The hours passed by uneventfully as the Verdans’ small cart made its way down the road. The breeze remained slightly chilly despite the heat from the rising sun, but at least the cart’s covering was able to shield them. Not long after they started moving, Katar fell asleep, bundled up in a fur blanket on the floor of the cart.

For a while Xan just sat in silence, watching the coast roll by through the open flap in the rear of the cart. The silence was broken occasionally by the low, muttering hoots of the owl, who had decided to roost inside of an open crate and was soundly asleep as well.

Shadow lay curled up in Xan’s lap, her head resting on his thigh. She glared disdainfully at the owl as he slept. Eventually she let out a quiet growl. Xan petted her back and gently shushed her.

“Hey, it’s alright, he’s not going to bother you,” he said.

Shadow snuffed like she didn’t believe him. Then she blinked away to the corner of the cart farthest from the owl and curled up there.

“Fine then, suit yourself,” Xan said. He stretched his arms and shoulders for a moment. The rocking of the cart felt a little jarring at times whenever they hit a particularly nasty bump, but for the most part it was rhythmic and soothing – so soothing that he was feeling sleepy himself. He tried to adjust into a more comfortable sitting position and closed his eyes.

A soft crying sound caught his attention. He opened his eyes and sat up. It was coming from the front of the cart. He glanced over at Katar, who was still sound asleep. Then he quietly moved to the front of the cart.

“Is everything alright?” he asked, moving aside the covering flap there.

Taika started. She hastily wiped away her tears.

“Everything’s fine,” she said dismissively.

“It doesn’t seem like it,” he said.

“It’s none of your business,” Taika snapped. Xan looked at her for a moment. Then he shrugged and climbed forward onto the seat next to her.

“Alright. Then I guess you won’t mind if I get some fresh air.”

For the next several minutes they sat in silence. The road continued to twist and turn along the coast, rising up as the sandy beaches gave way to rocky cliffs. Soon they were so high up that they could barely hear the sound of the waves crashing into the rocks below.

Xan watched Taika out of the corner of his eye. Now that he could see her up close, he realized that she looked extremely tired, and dark circles were forming under her eyes. His eyebrows knitted together as he thought back to what Katar had said. Eventually he decided to break the ice:

“You know, I never got to thank you properly.”

“For what?” Taika asked, although she refused to look at him directly.

“Well, for saving my life. Because if you and your father hadn’t found me—”

“I was only doing my duty as a Verdan. Besides, you ought to thank Shadow. She was the one who found me and brought me to you.”

“Yeah, she’s really smart like that… Does your duty as a Verdan include getting a good night’s sleep?”

“Excuse me?” Taika asked, looking offended.

“You just look tired,” Xan said.

“Well, if you hadn’t noticed, I’m currently riding with a man who I’ve only just met a day ago under mysterious circumstances, who I know next to nothing about, all while trying to take care of my sick father. So you’ll excuse me if I don’t feel at ease at the moment,” Taika snapped.

Xan leaned back in surprise at this outburst. Then he sighed.

“You’re right. You have no reason to trust me. Why would you?” he mused out loud. He took a moment to gather his thoughts, then said, “Look, it seems like we got off on the wrong foot. Let’s start over. I’m Xan Rais.”

He offered his hand. Taika looked at him, looked at his hand, then slowly took it.

“Nice to meet you, Xan Rais,” she said with an undertone of sarcasm.

“And you are?” Xan coaxed.

Taika sighed, rolling her eyes. “Taika Kinnunen Essos.”

“Well, Taika Kinnunen Essos, thank you for saving me. I am in your debt.” He gave a slight bow with an extra flourish of his hand. Taika snickered, the corner of her mouth turning up. Then she seemed to remember herself, and she forced a serious face.

“And like I said, you ought to thank Shadow… What kind of animal is she, by the way? I’ve never seen one like her before.”

“Really? I thought Verdans knew everything about plants and animals and stuff like that,” Xan said. Taika chuckled.

“Not everything. I may be of the line of Essos, but that doesn’t mean I know every single animal on the planet. But something about her seems, I don’t know, different?”

Xan paused. He drummed his fingers on the seat. “I don’t really know, to be honest. I found her down by the docks one day, hiding in some old nets. She was tiny then, and scared. I fed her some fish, and, well, she’s been following me ever since.”

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

Taika smiled. “So you’re a sailor?”

“For the past few years, yeah.”

“Is that how you ended up on the beach, then? Were you shipwrecked?”

“No! I mean… yes. Kind of?” He sighed. “It’s a long story.”

Taika gave him a meaningful look. “You’re a long way from home, then,” she said.

Xan nodded, lost in thought. Then he shook himself and cleared his throat.

“What about you? Where’s home for you and your father?”

“Nowhere in particular,” Taika said, shrugging. Xan gave her a confused look, and she explained: “We’ve been living on the road for as long as I can remember. So we don’t really have a place we call ‘home.’ I guess you could say, for us, our ‘home’ is each other.”

“Isn’t it rough, though? Living on the road all the time?” Xan asked.

“Not really,” Taika said. “As long as we’re together.”

A sudden cough from the back of the cart interrupted them. Taika sat up straight and tilted her head, listening. Katar cleared his throat, then sighed. After a long moment, Taika also relaxed with a sigh. Xan gave her a concerned look.

“You’re worried about him.” It was more of a statement than a question.

Taika nodded slowly. “He’s been like this for a few weeks, now. He kept telling me that it was nothing, but it’s gotten worse.”

“Well, then why don’t you do your healing magic… thing?” he asked, waving his hands. Taika frowned at him again.

“Don’t you think that if I could, I would have by now?”

