By the time Fredrick and Arlene finished setting up camp, Valen had moved on from confusion to acceptance and then from acceptance to matters more physical – like the fact that he was so hungry he felt as though he could have eaten a horse. With the danger they had been running from so far, they had not been able to stop and try to find food, which meant they hadn't eaten in several days.
He was able to whet his thirst from the lake, but so far the only one who had eaten was Raenelir, diving into the waters of Ura's Glade multiple times as morning became afternoon.
Soon, though, the wait was over and their campsite was complete.
The could had pitched a tent on one side of a fire pit at the camp’s center, while another, slightly smaller tent that was still roomy enough for both Valen and Hera had been erected just across from the first. Now he was simply feeling bad that they had nothing to offer the people who had decided to delay their travel in order to help him and his sister.
“You alright there, lad?” Fredrick asked, drawing him from his reverie at the very edge of the lake. The water lapped lazily at the very tips of his boots, some of the dirt on them carried away each time the lake touched. He glanced back at the man, smiling tiredly at his questioning gaze. Though it had not been all that long since the last time he had spoken kindly with another human other than Hera, it felt longer than the three days it actually was.
“I’m fine. Just… tired,” he started, though when his stomach let out a rather loud protestation his lips twisted into a wry smile and he added something more. “And hungry, I suppose.”
Fredrick chuckled and nodded sagely, as though he had been expecting such an answer. It was then that Valen picked up on the scent of something wonderful, and his mouth began to water. Looking past the trader, he saw Hera sitting before the fire pit, which was lit and had a large pot suspended over it. She had Aevra in her arms, but both Valen’s sister and the hatchling were staring longingly at whatever was in the pot.
“Well, we can help with one of those things here soon. Lunch’ll be ready right quick, if you want to join your sister by the fire,” the man replied. Valen froze, eyes narrowing at his words.
“How did you know that she’s my sister?” he demanded, lowering his voice in an attempt to sound threatening, though it mostly just came out as exhausted.
“Well, I just assumed seein’ as the two of you looked so alike and all. Apologies if I’ve offended you,” Fredrick quickly responded, raising his hands placatingly, his smile not faltering even for a second.
Valen hesitated for just a moment longer, considering the man’s words, but then he glanced back to where Raen sat with about half of his body submerged in the water, eyes trained carefully on the man speaking to his flightbrother. The reminder that the wyvern could handle pretty much any foreseeable danger here save a dragon attack with relative ease calmed his nerves once more, so he turned back to Fredrick and nodded. Smiling, the trader motioned for Valen to follow, leading the way over to the firepit just as his wife reemerged from the wagon, which had been led just off the path before their horses had been released from the wagon and hitched to a tree nearby.
She held a few different glass jars full of herbs, and she headed straight to the pot. Setting two of the jars down, she then opened the third. She was sprinkling a handful of whatever was inside into the pot as Valen and Fredrick reached the fire. The trader walked around to stand beside his wife, while Valen took a seat next to his sister and let the smell of whatever it was they were cooking waft over him.
Whatever Arlene was adding, it made the food’s aroma even more mouthwatering. Soon enough he couldn’t take his eyes off of the pot, the same as Hera and Aevra. When the woman finished adding whatever herbs were in those jars of hers, she handed them off to her husband, who carried them back to the wagon while she began to stir the pot’s contents with a large iron ladle that had been resting inside.
After a minute or so of that she lifted the ladle out of the pot and, after blowing on the steaming hot stew, had a taste. She smacked her lips, looking thoughtful, before smiling and nodding satisfactorily to herself.
It was at this point that Fredrick exited the wagon again, carrying four wooden bowls with spoons. Handing one of each to Valen and Hera as he reached them, he then gestured to his wife who was already waving them forward.
“Well go on then! Get yourself a bowlful, an’ don’t be shy about it. You’ve got the look of starving wolves about you – or maybe starving wyverns, eh? – so don’t even try and turn us down now,” the trader told them, still smiling. Hera made to stand up immediately, but Valen reached his arm over, keeping her still.
“Wait. We have nothing to pay you back with, sir. I know you’re a trader, and I don’t intend to just steal from you,” Valen told them, despite his stomach practically screaming at him as he spoke. Before Fredrick could even try and respond, however, Arlene was tsking rather hard, shaking her head as if his words actually hurt her.
“I’ll have none of that now. This here is our gift to you, and make no mistake that it’s much more rude to turn down a gift than it is to steal from someone. You hear me?” she told him. Her reprimand stung, but before Valen could say anything more Hera pushed his arm aside and stood, looking down at him as if he were the stupidest person she had ever laid her eyes on.
“Val, I’m starving. You’re starving. We need to eat, and they’re offering, so just say thank you and fill up your bowl okay?”
