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Lyra yanked on the reins so sharply that Aeliana snorted as she turned in a tight circle to face the two men who had just ridden past. The one with shorter hair was looking over his shoulder to continue watching her as they rode past, and he pulled his horse to a halt when he saw that they had caught her attention.

"Was starrst du so, Schlampe?"

She had no idea what he was saying, but she recognized the language. She had taken enough German in school to get by in conversation, but only if the speaker spoke slowly and used simple words. She had mainly taken it to fill her second elective spot, and had never thought she would actually use it.

Now, she wished she had kept up with studying the language since she left school.

The man with longer hair stopped his horse and turned it to look at her too. He looked less angry than the shorter haired man, but only just. It didn't matter; the sudden, mad hope that she wasn't alone here made everything else unimportant.

"Wait," she said, tapping Aeliana's sides impatiently with her heels to get the horse moving forward faster. "Where are you from? You're not from here, are you?"

"Wir sprechen kein Moldaranisch," the longer haired man said impatiently.

Right, she had forgotten for a moment she wasn't speaking her native language from home. She tried to put a passable sense together in German, though she was worried the men would turn to go at any moment and the stress made it hard to focus.

"Ich spreche ein bisschen Deutsch. Ich bin nicht von hier."

She was falling back to the absolute basics, but telling them she only spoke a little German and that she wasn't from here should at least be enough to convents them to stay and speak with her.

She knew it had worked when both men's eyes widened. They exchanged a look, and the short haired man extended a hand toward her, palm out – a clear sign to wait.

"Warte."

He pulled his horse around so he was shoulder to shoulder with his companion. The two dipped their heads together and whispered, their voices far too low for her to hear. Kel, who had come to stand by her knee, spoke to her quietly.

"Do you know them?"

"They're speaking a language from my home," she explained. "It never occurred to me I might not be the only one here." Her heart was still racing, but no longer from fear.

"Those are destriers," he said. "Warhorses. Either they are rich enough to have bought them, or the horses are stolen. They hold themselves with the confidence of men who know how to kill. Even if they are from your world, you should be cautious about trusting them."

She brushed Kel's worries off without a second thought. Who cared if the horses were stolen? These men were from home. She had no doubts about it, even before the one with longer hair urged his horse forward to stop a few feet in front of Aeliana. He looked her up and down, his expression one of consideration.

"Aus welchem Land kommst du denn?"

She definitely recognized a few words in there and thought he was asking where she came from, but he spoke too quickly for her to be sure. If she was going to have a hope of understanding him, he needed to speak more slowly. Thankfully, that was one of the first things she'd learned to say in German class.

"Sprechen Sie langsam, bitte."

He repeated what he'd said more slowly. He was definitely asking where she came from. She was pretty sure Land meant Country, but even if it meant World, answering with her country should be good enough.

It was just a matter of trying to remember what her country was called in German. She couldn't remember the name of it in her language, but she was absolutely certain it was something she had known in his language at one point.

"Uh… Ich komme von der Vereinigte Staaten von Amerika?"

It came out as a question, and she was sure she had slaughtered the pronunciation, but his eyes widened and he responded immediately in a language that was as foreign to her ears as Moldaran had once been.

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"IspeakalittleEnglish. MynameisMilo, andmyfriendisErik. Howlonghaveyoubeenhere?"

"I'm sorry, I don't understand," she said, shaking her head. "Ich spreche das nicht. Nur Deutsch und Español."

That seemed to stump him. He blinked and turned to his companion, who guided his horse a few steps closer to pull up alongside him. The man with longer hair said something too rapidly for her to pick up, and the one with shorter hair responded similarly. They had a brief argument, and all she could do was sit there awkwardly. Finally, the one with longer hair turned back to her. He spoke slowly, enunciating his words carefully.

"Wir haben einen Freund in Ersgath, der Moldaranisch spricht. Wir treffen uns morgen früh in einem Gasthaus namens Der Nördliche Pfad. Verstanden?"

It took her a few, long moments to try to work through what he'd said. The first part was easy enough; they had a friend in Ersgath who spoke Moldaran. The second sentence was more difficult for her to pick apart. 'Morgen' was morning, and 'Gasthaus' was… something house. Somewhere they were staying, called Der Nördliche Pfad, maybe? 'Nördliche' meant 'Northern,' she was pretty sure, but what was 'Pfad'? She thought it meant 'horse,' but that couldn't be right.

