Alexandra turned her head ever so slightly, trying to see a better view of their new hiding spot without making any noise. Zooey was right behind her, Luca farther down behind her. Alexandra could see Zooey's hand was already on her sword, her eyes peering like those of a hawk towards the direction of the highway, ready to fight. Luca too was ready for conflict, his eyes staring keenly towards the highway just like his friend's. His eyes though were not as sharpened as Zooey's, Alexandra could tell he was afraid, but he was doing his best to not betray that with his expression. If Zooey was afraid she was hiding well; she looked determined, hardened, ready for another battle To Alexandra's immediate left was Sophia. Her hand at her side was trembling, she was looking pale and afraid. Sophia was the most quiet and gentle soul that one would ever meet, everything that had happened to them so far was well outside her comfort zone. Alexandra could see how tightly her eyes were screwed shut, the fluctuations in her nose betraying how quick and shallow her breaths were.
"All my fault," Alexandra mouthed, her words inaudible, unspoken.
Her friends were now fugitives, their very lives were in danger. They were branded traitors now, things were even worse when they were just lower-than-dirt Oonskat. This was all her fault. Her pendant, her longing to know learn it's secret, who her father was. This was not their problem, but they had stuck by her and were now in peril.
It was all her doing. No one had forced them to leave the slums, no one had forced them to go to the Garden... no one but her.
Reaching back, Alexandra ever so lightly, so as not to cause her a sudden fright, laid her hand on top of Sophia's.
A moment passed by.
The horseman drew closer. The sound of hooves galloping on the dirty highway boomed through the reeds. Sophia's fingers twitched, then curled up around Alexandra's and gripped her hand tightly. Alexandra could see her breathing had slowed as well, it was not ragged or quick now.
Taking one final look to make sure her friend was okay, Alexandra craned her neck and turned it back facing the road. The horseman were now passing by them just a short distance away on the road that had fled from. Through the moving grass, Alexandra could catch glimpses of the world beyond; she strained her eyes, trying to get a good look at who was going along the highway at such a speed.
A flash!
The reflection of fading sunlight on a sword! Zooey tightened her hold on her hidden weapon, ready to use it if they were somehow discovered. The group on horseback was at least twenty men strong, heavily armed as well. Alexandra could see glimpses of swords and lances, several large steam devices she did not immediately recognize. Their tunics were of varying colour, but most were wearing the black and red of House Cornelius.
"Must be a National Patrol," Alexandra thought to herself.
They stayed there in the tall grass for a long time, until well after the National Patrol had passed by. The sound of hooves had already left the air before anyone dared to move. Afraid they might possibly double back, they stayed inside the protective field of tall grasses for at least half an hour more in perfect silence. The sun was going down fast, it would be night soon. Once it was dark enough that she could not even see the highway from where they were hiding, Alexandra decided it was probably safe to get moving again.
"Is everyone still here? Everyone okay?"
"Still here and still kicking!" Zooey was relieved they had gone unnoticed.
Luca sat up on his knees. "You think you could have taken then?"
Zooey laughed, "at least ten, maybe eleven."
"Leave some for me," Luca was going along with Zooey's bravado, just as relieved that the soldiers had not seen them.
Truth be told, if the soldiers were hostile towards them, they would not have survived. It was a fact they all knew very well but no one said aloud.
"I wonder if they were after us?" Sophia wondered aloud, terrified at the thought.
"They were certainly going somewhere in a hurry." Luca had never seen a horse move so fast, there was no galloping inside the city.
"Maybe reinforcements," Zooey was never the optimist in these situations, "probably trying to get back to the city and try to catch us."
"Don't say that," Sophia did not like being a fugitive, "maybe they were on their way to help a village with an emergency, or rescue a farmer from bandits, or..."
"Go on thinking that," Zooey cut her off, Sophia's sunny disposition occasionally grating on her, "just make sure you hide and don't try to make friends with them!"
Sophia stared at the ground, she could not bring her gaze up to meet her friend's, as Zooey continued her tirade at her.
"Of course they were here for us! Damn Nobles tried to blame us for their petty little power games and it got messed up, so now we've got the entire country trying to get us!"
"Zooey!" Alexandra scolded her, "we don't know that they were here for us, they went by and everything's okay. Don't get angry at anyone, we're all fine and this will be a great story we can laugh about later."
"Whatever." Zooey knew her friend was right, but she did not like being corrected anyway.
