General Rubric Makon, Roe, and the Hovercaravan that carried them, rolled into Kamado, the capital of Navon, around evening. Kamado was very similar to Aku'anda, they had clearly taken a lot influence from Aku'anda city, they had floaters, however few, an lots of tall white building with metalwork facades, one unique thing they had however, were horses.

As soon as had they entered Navon territory, Roe had begun to see Navonic Horsemen, a small Gan tribe that had domesticated horses at scale due to the large grasslands and flatlands in Navon. Roe was very pleased to see them in Kamado.

The streets were filled with horsemen with horses of different colors, black, white, brown, there were even some reddish horses. The horses were decorated with jewelry and polished glass trinkets. The riders were also ceremonially dressed in white garbs and dark blue vests.

"Wow..." Roe said, looking outside the window at the riders who rode around on horses.

"The Navonic Horsemen?" Makon asked.

"Yeah! They look so.. majestic." She said.

"They used to be a nuisance." he remarked. "I was a child when they would ride horses around in densely packed streets, injuring people and destroying stalls, their horses would shit on the streets and foul everything up. It was disgusting."

"Oh wow, so what happened?" She asked.

"There was push back, then they became hostile, a terror cult sprung up," he replied.

"What? a terror cult?" She asked.

"Yeah, they somehow became convinced that they were going to be wiped out by the other Navons, and so they began to kidnap people and attack people. Kamado was chaos back then, they overwhelmed the authorities." he said.

"Well things seem to have changed." Roe said.

"The Aku'andans intervened." He said. "They destroyed the cult, revamped the horsemen, gave them training and, if you can believe it, invented potty spells for the horses."

"I didn't know you could speak so positively about Aku'andans." Roe remarked.

"Aku'andans used to be the good guys." Makon said. "I genuinely looked up to them, once upon a time."

The hover caravan stopped at an inn called the [[Redpuff]]. Makon, carrying his bag, and Roe, with her arm in a sling, got out and went in. Makon walked up to the front desk and introduced himself, he booked a room for himself and Roe. They were given a key and then went upstairs to their room.

"Your bone has already started healing probably." Makon said as soon as they entered. "We need to get you to a healer quickly before it heals in the wrong way. I wouldn't want you to have a crooked forearm."

"Aww, so caring." She laughed. "You act so tough all the time but you're really a big care bunny, aren't you?"

"Never call me a bunny again." Makon said as he stepped towards the door. "I'll be back with a healer."

He left and closed the door behind him. She smiled.

About thirty minutes later he returned with an old man who was even shorter than Roe herself, beside general Makon he looked absolutely tiny.

"This is [[Doctor Frane.]]" Makon said. "He'll look at your hand."

"Where'd you find this one, Makon?" Doctor Frane asked as he walked towards Roe. "She's a pretty one." Roe smiled at the compliment while the General remained silent.

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Doctor Frane peeled away the cloth and examined her hand.

"This is shoddy work, Makon. I thought you better than this." Doctor Frane complained.

"She kept squirming and whining about the pain." Makon replied, to Roe's shock.

"That's no excuse, boy." Doctor Frane said. "Anyway, at least you had the good sense to bring me to her."

Roe was astounded at the prospect of this tiny man calling General Makon a boy. He gave her a vial of liquid which she drank. Almost immediately her world began to dissolve. Her skin became cold and numb.

"What did you give me?" She said with droopy eyes?

"A numbing potion." Doctor Frane replied. "It'll remove the pain so I can fix your bone."

Roe drifted off into fantasy land before he could finish. When she woke up, it was already midnight, General Makon had fallen asleep on a chair beside her bed. She looked at her hand, the pain was gone, and save for a few wraps of clothes on her hands it was good as new. She got out of her chair and tried to get a closer look at Makon in the moonlight that was streaking in through the window.

His shaven chin was already starting to grow a dark stubble. Looking at him now, she realized just how young he was, Not that much older than she was, but he had this consistent aura of being far older than his age. The way he spoke, the decisions he made...

His eyes opened and she realized she was mere inches from his face. She froze as they looked into each other's eyes for a few seconds.

"Hmm..." he bellowed. That jolted her and she backed away.

"I... I... just... there was something on your face." She said nervously.

"You shouldn't be awake in the middle of the night." He said. There were two beds in the room, he stood up and picked up a vial from his bed and handed it to her.

"Drink this, it's a sleeping potion. It'll knock you our till tomorrow morning." He said. She took it and he immediately went to his bed and slept off.

The following morning, She woke up to him bringing in food from downstairs.

"I thought you might like to eat as soon as you woke up." He said. "So I brought yours as well."

She looked at him in surprise as she took her food. He sat on his bed crosslegged and wolfed down his plate. Watching him eat was fascinating. He was done in minutes and then he downed a jug of water.

"When was the last time you used a cup?" She asked. He laughed, taking her by surprise.

"Roe, please, I'm a distinguished general, clearly, I don't drink from jugs in public meetings." He said.

"How did you become general?" She asked. "You're so... young."

"By being the best." He replied.

"Doesn't that come with age?" Roe asked.

"You're right. Magic does get better with age. But nothing beats talent and hardwork." Makon replied. "Of course I can probably never beat the old mages, like the ones in their sixties and seventies, But Mages who are forty, fifty, I take them on on equal footing every time."

"Well why aren't they Generals then?"

"Being a war mage is more than just fighting. it's about strategy, wisdom, planning, and execution. There's not a single Sungan mage besides me that could have led a successful assault against Ganz like I did."

"You're a very accomplished man." She said, an inexplicable wave of sadness washed over her and she remained silent, staring at her food.

"Aren't you going to eat?" He asked her.

She hesitated, then asked. "What are you going to do with me now?"

"I'll get you back to Odan. get you a new hovercoach." He replied. "You'll go back to your old life as if nothing ever happened, it's only fair since I inconvenienced you so much."

He said it enthusiastically but to her it sounded depressing.

"No." she said.

"No?" he asked.

"Yeah, no. I don't want to go back to Odan." She said, frowning.

"What do you want to do then?" He asked, confused.

"I want to..." she hesistated.

"Well?"

"I want to stay with you instead." she said. He laughed.

"That's absurd. Why would you want that?" He asked. "You realize I'm in hiding from a genocidal maniac, right?"

"I..." She started haltingly... "I just... I think with you I'm better off."

"No you are not, that's a foolish thought." He replied. "Besides, of what use will you be to me?"

"I'll be your personal driver." She offered.

"I can find other drivers, the way I found you."

"I'll... I'll take care of your appointments, I'll be your personal assistant."

"What? hahaha,"

"I'll take care of your laundry, I'll handle your food, even If I have to cook it myself." she offered desperately

"There's not a single soul on earth that can cook as well as I can." he chuckled.

"Is there really nothing I can do? I really don't want to go back to Odan. Meeting you... is the most interesting thing that's happened to me in years."

He looked at her, pondering.

"You said you're a tinkerer." He said.

"Yes!" She said excitedly. "I can help you with my skills there, right?"

Makon sighed and facepalmed. "I'm going to regret this." He muttered.

"Okay fine. You may stay." He said.

"Thank you! I promise you won't regret it." she grinned.

"So where's our next adventure?

Makon looked at her tiredly and sighed.

"We'll live in this inn for the next few days." He said. "While I figure out my next move."