Then she was having her own bowl filled by the trader’s wife, and he couldn't restrain himself anymore. Sighing, he followed his sister, allowing the woman to ladle stew into his bowl until it was filled to the brim and then taking the spoon offered to him by Fredrick, whose smile seemed to tell of years spent living with his wife’s strong will.
Despite himself, Valen began to grin too. Even though he could not afford to just drop all suspicion of this seemingly perfectly kind couple, he liked them. He really did. He hoped that they were as genuine as they appeared, because they could really use the win. He desperately wanted to be able to trust other people after the week he’d just had.
Regardless of whatever suspicions he might have, as soon as Valen had a spoonful of that stew in his mouth everything else became unimportant. He ate that first steaming bowl far too quickly, the hot food burning its way down his throat, but he didn't care. When the couple offered seconds, he didn’t hesitate, and neither did Hera, who had eaten most of her first bowl before offering the remnants to Aevra. The hatchling was excitedly lapping up the leftovers.
After she finished, the wyvern’s eyelids began to droop. Although she shook her head repeatedly to try and fight it, it wasn’t long before Aevra had drifted off to sleep in Hera’s lap.
Meanwhile, it seemed that his sister was done after eating maybe half of her third serving, but Valen devoured all of his, before finishing off the remains of his sister’s third bowl. He knew the way they had practically breathed the food in was probably very rude, but now that he was being fed he couldn't bring himself to care anymore.
Thankfully, after finishing Hera’s last bowl, his hunger seemed to be satisfied and abated, leaving him to lean back and let out a contented sigh. Remembering himself then, he sat up straight and looked over at the trader and his wife, who looked at him with expressions somewhere between pleased and sorrowful.
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“Thank you. For… for your kindness,” Valen said. Then it was as if everything struck him all at once, and before he even realized what was happening tears were streaming down his face. Hera’s arms were immediately around him, wrapping him from the side, and for a moment their roles were reversed. It was as if he were the younger sibling, and not the other way around, but honestly he was just grateful for his sister’s support.
Hera’s expression, as he looked over, was steel again. Once more, Valen was struck by the change in her since the arrival of the dragon riders to their home only days ago. It was as if she had been… reforged. Her old, warm self was still there, but now it was reinforced, bound by something harder, stronger.
It occurred to him then that she was a rather remarkable person.
Finally, he realized he was sobbing in front of two complete strangers and forced himself to take several deep breaths, trying to calm down. When he finally managed it his voice was still shaky, but the tears had thankfully stopped.
“I’m sorry. It’s been… it’s been a hard few days,” he managed. Thankfully, Fredrick and Arlene did not seem to be alarmed or put off by his show of emotion. Instead, they looked more like they might start to cry themselves. Looking at Hera again, he let out a sigh and shrugged, just enough to let her know she could let go of him now.
Then he looked back at the couple and began to talk, and soon enough it was all coming out. For a long while they all just sat there, soaking the story in. Telling it was an altogether different experience from taking part in it, and Valen realized as he spoke that a burden he had not even realized he had been carrying since they flew away from the Divide was lifted. He felt lighter and lighter as he told these kind strangers everything that had happened to them, until, by the time he finished, it was like he could breathe again.
He had needed this far more than he'd known.
As Valen finally finished speaking, his words trailing off, he glanced around and realized that evening had come. How long they had been sitting there around the now dead campfire he was not sure, but it had been long enough that the sun had begun to set, the sky turning from blue to shades of purple and orange. Raenelir was curled up along one side of the camp, between the tents and the waterfront, his head coming to rest on the ground just behind Valen where he sat.
Glancing back, he saw that the wyvern’s eyes were shut, a sign that even the Highborn had grown content that they were in no danger from these people and had felt safe enough to sleep. The rumbling of his chest as he slept was lulling in its effect, causing Valen’s eyes to droop. He realized then that while the evening still had some time left to it, he, Hera and the wyverns had not slept for a good while now, as they had been travelling the previous night and sleeping through the morning and afternoon during the day before that.
Try as she might to resist, Hera’s eyes were drooping and she kept leaning over slightly onto Valen before correcting herself and smacking her face lightly to stay awake. Fredrick and his wife were still looking at him, silent, processing everything that he had said. Which only made sense, he knew; it was quite the overload of information.
“So…” Fredrick finally began, looking first at Valen and then Hera before continuing. “Valen… and Hera? You’re really the kids of Aliden Galar, as in the Galar Hatchery in the mountains by Wyrha?” he asked. At this, Valen gave a quick but tired nod, and the trader turned pensive again.
“Ah, but you poor children,” Arlene suddenly interjected, drawing Valen’s gaze towards her. Though he and Hera certainly were not truly children anymore, he knew what she meant, and though the thought of being pitied stung him he could tell, looking into the woman’s eyes, that pity was not what drove her to speak. It was simple kindness, and that knowledge warmed him.