"We're still okay and making good time," Alexandra went on, "come on, we're out of the city, we're in the country...things are going great."
Luca yawned loudly, unable to suppress it any longer.
"He's right," Sophia tried to lighten the mood and change the subject, "we have been going for ever so long without a proper rest."
Zooey decided to try to be helpful, not wanting to admit she was wrong for jumping all over Sophia like she had. "I saw a large grouping of dense trees when I was running over here. It's ahead and to the left a bit, probably would be a safe place to camp out if we wanted to have a nap or something."
Even though traveling at night was better, less chance of them being seen, they were very fatigued now. A light cloud cover blocked out the moonlight, making it very difficult to see. If something was coming up on them, they probably would not see it until it was too late.
"Okay," Alexandra decided, "we'll try to head to the spot Zooey saw and sleep. It's no use traveling if we're dragging our feet. If we did have to try to fend off something the way that we're feeling, we wouldn't be of much use."
She stood up, her head popping out over the tall grass; it was difficult to see as night fully fell across the land.
"Do you think you could lead us there?"
Zooey thought she could just make out the outline of trees, a dark colour against a black backdrop.
"Yeah."
"Okay then, lead the way, we shall follow you general," Alexandra made an exaggerated and very fancy bow.
Zooey let out a little laugh but quickly stifled it, still trying to project the 'tough-guy' image, "okay then, let's go."
She blazed a trail through the field, her three friends in tow. Luca, pocketknife ready, brought up the rear while Zooey led the way with sword in hand. They could barely see where they were going, only occasionally would the moon peak out from behind it's blanket of clouds and give them just enough light to get their bearings.
Using her sword to clear a path, Zooey led her friends to a resting place for the night, their feet screaming with every step, the soreness finally catching up with them after all the time and distance they had been walking. There was no breeze tonight either, the air was still. Listening as they walked, there was nothing to hear except their footfalls crunching on the grass; the sound of horses was thankfully long gone and absent.
Night had also fallen on Avindr in the southeast of the nation. Flanked by three heavily armed guards, a trio for each side, Ulfarr Cornelius strode across the Garden towards his family's in-city estate. He had been at the Winnowing Chambers all day, attempting to find a way below the chamber to the heart of the machinery, the mysterious Fork. Of course, such expeditions were forbidden, but with the building cleared of Watchers at the moment, it was the perfect opportunity for House Cornelius to attempt to pry into the secret workings of the Watchers and their knowledge. House Cornelius guards exclusively now guarded the Chamber and allowed no one inside.
The head of the House, Radulfus Cornelius, had met with the Watchers elsewhere and convinced them that the building was still unsafe and it should be sealed temporarily, promising to not pry and to respect the Watchers domains and the privacy of their work. Of course he was lying: every second the Watchers voluntarily stayed away from the building, House Cornelius attempted to rip more secrets out of it. So far though, they had not yet been able to find a way down underneath the building to where most of the machinery was. The libraries inside as well seemed to not contain any not-already-known information. They were mostly history books, logs of the Landskyp.
Radulfus was getting impatient. House Cornelius now controlled a building previously only the Watchers occupied, never had there been such an opportunity. An opportunity going to waste it seemed though, it took much effort to stage the attack and divert blame, but so far no real technological advantages had been gained. Of course, now they controlled the Naming, effectively choking the politics and economics of all the other Houses, but they were already doing that anyway by political means. Ulfarr knew that his father, the unforgiving Radulfus Cornelius, expected results. Time was precious and they had to pry the secrets from the Fork. They craved to know how it was made, what it was made of, how it worked, how could they exploit it to greater military and political advantage. With the naming in their hands, the destinies of all the nobility, the nation itself in fact, was now well within their hands.
"Ulfarr Cornelius!" a voice suddenly called to him.
His guards looked around, their weapons now drawn. A man in elegant white and blue robes came hesitantly walking up, the soldiers eyeing him.
"Let him be," Ulfarr sighed, "it is our good neighbor, Sir Davis Kaelsdam. Tell me Davis, what brings the head of House Kaelsdam to see me so late?"
Davis came up beside him, keeping one eye on the soldiers, "this business with the Winnowing Chamber."
"A terrible tragedy," Ulfarr lied, "we only hope we can make an example of anyone involved."
"But what's this that all the other soldiers have been turned out? Only yours now guard the Chamber? And you will not allow the Watchers in even?"