"Hast du das verstanden?" he repeated, asking if she understood.

"Am Morgen sehen uns am Der Nördliche Pfad?" she tried, not sure if she had it right. She thought he was saying they wanted to meet someplace in Ersgath tomorrow morning.

He made a face that told her she had probably slaughtered his language, but gave a sharp nod. The shorter haired man just grunted and turned his horse away. The one with longer hair, who she had been talking to started to, but she called out, "Wie heißen Sie? Ich bin Lyra."

He paused. "Ich bin Milo und er ist Erik. Wir müssen jetzt los. Auf Wiedersehen."

She committed their names to memory as they rode away, just in case she had to ask around town to find them tomorrow. Milo was the one with longer, lighter hair who seemed friendlier, and Erik was the surly one with short, dark hair.

Tomorrow. Tomorrow, she would get answers. Tomorrow, she would figure out who those men who were, and if they knew anything about why they were here or if there were more like them. All she had to do was find a place called Der Nördliche Pfad in Ersgath. That couldn't be too hard, right?

"Are they truly from your world?" Kel asked after a long moment. She realized she was just sitting there, staring forlornly after them from atop Aeliana. She wanted to chase after them and ask to go with them, wherever they were going, but it was clear they didn't want her tagging along.

Plus, she had yet to ride her horse at a pace faster than a walk, so catching up to them was out of the question.

"They have to be," she said, guiding Aeliana into a turn so they could begin heading west again. Kel fell into step alongside the horse. "They speak a language I spent a few years learning at home, and they don't speak Moldaran at all. Plus, when I told them where I was from, they recognized the country."

"What did they say? Did they tell you any of what you wished to ask at the temple in Heliotheopoli?"

"They know someone in Ersgath who speaks Moldaran — and I'm guessing German, too, so they can translate — and I'm supposed to meet them somewhere called Der Nördliche Pfad in the morning."

"I'm not familiar with any place of that name in Ersgath, but it's been years since I've visited the town. It's possible a new inn or tavern has been built in that time. We can ask around when we arrive."

"I think that's just the German translation of whatever it's called in Moldaran. I'm not sure what the right translation back to Moldaran is, though. It's The Northern something. I keep thinking The Northern Horse, but that doesn't seem right. Unless it's a stable, I guess."

"The Northern Path, perhaps? It's an inn on the outskirts of town, run by northerners. Their armor is of a Northern make, so it would make sense if they are staying there."

That had to be it. She looked down at him, grinning. She had been content at times and occasionally even happy over the past few days, at least when she didn't let herself think too much about what was happening at home and what the fallout of her being gone was, but this was the first time she really felt like everything was going to be okay. The presence of two people from home, even though they were strangers and from another country, had banished an enormous weight off of her shoulders.

She wasn't alone.

Waiting until tomorrow to learn more was going to be hard, but at least she would have plenty of distractions in the meantime. Just like Kel had promised, the road was getting busier and busier. They passed farmers on wagons carrying produce, people walking on foot or riding, and once, someone driving a flock of flightless birds in front of them. The birds were hip high at the head, and looked a little like emus except more bulky and with longer tail feathers. A lanky brown dog was helping keep them in line.

"What are those?" she murmured to Kel as they passed the bird farmer.

"Galas," he said. "They aren't native to the Helioclades, but they are good meat birds and easy to farm. They don't like forests, but they thrive in this part of the land, which is more open."

She felt like a tourist, and with the promise of finally, finally getting some answers as soon as tomorrow morning, for the first time she felt like she could relax and be one. As they plodded along under the cloudless sky and the land before them opened up, she took a deep breath and let it out in a sigh. She could see the town in the distance, a hazy smudge of wooden and stone buildings, and the scents of cooking fires, livestock, and burning incense were mingling in the air even this far away. The forest had been receding for a while, but now the trees thinned dramatically. They were no longer traveling through a forest with clear-cut sections, but rather were traveling through open land with some sections of trees. The forest remained to her left, curving ever further away from the road, but the trees were reduced to small copses that dotted the landscape ahead of her. To her right were low, rocky foothills covered in tall grasses. Far beyond them, made white and blue with distance, she could see mountains.

As terrifying as it was to be trapped somewhere so foreign, this was probably the most interesting thing that had ever happened to her. Maybe it was time to enjoy it a little more. With a little luck, she wouldn't be here much longer.