Eliahope, now sitting on a cart with five adventurers, blinked as the past hour and a half went by in a blur. Shortly after a fake name and a random location escaped her mouth, Eliahope, now Aria, the name of her late mother, received a free invitation to join them on the road as long as she helped with her bow when needed, and she even would get a little coin if they got to cargo safely to Luesall.
Luesall was a strange city, from what “Aria” had gathered from the group.
“You’ll love it - they really maintain a homey lifestyle, even as the empire’s second largest city, behind the capital of course.” Sarhi chimed, her back bob gently swaying in the wind.
“Well that isn’t exactly true, Sahri,” Theodar corrected, “the ‘downtown’ area, was created as a romanticisation of peasant life, and as such they try to make it feel small in that area. Everywhere else in Luesall feels more crowded than Albos.” he muttered before turning back to his book, “You should really only give true information to people.”
“You are literally the largest Killjoy.” Alix turned from in front of the cart, “I have never met someone as unenthusiastic. Truly.”
“Figuratively. I’m sure the King of Myenlun is a bigger killjoy.” Theodar smirked.
Eliahope chuckled at the exchange, finding herself amongst peers for one of the first times in her life.
From what she gathered from the group: They seemed to have known eachother for at least a few years, or a year with some difficult challenges or adventures they had overcome with each other. Sahri seemed to keep the group together, as she was energetic and seemed to have a comfortable and disarming personality. Sterline, while cautious, seemed to me a “mother hen” and be the voice of reason and direction, with a sense of nurturing that while subtle, seemed to lend strength to Sahri’s enthusiasm.
Theodar was seemingly the brains and knowledge, but was (to Eliahope’s perception) unbearable to converse with. He had some dark brown hair which often covered his face, and clothes that were always pressed, perfect, and neat. Alix seemed to be a pair for Sahri, Eliahope being incorrect in guessing them to be siblings. He seemed to be closest to both Theodar and Sahri, being the only person Theodar gave not snarky responses to.
Then there was Yasha. Pale, Blond, and a furrowed brow that had not left her face all morning. She was silent, mostly, responding with small nods and pointing when appropriate. While never rude or disconnected, she also never spoke.
The day passed with different conversations, with no necessary stops other than a quick hunt to get game for dinner. Eliahope, checking on her map, realized through landmarks that they were following the “trade road”, a dirt path which connected the 5 largest cities in the Empire. “So, we’re heading to the Bazaar…?” Eliahope questioned softly, looking at the small point on the map labelled as such where all the roads meet.
“Yea… but honestly it’s more of a camp in the evening. I would be surprised if there was more than one group there currently. People tend to buckle down for the winter in whatever town they're in. But, we still have a few days until we reach there.” Alix chirped from the front, “Should we stop for the night? Sun will be setting in the next hour or so.”
With that, everyone jumped off the wagon, while Alix pulled off the cart to the side of the road. Theodar started the fire, Sterline started a pot of food with freshly caught game, Yasha brought logs to the fire, and Alix and Sahri took a short patrol around the camp.
“So. Aria. We know each other - what is your story.” Sterline questioned with an air on nonchalance, though there seemed to be some suspicion to her.
“Well, where do you want me to begin.?” Eliahope mumbled to herself. “86 years is a long time.” she thought for a moment, attempting to find out what level of closeness she should share that couldn’t become dangerous for her.
“Alright. Well, I’m originally from Myenlun… My father wasn’t around much, but I was always with my mother. She was an amazing woman. When her health declined, she requested I go to live with my aunt - I was roughly 60 years old, still much a child by elven standards - roughly.. Maybe 10 years old in human years.? So, I went to live with my aunt in the elvish embassy.”
“We lived together for almost 30 years together - all the while I was writing my mother back and forth. During this time, a surge of the elvish plague wrecked our town. It felt like people began dropping dead in record time a-and I…” Eliahope curled up more, “Well I had no knowledge of it. But even Aunt Tulie, who was the neighborhood doctor, didn’t know what the cause was. She’d never seen it. And to add it all together, I got this sense I needed to go see my mother. I could just… feel it. She needed me. So I set off to see h-her a-and,” Eliahope felt her voice crack, but kept it together, stonewalling her emotions behind a barrier for her new compatriots - “Well, within 10 minutes of me arriving on the property, I lost my mom. She was able to give me a kiss on the head and told me to be good, but that was her last breath.”
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She looked up, for just a moment surprised at her own honesty as she spilled her heart. Sterline had a nurturing look on her face as she comforted the overly-emotional Sarhi from the story, “Well that’s so sad!!! What happened to your aunt? Why did you come here and not back to the elvish embassy? Did you mom pass from the pla-” thwump. “OW! What the hell!”
“It’s not polite to ask people such person questions. Not after just a day.” Sterline scolded, “Thank you Aria, I apologize for asking such questions.”