"All true," Ulfarr smiled as magnanimous as ever, "we want to maintain consistency and strength in guarding the important building, therefore a single unified force is required and we are more than happy to provide that. The Watchers happily agreed to stay in their towers, the Winnowing Chamber, we fear, may still be the target of further rebellious incidents."
"Rebellious incidents? You've taken control of it, if you want to talk about rebellious incidents..."
"Watch your tongue Davis," hissed Ulfarr, his voice lowering, "your House continues because mine allows it to. Do not presume that you make lecture me. You do recall what happened to those that stood against my House when we, ah, ascended to prominence as you could say."
"After the good House Archdeacon mysteriously was slain you mean?" Davis used all of his courage to make that implication.
Ulfarr simply winked at him. "Yes, convenient all that. Just go back and play Noble now. Don't worry, my family will take care of the country for you"
"We must restore normalcy, the Landskyp..."
"The Landskyp is over for the season. Normalcy is whatever I say it is, get used to it."
Davis Kaelsdam swallowed, knowing he was a party to what amounted to standing over an unfathomable cliff of their own making.
"Sir Cornelius, the other Houses are curious as to who were these attackers? Who is conducting the investigation? The soldiers assigned to the Watchers?"
"Our soldiers are handling the investigation. The traitors who attacked were all killed by our brave men after they tore through your soldiers assigned there."
"We have seen no bodies," Davis countered, realizing he was on to something big.
"We burned them, like the Oonskat dogs they were," Ulfarr laughed, "they deserved no better".
"But then why have riders gone out to the other towns? Why is the National Patrol being told to search for a group of young Oonskat?"
Ulfarr was suddenly not laughing anymore, his eyes narrowing. "To maintain security, there may be more conspirators of course."
"If I may request, I would like to assign more soldiers, ah, not from your House to the National Patrol. So as to not place such a great burden upon your own men and resources of course."
It was a well-known fact that a majority of the National Patrol was now House Cornelius' men.
Ulfarr saw through the flimsy ruse easily, "do not worry yourself, House Cornelius is more than up to the task of maintaining the nation. All the rest of you Houses have sat back and enjoyed the good life, no ambition or drive. That's what my House has. It's time for a new vision for Prydain, one you need to get behind the tides of destiny or disappear."
"What are you meaning by that?" Davis hoped for a straight answer, anything he could use to help prove that House Cornelius was up to no good.
"Nothing, except those who try to stop the movement of history and progress get trampled underfoot by it. House Archdeacon also failed to realize my father's vision and history took care of that and moved on"
"It was Land Pirates who are to blame for the Archdeacon tragedy, is that not so?" Davis had always been suspicious to that fact.
"Yes, it was. Our investigation proved as much."
"It it's all the same, I believe the Landskyp should re-convene, this is a dangerous times. We need to make sure we still have balance..."
"We will hold the scales going forward. And if you ever want to Name anyone to your House again, I suggest you do not anger me."
The mask slipped just a little, intentionally of course.
"You can't!" Davis realized the full implications of House Cornelius now controlling the Naming, something only the Watchers had done for centuries.
"We can. It's done. Step aside, I am weary and wish to rest."
Not only know did House Cornelius enjoy economic and military dominance over the other Houses, they now basically could control the bloodlines as well!
The soldiers pushed Davis aside as Ulfarr continued his leisurely stroll towards his estate. Davis stood there, stunned; he knew House Cornelius was always trying to consolidate more power under them but this was unthinkable. Now they were crowding the Watchers out, but on the surface, it all appeared to be legitimate and for the good of the country.
Night was falling, in every sense, across Prydain.
"We're here," Zooey stood atop a small hill that sat at the edge of the field they had been traversing.
They had finally crossed the length of the large field which was surrounded by small rolling hills on the sides, the highway to the right most border of the field. Alexandra, Sophia, and Luca scurried up the hill to reach Zooey, the tree tops sticking up from the other side. Taking a moment to survey the nearby area, there was not much to see, it was too dark with the moon hidden by cloud cover.
Sliding down the slight incline, they passed through low-hanging branches and found themselves in a thick grouping of trees. The trees all had bark that was white and hard, the branches and stumps were twisted and curved, these trees were very old. Dense bushes also covered the ground, making it a very well-hidden and secluded area. Through the bushes, and low-hanging branches they had slid through as they came down the hill, they could not see out of the thicket, the rest of the world seemingly far away and a different place entirely.
