“Akkiwa!” Hadra exclaimed.
She watched in excitement as the other girl’s face lit up. A day and a half’s carriage ride from Pemolar’s Hill, and she had already been feeling apprehensive. Seeing a familiar face was exactly what she’d needed.
She opened the carriage door and ran up to the other girl as quickly as she could, while dodging chickens and a pig.
“Hadra!” she shouted as soon as she saw me and began to maneuver around the livestock.
There would be arguments for a hundred years between ranchers about who stole whose cow, on this ridiculous menagerie, but Akkiwa seemed to be in bright spirits.
“Miss Ilhadira!” came a sudden call from behind her, and Hadra grimaced as she saw Desten rushing toward her. He looked irritated.
He always looked irritated.
She ignored him and greeted Akkiwa with a hug right there in the middle of the road.
“Heavens, am I glad to see you,” Hadra said when they parted.
“You as well!” Akkiwa replied. “Tell me, what news of Pemolar? We’ve heard all sorts of rumors. Everything from a battle between the Duchess and a General to a full-scale rift invasion!”
“You’re not far off. I–!”
“Miss Ilhadira, you must inform your guards if you need to go somewhere!” came Desten’s irritated call as he tromped up to them, his armor clanking uncomfortably. “You cannot just run off into a horde of… of… poultry! You must… oh…”
Hadra snorted. She couldn’t help it. Desten was about her age, a bit younger than Akkiwa, and he looked the very picture of the uptight city boy that he was.
City boy or small town farmer, everyone was equally dumbstruck by Akkiwa when they first met her. Only proximity had given Hadra some insulation from feeling the same.
Akkiwa glanced back and forth between Hadra and Desten with her eyebrows raised. “Have you finally met someone, Hadra?”
“Gods no!” She laughed. “This is Desten Guard. He is one of my bodyguards.”
“Oh! Bodyguards! Have you well and truly become royalty now!?” Akkiwa asked.
Hadra frowned. “I’m more of a bauble for the Duchess, it seems.”
The General’s words came back, haunting me as they had for the past two days.
“Ah. Well. If it earns you Royal Bodyguards, I say congratulations. Is that why you’re on the road north?” she asked.
“Mmm,” I nodded.
“Well, good for you! There was nothing left for you in Pemolar besides squabbling with your mother, anyway,” Akkiwa said. “Don’t hold out on me! What’s been happening in town? Tell me for true? Was there really an attack? Was anyone hurt?”
Hadra grinned.
“There was an attack, and there was a general, and a captain of the Denarlan City Patrol. But the real news, the thing you really won’t believe, is about Mera.”
“Mera? Really. News about Mera is more unbelievable than a general coming to Pemolar? The only thing that could possibly be that big is if she…!”
Akkiwa paused, eyes widening. “They didn’t…”
Hadra’s grin grew wider.
“And I wasn’t there!? Gods, damn Eschal and the Rift! I will never forgive them for this!”
Hadra laughed as she began to relay everything that had happened in the days since Akkiwa left to wait out the Rift Break. Akkiwa had always been interested in Reid.
He was, after all, the only boy her age she’d ever met who hadn’t asked to court her.
Unfortunately, their reunion was cut short. The Guard was moving with all haste back north, and Akkiwa was finally returning home. It would be a different world that she returned to. Hadra wasn’t sure if she pitied or envied her.
The journey to Denarla was long but blessedly uneventful, but with every passing step, Hadra grew more and more nervous.
She’d been born in Pemolar’s Hill. She’d spent her entire life there. The furthest she’d ever been from home before this trip was to Potato Gully to visit the cobbler. She’d never been to Mitoras, and going to Akkiwa’s Ranch in the northwestern woods had felt like a grand adventure to her.
Her heart seized in her chest as the towns grew closer together and the people became more clustered. The buildings were taller, and the roads seemed to multiply, to the point where she needed Desten and Esmerla to avoid getting lost.
Mera was the one who was supposed to go off and do great things and then come back and tell stories about all the places she’d been. She was the brave one. The one with all the dreams of far-off places and distant people.
Hadra had never understood her. Adored her, loved her like a sister, but never once had she understood what Mera got out of her stories and her castles.
Mera was born for the road. Hadra had always thought so, and it was one thing that even she and her mother could agree on. Mera would leave one day, and do incredible things. Maybe one day she’d even find a quest!
By contrast, Hadra had assumed she would take over as the local weaver in Potato Gully, or maybe Dolundant if it grew big enough. There wasn’t really anyone locally she was interested in marrying, so she would have to go somewhere.