“N-no it’s okay. It’s been nice to get it off my chest.” She chuckled softly, letting out a large breath. “Well, around the same time that my mother passed, Myenlun was passing the ban for both passengers and cargo ships from traveling to Hearan. Aunt Tulie had known of the rumors of these bans since we were so close to the Myenlun capital, and said if I had any chance to get to Hearan I should take it, so I did. And… Y-yes, the plague took my mom,” She diverted her eyes with her last answer. With her mother being human, there was no way her death was because of the plague. Her mother was somewhere around 110 when she passed. It was a miracle she had lasted that long. Eliahope believed she had the upper hand - they didn’t know she was a half-elf, which would hopefully cause less attention to her, as elves (while less common than humans) were a much more common sight than half-elves.
“W-well. I guess that makes sense. Getting away from a sickness is a good reason.” Sahri’s eyes darted to Yasha, who squinted at the elf before giving a slight nod.
“Oh great! Okay, so Yasha thought you were a fugitive or something since you’re weird for an elf.” Shari relaxed and slumped by the fire. “So, what’s for dinner?”
Eliahope looked back at Yasha, who returned her gaze, in which she scowled slightly before turning away. Suddenly, Eliahope’s heart dropped. Why the scowl? Did she sense her lies? What was wrong.?
They sat down together around the fire, Yasha seemingly keeping her gaze kindly on her friends and not toward the elf. The rest of the night, Eliahope did her best to calmly listen to conversation. But she kept a majority of her awareness on Yasha.
As night came to a peak, the discussion of shifts came up.
“Alix and Sahri take first watch, Theordar and I will take second, and Yasha and Aria take third.” Sterline mentioned as people got into their beds. “Is everyone alright with that?”
Everyone gave some mumbles of agreement, and got into their bed rolls (most in tents). Eliahope, left tentless, slept ontop of the cart - staring up into the night sky. All she could manage was to curl up, and do her best to not let her mind race with what could happen with on her watch.
Hours passed of dreamless sleep. The cold bit at Eliahope’s ears as she tried to get herself tucked in. The season was heading towards winter, and she made an agreement to herself to trade for a tent and winter blanket at the bazaar if she could.
“Aria…? Aria dear it’s your shift.” Sterline shook her softly.
Eliahope’s eyes shot open as she wrapped her thin blanket around her. “U-understood. I’ll get up. You get some rest.” She bundled herself up, getting her way over to the fire. She saw the remnants of what appeared to be a coffee pot with brewed grounds from the last shift. As she started to get herself a small cup of black coffee, Yasha came out of her tent, putting a hand on sterline’s shoulder as she went in behind her. Yasha stood tall, stretched, and plopped herself in front of the fire propping herself up for the long walk.
What felt like an hour passed of quiet. Eliahope poured a cup of coffee for Yasha, though she never drank of it, instead just keeping an ear out for anything amongst the hills. Eliahope, jumpy, jumped at just about every rustle of grass, while Yasha seemed to only react with more than mild curiosity at seemingly nothing to Eliahope; sounds she couldn't hear or flashes she couldn’t see.
“So… Yasha. What is your story?” Eliahope chuckled awkwardly, attempting to make light conversation.
After a minute, Yasha gave out a small grunt. “Let’s… focus on the watch.” She mumbled, barely audible to Eliahope.
..
...
..
Probably another hour passed by in uncomfortable silence and tension, and another… and another… Before they both heard it -
Aroooooooooo………
...
Arooooooooooooooooo….
At this, Yasha perked up; whipping her head directly towards the howling. “Pull your bow. You may as well need it.” Yasha whispered, grabbing a large horn at her side and blowing into it. Causing a large reverberating tone, with Yasha’s justification of waking up the team, and hopefully scaring off the dogs.
Other’s emerged from their tents, rubbing their eyes and sneaking towards the fire with their weapons. “Yasha, what’s going on.?” Sahri whispered, looking around. “Do we need to put out the fire…?”
“No. Wait a moment. It’s cold and will let us see.” Yasha murmured, “Just wait… The horn may have scared them…”
Eliahope kept her bow up - you never knew, though secretly she hoped they were indeed scared off.
But as they waited quietly, something began to move out towards them - three of what appeared to be wolves, though they were unlike any Eliahope had ever seen. Large patches of hair missing, solid black eyes, and deadly thin. They moved… unnaturally. Swaying aimlessly from side of side, almost tumbling over each other. Until stopping in their tracks - staring directly at the group, yet standing deadly still.
Eliahope felt the group both panic and shift amongst eachother - “W-what’s that.? What’s going on.?” She whispered.
Just then, Theodar started to back up slowly. “G-guys… we should escape while they're distracted.. M-maybe they haven’t-” snap. A twig underneath his foot echod against the quiet night.
The wolf heads raised, making direct eye contact with Eliahope - before snapping to and charging at the group.