"Wow," Luca rubbed his eyes to try to see better in the darkness, "it's almost like a cave in here!"
"No one could find us here even if they were looking," Zooey liked it, it was easy to get lost in away from the prying eyes of anyone on or near the road.
"Does anyone else hear water?" Alexandra tried to attune her ears to a faint sound she thought she heard.
Everyone was quiet, trying to hear what she was listening to.
"I think it's coming from that way," Sophia pointed ahead of them, further into the thicket.
"I think I see a glow," Alexandra looked to where Sophia was pointing.
It was faint, but there definitely was light ahead of them, very faint from where they were standing, but there was something ahead of them.
"Might be soldiers at camp," Zooey reached for her sword again, "maybe it's the Patrol. They doubled back and...."
"We didn't hear any horses the whole time we were walking here," Sophia pointed out.
Luca did not see how it was possible. "Yeah, how could they get here before us?"
"It's not a firelight," Alexandra shook her head, "it's almost like a pale blue light, I think."
Picking her way over and around the bushes and other flora that covered the ground, Alexandra made her way deeper into the grove, towards the mysterious blue glow before them.
"Alex!" Zooey whispered, she did not think it was a good idea to go exploring, but she followed nonetheless.
Waiting until Ulfarr's mini procession was a good enough distance away, Davis hurried over down a side path to a woman who was waiting next to the Garden Library, obscured in the shadows of the nearby tall bushes. She was dressed in darker robes, typical 'night apparel' for the well-to-do, but the soldier at her side wore a blue and gold tunic, the colours of Hose Divorna.
"Well good sir, what did the jumped-up little heir say?"
"Lady Divorna," the man took a moment to make the customary bow when one noble greeted another, "it's as we feared, House Cornelius controls the Winnowing Chamber. They can dictate when and even if Naming can be verified."
"This spits in the face of hundreds of years of tradition. What of the National Patrols? Did you broach that subject to him?"
She felt nothing but a creeping disgust.
"He balked at the idea we would send other soldiers, House Cornelius now has the majority soldiers in the patrols. Ma'am, with their wealth and military, they keep the rest of us down to assure their dominance, then turn around and use that as the very reason why they should be the majority power in all these matters."
A vicious and deliberate circle.
"Surely the Watchers can see what is going on? Why would they allow Cornelius to take control of the Winnowing Chamber, that is their domain alone. It is odd the Watchers would not see the inherent danger in this."
"The Watchers have been convinced that there is more danger of attacks and that it would be safer if they remain hidden behind their walls. Walls guarded by Cornelius soldiers of course."
"What if there needs to be a verification? Surely the Watchers would then insist on opening the Chamber, House Cornelius cannot stop that process."
"The request for verification would never reach the Watchers I surmise," Davis sighed, "their soldiers are the gatekeepers. We can be assured with the supposition that they will not allow any request to get through."
The scowl on Lady Divorna's face somehow became even greater.
"This is an outrage. We need to somehow get word out, let the commoners know without the information being traced back to us. The populous will not stand for the Watchers to be made prisoners."
"The people are scared," Davis reasoned, "Watchers have been killed. Despite their taxes and restrictions on free travel, the people see House Cornelius as large and stable. The people are looking for stability, and they see the might of House Cornelius as that, exactly what they want to happen."
"They've taken control and taken away our freedoms one by one and we've let them so far, afraid of retribution. We've let Prydain slip into Radulfus Cornelius' hands. My god, we could be looking at a dictatorship again, or chaos like the time before Arkland..."
"Don't say it, it's too terrible," the words were terrifying to Davis, "we cannot let the system change, we cannot allow the balance to be upset! We are already in such confusing and troubling times."
"The balance has already been upset," she corrected him, her tone still hushed. "House Cornelius effectively rules, we cannot do anything without being crushed by them. All the nobles are living in fear, though no one openly admits what is happening. What we need is a shift the other way, like it was before all this, when House Archdeacon was at the forefront of the nation. Then we were moving forward, now we're being dragged back all under the guise of progress and national security."
"What of your schemes?"
"Not mine," she shook her head, "it is a motion that cannot be stopped, I merely want to help push it along."
"What of your servant woman then? Where is she now with those runts you risk everything on?"
"Curb your tongue." She did not like the term he had used for Alexandra. "They are safely out of the city and along the path suggested."