Technically, there was Reid, but that just seemed strange. Hadra had known since they were children that Reid’s heart would always belong to Mera, and until recently, she’d assumed that love would go unrequited.
She wasn’t jealous. Not of Mera. She’d spent the last few years heartbroken for Reid and irritated at her best friend for not noticing what was right under her nose. Worse, even if Mera did notice Reid’s feelings, she likely wouldn’t appreciate them.
No. Elmerina Farmer was set to conquer the great stages of the world. She would leave and chase adventure, hunting down stories and telling just as many. She’d play to crowds of thousands and earn the adulation she’d always craved. Songs would be written about her. Hell, Reid’s father had already made one!
Reid…? He would linger.
The scenario was always bitter. It played out in her mind like one of Mera’s own stories. She’d dreaded it, but she could feel it coming, sure as a sunset. Mera would go, and Reid would be left alone. Hadra would keep in touch with him. She’d be forced to watch as Reid wasted away, pining after the girl who was married to the call of whatever was ‘out there.’
It would be up to her to finally tell him He’d have to let the girl go. Reluctantly. Hesitantly. He would. And a part of him would die on that day.
How could she be so blind!? How could she be so entranced by stories and nonsense when she had something so very real right in front of her?
Much as Hadra loved her, Mera would remain blissfully oblivious. Happily sending back letters of her adventures, blind to what she missed, and what she might’ve never cared for in the first place.
It wasn’t a cruel thing. It was just who she was. She might even come back and share her stories, rubbing salt in a recently closed wound she didn’t even know she’d caused. That was to be their future.
And then… one day, Mera was attacked by a troll.
The daydreamer woke up and began to see. It wasn’t some grand reveal, some ballad sung on a midsummer night, or anything like her stories. Just a nudge. A boy, terrified of losing the girl he so clearly loved, got the courage to ask if he could be a part of her story.
Maybe it was a little corny. She giggled. Maybe she’d become the daydreamer. After all, she’d certainly become the adventurer.
While Mera and Reid…
Soldiers.
Her bitter projections of a future that would not be were actually more comforting than reality. They’d been drafted into the army.
In times of peace, she’d not have been all that surprised to see Reid join voluntarily. Maybe even Mera if her Uncle visited just a tad more. She’d been tossing the idea around a few years ago.
But to do so during a war with Eschal? Especially with the general proving to be such a bastard? If not for Captain Retham’s protection and the Duchess’s orders, she might’ve run.
Not Mera, though. Not Reid either.
She contented herself with the knowledge that her friend was safer on the rift front than she would be in Denarla. There was a true fear of talents higher than Masterful. People with legendary talents had this bad habit of either subverting entire nations or building new ones from scratch.
Kings and Queens tended to have very strong opinions about that. More often, those individuals stupid enough to reveal their talent’s rank died in alleys with knives in their backs.
Not that she was any expert.
Besides, Mera would never start a war! She was… Mera! Why would she ever want to do something like that? Even if she did have a Legendary Talent, there was no way Mera would ever hurt anyone.
She reached down to the bangle Mera had made for her. In the privacy of the wagon, she took a chance and made it visible.
Ornate Common Bangle
Effect 1: The wearer of this bangle is immune to all investigative skills and talents.
Effect 2: This bangle may be made invisible by the will of the wearer.
It was beautiful. She clutched it close and then let it fade away before pulling the amulet from around her neck. The only reason she felt somewhat safe.
Weaver’s Orb
Effect 1: The Weaver skill can be used outside of producing cloth.
Both gifts from Mera.
The first one had saved her life. The second hadn’t done anything so far, but she was confident–!
A sudden knock came on the carriage door. She quickly tugged the amulet back on and pulled aside the wagon’s curtain. She’d joked with Akkiwa, but she truly did feel like a noble lady with all this fine treatment. It felt awkward and unnatural, but she hoped she’d get used to it.
“Yes?” she asked.
“Miss Ilhadira, you’ve never been to the city before, have you?” Esmerla asked, her voice cheerful.
“No?” she replied.
“Then you might want to see this,” the guard said with a grin.
Hadra felt intimidated. Mera would be ashamed of her if she saw her right now. No proper adventurer, she! All she wanted was to find a little room in the palace somewhere and begin making dresses.
She opened the carriage door and stepped out anyway.
“W-wow,” she breathed.
Her heart trembled. Staring at the gorgeous city before her, lanterns beginning to twinkle as the sun set, Ilhadira Weaver finally understood.
“Oh, Gods. I want to see everything,” she breathed.