Jon woke up to an empty bed-chamber without any of his friends in sight. He sat up, first wondering how he slept before he could start thinking about what would happen for the next of the day.

He felt a strain in his thighs, which he assumed to be a side effect of his legs being in full effect again.

He scruffed his hair, not aware of what time it was or how long he had been asleep. It was only due to the ray of light beaming through the small window of the large room above that he knew it wasn’t nighttime.

He started to rub the sleep out of his eyes when he heard footsteps clamoring from the front of the room.

He looked to the door and saw Tallow and Hector walking casually and heading straight down the row of beds that lined the walls of the room.

“I got it,” Hector said. “Your arm-”

“My arm’s fine,” Tallow said, referring to the sling that held her right arm by her chin. “It’s just asleep.”

“Asleep?” Hector said incredulously. “Your arm just got-”

As they argued, they stopped in front of Jon’s bed.

Jon just remembered his mother’s bag that Tallow had packed the day before which sat to the side of his bed. He looked down in time just to see Tallow pull it up one hand and throw it on her shoulder.

Hector watched as Tallow made her way back to the front of the room before exiting.

“Fine!” Hector called out.

He turned back to Jon.

“Hey, Jon,” Hector said. “Don’t feel like you have to rush, but we’re just gathering everything together and-”

“You’re rushing,” Jon interrupted.

“...Yeah. We’re ready to go.” Hector nodded and went to his bed to grab whatever was left.

Jon nodded himself. His instinct had told him that Hector was trying to be kind to him, but Jon also remembered that Hector declared that he wanted to leave at a specific time in the morning, and Jon wanted to make sure that he helped Hector in aiding his goal, especially since Jon didn’t know how long he stayed asleep.

Jon grabbed his blunderbuss, which was on the table next to him, strapped it on his back, and set off to the front of the room.

He left through the door to enter into the large hallways of the castle and turned to see Tallow standing outside of a second set of doors meant to lead into the barracks.

Jon approached her.

“Hi,” Jon said.

“Oh,” she turned. “Hi, Jon. I, uh…”

She turned back to the door. “I don’t suppose you could open this for me. I mean, I forgot that I can’t use the other arm, and I didn’t wanna have to use wind mana, but, uh…”

Jon grabbed the door and pulled it open so that Tallow could walk through.

“Thanks, Jon,” she said.

She walked through the door before throwing the bag off of her shoulder in anger.

“I coulda' put the damn bag down!” she yelled not to anyone in particular.

Once Tallow pulled the bag back onto her shoulder, she and Jon entered the barracks and walked through to the other side.

He still noticed that they were empty. He wondered where all of the soldiers were, but he just assumed that they were off doing something more important than eating.

They had just approached the next set of doors before Hector ran forward in front of them and pulled the large door open.

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“You should have just let me take the bag!” Hector exclaimed. Still, there was no harsh tone behind his voice. It almost weirded Jon out.

“Relax, it’s not me you’re marrying,” Tallow said.

Hector made a sudden frown.

“...Too soon?” Tallow asked.

“Yeah, you’re right. I’m not marrying...” Hector, now downtrodden let go of the large door and walked outside, letting it shut behind him.

“Damn it!” Tallow muttered. “I gotta be careful with this dude. But…”

She turned to Jon. “He just makes it too easy, you know?”

The large door opened again, and Mallory poked his head through the door.

“Girl, what did you say to- Hi Jon!” Mallory interrupted himself when he saw Jon standing next to Tallow.

“You all just make it too easy,” Tallow responded under her breath, walking forward as Mallory pulled the door open for her.

Jon took a short breath when he saw Dan’s Wagon in all of its glory sitting in front of the barracks on the grass. The back had been filled back up with most of the things that had accompanied them before they had stopped at the castle.

The two horses who had taken them to their destinations had also returned, their reigns tying them to the carriage as they stood valiantly, as if they had never had a week of vacation. Jon always found it funny that attaching two well-kept horses at the front of the wagon made it seem more regal than it was ever meant to be.

Jon noticed Junwata and Mercy standing next to the horses, Junwata silently observing as Mercy was moving through what look like a set of stances that Jon assumed to be some sort of martial art.

She turned around as Jon and Tallow approached the wagon.

“Good morning!” Mercy said, gleefully.

Jon wondered if he was dreaming. Did everything that happen yesterday affect their mood? He couldn’t see why everyone was acting so… mellow.

“Hi…” Jon said, wary. He waved.

Mercy went up and hugged him.

“I’m happy to see you,” she said.

Jon didn’t hear the comment said by Tallow as she holstered the bag onto the back of the wagon.

“What?” Mercy said, quickly shifting her gaze in Tallow’s direction.

“I said…” Tallow raised her voice loudly for the next part. “I wish I had longer hands! Hands! Hands! I don’t even know what longer hands are!”

“Oh…” Mercy looked away ashamedly. “I’m sorry.”

“Ugh, I liked it better when you were trying to kill me!” Tallow yelled, before grabbing the back of the wagon with one hand and pulling herself up into it.

“...Well…” Mercy looked at Jon. “You ready to go?”

Jon nodded. “Yeah.”

Mercy turned and bowed to her uncle. “Until later, Uncle Junwata.”

“May the sun set upon your journey soon, and may you return home by then.” Junwata bowed as well.

Mercy then ran to the back of the wagon and leaped in.

“..Bye,” Jon said, waving his hand.

“Bye, Jon,” Junwata said. “Good luck with my niece.”

Jon nodded and went to the wagon. Mercy put her hand down and pulled Jon up beside her.

Hector and Mallory climbed into the front as they always did.

Before Hector could set off, Avery arrived next to them on his horse. Despite his helmet covering his face in his suit of armor, Jon still knew it was the friendly knight behind the visor.

Avery pushed up his mask. “Here to send you off, your majesty.”

“Don’t do that,” Hector said, not bothering to turn to him.

“Sorry, I mean, ‘cause, your Dad bosses us around and stuff, and-”

“Right, right,” Hector nodded with understanding. “I get it.”

He turned. “...Thanks, Avery.”

“Aw, don’t do that,” Avery said. “I can see your stomach turn when you do. I always got your back.”

“...Why?” Hector asked.

“Hah! Why not?” Avery slammed his visor down again. “We’ll head you guys out through the front.

“Appreciate it, Ave!” Mallory said from the side of the wagon.

“Let’s blow this pile of bricks,” Hector muttered, whipping at the front of the wagon.

The horses set off at a steady speed. It made Jon feel good about being able to move at this speed again.

He wondered about the others who were still at the castle. He thought about Harris and Amalia, and the rest of the princesses. He thought about the other families and the workers and the knights and whoever else had been occupied with the presence of the tournament.

Still, Hector looked ready to set off, and Jon was happy to let Hector be as free of any of his customary obligations as he wanted.

As the wagon sailed down the green hill, more and more suit of armors joined their side on horseback. Just as they entered the castle, the horses all escorted them until they reached the wall that divided off the land from the rest of the continent.

The large gate was already lifting up as they neared it, and the wagon showed no sign of slowing down.

Jon took one last look at Avery. This time, he was able to see Avery’s face through the thin vertical holes of the visor.

Avery gave him a wink right before all of the horsemen stopped their forward movement.

The wagon went off alone through the open gate, sailing out of the land that Harris had lived on.

Jon watched the wall get smaller and smaller as it shrunk behind him.