"Can you even trust your servant? What if she's in league with Cornelius?"
"You know where Miss Florence came from, you know she would never be working for Cornelius after what they did to House Archdea..."
Davis nervously cut her off, that line of thinking a terrible one to consider. "That is still just a rumor. The implication of what you are saying would change everything. People gossip and whisper, but to speak it out loud! One House has never turned its weapons on another!"
"I believe all the truths may finally come out, a great many things people would want forgotten will come along with them. We have a chance to reset the country to where it was sixteen years ago, before the terrible slaughter. We can restore House Archdeacon."
Davis sucked in some air, the weight of the moment feeling heavy on his shoulders. He could scarce believe the conversation they were now having in such hushed tones.
"Do you really believe all that nonsense?"
"To tell you the absolute truth, I'm not sure. It is almost too much hope to have, too great a miracle to believe in. But, that girl, did you see her? Her face, it looked....," her voice trailed as she was lost in thought for a moment.
"No," he sneered, "I did not have the pleasure to look upon the rodent. I cannot fathomn what you think is true."
"She doesn't know," Lady Divorna really was not talking to Davis. "Good thing too, it's so big a task, something so terrible we dare not even ask. We just selfishly push her down the highway."
"It's dangerous if what you think is true; if that girl is who you think she is and can do what you hope she can do! Cornelius will resist any challenge to their supremacy."
Lady Divorna gave him a long stare. "It's what we need! It's what we need to spur all the lazy apathetic nobles into action. They sit on the sidelines as one House now dominates our law, our economy, our everyday lives! If we do not change it now, we may never throw off their oppressive yolk! This is the best chance, the only chance to fix the wrongs of this path we have been on these past sixteen years."
"Some are already mumbling about trying to force House Cornelius to rescind some of their latest policies in the Landskyp, by force if need be."
"An open conflict now would almost be as bad," Lady Divorna wanted to avoid needless slaughter. "Cornelius would win in open armed conflict. We have to discredit the House before the people and the Watchers. Then the only force we shall need is that of the will of the people."
Davis was not convinced.
"It's impossible, this ridiculous hope you are pinning our futures on, the entire country on! If Cornelius finds out, well, all of our Houses will become puppets. Like what happened to Benham, Edesculous, and Nivera! All now hollow shells and playthings for Cornelius! They ripped those families apart, made an example of them, one we all saw very well. I believe you're new little Oonskat pet herself is very aware of what they did."
"I know what happened, everyone does but no one is brave enough to say it out loud. Try to send word to House Benedikt, the family is back at its country estate. Tell the lord of the House the shape of things here: how bad it has gotten, and how bad it is about to get."
"House Cornelius will eventually see what is going on, they have spies everywhere. The National Patrol are their thugs now! Support of House Benedikt or not, they'll get word about your little group's location and turn their full forces against them if you are right about who she..."
"I have to be right." Lady Divorna could see the darkness that Prydain as steering into. "This is the only hope we've had in years. It's our last chance to fix the mistake we all stood by and watched happen."
There was definitely a light ahead.
Alexandra could see clearly a soft shimmering blue glow not far ahead of them. It was from no campfire, the light was too consistent as it had no flicker to it. Beyond that fact, it was blue. A blue campfire? No, it was something else, something was giving off the light they were plunging ahead to.
The old trees passed by as Alexandra pushed through the underbrush, their canopy of leaves overhead blocking out the sky completely. Almost tripping over a tree root that was poking out of the ground, Alexandra suddenly stumbled into a small grotto. There was a pool in the middle: a hot spring, the water was perfectly clear. The walls and bottom of the small pool looked like a clean white stone, no dirt in it all to dilute the water. The trees hemmed in close to each other on either side, making the grotto almost like a private room.
The leaves and branches the formed the thick canopy overhead were a mixture of green and the yellow colour of the early third season. The light they had seen was coming from all around them. The trees and the ground near the pool just seemed to emanate a soft blue glow. Leaning closer to one of three trees, Alexandra could see what was making the strange light: small caterpillars. Their entire bodies seemed to radiate the light, and in great numbers, illuminated the whole grotto in a peaceful low light. Stepping back, she took in the area for a moment.
It was tranquil, a place perfectly quiet and without distraction.
"Oh my," Sophia too was taken by surprise at the sheer beauty of the grotto, "who would have thought that such a place could exist."
