelarin were there to see us off.

Andirl scoffed.

“That’s impossible. All of our lives depend upon this meeting. I’d be foolish not to worry.”

“But maybe you should be worrying over Count Ephren then.” I said. “He’s the one that’ll be doing the negotiating.”

“I don’t need to worry over Count Ephren, I can trust him not to do anything stupid.”

“And what's that supposed to mean? I’ll have you know everything has worked out just as I’ve planned it!”

Before he could quip back, Fredrick’s voice called out from the cart.

“Saphry? We’re ready to depart!”

“Coming!” I called back.

“Alright.” I said as I turned away. “Take care, Andril! Don’t lose too many battles before I get back.”

“Just make sure to come back.” Andril called after me. “I can’t high-row a warship over the mountains this time if you get lost.”

“Didn’t need to the first time either!” I said with a wave.

I jogged over to the waiting wagons, where the rest of our group was waiting around for goodbyes. All of our academy group, the Long Travels, had come down to wave us off, and even now they huddled around the open panel at the back of the wagon. Luis and Hosi wore worried expressions as they greeted me, and Roland continued to make his best impression of a statue.

“My current theory is that you just hate cities.” Hosi embraced me. “You’re either leaving them, destroying them, or possibly plotting to destroy them at any given moment.”

“Not true, I love cities!” I said. “And I’ve never plotted to destroy a city. That’s always spur of the moment.”

“You’re really crushing our chances in the class tournament, I hope you know that.” Luis said. “A three person team competing against teams of 8! Guaranteed last place.”

“I’m sure Roland counts enough for the rest of us.” I chuckled. “I’ll be sure to mention that particular sacrifice when the chronicallers ask me what happened. And we had to give up a random class tournament! Worse than Hosi losing an arm, actually.”

“Not much compares to that.” Hosi muttered.

“Be safe, Saphry.” Roland said suddenly. “We shall be waiting for your return.”

I looked up at the big guy and smiled. I knew Roland the least of everyone here, but even he had become a friend in the weeks of training. I would truly count the days until we returned, even those days were destined to become yet another timer until I left.

But that was a pain for another day.

“Take care Hosi, Roland.” I debated for a second. “You too, Luis.”

“What was the pause for?” He asked.

“Luck and Light, Saphry.” Hosi tipped her body in a slight bow. “Be sure to keep all your limbs with you.”

“I’ll be sure to stay armed.” I joked. “Good luck with classes! Don’t let Luis drag you two down too much.”

“We’ll be fine.” Hosi said. “Don’t worry about us! Worry instead about Fangpeak.”

We exchanged a few more goodbyes before the caravan master called for us to leave, and I clambered up into the cart.

It was five carts in total, and twenty people to share them. Besides the ones pulling the carts, we were also bringing six colgs for the guards to ride. It would be a small delegation by the standards of Verol, but we had wanted to empathise speed and secrecy above all else. Nor was Fangpeak a particularly prestigious duchy, and was rather the opposite. It was unpopulated and wild, even more so than the other places in Verol.

The carts themselves were covered with thick fabric stretched over frames, though they didn’t have much room on the inside. There was only enough room in the back for four or five people to lay next to each other, and the rest was taken up by sacks and boxes filled with provisions. Each one had a warmth rune crystal to keep it warm, and we had already been warned to limit how often we opened the flap in the back lest the heat escape.

The twins, experienced travellers as they were, had already claimed the warmer interior and left Auro and I to sit adjacent to the flap, while Gideon had decided to sit on top of the boxes instead. We had a driver as well, one of Captain Gelarin’s men, who would be sharing the space, but he was currently in the front on the bench.

After a few minutes of settling, a flute in the front whistled a call and all the wagons lurched forward. Auro leaned over the back ledge to watch the gate.

“It’s a shame to-” Auro began.

A loud crack and a sudden stifled scream broke the air, and it only took a couple seconds and a worried glance before myself and the twins had jumped out of the wagon. The soldiers by the gate and in the wagons ahead were just as fast, and within several seconds we had close to thirty people including Andril around the source of the cry.

As we wheeled around the cart, we suddenly relaxed. In the ditch by the side of the road, one of the soldiers was clutching his leg and cursing.

“Phelsi just up and threw me, the pitching beast!” He said through gritted teeth.

I barely recognised the soldier as one of the guides we had for the trip, one whose name I couldn’t quite remember.

Count Ephren slid down into the ditch and began inspecting the man’s leg. He bent his head for a moment as he felt the leg, and I could immediately see that the man’s leg was broken.

“Broken. Do you know what spooked her?”

“I heard a crack right before.” Breale offered. “Did she step on something?”

I looked around, but there wasn’t even a tree within a hundred metres of us, let alone a branch. The valley wouldn’t turn to forest until after we hit the woods on the river.

“A trained war colg?” A soldier asked. “They wouldn’t be scared by something like a stick.”

Count Ephren helped the soldier up and gave him to two of the other soldiers to help.

“That’s a fell omen if I’ve ever seen one.” Count Ephren said. “We must delay until tomorrow.”

Andril clicked his tongue.

“We can’t delay this overly much. Can’t you go on without him?”

“Without one of my scouts? I think not. I will not be floundering around the Forest of Claws undermanned.”

“Then why don’t we just call another right quick? I’m sure there’s no shortage of Fangpeak-raised here in the city.”

“He has contacts in the Fangpeaker cities, my liege.” Count Ephren pressed. “I would rather wait for him to be healed before.”

Andril raised an eyebrow.

“Healed? That could be a week if it broke poorly. The cloud wardens were adamant: this is the best window we’ll get.”

From the corner of my eye I saw the soldiers pulled their cloaks over their ears and start returning to the carts to draw them back. I sighed in frustration at the unexpected delay, and shook my head as I started heading back with the twins.

Well, what was another week, really? I’d waited this long, I could wait-

As I turned my back, however, another voice rang out behind me.

“Lords, if I may, I think I have a solution.” Luis said. “I happen to be quite familiar with Fangpeak.”