Avarein: Vant

Chapter 18: Attachment

"Carte?"

Her voice didn't receive any response from the lanky man who sat in the carriage, leaning against the wall next to their messily unpacked supplies He casually read a book he had brought from Sirdi and seemed to ignore both how bumpy the ride was and the fact he was being called out to.

"Carte!"

Greva glared at him, irritated to her very core. She knew it; bringing this guy along was a bad idea. She would much rather be doing odd jobs or walking for days between towns than dealing with him. Almost fuming, she parted the curtain that separated the compartment to the front and tapped Vant on the shoulder, nodding her head in the general direction of their new comrade. Lacking his usual infectious enthusiasm, he pulled on the reins and allowed an overeager dandruff finish his slide, reaching the end of the path of ice he had formed. Once they had come to a complete stop, he pushed himself off the wooden seat, stretched out for a moment and then entering the caravan.

"Carte, could you please work together with us?"

Without looking away from his book, he nodded, still clearly focused on his reading more than anything. Greva almost instinctively turned her nose up at him, the tension in the group clearly not being

"Can you stop ignoring me?"

Greva's question was blunt and to the point. She had tried to be nice to him so many times but for the past three days, he hadn't responded to her, not even. He did respond to Vant somewhat eagerly however, which added unnecessary fuel to the fire that was already large and hot enough to call an inferno.

"I only desire to interact who interest me more than necessary. Vant has potential, but he needs guidance. I'm expecting him to show me many interesting things. You, on the other hand, bore me."

His face was still deep into his book, but his voice was strikingly clear. He shifted his position slightly to get more comfortable and continued reading, turning the page as the words he had spoken finally sunk into Greva's head. She almost growled out of anger before stopping herself, knowing it would only make the situation worse. Pouting, she grumpily sat down back where she was, picking up her book. Vant was more surprised that Carte wasn't getting kicked in the shins, but a peaceful solution was fine for now, especially since he didn't exactly know what to say. He returned back to his spot at the reins and went back to being both impressed by Dandruff's ability to constantly create pathways of ice in front of him and terrified of the idea that he might try to drift and take the caravan down with him.

+++

"Ooo, what a cosy looking village!"

Greva had peeked through the curtain when Vant had said there was a town nearby, but it was much closer than she had thought. White Brij's were allegedly quite fast, but this level of speed surprised even her. The pair of them looked at the place felt a sense of cosiness before they realised they were missing someone.

"Ooo, what a cosy looking village!"

This time, Vant repeated what she had said and Carte reacted immediately, taking a spot next to Greva and looking at their destination up close. He quickly slid a ribbon into his book to mark his page and closed it, putting it down and preparing to get out with a few stretches. After a few minutes and grumbles, they stopped their caravan around the tiny shed near the inn and almost immediately scattered, each of them having a different goal in mind and with a silent agreement not to bother one another. Without a word, Carte made his way around to a building that he had picked out as being the most likely to be some sort of library, while Vant marched towards the guild board, as empty as it was likely to be. That left Greva with paying for the inn, which she wasn't too bothered with; Vant wasn't good with money anyway and Carte didn't seem that much better, or even trustworthy. Grabbing a mix of bronze, silver and gold coins at random from the carriage, she made her way inside, not exactly seeing what she expected.