"Nice," Zooey's words were not as poetic, "weird slug things too."
Luca enjoyed seeing new creatures. "Caterpillars! Wow! These are totally different from the ones we had in the slums!"
"This is amazing." Alexandra felt a stillness and peace in her heart; this was a place seemingly devoid of the troubles of the outside world.
"This looks like a good a place as any to camp for the night." Zooey approved. It was far enough off the road and obscured enough that they would not be easily seen. Additionally, with all the underbrush, they would hear anyone approaching them.
"It's the best place," Sophia murmured.
"I agree," nodded Alexandra, "I don't think we could find a better spot. I could stay here forever I think."
"Me too." Sophia was enraptured.
It was simply the most beautiful place any of them had ever seen.
"Pretty crazy this isn't a tourist spot or anything." Zooey always thinking money.
"I'm glad it's like this," Alexandra took a seat next to the hot spring, "it's just ours, at least for tonight."
"I can't believe we lived like we did," Luca was sad he had missed such sights for his entire life so far, "I can't believe there were places like this existing that whole time."
"The slums are all we knew," Sophia tried to ease his mind, "Oonskat like us rarely leave them. It's too hard to get past the soldiers at the gates anyway usually. The important thing is that we are here now, and we are here at this spot, together."
"I guess. I'm just sad that my whole life was trapped in the city, when I could have been adventuring, seeing more places like this all over."
"This is our chance," Alexandra tried to turn their sudden traveling situation into a positive, "maybe this is exactly what we were all hoping for deep down inside: a change."
Zooey leaned up against a tree. "Being attacked as fugitives and traveling to who knows where? Yeah, I dreamed about that every night."
The sarcasm in her voice was not easy to miss.
"You're enjoying it," Luca was quick to jump in, "come on, you were excited to fight those soldiers. You even beat a bunch of them!"
"Well yeah," Zooey had to admit, "I was pretty awesome."
"Of course, the Cornelius soldiers will be smarting from your fight for generations," Alexandra teased her as she admired the beautiful clear water in the spring.
She took her raggedy shoe from her foot, throbbing with the pain of the walking put upon it. Ever so gingerly, she stuck her toes into the water.
"How is it?" Luca would be afraid to be the first one to touch it.
"It's warm," she dipped her leg in farther, "it's nice a warm. Oh my that feels good."
She could feel the soreness slipping away in her muscles already. She eased her leg in all the way to her skirt.
Luca bent over, and cupping his hands, pulling a handful of water into his mouth.
"How's that?" Alexandra laughed as water splashed all over his face.
"Clean!" was his first exclamation, followed up with some description. "I don't taste any dirt at all! It doesn't even taste like the water we used to have in the city!"
"Okay then!" Zooey had led them there, she felt they were her responsibility while they stayed in this thicket. "I'll go on ahead and see what else there is to see, make sure there's no lurking soldiers or bears. Maybe there will be some fresh berries or something, I'm getting tired of all this dry stuff in our packs."
"I'm going with you." Facing down a bear sounded like excitement to Luca. "I want to see what else is out there!"
The young boy was very excited with all these new sights and sounds after years of the same drab buildings and hopelessness of the city. He had so much energy he was having trouble containing it all. He had trepidation about this entire trip, there was indeed great danger for them, but he could not deny his excitement at the prospect of traveling all the way across Prydain to the Rotsen Mountains!
It was a place that had always seemed so far away before, like another world even, a place he knew he would never see. Now, they were traveling there, he was going to see them! He wondered if he would be able to sleep, his mind bubbling over with ideas about what the mountains may look like, what it would smell like, or what strange creatures they might see along the way.
"All right," Zooey pulled her sword back out to help cut through the underbrush, "might be gone for awhile. Don't wander off without us."
"Promise," Alexandra called after her.
"See you!" Luca eagerly followed after her as they left the opposite side of the grotto.
Alexandra watched them head off, then removed the shoe still on her other foot and slipped her second leg under the water as well. The warm embrace of the hot spring was welcome and Alexandra closed her eyes, allowing herself to be carried away in a moment of happiness. She swished her toes around under the water; it felt so good to get them out of her dusty and falling-to-pieces footwear.
