Into That Wild Blue Yonder

19. Counting Stars

The journey through Caverntown South was quick and uneventful, as the main tourist attractions all had to do with the cavern leading to Caverntown North and no one in the trio wanted to spend any more time underground. A bit of local food, walking around, and checking out stores satisfied everyone's pallet well enough.

After less than a day, the trio made arrangements for two carriages, one for the bags and one for Colm and Idara. Ulan was too big to fit on a caravan, but he didn't mind walking alongside anyway. It let him hop up and fly a bit every now and again to watch for hazards ahead of the group and stretch his wing muscles.

Colm stayed mostly quiet during the journey and Idara didn't press for conversation, sticking to reading from her magic tome instead. Colm's motion sickness wasn't nearly as bad riding the carriage as it was on the train, so he could at least relax and recalibrate himself when they were on the move. Every now and again, he would open his eyes to spot Idara looking his way and she would sheepishly go back to reading.

The towns they stopped in all had very friendly atmospheres, selling wares and services to the many travelers now forced to take a longer route to Lakesville. Idara bought some blankets at the first town for everyone in case it got cold on the road and Ulan bought a massive dragon Ushanka hat. With the seasons getting close to changing, the weather would surely start to act accordingly.

They stayed the nights at the small towns as they travelled when they could. Eight days in and they spent six nights at mostly makeshift inns. Certainly more costly than a train ride, but Colm liked it a whole lot more than feeling like he was about to vomit for days. Sadly for Ulan, the nights where they had to keep travelling meant he had to keep walking.

"It's not a big deal," he said happily. "I can go forever. This hat and my fire help keep me warm, and I love the feeling of dropping down to sleep after a long day's work."

"If you say so," Colm replied through the window.

"It lets me dance, too! And I like to dance and prance around when I'm writing songs in my head."

"That's nice, I guess," Colm said uncertainly. Ulan seemed intent on doing things this way, so Colm didn't try to convince him otherwise.

Idara was fast asleep on the other side of the carriage, slack-jawed and drooling onto her pillow. Her leg twitched every now and then and she rolled around almost non-stop. Her hair hung haphazardly all over her face, dropping over her face and making her twitch as she unconsciously shifted to get it out of her mouth.

"The pinnacle of femininity," Colm said with the faintest grin.

As he looked at her, he noticed her jet-black hair started changing toward the roots. Curious, he light-footedly crossed the cabin of the carriage to get a closer look. Where her hair parted, he could clearly see where the jet-black dye ended and her natural hair color came in. A strange hue of deep blue and shimmering purples, faint pinks, and starry yellow streaks had started to show, like the deepest elements of space came down and painted themselves into her hair. It was just like when Colm looked into her eyes when they first met.

Colm crossed back to his side and sat down gently to avoid rocking the carriage and waking up Idara. He remembered something about her being an arena champion and her hair and eyes being her most famous features, though he never thought about it before. What he couldn't remember was her arena name, but it had to be related. He knew he heard it, but he didn't bother to keep it in his head.

He got to thinking about the past and opened up the rear window to look out and up at the sky. Thankfully, the storm from Stiftung never made its way out this far and the sky was clear as a crystal glass. Unlike in the cities, Colm could see everything he remembered in the night sky out here.