Calaistas

Day Nineteen

When C woke up, she was lying on Leandrios's arm. She blinked as she heard the falls, realizing she never closed the door. The fire was a cold, fine dust. She looked over at his face. He was asleep; not upset, not happy, just blank. His face was almost never blank. She stared without thinking on it, looking at the features that were just ever so imperfectly symmetrical. There was a scar on his jaw, and a piece of his ear was missing. At close look, he appeared older than he otherwise seemed.

Slowly, she reached out and ran a finger along the scar, wondering in what circumstances it was received. Leandrios shifted, but he didn't wake. C sucked in her breath. A million thoughts charged through her mind as she felt a thump start in her chest. He was an honest man. Loyal. Maybe there were others like that but not like him. She had met many men. She had never trusted any of them. Except this one.

She knew enough myths to wonder if something else was at work, something that was higher. It was impossible that their partnership was coincidence. She could read his eyes, his movements, and she could translate it well enough to know he felt the same draw. That was something even her mistress couldn't arrange.

She would have to request time to take a journey home and seek out answers. Questions had been building, other questions, and she needed to resolidify her purpose. Sylvansbrook would prove the end, one way or the other, and the end would bring resolution. She would have to wait the time in between.

Leandrios woke to provisions for the journey. They set out with the sun climbing in the sky. C rode on the hoverboard with Leandrios wearing the boots that used to be more familiar. They had disappeared somewhere along the way; he couldn't remember when or where.

C raised her wrist, pressing on the screen there. Blue light drifted into the air, aligning itself into a map of the continent. To Leandrios it looked like she wore a bracelet. He hadn't ever noticed it before, but maybe it had always been there. That would explain her understanding of where they were and where they were going. Sylvansbrook was a bright, glowing sparkle right in the center of the map. With their form of travel, hours away, only. They could be there by evening. It gave Leandrios shivers.

He still didn't know what really it meant to be going to Sylvansbrook. Clearly someone or something was waiting there. Probably it was bad. Did it expect them? Then why were they going! But he trusted C.

She was quiet as they flew just above the ground. Nothing unusual except how it felt. It wasn't a silence; it was a quiet. He didn't know why. Any moment she might speak up. He could almost see the wheels spinning in her head for something to break through the noiseless air around them.

Leandrios didn't mind silence all the time. He preferred it to this quiet at least, especially around her. It made him nervous to wonder what she was thinking about. It made it hard to concentrate on his own concerns. Besides, if she had something to worry about, then he definitely had something to worry about.

Even knowing she had something on the tip of her tongue, it made him jump to hear her speak.

"Have you ever been to Sylvansbrook?" C asked.

"N-no," Leandrios stuttered, swaying a bit as if her sound waves literally rocked against him.

That was all. She didn't say anything else. Leandrios uneasily settled into the quiet, watching the ground recede beneath his feet.

The sky seemed to get paler as they went, each moment feeling like a small universe as it went by. Trees started growing in more fully, more lush, with sparkling leaves and underbrush. Grass sprouted up, hiding small creatures that skittered in the wake of their trail. Colors were hidden in the wild too, flowers and plants with purple hues and finishes. It felt unreal, otherworldly, and then it faded into bleak grey. Mud and muck bubbled along the ground, covered in shaggy, puke-like moss. The sound of scampering was replaced with the croaking of toads.