Gentle ripples in the pool lapped up gently against Alexandra's thighs. Opening her eyes, she saw another pair of legs in the pool with hers. Sophia was now sitting down next to her, also gleefully swishing her toes around under the water. Alexandra could not help but smile: it was good to see Sophia happy again. After all that had happened to them recently, from the Dark District, to the Winnowing Chamber, now to crossing the nation on foot, it had been very trying and Alexandra could tell that Sophia was having a hard time adapting to all the sudden changes and danger they now faced.
"Thank you," Sophia suddenly said, her voice barely above a whisper.
"For what?" Alexandra cocked her head to the side.
"You held my hand," she almost seemed embarrassed, "earlier in the field when I was afraid. That was kind"
"You held mine," Alexandra reminded her friend "when I was out cold after the attack. You made sure I didn't lose my pendant. You made sure I didn't get lost myself."
"I was worried," she said softly, "you were out for so long..."
"And when I woke up you were there, taking care of me. I couldn't ask for a better friend than you."
"I didn't do anything," blushed Sophia, "Miss Florence and her friends fought off the soldiers, they helped us escape. I'm not very good with fighting, at all."
"But you held my hand through all that. You never let me go."
Alexandra looked back at the clear water, their legs slightly out-of-focus beneath the surface, the image moving with the little ripples.
It was quiet, peaceful, and felt like a moment out of time.
"I wonder if Zooey and Luca are finding anything interesting," Sophia was still looking wistfully at the steam gently rising from the pool.
"Probably finding a bird or squirrel to pick a fight with knowing Zooey," Alexandra joked.
"She is a very good fighter though," Sophia was well aware that she was the least skilled in that regard within the group. "Luca too, he's very brave."
"Yeah," agreed Alexandra, "I feel a lot safer having them here, despite all the trouble Zooey tries to get into."
"I feel safe with you."
"Thanks," Alexandra murmured.
She did not think she was worthy of the faith placed in her by her friends.
"That's why back in the field, when the soldiers were riding by, I calmed down when you held my hand," Sophia was stumbling over her words a little, "I knew you were there."
It was true that most times Alexandra had kept them out of trouble, using her quick wit and gift of talking to see them through. But now, this was way over their heads, and it was essentially Alexandra's fault. She wanted her friends to be safe, but she knew that might not be a possibility on this journey they now found themselves on.
She wished they would just return to the capitol, stay out of harm's way, and let her face it alone. After all, this whole mess was just because she wanted to know about her pendant despite all the warnings to turn around and walk away.
Alexandra laid back on the ground, her lower half still in the relaxing water. The leaves and branches above almost seemed like a solid ceiling. It was warm in the grotto, the heat rising from the water and filling the mostly-enclosed space with ease.
Alexandra knew they should get an early start on the next day's travels if they wanted to make any more headway towards the Mountains. "I wish we didn't have to leave here."
"I know what you mean," Sophia also laid down next to her, "but every mile we go brings you closer to finding out who your father is. I cannot think of any reason to delay that."
"Yeah," Alexandra was truly grateful for the encouragement, "you're right."
She still wished her friends would abandon her and go to where they would be safe, but knowing they were there regardless gave her a little warmth inside.
Sophia yawned, her fatigue finally winning the battle.
"I'll agree to that." Alexandra found herself yawning a moment later.
Sophia's eyes were already closed. She had a slight smile on her face Alexandra could see. Her breathing was regular; she was asleep.
Turning back to look up at the canopy above, Alexandra's eyelids began to droop. After another deep yawn, her eyes closed and she was peacefully asleep as well.
It was an hour later that Zooey and Luca returned, having scouted more of the thicket they were spending the night in. They had seen lights in the distance when they reached the opposite side of the dense grouping of trees, determining it was a village far off. Confident that no one was lurking around looking for them, they had made their way back to the grotto.
Picking up some fresh fruit along the way, they ate it as quietly as possible so as to not wake their friends. They had found some kind of strange type of berry they had never seen, even in the Market District, before. It was large, yellow, bulbous, and had a smooth skin. It tasted sweet and was the perfect dessert to all the dried goods they had been eating since they had started their trek.
Finally, exhaustion catching up with them, Luca and Zooey found spots to lie down and sleep. Zooey took her sword out of her hilt and laid it on the ground next to her, it was never far from her these days. Fluffing up her pack as a pillow, Zooey allowed her head to drop on it and was out a moment later. Luca stayed awake for a little while longer, letting sleep and his excitement about their adventure fight it out for awhile. Sleep finally won as it always inevitably does and Luca too was soon sound asleep.