“Oh… right. I just thought that since you fixed my shoulder, and all-”

“Fresh wounds are easy to fix,” Taika said, giving the reins a little flick. “But diseases are tricky. I’m not strong enough to completely heal him myself.”

Xan nodded in understanding. Then the thought occurred to him, and he asked, “Does your father also have healing magic?”

“All Verdans do,” Taika said.

“Then why doesn’t he heal himself?”

Taika gave him a look that was half amused and half exasperated. “You really don’t know anything about Verdans, do you? Our gifts are meant to be used to help others. So, no, we can’t heal ourselves.”

“I see… so, what are you going to do? Take him to a doctor?”

Taika gripped the reins a little harder. Her jaw clenched with determination.

“No. I’m taking him to the Meridian Shrine.”

“The what?”

“The northern shrine to the Earth Mother. There are Verdans there with more power and experience than me. If I can get him there, they’ll be able to help him.” Her voice trembled briefly, and she blinked her eyes furiously like she was holding back tears.

Xan allowed her a moment to compose herself. Then he asked tentatively, “How long until you get there?”

Taika glanced up at the sun. “If we keep up this pace, we should get there within the month,” she said. Then she added as an aside, “…I hope.”

Xan pursed his lips. Admittedly, he wasn’t too familiar with Ibora’s geography aside from Vaimea, but to get to the Meridian Shrine within a month seemed like a long time. If only there was a way for Katar and Taika to get there faster…

Suddenly, the horse pranced skittishly. Taika pulled on the reins, trying to get him under control.

“Woah there! What’s wrong, boy?” she called to it.

From within the cart, the owl gave a loud hoot, followed by the sound of wings flapping as he took off through the rear flap. Not a moment later, Shadow appeared on Xan’s shoulder, eyes wide and ears perked up. She let out a squeal of concern.

“What is it, girl?” Xan asked, reaching up to pet her.

Then the shaking started. It rattled the cart down to its frame. Xan clung to his seat, desperately trying to avoid getting bucked off. The horse reared up on its hind legs and started whinnying in panic.

“Woah, there!” Taika yelled.

Thankfully, the shaking only lasted for a moment. As soon as it stopped, Taika hopped down and went to comfort the terrified horse. Xan refused to move, taking several deep breaths.

“What was that?” he cried.

“Just a small earthquake,” Taika said, petting the horse’s neck.

Xan winced in pain, and he realized that in her panic Shadow had dug her claws into his shoulder. He gently pried them loose.

Then a soft rumbling sound reached his ears. He braced for another earthquake, but nothing happened. The rumbling began to grow louder.

“Hold on, do you hear that?” Xan asked Taika.

They both froze for a moment, listening. The rumbling grew louder until it reached a crescendo. A cloud of dust exploded upward from just beyond the next ridge.

“A landslide,” Katar’s voice suddenly cut through. Xan and Taika turned to see him looking out through the front flap of the cart. He gave Taika an urgent look.

“People are hurt. Hurry, Taika.”

Without hesitation, Taika hopped back into the driver’s seat and gave the reins a sharp snap! Xan did his best to hold on as they raced down the road. A minute later they crested the ridge, gasping as they took in the scene.

The trade road had wandered away from the rocky cliffs and started following along the rolling hills that made up this part of Ibora. Right where the road passed by a particularly broad hill was an enormous pile of rubble and earth. It seemed like the entire south side of the hill had just collapsed.

On the other side of the rubble, where the road continued, they could see a small caravan had come to a halt. One of the wagons was half-buried and broken. People were shouting, some were trying to dig out their companions. It was chaos.

Taika pulled the cart right up to the edge of the landslide. The pile of earth and rock was so tall that they couldn’t see over it. She stood up on the cart, searching for a way around. Then she called up to her owl, who was circling overhead.

“Sage, is there any way around?”

The owl swooped past them. He hooted a couple times, then resumed his circling. Taika let loose a mild curse. The cart rocked, and Xan turned to see Katar climbing down. The Verdan stumbled, leaning on the cart with his arm.

“Katar, sir!” Xan called, jumping down. Taika, also noticing her father, jumped down after him.

“Hurry, Taika, help me over there,” Katar said, reaching for her. Taika took his arm in hers.

“But, Father-” she began to protest.

“Taika,” Katar said with a sudden seriousness, “this is our duty as Verdans.”

Taika gave him an earnest look, like she was wishing for him to change his mind. Katar just stared back at her firmly. Taika shook her head in disbelief, but she complied. Arm in arm, they walked toward the landslide.

When they were only a few feet away from the rubble, he patted Taika’s arm. Then he took a step forward on his own. He held his hands up, a stern look on his face. He took a deep breath, and then spoke in a voice that reverberated with power:

“Earth and stone, heed my voice! I command you to release those held beneath your hand! Return to your proper order, firm and unyielding!”

Immediately, the ground began to rumble as the rocks and earth started to shift. Xan watched in amazement as the landslide moved in reverse. Boulders tumbled over each other, fighting to return to their place in the hillside. Earth and grass shifted, ducking and weaving between the rocks. In a matter of moments, the entire side of the hill had been reformed. Xan looked between Katar and Taika, his mouth hanging open.

“Can you do that?” he asked Taika in an aside.

“No, I can’t do that. Only Verdans of the line of Ignas can do that,” Taika said with a smirk.

Katar slowly lowered his arms. His breathing was labored, and beads of sweat had broken out on his forehead. With an effort, he called over to the caravan, “Ho, there! How do you fare? Are all accounted for?”

The caravan leader, an older man with gray hair, stepped forward and cupped his hands around his mouth.

“All accounted for! We have wounded, but we’re all alive thanks to you, Verdan!”

Katar smiled and nodded. “Thank the Earth Mother,” he said. Then he fell backwards, collapsing bodily to the ground.