“A bit,” she giggled, kissing me on the forehead. “Although I have to admit, I’d still rather be asleep with y—”
A loud squeak interrupted her thought, and we both turned just in time to see Hana dive out of sight behind the wagon. Marten’s head poked out of the flaps and looked around for the source of the disturbance. “Darling, where did you…” he trailed off as his eyes scanned over the camp and found us entangled together on the ground, and a playful grin appeared on his face. “I’m sorry, am I interrupting something?”
Lia’s face flushed, and she threw herself backwards as she attempted to sputter out an excuse. “No! Nothing! We weren’t, uhm, I was just...uhm, just waking up, and—”
“Good morning!” I called out loudly, sitting up and giving Marten a wave. “Lia was just telling me how she would rather be—”
“Stop it!” Lia yelled, struggling to her feet. I burst into laughter, and Marten followed suit soon after. After inarguably losing our first skirmish of the morning, my small act of playful revenge felt even sweeter. I stood and put my hand on her shoulder, and her glare told me she was considering whether or not she would allow the contact. Eventually she sighed, and a small smile graced her face as she shook her head.
“Why is everybody yelling so loud? It’s too early for that,” Marin yelled loudly as she appeared from the back of the wagon.
“Oh good, you’re up!” Marten greeted her. “It’s time for us to get going. Seeing as we’re out of food, our next meal is waiting for us in Mayaan, and I’d like to find it as soon as possible.”
Marin rubbed her eyes and frowned. “I feel like I didn’t need to be woken up for that.” She disappeared back into the wagon as the rest of us prepared to leave. I kicked dirt over the last remnants of our fire, then followed Lia and Hana into the wagon as Marten climbed up to the driver’s bench. After a few hard bumps, we made it back to the main road, and the final leg of our trip began.
Lia filled the hours of our journey with stories of Elise from her childhood. A majority of the memories were focused around the gifts Elise would bring on her visits: Lia’s favorite doll that she carried with her wherever she went, her first fancy dress that she refused to take off for four days, and, when she was old enough, a fitted saddle for Marten’s workhorse so she could learn to ride, much to her parents’ chagrin. Hana chimed in with additional details to round out the stories, and I listened with rapt interest as I learned more about Lia’s formative years.
An image of the town of Mayaan began to form through my Detection long before Marten called out our approach. It seemed as though the outskirts of the town started at some unmarked border within the forest of emberwood trees, based on the sudden appearance of homesteads hidden down winding paths that branched off from the main road. The forest ended abruptly a few miles ahead, replaced with plowed farmlands that ran directly to the edge of the treeline. An organized township took shape at the opposite edge of the farmland, separated into a neat grid containing markets, housing, and industrial sections. While it was nowhere near as large as Yoria or Atsal, the city I saw in my head looked large enough to support a few thousand people.
The telltale switch from packed earth to cobblestone road beneath our wagon’s wheels alerted Marin and Hana that we had reached the city proper, and the excitement that had been simmering in the back of the wagon reached its boiling point. Lia jumped up and stuck her head out through the wagon flaps, bouncing with anticipation as she scanned our new surroundings. Marin disappeared behind a stacked wall of crates, having decided last minute to change into what she determined to be more presentable clothes.
Lia hopped out of the wagon as soon as Marten brought it to a halt at our destination. The building before us looked like a large, modified barn; it had multiple doors along the side wall large enough for trading caravans to pass through, all of which led into a massive, open storeroom full of two-story shelves and palettes stocked with goods. Parallel stairways on either side of the space lead up to a top floor composed of bunkrooms, offices, and break rooms, most of which were full of employees. The front door led to a small lobby, which had doors to both the work floor and the upstairs offices behind a reception desk. An ornate sign was attached to the wall above the front door, labeled with Lybesian print and depicting a stack of three barrels in a red circle.
While Lia joined her father as he entered the building, I waited in the back of the wagon for the rest of our party. Marin emerged from her makeshift changing booth a few seconds later, wearing a familiar red and white sundress from Lia’s box of clothes. “Oh, that’s so much better!” she said, admiring the dress as she twirled in a circle. “Now, let’s go meet this friend of yours so we can get something to eat!”
I led Hana and Marin to the front door, and we entered the building to find a puzzling scene; Lia stood with her head held in her hand, hiding her eyes from the receptionist who leaned over the counter towards her father. Marten was tapping his hands anxiously at his sides as he stammered something quietly under his breath. “I...I am...uhm, Marten, and I, erm, I am..”
The receptionist, a young man with brown hair