“Aye, and now I’m thinking that, from the looks of it, you and your sister might should be getting off to sleep here soon. I was going to prepare some more food for you before nightfall, but that can keep until the morning. From what you’ve told us, you need some decent rest more than you need another meal,” Fredrick added. Though his stomach was actually grumbling again, he also knew that now that they had already eaten quite a bit and the man was correct.
For now, sleep was more important.
He stood up, helping the barely awake Hera to her feet. Aevra stirred briefly in his sister’s arms as she readjusted her position, but then immediately returned to her sleep. Raenelir let out a huff as his eyes lazily opened, and when he saw the siblings standing he, too, pushed himself up onto his feet. The Highborn shook and then stretched before turning and walking away to stare out across Ura's Glade. Now that he thought about it, in his hazy mind Valen finally registered what an odd name that was for a lake.
“Thank you, Fredrick. Arlene...” Valen paused there, not really sure how to express his gratitude to them. There was just so much of it. "The kindness you’ve shown us, after… everything we’ve been through in the last few days is, well… we’re grateful.” The couple nodded, their warm smiles only seeming to grow warmer, if that were possible.
“My brother’s not always been one to say thank you, either, so he really means it,” Hera cut in, tired but still taking a moment to crack a joke.
“Hey!” Valen shot back, his protestation joined by a chorus of laughter from the others. After a moment, he could not help the little grin that teased its way across his face, and soon enough he was laughing as well. Then, as if on cue, their laughter died off all at once, and Valen was suddenly reminded how exhausted he was. It almost felt as if a fog had fallen over him, now that he had the opportunity to really rest for the first time in days.
“I know that look. Go on, now. Sleep. No use trying to talk anymore while you’re so tired you can barely stand. We can talk more in the morning,” Arlene said. Valen nodded groggily, then turned to find Hera already pushing aside the flap that led into their tent. Glancing toward Raen just once, where he stood still looking out across the water, Valen followed Hera inside.
They sat inside, and Valen was so tired now that he could barely think about anything other than how comfortable the dirt had looked outside. His sister, though, apparently had one more thing she wanted to say before they let themselves sleep.
“Val, I’ve been thinking… I know it’s been a long time since they left the Hatchery, and we were still really young when it happened, but… what if we went to see Matthew and Layla? In Lakevale?” she asked, speaking quietly. Despite his exhausted state, the words still tore through his brain fog and caused him to sit up just a bit straighter. How had he not thought of them?!
Matthew and Layla Romari had been additional hands working at the Galar Hatchery until Valen was nine. He, Aiden and Hera had been close friends with their sons, twins named Simon and Samuel. As close as five children living up in the mountains with wyvern tamers could be. They had left in search of greater opportunities for their family, but they had always remained on good terms.
Say what you might about the dragon riders, but their patrols across Parovia made keeping order to roads and other governmental programs such as a kingdom-funded delivery system for mail much easier.
Bandits were few and far between, most criminals far too terrified of the potential of a dragon and its rider to drop out of the sky and burn them to cinders to truly organize anywhere outside of the major cities, though of course that did not mean crime was totally eliminated. Regardless, because of regular dragon rider patrols, mail was able to reach almost all major towns and cities with relative ease.
When Valen’s mother or father would run errands down into Wyrha, they would occasionally come back with another letter from the Romari’s, updating them on their lives in Lakevale, and when they were able they would send letters back. He was not sure where in the city they actually lived – they had mentioned a few specifics over the years, but no Galar had gone so far from the Hatchery since at least before Valen was born.
Not to mention they had not received a letter from their friends in over a year, regardless.
Still, it was an idea. Something more than flying around randomly across Parovia with no idea where to go or how long it would be before the riders tracked them down. That was important.
Unfortunately, Valen was still too tired to truly discuss the idea in any detail for now.
“I think you’re on to something, Hera. But for now, we need sleep. We’ll talk in the morning, once we’ve got clear heads,” he replied. Hera, apparently satisfied with that answer, nodded and laid down, pulling Aevra up against her side and one of the blankets that Fredrick had given them over them both, resting her head against the wyvern as they cuddled.
Valen laid down too, covering himself up with the other blanket and letting his head fall back against his thin but comfortable pillow. It was downright blissful compared to what he'd had the last few days. Just as he shut his eyes, sleep more than happy to welcome him, he heard the sound of something large shifting outside the tent as the ground trembled slightly, and he knew that Raenelir had taken up a position beside their tent.
The thought of the wyvern keeping a watchful eye on them as they slept brought a smile to his face, and he was still smiling as he drifted off into a deep, dreamless slumber.